Charles Aken Fairbridge (1824–1893) was a Cape Colony book collector and a conservative member of the

Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope 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 establi ...

Early life

Fairbridge was born in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, the son of recent and relatively affluent British settlers. His father was district surgeon, based in Uitenhage where Charles Aken grew up. In 1837, he was sent by his parents to England to finish his education. Upon his return to the Cape, he became a partner in the law firm Fairbridge, Arderne, and Lawton, with a particular focus on maritime law. He married Sarah R. Anderson, the daughter of William George Anderson, one of the original directors of

Old Mutual Old Mutual (officially Old Mutual Limited) is a South African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group, operating across Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchan ...

; in 1862 they settled in

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is an affluent and densely populated suburb of Cape Town, situated in the Western Cape, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). M ...

, Cape Town.

Political career

Fairbridge had entered the first Cape Parliament in 1854, representing Caledon District until 1858. He was involved in the establishment of the national museum. In 1874 he was requested to re-design the arms 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 ...

, and produced the emblem that was used by the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

up until the late 20th century. In 1874 he also returned to Parliament, this time as one of the members representing Cape Town. He was a strong opponent of the attempts by

Lord Carnarvon Earl of Carnarvon is a title that has been created three times in British history. The current holder is George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. The town and county in Wales to which the title refers are historically spelled Caernarfon, having b ...

in the late 1870s to enforce a British confederation on southern Africa.

Bibliophile

He was chiefly known as a book collector though, with an enormous library of considerable value. It was later donated to the South African Library. Fairbridge died on 4 July 1893, after returning from a holiday in

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbridge, Charles 1824 births 1893 deaths Cape Colony politicians Members of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony Book and manuscript collectors Cape Colony lawyers