This article lists the governors of British South African colonies, including the colonial prime ministers. It encompasses the period from 1797 to 1910, when present-day South Africa was divided into four British colonies namely: Cape Colony (preceded by Dutch Cape Colony), Natal Colony, Orange River Colony and Transvaal Colony.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/SouthAfrica1885.svg/220px-SouthAfrica1885.svg.png)
After the colonies were disestablished as a result of the creation of the Union of South Africa, the area was divided into four provinces of the Union: Cape Province, Natal Province, Orange Free State Province and Transvaal Province.
Cape Colony
editGovernors
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Governors | |||
5 May 1797 to 20 November 1798 | George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney | Known for the 1793 Macartney Embassy to China | |
20 November 1798 to 9 December 1799 | Francis Dundas | 1st time, acting | |
10 December 1799 to 20 April 1801 | Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet | ||
21 April 1801 to 20 February 1803 | Francis Dundas | 2nd time, acting | |
Commissioner-general | |||
21 February 1803 to 25 September 1804 | Jacob Abraham de Mist | Represented the Batavian Republic | |
Governors | |||
1 March 1803 to 18 January 1806 | Jan Willem Janssens | Represented the Batavian Republic | |
10 January 1806 to 17 January 1807 | Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet | Military governor, acting | |
17 January 1807 to 21 May 1807 | Henry George Grey | 1st time, acting | |
22 May 1807 to 4 July 1811 | Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon | ||
5 July 1811 to 5 September 1811 | Henry George Grey | 2nd time, acting | |
6 September 1811 to 6 April 1814 | John Cradock, 1st Baron Howden | ||
18 October 1813 to 7 January 1814 | Robert Meade | Acting for Cradock; son of Theodosia, Countess of Clanwilliam | |
6 April 1814 to 5 March 1826 | Lord Charles Somerset | ||
13 January 1820 to 30 November 1821 | Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin | Acting for Somerset | |
5 March 1826 to 9 September 1828 | Richard Bourke | Acting | |
9 September 1828 to 10 August 1833 | Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole | ||
10 August 1833 to 16 January 1834 | Thomas Francis Wade | Acting (for D'Urban from 10 January 1834) | |
10 January 1834 to 20 January 1838 | Sir Benjamin D'Urban | ||
22 January 1838 to 18 March 1844 | Sir George Thomas Napier | ||
18 March 1844 to 27 January 1847 | Sir Peregrine Maitland | ||
Governors and High Commissioners for Southern Africa | |||
27 January 1847 to 1 December 1847 | Sir Henry Pottinger | ||
1 December 1847 to 31 March 1852 | Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet | ||
31 March 1852 to 26 May 1854 | George Cathcart | ||
26 May 1854 to 5 December 1854 | Charles Henry Darling | Acting | |
5 December 1854 to 15 August 1861 | Sir George Grey | ||
20 August 1859 to 4 July 1860 | Robert Wynyard | 1st time, acting for Grey | |
15 August 1861 to 15 January 1862 | 2nd time, acting | ||
15 January 1862 to 20 May 1870 | Sir Philip Wodehouse | ||
20 May 1870 to 31 December 1870 | Charles Craufurd Hay | Acting | |
31 December 1870 to 31 March 1877 | Sir Henry Barkly | ||
31 March 1877 to 15 September 1880 | Sir Henry Bartle Frere | Known for initiating the Anglo-Zulu War and the First Boer War | |
15 September 1880 to 27 September 1880 | Henry Hugh Clifford | Acting | |
27 September 1880 to 22 January 1881 | Sir George Strahan | Acting | |
22 January 1881 to 1 May 1889 | Sir Hercules Robinson | 1st time | |
30 April 1881 to August 1881 | Sir Leicester Smyth | 1st time, acting for Robinson | |
25 April 1883 to 26 March 1884 | 2nd time, acting for Robinson | ||
7 April 1886 to 7 July 1886 | Sir Henry Torrens | Acting for Robinson | |
1 May 1889 to 13 December 1889 | Henry Augustus Smyth | Acting | |
13 December 1889 to 30 May 1895 | Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch | ||
14 January 1891 to 1 December 1892 | Sir William Gordon Cameron | 1st time, acting for Loch | |
May 1894 to July 1894 | 2nd time, acting for Loch | ||
30 May 1895 to 21 April 1897 | Sir Hercules Robinson | 2nd time; from 10 August 1896, Hercules Robinson, Baron Rosmead | |
21 April 1897 to 5 May 1897 | Sir William Howley Goodenough | Acting | |
5 May 1897 to 6 March 1901 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | ||
2 November 1898 to 14 February 1899 | Sir William Butler | Acting for Milner | |
6 March 1901 to 31 May 1910 | Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson | ||
17 June 1909 to 21 September 1909 | Sir Henry Scobell | Acting for Hely-Hutchinson |
Prime Ministers
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 December 1872 to 5 February 1878 | John Charles Molteno | n-p | ||
6 February 1878 to 8 May 1881 | John Gordon Sprigg | n-p | 1st time | |
9 May 1881 to 12 May 1884 | Thomas Charles Scanlen | n-p | ||
13 May 1884 to 24 November 1886 | Thomas Upington | n-p | ||
25 November 1886 to 16 July 1890 | Sir John Gordon Sprigg | n-p | 2nd time | |
17 July 1890 to 12 January 1896 | Cecil Rhodes | n-p | Resigned in the aftermath of the Jameson Raid | |
13 January 1896 to 13 October 1898 | Sir John Gordon Sprigg | n-p | 3rd time | |
13 October 1898 to 17 June 1900 | William Schreiner | n-p | ||
18 June 1900 to 21 February 1904 | Sir John Gordon Sprigg | PP | 4th time | |
22 February 1904 to 2 February 1908 | Leander Starr Jameson | PP | Leader of the Jameson Raid | |
