Johannes Hermanus Grobler (23 December 1795 – 28 May 1876) was a

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

politician who served as the acting President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic from 15 September until 6 December 1860.

Life

Grobler was the brother-in-law of

Andries Potgieter Andries Hendrik Potgieter, known as Hendrik Potgieter (19 December 1792 – 16 December 1852) was a Voortrekker leader and the last known Champion of the Potgieter family. He served as the first head of state of Potchefstroom from 1840 and 1845 ...

, a leader of the

Great Trek The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyon ...

and thus he followed him in 1838 into the Transvaal region. He was the first

Landdrost {{Use dmy dates, date=December 2020 ''Landdrost'' was the title of various officials with local jurisdiction in the Netherlands and a number of former territories in the Dutch Empire. The term is a Dutch compound, with ''land'' meaning "region" an ...

in both Potchefstroom as well as

Ohrigstad Ohrigstad (Afrikaans for ''Ohrig city''), formerly Andries Orieg Stad, is a small town to the north of Lydenburg in the Limpopo province, South Africa. History A fort was established by a group of Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Hend ...

and in 1852 he was one of the signatories of the

Sand River Convention The Sand River Convention ( af, Sandrivierkonvensie) of 17 January 1852 was a convention whereby the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland formally recognised the independence of the Boers north of the Vaal River. Background The conven ...

, which recognised

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

independence from Britain.Swart, M.J., e.a. (red.): ''Afrikaanse Kultuuralmanak''. Aucklandpark: Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge, 1980, p.321.

Presidency

In 1860, Grobler became the acting President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic due to the deceleration by the Volksraad (parliament) that

Marthinus Wessel Pretorius Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (17 September 1819 – 19 May 1901) was a South African political leader. An Afrikaner (or "Boer"), he helped establish the South African Republic (''Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek'' or ZAR; also referred to as Transva ...

was not allowed to be the simultaneous president of the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

as well as the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

. In December of the same year, Grobler was ousted in a coup d'état by

Stephanus Schoeman Stephanus Schoeman (14 March 1810 – 19 June 1890) was President of the South African Republic from 6 December 1860 until 17 April 1862. His red hair, fiery temperament and vehement disputes with other Boer leaders earned him t ...

which was the catalyst for the

Transvaal Civil War The Transvaal Civil War was a series of skirmishes during the early 1860s in the South African Republic, or Transvaal, in the area now comprising the Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West provinces of South Africa. It began after the Bri ...

which eventually led to the defeat of Schoeman by

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South African Republic, South Africa, and President of the So ...

. Grobler died in 1876 on his farm called Waterval in the Rustenburg District of the ZAR.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grobler, Johannes Hermanus 19th-century South African people 1795 births 1876 deaths Afrikaner people Presidents of the South African Republic South African people of Dutch descent South African Republic politicians

Life

Presidency

See also

References