Barney Barnato

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barney Barnato, around 1890
The Barnato Buildings on Johannesburg's main shopping street , circa 1890

Barney Barnato (born July 5, 1852 in Whitechapel , London , † June 14, 1897 , born Barnett Isaacs ) was a South African diamond magnate . He was initially an opponent of Cecil Rhodes , then with him and other owners of de Beers .

Life

Barney Barnato grew up in the Whitechapel District , a poor part of London's East End . He followed his brother Harry to Cape Colony during the diamond rush that followed the finds in Kimberley . However, he lost his existence in 1871 and from then on worked as a comedian and magician. His younger brother initially followed him on stage, which at the time was only staged spontaneously on bar tables. During this time he changed his name to Barney Barnato.

How he really got his money is not entirely clear, but in just ten years he was a millionaire. He founded the Barnato Diamond Mining Company and bought the rights in Kimberley, which had become worthless for ordinary prospectors because of the ever increasing depth of the excavations.

He competed with Cecil Rhodes by aggressively buying up competitors. In the end, Rhodes won by repaying him and his brother with a check for five million pounds in the mid-1880s, the highest check in history at the time. In return, Barney Barnato was promised a position as director for life ( Life Governor ) in the yet to be founded De Beers & Co, as well as shares in this company. Barnato was a member of the Cape Colony Parliament from 1889 until his death.

He committed suicide at the age of 45 by jumping off the Union-Castle Liner Scot into the ocean in the afternoon of Madeira on a trip to England in 1897 . His family always contradicted this version as completely alien to the character of Barney Barnato, who was an enduring pioneer of emerging South Africa. He is buried in the Willesden Jewish Cemetery near London. He left behind his wife, a daughter and two sons, including Woolf Barnato , the future racing driver, one of the so-called Bentley Boys . His granddaughter Diana Barnato Walker was the first British woman to break the sound barrier .

literature

  • Richard Lewinsohn : Barnato - Lord of diamonds and gold . Bertelsmann, 1955 (French: Barnato - Roi de l'or .).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Justus, The life and work of the Hamburg businessman Alfred Beit, University of Hamburg, 1990
  2. ↑ See the description by Franz Ferdinand Eiffe in Nach and In South Africa , Hamburg 1897, p. 74, who was also on board the ship and describes the incident.
personal data
SURNAME Barnato, Barney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Isaacs, Barnett (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African diamond magnate
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Whitechapel , London
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1897