Robert Reid (18 October 1842 – 12 May 1904) was an Australian businessman and politician. He established Robert Reid & Co., one of Australia's largest importing firms, and was prominent in Melbourne commercial circles. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1892 to 1903 and was a government minister on two occasions. He also briefly filled a casual vacancy in the Senate in 1903.
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Early life
Reid was born on 18 October 1842 in Leven, Fifeshire, Scotland. He was the second son born to Catherine (née Lambert) and Robert Reid. His father was a stationer and bookseller.
Reid and his family migrated to Australia in 1855. Their ship Ralph Waller collided with an iceberg in the Southern Ocean, coming close to sinking. His father died six weeks after they arrived in Melbourne, "apparently as a result of trauma and illness after the ship's disastrous collision".
Business career
In 1874, Reid established his own wholesale drapery importing firm in Flinders Lane, in partnership with John Adair and Edward Warne. Known as Warne & Reid from 1876, by 1881 the firm had 90 employees and opened a factory in Collingwood in 1882 with 250 employees. A Sydney branch was opened in the same year.