Charles William Hutton MLC (13 July 1826 – 1 February 1905) was a Member of the Cape Legislative Council and the country's Treasurer General during the Government of Prime Minister

Thomas Scanlen Sir Thomas Charles Scanlen (9 July 1834 – 15 December 1912) was a politician and Administrator of the Government, administrator of the British Cape Colony, Cape Colony. He was briefly Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, from 1881 to 1884, duri ...

Early life

The second son of the Rev. Henry Hutton, sometime Rector of Filleigh, Devon, born on 13 July 1826, in Beaumont, Essex, Hutton left England and arrived in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

in March 1844 with his elder brother Henry. The two brothers intended to work as sheep farmers. He first began work as a sheep-shearer, then found work on John Pringle's farm "Glen Thorn". He then managed the farm "Klip Kraal", near Cradock, which belonged to the great Baronet and frontier leader Sir Andries Stockenström. At this time he also became an overall assistant to Stockenström. It was there that he met Stockenstrom's eldest daughter Elizabeth Maria Henrietta, who was later to become his wife in 1852, when they married at St Saviours in Claremont, Cape Town. In the 1850s he studied privately, whilst working, eventually becoming qualified as a notary public and sworn translator in Somerset East. He moved to Bedford in 1856 to start a business as auctioneer. Then as Justice of the peace he eventually published several compilations of laws and legal reports - particularly pertaining to liquor laws. He eventually became Esquire of Stockdale, Somerset East.

Political career

Orange Free State

In the 1860s and 70s he served in the Volksraad (parliament) of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

, which was at the time an independent republic. In 1869, he headed a commission that demarcated the Free State's borders with the Cape Colony. In 1870, he was deputed by the Volksraad, together with

Johannes Brand Sir Johannes Henricus Brand, (popularly known as Sir Jan Brand and sometimes as Sir John Henry Brand or Jan Henrick Brand; 6 December 1823 – 14 July 1888) was a lawyer and politician who served as the fourth President (government title), ...

, to argue the case of the Free State for possession of the diamond fields of

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

Legislative Council and Treasurer (1879-1884)

CW Hutton on left and John Molteno - WH Schroder -1882

He was elected to 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 1878, as the Member for the North Eastern Circle (Province) in the upper Legislative Council. On the fall of the disastrous government of Prime Minister

John Gordon Sprigg Sir John Gordon Sprigg, (27 April 1830 – 4 February 1913) was an English-born colonial administrator and politician who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony on four occasions. Early life Sprigg was born in Ipswich, England, into a ...

, locally-born

Thomas Charles Scanlen Sir Thomas Charles Scanlen (9 July 1834 – 15 December 1912) was a politician and administrator of the Cape Colony. He was briefly Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, from 1881 to 1884, during an especially turbulent period in the Cape's histor ...

took over government of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1881, he selected Hutton as his Treasurer General, with the job of recovering the country's collapsed finances, devastated by the wars and mismanagement of the previous Ministry. Hutton was faced by a massive shortfall in government revenue and a large accumulation of debt. He worked closely with the architect of

Responsible Government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

, the Cape's first Prime Minister

John Molteno Sir John Charles Molteno (; 5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a politician and businessman who served as the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1872 to 1878. Early life Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molten ...

, who briefly came out of retirement to assist him and Scanlen. By the end of the following year the government's finances were overhauled and the deficit was largely under control. In spite of his relative success as Treasurer, he lost his constituency seat in the Legislative Council at the end of 1883 and consequently his government position by February 1884. He was replaced by the young

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( ; 5 July 185326 March 1902) was an English-South African mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded th ...

, an ambitious imperialist who detested the cautious Hutton (referring to him in his letters as an "Old Woman").

Interlude

After retiring from government, Hutton edited the autobiography of his father-in-law Stockenstrom in 1887. He also became a trustee for Gill College in Somerset East. At this time he also moved permanently to

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 ...

, where he bought and built up the property "Sandown Lodge" in

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch ...

Legislative Assembly and Opposition (1886-1898)

He was re-elected in 1886, this time to the Legislative Assembly (lower house) representing the district of

Fort Beaufort Fort Beaufort ( Xhosa: iBhofolo), officially renamed KwaMaqoma in March 2023, is a town in the Amatole District of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and had a population of 25,668 in 2011. The town was established in 1837 and became a mun ...

, and was one of the chief critics of the government of

in the 1890s. Hutton was a strong and consistent advocate for expanded rights and representation for the Black African citizens of the Cape. In fighting Rhodes, and particularly Rhodes's discriminatory "native policy", he joined a small but powerful group of liberal leaders, comprising John X. Merriman, JW Sauer,

James Rose Innes Sir James Rose Innes (8 January 1855 – 16 January 1942) was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1914 to 1927 and, in the view of many, its greatest ever judge. Before becoming a judge he was a member of the Cape Parliament, the Cape Colony ...

and William Hay. Hutton was a frequent speaker, known as a reasonable moderate. He gave up his seat when he decided not to stand in the 1898 election.RI Rotberg: ''The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power'' Oxford University Press. 1990. p.451.

Later life

Hutton died in 1905, leaving a portion of his estate to become a scholarship at Lovedale College (the "Hutton Scholarship")

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Charles William 1826 births 1905 deaths Members of the Volksraad of the Orange Free State Members of the Legislative Council of the Cape Colony