Tait was born in
Castlemaine, Victoria, the son of John Turnbull Tait (1830–1902), a tailor from
Scalloway,
Shetland Islands, Scotland, and his English wife Sarah, née Leeming. He migrated to Victoria in 1862 and settled at Castlemaine where he married Sarah. They had nine children: including Charles (1868–1933), John (1871–1955), James Nevin (1876–1961), Edward Joseph (1878–1947) and Frank Samuel (1883–1965) (later Sir Frank). John was educated at Castlemaine State School before the Taits moved in about 1879 to Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. John Henry Tait originally worked as a lawyer before going into the theatre. He managed Dame
Nellie Melba's 1902 tour of Australia for
George Musgrove. He later became a concert promoter. In March 1911, Tait and his brother
Nevin, and
Millard Johnson and
William Gibson merged their film interests in
Amalgamated Pictures and became a noted theatre producer. ==References==