Background
Waite was born at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, son of James Waite, a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Stocks.
Waite was born at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, son of James Waite, a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Stocks.
Waite was left fatherless and after leaving school he was apprenticed to an ironmonger and spent nine years in commercial pursuits.
Waite"s philanthropic endeavors provided significant benefit to the University of Adelaide and to local public schools, and generations of students have benefited from his largesse. Waite then sailed to Australia aboard the British Trident, landed at Melbourne and went on to South Australia. Waite worked on this station for some years and acquired a thorough knowledge of the pastoral industry.
Waite then (in conjunction with Sir Thomas Elder) bought Paratoo station, and gradually obtained interests in other properties.
He was one of the first to realize the value of fenced as against open runs, and spent over £200,000 in fencing and providing water. He later owned Momba Station, one of the largest sheep stations in outback New South Wales.
Waite and other pastoralists in the area formed the Pastoralists" Association of West Darling in 1906. Together they had eight children.
Foreign many years he lived in the country and kept a strict eye on the management of his various properties.
He thoroughly understood the needs of pastoralists, and in 1883 became chairman of Elder"s Wool & Produce Company Limited, a subsidiary Elder Smith and Company. In 1888 the two companies were amalgamated and he became chairman of directors of Elder Smith & Company
Limited, "displaying remarkable ingenuity and initiative".
He held this position for 34 years, resigning a few months before his death. Waite was also Managing Director of the Beltana Pastoral Company
Limited and the Mutooroo Pastoral Company Limited. He held directorships with the Commercial Union Assurance Company
Limited, the British Broken Hill Company
Limited, and the South America Woollen Company Limited.
In 1913 Waite presented to the University of Adelaide his valuable Urrbrae estate comprising 134 acres (54 ha) and house, to which in 1915 was added the adjoining Claremont and Netherby estates of 165 acres (67 ha). Benefactions to the University of Adelaide allowed the university to establish the Waite Agricultural Research Institute which later became the Waite Campus of the university, the hub of the Waite Research Precinct.
The Waite Institute was established on the site in 1924.
The donation remains one of the largest public benefactions in South Australian history. The objective of the bequest was to advance the cause of education, and more especially, to promote the teaching and study of agriculture, forestry and other related subjects.
The Waite Institute has developed into an integrated research and teaching precinct that has been presented as a model for the collocation of agricultural research institutions. Waite also gave an adjoining estate of 114 acres (46 ha) to the government of South Australia for the purpose of founding an agricultural high school: Urrbrae Agricultural High School.