Sir Thomas Upington KCMG (1844–1898), born in Cork, Ireland, was an

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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 briefly

Prime Minister of the Cape Colony This article lists the governors of British South African colonies, including the colonial prime ministers. It encompasses the period from 1797 to 1910, when present-day South Africa was divided into four British colonies namely: Cape Colony (p ...

, between 1884 and 1886, during a period of extreme turbulence in the Cape's history. The town of

Upington Upington () is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of olive wood trees i ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

is named after him, as was the short-lived Boer republic of Upingtonia.

Early life

Upington was born in Rathnee, near Mallow,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, on 28 October 1844. He was educated at Cloyne Diocesan School, Mallow, and at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where in 1863 he obtained Mathematical Honours in the

Hilary term Hilary term is the second academic term of the University of OxfordIrish Bar in 1867. In 1868 he became secretary to Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan,

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

, and in January 1870 he appeared as registrar to the court in Dr MacSwiney's appeal to the Visitors of the King and Queen's College of Physicians against his ejection from a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

ship.

Political career (1878–1898)

Upington emigrated to the

in 1874, due to his fragile health, from which he suffered throughout his life. He was elected to the Cape Legislature in 1878 and stood for several constituencies in turn; Colesberg (1878–83), Caledon (1884–91), and Swellendam (1896–98). Throughout his political career he was exceptionally close to his friend and ally John Gordon Sprigg, and served regularly as Attorney General in Sprigg's governments (1878–81, 1886–90, 1896–98)

First Service as Attorney General (1879–81)

He was appointed

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in 1879, by his ally, 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 ...

. During this time, he was active in the war on the Northern border, although in a civil capacity (he did not hold any military command). He was on ''"the northern bank of the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibi ...

at the time of the last attack, only it was thought Claus Lucas would have surrendered, and in that case Mr Upington wished to superintend the negotiations himself"'' (Irish Times, 6 June). He raised the military unit known as ''"Upington's Foot"'' and served in the so-called "9th Kaffir War, 1877–79" for which he received the "South Africa Medal 1877-9 (sometimes called the South Africa General Service Medal 1877-9 and sometimes the South Africa War Medal 1877-9). Upington's Foot was one of the 240 (mostly small) locally raised units which took part. It had only 30 members and fought against the Gcalekas and Gaikas in the

Transkei Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River, he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa f ...

. Sprigg's government was unusually aggressive in its treatment of the Cape's indigenous peoples. Upington, while differing from Sprigg on many points, was not immune to such issues. The " Koegas affair" (1879–80) involved the murder of San people (Bushmen) by farmers, near the northern frontier. In the subsequent murder trial, the farmers were acquitted, and the resulting outrage focused on Upington, as Attorney General. He was accused of deliberately allowing the trial to take place in a racist and hostile town that would be expected to acquit the murderers due to local influence, and thereby of dereliction of the Attorney General's duty. The culmination of the outrage was a public campaign, led by

Saul Solomon Saul Solomon (25 May 1817 – 16 October 1892) was an influential liberal politician of the Cape Colony, a British colony in what is now South Africa. Solomon was an important member of the movement for responsible government and an opponent of ...

, accusing Upington and his colleagues of allowing white juries to acquit white murderers from murdering blacks.

Term as Prime Minister (1884–1886)

He became the fourth Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1884, after the growing Afrikaner Bond Party compelled the government of Premier Thomas Charles Scanlen to retire. He was appointed to form a government by the powerful Afrikaner Bond, but held office for only two turbulent and strife-torn years, in what subsequently became known as the "Warming-pan" Ministry. Map Stellaland

Tensions between Boer and British

The principal issue that dominated Upington's short Ministry was the conflict over two tiny

Boer 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 ...