3 February 1908 to 31 May 1910 | John X. Merriman | SAP |
Natal Colony
editGovernors
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Special Commissioner | |||
10 May 1843 to 31 May 1844 | Henry Cloete | ||
31 May 1844 to 4 December 1845 | direct rule by Cape Colony | During this time, Sir Peregrine Maitland served as the governor of Cape Colony | |
Lieutenant-governors | |||
4 December 1845 to 1 August 1849 | Martin Thomas West | ||
19 April 1850 to 3 Mar 1855 | Benjamin Pine | 1st time | |
5 November 1856 to 31 December 1864 | John Scott | ||
31 December 1864 to 26 July 1865 | John Maclean | ||
26 July 1865 to 26 August 1865 | John Wellesley Thomas | Acting | |
26 August 1865 to 24 May 1867 | John Jarvis Bisset | Acting | |
24 May 1867 to 19 July 1872 | Robert William Keate | ||
19 July 1872 to 30 April 1873 | Anthony Musgrave | ||
30 April 1873 to 22 July 1873 | Thomas Milles | Acting | |
22 July 1873 to 1 April 1875 | Sir Benjamin Pine | 2nd time | |
1 April 1875 to 3 September 1875 | Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley | Acting | |
3 September 1875 to 20 April 1880 | Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer | 1st time | |
20 April 1880 to 5 May 1880 | William Bellairs | Acting | |
5 May 1880 to 2 July 1880 | Henry Hugh Clifford | Acting | |
Governors | |||
2 July 1880 to 27 February 1881 | Sir George Pomeroy Colley | ||
17 August 1880 to 14 September 1880 | Henry Alexander | Acting for Colley | |
27 February 1881 to 3 April 1881 | Sir Evelyn Wood | Acting | |
3 April 1881 to 9 August 1881 | Redvers Buller | Acting | |
22 December 1881 to 6 March 1882 | Charles Mitchell | 1st time, acting | |
6 March 1882 to 23 October 1885 | Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer | 2nd time | |
18 February 1886 to 5 June 1889 | Sir Arthur Havelock | ||
1 December 1889 to July 1893 | Charles Mitchell | 2nd time | |
July 1893 to 27 September 1893 | Francis Seymour Haden | Acting | |
28 September 1893 to 6 May 1901 | Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson | ||
13 May 1901 to 7 June 1907 | Sir Henry McCallum | ||
2 September 1907 to 23 December 1909 | Sir Matthew Nathan | ||
17 January 1910 to 31 May 1910 | Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen |
Prime Ministers
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
10 October 1893 to 14 February 1897 | Sir John Robinson | n-p | ||
15 February 1897 to 4 October 1897 | Harry Escombe | n-p | ||
5 October 1897 to 8 June 1899 | Sir Henry Binns | n-p | ||
9 June 1899 to 17 August 1903 | Sir Albert Henry Hime | n-p | ||
18 August 1903 to 16 May 1905 | George Morris Sutton | n-p | ||
16 May 1905 to 28 November 1906 | Charles John Smythe | n-p | ||
28 November 1906 to 28 April 1910 | Frederick Moor | n-p |
Orange River Colony
editGovernors
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
23 June 1902 to 1 April 1905 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | Simultaneously served as the governor of Transvaal Colony | |
2 April 1905 to 7 June 1907 | William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne | ||
7 June 1907 to 31 May 1910 | Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams |
Prime Minister
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
27 November 1907 to 31 May 1910 | Abraham Fischer | ORU | Later served as the Minister of the Interior Affairs of South Africa, from 1912 to 1913 |
Transvaal Colony
editGovernors of the Transvaal
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
First annexation | |||
Administrators | |||
12 April 1877 to 4 March 1879 | Sir Theophilus Shepstone | ||
4 March 1879 to 8 August 1881 | Owen Lanyon | From 6 April 1880, Sir William Owen Lanyon; acting for Wolseley 29 September 1879 – 27 April 1880 | |
Governor | |||
29 September 1879 to 27 April 1880 | Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley | ||
Second annexation | |||
Administrator | |||
4 January 1901 to 23 June 1902 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | Simultaneously served as the Administrator of Orange River Colony | |
Governors | |||
21 June 1902 to 1 April 1905 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | Simultaneously served as the governor of Orange River Colony | |
2 April 1905 to 31 May 1910 | William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne |
Lieutenant-Governors of the Transvaal
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Second annexation | |||
Lieutenant-Governors | |||
29 September 1902 to 4 December 1905 | Sir Arthur Lawley | Appointed Governor of Madras | |
23 March 1906 to January 1907 | Sir Richard Solomon | Acting for Selborne 4 December 1905 to 2 October 1906 |
Prime Minister of the Transvaal
editTenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
4 March 1907 to 31 May 1910 | Louis Botha | HV | Afterwards served as the first Prime Minister of South Africa, from 1910 to 1919 |
See also
editReferences
edit- Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. . In
- Ingram, Joseph Forsyth (1895). The Colony of Natal: An Official Illustrated Handbook and Railway Guide. London: J. Causton and Sons. p. 26. OCLC 813121.
- "Governors & Administrators of Natal". Natal Almanac, Directory and Yearly Register. No. 35. Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons. 1897. p. 304.
- "South Africa: Cape Colony", worldstatesmen.org © Ben Cahoon.
- "South Africa: Natal Colony", worldstatesmen.org © Ben Cahoon.
- "South Africa: Orange Free State", worldstatesmen.org © Ben Cahoon.
- "South Africa: Transvaal", worldstatesmen.org © Ben Cahoon.