The Reform Committee was an organisation of prominent

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 ...

citizens that existed late 1895 and early 1896. John Hays Hammond appearing before the Commission on Industrial Relations in 1915

The

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

gold rush had brought in a considerable foreign population, which was chiefly British although there were substantial minorities from other nations. The

Boers Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

referred to them as '' Uitlanders'' (foreigners). The immigrants, who were by far the wealthiest part of the community, formed a Reform Committee headed by

Lionel Phillips Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet (6 August 1855 – 2 July 1936) was a British-born South African financier, mining magnate and politician. Early life Phillips was born in London on 6 August 1855 to Phillip Phillips, a trader, and his wife J ...

, Charles Leonard, Colonel Frank Rhodes (brother of Cecil),

John Hays Hammond John Hays Hammond (March 31, 1855 – June 8, 1936) was an American mining engineer, diplomat, and philanthropist. He amassed a sizable fortune before the age of 40. An early advocate of deep mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Cecil R ...

, Chief mining engineer from California Victor Clement, and a few others. They demanded a stable constitution, a fair franchise law, an independent judiciary and a better educational system. The government, under President

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger, was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State Preside ...

, made promises but failed to keep them. Some members of the Committee had been instrumental in the preparation for 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 ...

Leander Starr Jameson Sir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, (9 February 1853 – 26 November 1917), also known as Starr Jameson, was a British colonial politician, who was best known for his involvement in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. Early life and family He w ...

had been in charge of

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...

but overstepped his authority and invaded Transvaal with 1,500 troops. That greatly exacerbated the many adverse conditions that would lead to both the

Second Matabele War The Second Matabele War, also known as the First Chimurenga, was fought between 1896 and 1897 in the region that later became Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The conflict was initially between the British South Africa Company and the Mata ...

and the

Second 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 and ...

. Upon Jameson's capture and surrender to the forces of the

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

(the Transvaal) in December 1895, the Committee took charge of the peace and security of Johannesburg before it conceded control back to the Boer authorities some days later. For conspiring with Jameson, the members of the Reform Committee were charged, confined in deplorable conditions and finally found guilty of

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

against the Transvaal. Many received severe sentences, including death, but the majority of the membership escaped with high fines in January 1896. When a second trial of the Reform Committee was called in late April, the leaders were condemned to death by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

, but punishments were commuted to fines and imprisonment the next day as a gesture of magnanimity on the part of President Kruger and his government. For the next few weeks, the Reform Committee leaders were jailed in deplorable conditions, and some, including Hammond, nearly died. In May it was announced that the Reform Committee leaders would have to spend 15 years in prison, but by mid-June, Kruger had released Hammond and the final six Reform Committee members still in jail after each had paid a $125,000 fine.

Bibliography

* ''The truth about the Jameson raid'', by

(1918) * ''The Autobiography of John Hays Hammond'', volumes 1 and 2, (1935) * Rhoodie, DO - ''Conspirators in Conflict: A Study of the Johannesburg Reform Committee and its Role in the Conspiracy Against the South African Republic'', Tafelberg-Uitgewers (1967)

References

{{Political history of South Africa 1895 in the South African Republic History of Johannesburg Civic and political organisations based in Johannesburg 1896 in the South African Republic

See also

Bibliography

References