Richard Stuttaford (13 June 1870 – 19 October 1945) was a South African businessman and parliamentarian.

Life and work

Stuttaford was the son of Samson Rickard Stuttaford, the founder of the

Stuttafords Stuttaford's was a chain of upscale department stores in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia that operated for 159 years from 1858 through 2017. It was nicknamed the "Harrod's of South Africa". At closing it had seven stores in South Africa, t ...

department store chain. He was educated in England and France and joined the firm Thorne, Stuttaford & Co. in 1892, which his father co-founded with Sir William Thorne. He became the head of the company in 1917. Stuttaford was a member of the Cape Town City Council and the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce, holding the position of the chairman of the latter from 1918 until 1920). He was the chairman of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa from 1921 until 1923. Stuttaford was not initially interested in public affairs, but at the age of 54, he was elected to the Union Assembly as the representative from

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region New Zealand * Newlands, Wellington, a suburb of Wellington South Africa * Newlands, Cape Town, a suburb of Cape Town * Newlands, Johannesbur ...

, against the Constitutional Democrat, C.A. Lagesen. In 1929 he was elected unopposed from the same constituency and in 1933 he was again re-elected unopposed, but this time as

South African Party nl, Zuidafrikaanse Partij , leader1_title = Leader (s) , leader1_name = Louis Botha,Jan Smuts, Barry Hertzog , foundation = , dissolution = , merger = Het Volk South African PartyAfrikaner BondOrangia Unie , merged ...

coalition candidate from Claremont after Newlands was dissolved because of redemarcation. In 1938 he won as a candidate of the United Party in Claremont against E.M.O. Clough from the

Dominion Party The Dominion Party was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, led by Winston Field. History The party was established in 1956 by a merger of several political groups and the remains of the Confederate Party, which had d ...

. His knowledge of commerce was useful in the Union Assembly, and

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

invited him to participate in negotiations with British commercial authorities in Ottawa. He served as a minister without portfolio from 1933 until 1936. Between 1936 and 1939 he was the minister of social welfare, and from 1939 until 1942, the minister of trade and industry in Smuts' war cabinet. Stuttaford founded a garden village named Pinelands near

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1920, which is now a suburb of Cape Town. Stuttaford's Department Store, in

, was designed by the Scottish architect, Louis David Blanc (Harrod's in-house architect) in 1938.Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Blanc Stuttaford died in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

in 1945.

References

* Potgieter, D.J. (red.) 1972.

Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa The ''Standard Encyclopædia of Southern Africa'' (''SESA'') is a 12-volume encyclopaedia that is principally about the Republic of South Africa and nearby countries. About 1400 people contributed to the encyclopaedia. The first two volumes wer ...

. Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou). * Rosenthal, Eric. 1978. Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa. Cape Town and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

: Juta and Company Limited. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuttaford, Richard 1870 births 1945 deaths South African politicians Politicians from Cape Town Cape Colony people