John White was born in Bath, England and trained as a pharmacist in Bristol.
[3] He purchased the retail arm of F. H. Faulding & Co., and set up pharmacies in Graves Street, Kadina from 1919, operated by his son H. G. White, and at Port Lincoln.
[1] He was a member of George Brookman's original Coolgardie Goldmining Prospecting Company Limited,[4] and made a fortune in the gold mines of Western Australia.
He was highly respected as a fine amateur painter and connoisseur, judge and lecturer.
He joined the South Australian Society of Arts when the two clubs merged in 1901 and served as its president 1911–1914; 1919–1921 and 1923–1927.