Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957) was a South African

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mining

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, who controlled

De Beers The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...

and founded the

Anglo American Corporation Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British de ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Career

Ernest Oppenheimer was born in Friedberg,

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, to a German-Jewish family. He was the son of Edward Oppenheimer, a

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

merchant, and his wife, Nanette (née Hirschhorn) Oppenheimer. He began his working life at 17, when he entered Dunkelsbuhler & Company, a diamond brokerage in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His efforts impressed his employer and in 1902, at the age of 22, he was sent to South Africa to represent the

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

as a buyer in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, of which he went on to become the mayor from 1912 to 1915. In this role, he helped raise the manpower for the Kimberley Regiment for service during

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 ...

He became great friends with William Lincoln Honnold, an American engineer and chairman of Transvaal Coal Trust, Brakpan Mines, Springs Mines and The New Era Company. In 1917, they launched the

with financial assistance from

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...

. He was knighted in 1921. The initial capital was £1 million. Half of the capital was subscribed in the United States and half in the United Kingdom and South Africa.H. F. Oppenheimer, R. B. Hagart, W. D. Wilson, Francis Whitmore, H. MacConachie, Dr. J. E. Holloway,
Optima
', September 1967 Volume seventeen number three, Commemorates the Fiftieth Anniversary of Anglo American Corporation September 25th 1967, p. 97. He would remain as a permanent director and its chairman until 1953. In 1919, two years after its launch, Anglo American purchased diamond mines in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

, which would pose a challenge to the

diamond business monopoly. In the

1924 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 17 June 1924, electing 135 members of the House of Assembly. Considered a realigning election, rising discontent with the government of Jan Smuts led to the defeat of his government by a coalition ...

Oppenheimer stood for, and was elected to, 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 ...

as the Member for Kimberley. He held the seat until 1938. In 1927, Oppenheimer managed to gain control of the late

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 ...

' De Beers empire, building and consolidating the company's global monopoly over the world's diamond industry until his retirement. He gained the chairmanship of De Beers in 1929. Over the course of his chairmanship, Oppenheimer was involved in a number of controversies, including price fixing,

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

behaviour, and an allegation of not releasing industrial diamonds for the U.S. war effort during

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising ...

. In 1952, he was appointed as a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Personal life

Ernest Oppenheimer married Mary Lina Pollak in 1906 in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

ceremony in

, with a marriage certificate issued by

West London Synagogue The West London Synagogue, abbreviated WLS, and fully the West London Synagogue of British Jews () is a Reform Judaism, Reform Judaism, Jewish congregation and synagogue, located near Marble Arch, at 34 Upper Berkeley Street, in the City of Wes ...

, a prominent

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

synagogue.Feinberg, Tali (29 June 2023)
Oppenheimer’s Jewish facet shines brightly
''The South African Jewish Report''. Retrieved on 11 February 2025 The couple had two sons. In 1921, he was

knighted 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 ...

for his role in the war. He therefore had the honorific title

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

. However, Lady Oppenheimer died in 1934. The following year, he married Caroline Magdalen Oppenheimer (née Harvey), widow of Sir Michael, 2nd Baronet Oppenheimer of Stoke Poges. He died in

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 ...

in 1957. Although he was born into a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family, he converted to

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

in adulthood. His ashes were interred in a niche of the

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

at Parktown St George's Church,

Parktown Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the first suburb north of the inner city (both chronologically and geographically). It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Gauteng, Parkview, Pa ...

. He was succeeded in the business by his son,

Harry Oppenheimer Harry Frederick Oppenheimer OMSG (28 October 1908 – 19 August 2000) was a prominent South African businessman, industrialist and philanthropist. Oppenheimer was often ranked as one of the wealthiest people in the world, and was considered S ...

. Oppenheimer's brother, Sir Bernard Oppenheimer, was also heavily involved in the diamond industry, himself dying in 1921.

Legacy

In 1964, the

Oppenheimer Diamond The Oppenheimer Diamond, a nearly perfectly formed yellow diamond crystal, is one of the largest uncut diamonds in the world, and measures approximately . It was discovered in the Dutoitspan Mine, Kimberley, South Africa, in 1964. Harry Winston ...

was named in his honour by its owner,

Harry Winston Harry Winston (né Weinstein; March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in ...

, who donated the stone (not a

gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. Certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, an ...

, as it remains uncut and unpolished) to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

as a memorial.

References

External links

*
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer - South African History Online

Biography Ernest Oppenheimer online version
Gregory, Ernest Oppenheimer and the Economic Development of South Africa, Cape Town University Press, New York, 1965 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheimer, Ernest 1880 births 1957 deaths People from Friedberg, Hesse People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), ...

19th-century German Jews German emigrants to South Africa South African Anglicans Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism South African mining businesspeople Diamond dealers 20th-century South African businesspeople Knights Bachelor South African knights De Beers people

Career

Personal life

Legacy

See also

References

External links