Charles Francis Clarkson

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Charles Francis Clarkson , OBE (born November 1, 1881 in Durban , Natal Colony , today: KwaZulu-Natal , † November 27, 1959 ibid) was a South African politician who was a minister in the South African Union several times .

Life

family

Charles Francis Clarkson was a son of Francis Thomas Clarkson, whose parents had come to Natal as part of the immigration program of entrepreneur JC Byrne (around 1850), and Rebecca Hannah, née. Minshill. In 1908 he married Sabina McEwan. The marriage resulted in a son and three daughters.

Training, military service and job

Clarkson attended Boys' Model School and High School in his native Durban. At the end of the Second Boer War , he served in Durban's light infantry . In 1905 he was admitted to the bar at the Natal Supreme Court.

Political career

From 1911 Clarkson headed the office of the Unionist Party in Natal Province as Secretary . After their merger with the South African Party (SAP), he was elected deputy party chairman within the province under Charles Smith in 1921. From 1930 he served as Chairman ( Chairman ), SAP in Natal and until 1948 its successor, the United Party .

From 1915 to 1930 he was an elected member of the Provincial Council (forerunner of the Provincial Legislature ) for Victoria County, from 1924 he was a member of its Executive Committee.

Clarkson sat in the Senate of the Union of South Africa from 1930 to 1957 (apart from a three-month hiatus) . He became Minister for Public Works, Post and Telegraphy (Minister van Openbare Werken, Posterijen en Telegrafie) in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog in 1933 and also held this position in the fourth Hertzog cabinet (1938 to 1939). After Jan Christiaan Smuts succeeded Barry Hertzog as the new Prime Minister on September 5, 1939, he also held the post of Minister for Public Works, Post and Public Works in the fourth Smuts Cabinet (1939-1943) and the fifth Smuts Cabinet (1943-1945) Telegraphy. On August 16, 1943, he also took over the office of Minister of the Interior from Harry Lawrence and held this position in Smuts' fifth cabinet until January 16, 1948. Most recently, in 1948, he was again Minister for Public Works, Post and Telegraphy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c B. JT Leverton: Clarkson, Charles Francis. In: WJ De Kock, Daniel Wilhelmus Krüger, CJ Beyers (Eds.): Dictionary of South African Biography. Volume 3, Pretoria 1968, ISBN 0-624-00849-5 , p. 155.
  2. ^ South Africa: Interior Ministers in Rulers
personal data
SURNAME Clarkson, Charles Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Durban , Natal Colony , today: KwaZulu-Natal
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1959
Place of death Durban