Sir James Sivewright - May 1902 - Cape Colony

Sir James Sivewright K.C.M.G. (c. 1848–10 September 1916) was a businessman and politician 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 ...

. He was a strong political ally of

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 ...

and, as his cabinet minister, was implicated in the "Logan" corruption scandal that led to the fall of the first Rhodes government.

Early life

James Sivewright was born in

Fochabers Fochabers (; ) is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, east of the cathedral city of Elgin, Moray, Elgin and located on the east bank of the River Spey. 1,728 people live in the village, which enjoys a rich musical and cultu ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Graduating from the University of Aberdeen, he entered the British Postal Service and co-authored the ''Textbook in Telegraphy'', a book that became a standard text book on the topic for a considerable time.

Telegraphy in the Cape

After he worked in India for its telegraph service, he emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1877 and became the general manager of telegraphy. He would retire from the service in 1885. The Cape had recently wrested a degree of independence from Britain under the "

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 ...

" system, and its first

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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 ...

was embarking on a massive expansion in the country's infrastructure. Sivewright was one of the telegraphy experts which the Cape government imported to develop a telecommunications system for the country. From 1877 Sivewright helped to plan and construct the telegraphy networks for the Cape Colony, and then, up until 1881 likewise for the Transvaal, the Natal Colony and the Orange Free State.

Politics and Cecil John Rhodes

In 1887 Sivewright became involved in politics, after he joined the

Afrikaner Bond The Afrikaner Bond (Afrikaans and Dutch for "Afrikaner Union"; South African Dutch: Afrikander Bond) was founded as an anti-imperialist political party in 19th century southern Africa. While its origins were largely in the Orange Free State, i ...

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 ...

, and he was elected as the Bond representative of

Griqualand East Griqualand East (Afrikaans: ''Griekwaland-Oos''), officially known as New Griqualand ( Dutch: ''Nieuw Griqualand''), was one of four short-lived Griqua states in Southern Africa from the early 1860s until the late 1870s and was located between ...

in 1888. Subsequently, he became immensely influential as an agent of the rising Imperialist politician

, within the Afrikaner Bond. He went on to act as an intermediate between Rhodes, and the Bond leader "Onze Jan" Hofmeyr. As Rhodes's right-hand man, he secured the Bond's support for Rhodes to take power in 1890 and become

of the Cape. Throughout his career, Sivewright habitually mixed business and politics. In 1891 he secured an agreement for the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately ow ...

, that gave them a 2-year monopoly on traffic to and from the new goldfields of the Transvaal. As a reward, Sivewright received a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. He also built increasingly powerful links with the principal mining tycoons of southern Africa, such as Barney Barnato. Sivewright's business links gained increasing criticism from opposition politicians who accused him of massive corruption.

The Logan corruption scandal (1892–3)

Prime Minister Gordon Spriggs Cabinet - caricature in Cape Register - 1893

In 1892, he secured a government contract for his friend and associate James Logan which involved a 15-year monopoly on the catering for the nation's Government-run Railway system. The deal was immediately discovered, and a collection of the country's most powerful liberal politicians, including JW Sauer, John X. Merriman and

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 ...

, protested and attacked the deal. Eventually the Rhodes government was forced to cancel the deal, however it nonetheless compensated Logan massively with government money. The liberal politicians then refused to be part of any government that included Sivewright, however Sivewright still had the support of Rhodes and his connections with the Afrikaner Bond which were essential for the maintenance of the Rhodes government. The surrounding scandal, and the stand-off that it caused, led to the fall of the first Rhodes Government. Sivewright then moved to act as a discrete and unofficial railway diplomat.

Progressive Party

After the

Jameson raid The Jameson Raid (Afrikaans: ''Jameson-inval'', , 29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson ...

split apart the Cape political scene and was subsequently revealed to have been a plot by Cecil Rhodes, the

finally split with Rhodes, whose second government fell. Faced with the choice, Sivewright joined the Rhodesian, pro-Imperialist "Progressive Party". The move paid off when Rhodesian Prime Minister

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 ...

gained power, and Sivewright was awarded the Commission of Crown Lands and Public Works. He won a seat for Stellenbosch in 1898, standing as a Progressive, but it was soon discovered that his agents had been bribing voters, and he was consequently deposed.

Later life

Sivewright then traveled back to Britain but nonetheless kept strong political and business links with South Africa. In 1899, he arranged the Bloemfontein Conference, and he had diverse financial interests in southern Africa that he kept for the rest of his life. His reputation for massive corruption never quite faded, and liberal activist

Olive Schreiner Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel '' The Story of an African Farm'' (1883), which has been highly acclaimed. It dea ...

recounts that: ''"when both he (Rhodes) and Sivewright came forward to shake hands, I turned on my heel and went to my house."'' In 1914, he was briefly taken prisoner by the Germans at the beginning of the

First World War 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 ...

, when he was captured while recuperating in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivewright, James Cape Colony politicians Members of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony South African businesspeople People from Fochabers 1840s births 1916 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen