James Percy FitzPatrick

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Sir James Percy FitzPatrick KCMG (born July 24, 1862 in King William's Town , † January 24, 1931 in Uitenhage ) was a South African writer, politician, mining financier and pioneer of fruit growing. He was the author of the classic children's book Jock of the Bushveld , which appeared in 1907. As a politician, he represented British interests before and during the Second Boer War .

Family and education

Percy FitzPatrick was born the eldest son of James Coleman FitzPatrick and his wife Jenny. The father was a judge at the Cape Colony Supreme Court . Both parents were originally from Ireland . Two of Percy FitzPatrick's brothers were killed in combat operations: Thomas FitzPatrick during the Second Matabele War and George FitzPatrick, who served with the British Light Horse Regiment , during the Second Boer War.

James Percy FitzPatrick received his education in England, where he attended the Downside School near Bath . He later studied at St. Aidan's College in Grahamstown .

Professional and political career

After his father's death in 1880, James Percy FitzPatrick (who later called himself just Percy ) left college to support his family. Initially, he worked as an employee at Standard Bank in Cape Town . In 1884 he traveled to the gold fields in the east of the Transvaal , where he worked as a warehouse worker, assistant to a prospector and journalist, as well as the driver of an ox cart that was used to transport goods from Lourenço Marques to Lydenburg and Barberton . In Barberton he became editor of the Gold Fields News newspaper .

The adventures FitzPatrick experienced during this time, he wrote down in his book Jock of the Bushveld . He also published the book The Transvaal from Within , which had a major impact on public opinion in Great Britain before the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The book addressed the problems of the mainly English-speaking Uitlanders with the Boer government and pleaded for British intervention in the South African Republic .

1892 FitzPatrick head of the intelligence service in the was the Johannesburg offices of the mining company Hermann Eckstein and Company , the Wernher, Beit & Co. was one. In 1895 he became executive director of the Reform Committee in Johannesburg, which planned the overthrow of the government of Paul Kruger . FitzPatrick acted as the liaison between the committee, Cecil Rhodes and Leander Jameson in Cape Town. On December 29, 1895, Jameson carried out a raid of Bechuanaland to aid the conspirators in Johannesburg, but was arrested at Doornkop on January 2, 1896 . FitzPatrick and others were charged with high treason . He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and £ 2,000, but was released in May 1896 after suffering serious health problems while in custody. The condition was that he was not allowed to be politically active for three years.

At the outbreak of the Second Boer War (1899-1902) FitzPatrick supported the establishment of the Imperial Light Horse Regiment . He himself could not do active service for health reasons and stayed in Great Britain during the war as an official advisor to the British government. In 1902 he was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George . He later assumed the office of President of the Chamber of Mines .

From 1908 to 1909 Percy FitzPatrick was one of eight delegates from the Transvaal for the National Convention , in the course of which and as a result four British colonies united to form the South African Union .

Together with James Barry Munnick Hertzog he worked out an agreement according to which English and Afrikaans became the official languages ​​of the Union.

FitzPatrick kept wild animals that he brought back to Johannesburg from his hunting trips on a property that is now Zoo Lake Park. Some of his animals were the first to arrive at Johannesburg Zoo. He also supported the first citrus cultivation in South Africa.

Sir James Percy FitzPatrick died in 1931 at the age of 68. He was buried at The Look Out, north of Uitenhage. His tomb was declared a National Monument .

Miscellaneous

Publications

  • Through Mashonaland with Pick and Pen. 1892.
  • The Transvaal from Within. A Private Record of Public Affairs. 1899 ( full text on gutenberg.org).
  • Jock of the Bushveld . 1907.
  • South African Memories 1932, published posthumously.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of St. Aidan's College ( Memento of October 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ The Transvaal from Within
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Barberton Website ( Memento from July 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ The South African War and Union. National Convention 1908. on sahistory.org.za (English)
  5. ^ Johannesburg Website of the Johannesburg Zoo ( Memento of August 27, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za
personal data
SURNAME FitzPatrick, James Percy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES FitzPatrick, Sir James Percy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH King William's Town
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1931
Place of death Uitenhage