Colin Graham Botha (born

Knysna Knysna (; ) is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It is situated 60 kilometres east of the c ...

15 August 1883; died

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

1 February 1973) was a South African civil servant, historian, archivist, heraldist, soldier and South African Freemason.

Soldier

He served in home defence units in the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

(1899-1902) and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1914-18). After the world war, he was an officer in the

Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles The Chief Langalibalele Rifles (formerly known as the Cape Town Rifles and Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles) is a reserve infantry regiment of the South African Army. History Origin The Regiment was founded on 28 November 1855, as the Cape Rifle ...

, and commanded the regiment, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, from 1935 to 1937. He was awarded the

Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration The Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration, post-nominal letters VD, was established in 1899 as recognition for long and meritorious service as a part-time commissioned officer in any of the organized military forces of the British Colo ...

for long service.Orpen, N. (1985). ''The Dukes''.

Historian and archivist

Botha joined the Cape Colony's civil service in a temporary capacity in 1901, and was appointed to the permanent staff in 1903. Kilpin, E. (Ed) (1910). ''Cape of Good Hope Civil Service List 1910''. He worked in the office of the Master of the Supreme Court, and passed the Civil Service Law Examination in 1904. He also worked part-time in the Colonial Archives, and moved there permanently in 1912. He was head of the Cape Archives Depot from 1912 until 1944. He was also the first Chief Archivist of South Africa from 1919 to 1944. As such, he drafted the Public Archives Act 1922, for which he has been called "the father of the South African archives".''Dictionary of South African Biography'' Volume 5. Botha published numerous books and articles on South African historical subjects. They include ''The French Refugees'' (1919), ''Social Life in Cape Colony in the Eighteenth Century'' (1926) and ''Our South Africa, Past and Present'' (1938). His writings were re-published in 1962 as ''The Collected Works of C. Graham Botha'', in three volumes. He was a member of the Historical Monuments Commission, the

Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns The Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) (literally ''South African Academy for Science and Arts'') is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to promoting science, technology and the arts in Afrikaans, as well as promoting ...

, and various historical and literary societies in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Netherlands. Botha received three honorary degrees : Master of Arts from

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

in 1936, and doctorates from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

in 1943 and the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

in 1952.

Heraldist

Botha was interested in heraldry, and dealt with many heraldic enquries at the Archives. He designed some coats of arms, including those of

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

(1951). He was a founding member of the Heraldry Society of Southern Africa, its first chairman from 1953 to 1954, and its honorary life president from 1954 to 1973. Laing, R.A. (1999). 'South African heraldic writers of the 20th century : enthusiastic amateurs' i
''South African Journal of Cultural History'' Vol 13 No 2.
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Freemason

He was an active freemason for many years, and was the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of South Africa after it separated from the Netherlandic order in 1961.

Personal life

He was born to Michael Christiaan Botha and Elizabeth Mary Young. He married three times. He was married to Olive Stretch Honeyborne, Dorothea Johnson, and Kathleen Helen Gordon Bartlett.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Colin Graham South African heraldists South African civil servants White South African people 1883 births 1973 deaths South African Freemasons Presidents of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science