John William Jagger (20 September 1859,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

- 20 June 1930,

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 ...

) was a South African businessman and cabinet minister. He emigrated to South Africa in 1880 and became a clerk in a business in

. In 1883 he established his own business as an importer of fabrics and laid the foundation for the later well-known firm by his name. He took an active interest in the economy and became a spokesman for trade. In November 1902 he became a member of the Cape Legislative Assembly (where he was a strong supporter of free trade) for Cape Town Central in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

. From 1908 to 1909 he was a member of the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

which drafted the

South Africa Act The South Africa Act 1909 ( 9 Edw. 7. c. 9) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape, Natal, Orange River, and Transvaal colonies. The act also allowed for potential admis ...

and paved the way for

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

. He was re-elected as a Member of the Union in the 1915 election. In 1921 he became Minister of Railways in Gen.

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

's cabinet, during which he had to carry out the unpopular policy of retrenchments. He contributed extensively to educational causes, including the

Jagger Library The Jagger Library (also known as the Jagger Reading Room, previously known as the J. W. Jagger Linear Library) was the main Reference library, reading room of the University of Cape Town Libraries. The building was constructed in the 1930s, name ...

at 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 ...

, which is named after him. He died in 1930 in Cape Town. File:Smuts_Cabinet_1923.jpg, Smuts Cabinet c1923 File:FeesMustFall_protests_at_UCT_-_the_second_day_of_protests_01_(cropped).JPG, Jagger Library as it appeared during a protest in 2015

References

Sources

* Albertyn, dr. C.F. (ed.) 1962. ''Die Afrikaanse Kinderensiklopedie''. Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg: National Bookshop Ltd. * Rosenthal, Eric. 1978. '' Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa ''. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Juta and Company Limited. British emigrants to the Cape Colony 1859 births 1930 deaths South African Party (Union of South Africa) politicians {{WesternCape-politician-stub