John Tinline (1821 – 26 February 1907) was a Scottish-born New Zealand sheep farmer, politician, and philanthropist.

After he sold these he visited his home town and gave his Scottish hometown Jedburgh a new park.

[2] On 3 September 1839 Tinline followed his brother and joined a ship, the Bengal Merchant,[3] bound for Sydney.

He was expecting to find his brother in Sydney but George had moved to Adelaide to become the Bank of South Australia's accountant at £400 a year.

[2] Within weeks he had been introduced to others by his cousin, Robert Waitt, and he was a partner in a storekeeping business in Wellington.

In 1844 the governor, Robert FitzRoy, visited Nelson and appreciating Tinline's talents he made him a magistrate and an interpreter for the natives.

[8] He is referred to as John Tinline of Amuri in university notices regarding nationwide prizes set up in his name, for "the student who achieved the highest aggregate marks in Stage III English courses".