Richard Feetham
CMG
CMG may refer to:
Companies
* Capitol Music Group, a music label
* China Media Group, the predominant state radio and television broadcaster in the PRC
* China Media Group Co., Ltd., publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector
* ...
(1874–1965) was a lawyer, politician and judge in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
. He was also the chairman of a number of high-profile international and domestic commissions.
Early life
Feetham was born on 22 November 1874 in
Penrhos, Monmouthshire
Penrhos is a village in the community of Whitecastle in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom.
Location
Penrhos is located three miles north of Raglan.
History and amenities
Penrhos has an old Norman motte and bailey castle site. ...
, the fifth son of the Reverend William and Mary Feetham;
he was educated at
Marlborough College
Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...
and
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...
. He read law in
Lincoln's Inn and was
called to the Bar in 1899. He served with the
Inns of Court Rifles in the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
.
[Papers of the Hon. Richard Feetham, The Bodlean Library](_blank)
/ref> He was one of the young lawyers selected by Lord Milner
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From De ...
to assist him in a policy of reconstruction following the Treaty of Vereeniging
The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other.
This settlement provided f ...
, who became known as "Milner's Kindergarten
Milner's Kindergarten is the informal name of a group of Britons who served in the South African Civil Service under High Commissioner Alfred, Lord Milner, between the Second Boer War and the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910. It ...
".
Legal career
Feetham became deputy town clerk of Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...
in 1902 and town clerk
A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a To ...
the following year. In April 1905, he resigned from the Town Council and joined the South African Bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (un ...
.[
Feetham was, apart from other work as a commissioner, also appointed "to enquire into and report upon the facts relating to the tenure by natives of their lots in the ]Potchefstroom
Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty riv ...
native location" and after he completed this work, its findings were reported in 1906 by the Government Printer, Pretoria. This commission's work was undertaken because of the claims of the residents of the old native location that members of the Town Council (Stadsraad) in 1888 gave them verbal assurances of a perpetual right of occupation of their stands as long as they paid their annual rent.
He was legal adviser to Lord Selborne
Earl of Selborne, in the County of Southampton, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1882 for the lawyer and Liberal politician Roundell Palmer, 1st Baron Selborne, along with the subsidiary title of Viscount Wo ...
, the High Commissioner in 1907 and a member of the Legislative Council of the Transvaal from (1907–1910). In 1915 he was elected to the House of Assembly of South Africa
The House of Assembly (known in Afrikaans as the ''Volksraad'', or "People's Council") was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1981, the sole parliamentary chamber between 1981 and 1984, and latterly the white rep ...
for the Parktown constituency in Johannesburg.[ During ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Feetham was an officer in the South African Cape Corps
The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served.
History
As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape ...
and served in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the histori ...
and Egypt.
He was awarded a CMG
CMG may refer to:
Companies
* Capitol Music Group, a music label
* China Media Group, the predominant state radio and television broadcaster in the PRC
* China Media Group Co., Ltd., publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector
* ...
in 1923 for his services as legal adviser to the High Commissioner for South Africa.
Judicial career
Feetham resigned from Parliament in 1923 to become a judge of the Transvaal Division of the Supreme Court.[ In 1930, he was appointed Judge President of the Natal Provincial Division succeeding Dove Wilson.][ In this role, Feetham was able to show is "towering intellect" and "outstanding leadership qualities" to bring about a change for the better in the status of the Natal Court.
In 1939, Feetham became Judge of Appeal on the South Africa Court of Appeals in ]Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape ...
, South Africa's "judicial capital". He retired in 1945.
University of the Witwatersrand
In 1938, Feetham was elected Vice Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...
, Johannesburg.[ He became Chancellor in 1949.][ He opposed legislation prohibiting the admission of Non-White students to White tertiary institutions. He also played a leading role in the conference between senior members of the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, which led to publication of the booklet ''The Open Universities in South Africa'' (1957).][ He resigned from the position of Chancellor in 1961 and from the University Council two years later.][South African History online entry for Feetham](_blank)
/ref>
Service as commissioner
Feetham served as an international and local commissioner on a number of high-profile commissions.
Feetham Function Committee
He was chairman of the Feetham Function Committee The Feetham Function Committee was one of three British committees which sat in Indian from 1918 to 1919, including also the Southborough Franchise Committee and the Committee on Home Administration The Committee on Home Administration was one of th ...
on Constitutional Reform in India (1918-1919).
Irish Boundary Commission
He was Chairman of the Irish Boundary Commission
The Irish Boundary Commission () met in 1924–25 to decide on the precise delineation of Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, the border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, which ended the Ir ...
(1924-1925) which decided on the precise delineation of the border between the Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
following partition in 1921. Lionel Curtis, Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
's main Irish adviser wrote on the appointment of Feetham:
"Incomparably the best man I know for his purpose is one Richard Feetham KC, legal adviser to the Governor General of South Africa. He is an English trained Barrister and a member of the South African assembly who has been through all our constitutional work since Milner's time. On my advice Montague sent him out to India as chairman of a committee to prepare a scheme for the decentralization of powers of the central government. In four months he solved a problem over which the Government of India had been struggling with for over 20 years."
Despite these glowing references the Boundary Commission's report was completely unacceptable to both Northern Irish and Free State governments, and to Feetham's concern was buried, with neither party even prepared to admit having read it.
Kenya Local Government Commission
In 1926, he was appointed chairman of a commission to consider the development of local government in Kenya, including the ways in which local government could fund itself.
Feetham Report (Shanghai)
In 1930, Feetham was appointed by the Shanghai Municipal Council
The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction ...
to investigate the possibility of the end of extraterritoriality
In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations.
Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...
in China and its effect on the Shanghai International Settlement
The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdict ...
. At the time, the British Government was engaged in negotiations with the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
government of China to bring an end to extraterritoriality
In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations.
Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...
. Feetham proposed that extraterritoriality continue at least in the International Settlement until China could form a united and pacified government with constitutional checks and balances.
Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure Commission
Between 1932 and 1935 he chairman of a commission consider the issues around allowing Asians to owning land in the Transvaal. The Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure Act and its subsequent amendments in 1934, 1935 and 1937 establish statutory segregation of Indians in the Transvaal.South African History online
/ref>
Witwatersrand Land Titles Commission
Between 1946 and 1949 he was chairman of a commission to consider the ownership of land in Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...
.
Death
Feetham died on 5 November 1965 in Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...
, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal).
Publications
* Feetham, Richard: ''Report to the Shanghai Municipal Council'', Shanghai: North-China Daily News and Herald, 1931.
* Great Britain, Francis John Stephens Hopwood Southborough, Richard Feetham, Frederic John Napier Thesiger Chelmsford, William Henry Hoare Vincent, and C. Sankaran Nair: ''East India (Constitutional Reforms: Lord Southborough's Committees)'', London: H.M. Stationery Off, 1919.
* Feetham, Richard: ''Political Apartheid and the Entrenched Clauses of the South Africa Act''; Dr. Malan's "Historical Facts." urban Defenders of the Constitution, 1953.
* Feetham, Richard: ''The High Court of Parliament Act and the Rule of Law'' Durban: Defenders of the Constitution, 1953. Print.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feetham, Richard
1874 births
1965 deaths
Alumni of New College, Oxford
20th-century South African judges
Chancellors of the University of the Witwatersrand