John Plimmer (28 June 1812 – 5 January 1905) was an English settler and entrepreneur in New Zealand who has been called the "Father of Wellington".

He practised the trades at Willenhall, Staffordshire from after his father moved there until his own emigration and it was at Birmingham in that area he first married, to Mary Roden who was a probable cousin, in 1833.

As an entrepreneur in 1851 he purchased the stranded whaling ship Inconstant and converted the hull into a warehouse and one of the first piers in Wellington.

It became known as "Plimmer's Ark", a centre of business in early Wellington, used as an auction house, customs office and lighthouse.

[3] In 1885 Janet Plimmer was the founding secretary for the Wellington branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand.