Robert McNab

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Dr Robert McNab (1 October 1864 – 3 February 1917) was a New Zealand lawyer, farmer, historian, and politician of the Liberal Party.

He represented the Mataura electorate from 1893 to 1896 when he was defeated by George Frederick Richardson. In 1898 Richardson was adjudged bankrupt. McNab won the subsequent by-election, and held the seat again to 1908 when he was again defeated, by George James Anderson. In 1914 he won the Hawkes Bay seat, which he held until he died in 1917.

He was a Cabinet Minister, and held the Ministry of Justice portfolio from 1915 to 1917 in the Reform Government when Reform was in a temporary wartime coalition with the Liberals.

McNab began researching New Zealand history in the late 1890s, and published numerous articles and books including the Historical Records of New Zealand at the request of the government. In 1913 McNab donated his collection of 4,200 books on history and geography to the Dunedin Public Library, with the condition the collection be added to continually. As of 2008, the McNab New Zealand Collection contains around 83,000 items.

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