Sir David Graaff, 1st Baronet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir David Graaff as mayor of Cape Town

Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, 1st Baronet (30 March 1859 - 13 April 1931) was a South African businessman and politician.

In 1870, at the age of eleven, he went to work in his great-uncle's butchery in Cape Town, while being privately educated. Eleven years later, he and his younger brother Jacobus took over the business. They concentrated on supplying ships, and in conjunction with the Union and Castle shipping lines, they developed the first cold-storage enterprise in South Africa.

Graaff was also active in public affairs. He was a volunteer soldier, and commanded the Cape Garrison Artillery for a few years. He was a Cape Town city councillor from 1882, and served as mayor in 1891-1892. He presented the city with its mayoral chain, which is still in use, and took the lead in introducing electricity into the city. Graaff was also a member of parliament from 1891 to 1897.

During the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), Graaff obtained lucrative contracts to supply the British Army in the field, but he also made substantial donations towards alleviating the suffering of Boer prisoners of war, and providing medical supplies to Boer women and children held in British Army concentration camps.

When the meat market slumped after the war, Graaff invested in property in and around Cape Town. He bought the farm De Grendel outside Cape Town, where he built up a Friesland cattle stud.

Graaff and his brother financed the building of the De Villiers Graaff High School in Villiersdorp in 1907, and later established a £100 000 endowment fund for the school.

Graaff was a member of parliament again from 1908 to 1920. He was Minister without Portfolio in the Cape Colony's last cabinet (1908-1910). A close friend and confidant of Gen Louis Botha, the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa, he was created a baronet in 1911 and served as Minister of Public Works and of Posts and Telegraphs (1911-1912), Minister without Portfolio (1912-1913), and Minister of Finance (1915-1916). He accompanied Botha to the Versailles peace conference in 1919.

Sir David died in 1931, and was succeeded as baronet by his eldest son, De Villiers.

[edit] References

• Dictionary of South African Biography Volume II.
• Barnard, Prof L. and Kriek, Prof D. (Eds) (1990). Sir De Villiers Graaff. Digma, Pretoria.
• Graaff, De Villiers. (1993) "Div Looks Back: The memoirs of Sir De Villiers Graaff". Human & Rousseau, Cape Town.

v • d • e Mayors of Cape Town van Breda • Dié de Waal • Inglesby • Bothwick • Graaff • Dommisse • Liberman • Baxter • Smith • Hands • Lewis • Gradner • Foster • Baxter • Bloomberg • Sonnenburg • Thompson • Honikman • Gradner • Tyers • Kreiner • Markowitz • Oliver • van der Velde • Solomons • Bantom • Hill • Marais • Morkel • Mfeketo • Zille

This article about a politician from the Republic of South Africa is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.