page_title: Frank Rolleston
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Frank Rolleston / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Mary and William Rolleston and their children, at Kapunatiki in 1888. Standing at back: Rosamund. Back row: Hector, Mary and William. Front row: Arthur, John, Frank, Dorothy and Lance. Ground: Margaret.
context_page_description: Francis Joseph Rolleston was a New Zealand politician of the Reform Party.
context_section_description: Rolleston was born in Christchurch in 1873, the son of the last Superintendent of the Canterbury Province, William Rolleston and his wife Mary Rolleston.  At the time of his birth, the family was living at Linwood House. His grandfather was Joseph Brittan (1805–1867), who was married to Sophia Brittan (died 1877).
  From 1880 to 1884, the Rolleston family lived in Wellington.  William Rolleston held various ministerial posts in ministries led by John Hall (1879–1882), Frederick Whitaker (1882–1883) and Harry Atkinson (1883–1884) and their house in Molesworth Street, on the site that is these days occupied by Saint Paul's Cathedral, gave easy access to the Parliament Buildings.  With the defeat of the Atkinson Ministry, William Rolleston lost his ministerial income and due to the effects of the depression of the 1880s, the family moved to William Rolleston's 800 acres (3.2 km²) farm Kapunatiki at the south bank of the Rangitata River near its mouth in 1884.
  Frank Rolleston was educated at Christ's College, where along with his older three brothers he was a boarder.  At one point, Frank Rolleston and the one year older Hector suffered the humiliation of having their school trousers lengthened by some ill-matching material.  Later, his older brother Lance (born 1869) was sent to England to finish his medical degree. Frank Rolleston, considered by his father the most able of his boys, was to go to Oxford University, but tight finances prevented this, and Lance Rolleston could only complete his degree with the financial help of his uncle Robert (his father's oldest brother). Instead, Frank Rolleston attended the University of Canterbury, from where he graduated with a BA and LLB.
  On 3 March 1908, Rolleston married Mary Winifred Blair in Timaru.
caption: Mary and William Rolleston and their children, at Kapunatiki; Frank Rolleston sitting in the front row in the middle
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