Sir William Bisset Berry (26 July 1839 – 8 June 1922) was a Scots-born South African politician and the fourth Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

Early life

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he was the son of James Berry. He graduated M.A. at

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has been the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. The building was constructed for and is on long-term lease fr ...

in 1858, and M.D. in 1861.''Illustrated London News'', 27 April 1901 Bisset Berry came to the

in 1864 as a ship's surgeon and settled in

Queenstown, Eastern Cape Queenstown, officially Komani, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom on the N6 national route. The town was established in 1853 and is cu ...

. His engagement to

Agnes Baden-Powell Agnes Smyth Baden-Powell (16 December 1858 – 2 June 1945) was the younger sister of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, and was most noted for her work in establishing the Girl Guide movement as a female counterpart to her older bro ...

was announced in The Illustrated London News of 27 April 1901, but they never married.

Politics

He later became Queenstown's mayor and was elected as its representative in the

Cape Parliament The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope functioned as the legislature of the Cape Colony, from its founding in 1853, until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it was dissolved and the Parliament of South Africa was establish ...

in 1894.

Speaker of the Cape Parliament

Although he hated publicity, Berry was an engaging public speaker and a skilled debater. When there was a vacancy for the position of Speaker of Parliament, he was elected unopposed in 1898, even though he had only 4 years of parliamentary experience and his command of the

Afrikaans language Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento that speaks the Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutc ...

was small. He lamented his inexperience and lack of qualifications, but showed himself to be decisive and firm when necessary. He presided over the votes of no confidence in Sprigg's government and the application of martial law in the Cape Colony. In 1902, he distinguished himself with his strong opposition to the attempt by the British Colonial Office to suspend the Cape constitution. Berry sought re-election in 1908, but was not returned to office (only being re-elected as an ordinary member in the 1910 election). The young James Molteno was elected to replace him as Speaker.

Early life

Politics

Speaker of the Cape Parliament

See also

References

Further reading