Francis William Reitz

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Francis William Reitz bigraphy, stories - South African politician and statesman

Francis William Reitz : biography

5 October 1844 – 27 March 1934

Francis William Reitz, Jr. (Swellendam, 5 October 1844 – Cape Town, 27 March 1934) was a South African lawyer, politician, statesman, publicist and poet, member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free State, State Secretary of the South African Republic at the time of the Second Boer War, and the first president of the Senate of the Union of South Africa.This article is predominantly based on the information derived from

Reitz had an extremely varied political and judicial career that lasted for over forty-five years and spanned four separate political entities: the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, the South African Republic, and the Union of South Africa. Trained as a lawyer in Cape Town and London, Reitz started off in law practice and diamond prospecting before being appointed Chief Justice of the Orange Free State.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 593. In the Orange Free State Reitz played an important role in the modernisation of the legal system and the state’s administrative organisation. At the same time he was also prominent in public life, getting involved in the Afrikaner language and culture movement, and cultural life in general.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 594.

Reitz was a popular personality, both for his politics and his openness. When State President Brand suddenly died in 1888, Reitz won the presidential elections unopposed. After being re-elected in 1895, subsequently making a trip to Europe, Reitz fell seriously ill, and had to retire.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 595. In 1898, now recovered, he was appointed State Secretary of the South African Republic, and became a leading Afrikaner political figure during the Second Boer War.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 598. Reluctant to shift allegiance to the British, Reitz went into voluntary exile after the war ended. Several years later he returned to South Africa and set up a law practice again, in Pretoria. In the late 1900s he became involved in politics once more, and upon the declaration of the Union of South Africa in 1910, Reitz was chosen the first president of the Senate.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 599.

Reitz was an important figure in Afrikaner cultural life during most of his life, especially through his poems and other publications.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 595-596.

Biography

Family

Francis William Reitz, Jr., was born in Swellendam at Worldroots.com mentions Surbiton as place of birth; this is probably a gross misspelling of Swellendam. on 5 October 1844, as the son of Francis William Reitz, Sr., model farmer, agriculturalist and politician, and Cornelia Magdalena Deneys. He was the seventh child in a family of twelve. He grew up at Rhenosterfontein, the model farm () of his father, situated on the borders of the Breederivier (Broad River) in the Cape Colony.Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 592.

Reitz married twice. His first marriage (Cape Town 24 June 1874) was to Blanka Thesen (Stavanger, Norway, 15 October 1854 – Bloemfontein, 5 October 1887). She was the sister of Charles Wilhelm Thesen, and the daughter of Arnt Leonard Thesen, tradesman, and Anne Cathrine Margarethe Brandt.Information on parents in at Worldroots.com. The Thesen family had settled in Knysna, Cape Colony, from Norway in 1869. The couple had seven sons and one daughter. After the death of his first wife Reitz remarried (Bloemfontein, 11 December 1889) with Cornelia Maria Theresia Mulder (Delft, Netherlands, 25 December 1863Moll, ‘Reitz, Francis William’, 594 and other sources give 1864 as her year of birth, but this is incorrect. See: and . – Cape Town 2 January 1935), daughter of Johannes Adrianus Mulder, typesetter, and Engelina Johanna van Hamme. At the time of her marriage Mulder was acting director of the Eunice Ladies’ Institute at Bloemfontein. With his second wife he had six sons and one daughter.

Deneys, his son, fought against the British in the Second Boer War, commanded the First Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers during World War I and served as a Member of the Union Parliament, Cabinet Minister, Deputy Prime Minister (1939–1943), and South African High Commissioner (1944) to the Court of St. James’s. His book, Commando: A Boer Journal Of The Boer War, has for many years been regarded as one of the best narratives of war and adventure in the English language.