mercenary states – Stellaland and Goshen – which had been established by Boer invaders in "British" Bechuanaland and which the British demanded were rejected. The issue placed Upington in a near impossible position as he owed his parliamentary support to the Afrikaner Bond which was strongly sympathetic of the Boer states, while the British Imperial authorities demanded his action. In response, he travelled to Bechuanaland (with John Gordon Sprigg accompanying him as his Treasurer General) "in the endeavour to effect a peaceful arrangement". The sympathy which he at times expressed for the Boers in this controversy helped to maintain his parliamentary support, but made him very controversial in the eyes of the Imperial authorities and the Cape political elite. He was accused of propounding Parnellite principles and denounced by British politicians in

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 ...

as a “

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” whose "offence is rank", and who "has been fraternising with Mynheer Van Dunk instead of sticking with John Bull". Even in less hostile circles, he was nonetheless known as "the Afrikaner from Cork".

Domestic policies

Regarding internal development of the country, Upington attempted to continue the highly successful locally oriented economic policies of his predecessors Molteno and Scanlen. In 1885, he oversaw the final opening of Molteno's original railway line from Cape Town to Kimberley. He attempted to reject the flamboyant imperialism of Sprigg (and subsequent ministers such as

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

and Jameson), however while trying to restrict British Imperial involvement in southern Africa, he nonetheless pushed for an expansion of the Cape's frontiers into the territory of the neighbouring Xhosa. Some of his policies (such as reintroducing the infamous ''

Contagious Diseases Acts The Contagious Diseases Acts (CD Acts) were passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1864, with alterations and additions made by the (29 & 30 Vict. c. 35) and the (32 & 33 Vict. c. 96). In 1862, a committee had been established ...

'') also brought him into conflict with the powerful liberal lobby, represented by

, which saw them as discriminatory against the black citizens and voters of the Cape.

Downfall

Overall, his Ministry was too short and circumscribed by greater regional forces for any consistent policies to take shape. Attacked from all sides, his position rapidly became untenable. After coming under a fresh wave of attack over his

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

policy, he resigned "due to ill-health" in 1886, and handed over to his pro-imperialist ally John Gordon Sprigg.D. W. Kruger: ''Dictionary of South African Biography. Vol II''. Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria. Tafelberg Ltd, 1972. .

Character and later life

In 1885, he became Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the 1st Administrative Battalion, made up of the

Cape Town Highlanders The Cape Town Highlanders is a reserve mechanised infantry regiment of the South African Army. History Origins Descendants of Scotland, Scottish immigrants to South Africa raised the Cape Town Highlanders in 1885. On 24 April of the same year, ...

and two small corps. Later in 1887, he was made a Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(per South Africa, 17 December 1898, pp. 591–2). He was famously eloquent and witty, and was often compared to his liberal enemy John X. Merriman – another distinctively thin politician at the time with a similarly ornate and witty style of speech. Though the two men opposed each other on nearly every point, they had very similar rapid-fire and flowery debating styles, that made their frequent arguments very entertaining to observe in parliament. The Pall Mall Gazette, in 1890, described Upington as: ''"the crack speaker, brilliant and sarcastic . . . The clubland of Capetown looks to him as its humorous and sententious oracle: he is a good hand at cards and the best of good company. . . He often looks and often professes to be with one foot in the grave, and his most brilliant efforts are said to be made after a few weeks' light diet of champagne (doctor’s orders). His robustest friends, however, expect him to survive to crack jokes on their epitaphs".'' However his lifelong health problems worsened, and on 10 December 1898, Upington died in

Wynberg, Cape Town Wynberg ( ) is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead, Cape Town, Plumstead and Kenilworth, Cape Town, Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs, Cape Town ...

, aged only 54. He was survived by his widow Mary Elizabeth Guerin of Edenhill, Mallow/Fermoy, Cork, and by his children: Beauclerk, Arthur, Edith, Florence and Evelyn.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Upington, Thomas Prime ministers of the Cape Colony Members of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony 1844 births 1898 deaths People from Mallow, County Cork Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish barristers Irish knights British military personnel of the 9th Cape Frontier War Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George British colonial army officers Irish emigrants to South Africa Cape Colony politicians Attorneys general of the Cape Colony 19th-century Irish lawyers Lawyers from County Cork