Esther James

Esther Marion Pretoria James (5 November 1900 – 7 January 1990) was an entrepreneur who once walked the length of New Zealand to raise awareness of New Zealand-made goods.

Career
James patented a cutlery washer and rinser that was sold and used in many homes.

James was an architectural student of WA Cumming (architect) in Auckland for three years.

James was one of New Zealand's first professional fashion models and a keen supporter of "buy New Zealand-made." James walked the length of New Zealand in 1931–32 to raise awareness of New Zealand-made goods and improve trade during the depression. She was the first person ever to do this walk from Spirits Bay to Stewart Island and wore only New Zealand-made clothing and shoes. The walk took six months. She also walked from Melbourne to Brisbane in Australia to promote tourism to New Zealand to Australians.

James purchased land in Tauranga and built a house, saying she made 4000 concrete bricks. The sale of that property gave her profits and went on to build a larger house in Remuera, Auckland.

James wrote a best-selling autobiography titled Jobbing Along published in Christchurch in 1965 by Whitcombe & Tombs.

In 1969 she was promoting herself as a candidate for a new political party the Independent Women's Party. She said:"A women spends, on average, 25 years of her married life in her home - without praise or pay. Then her husband can take her matrimonial home away from her.' (Esther James 1969)"James lost all her assets in the divorce from her first husband in 1935 including 'the family home-and-income property she had built in the mid-1920s with the proceeds of her earlier land deals'. Her second husband did not approve of her entrepreneurialism and was controlling of their finances.

Family
James was from Pahiatua, New Zealand. She grew up on a farm and was one of the younger of ten siblings. She had two children while her husband was in the army.

The soldier and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council, George Stoddart Whitmore (1829–1903), was her great-grandfather.