Leander Starr Jameson
Jameson studied medicine at University College Hospital,
London and qualified as a doctor in 1875. In 1878 he went out to
South Africa where he combined a successful medical practice with
politics and economic self advancement. He used his influence with
one of his patients, Lobenguela chief of the Matabeles, to win
business concessions for Cecil Rhode's British South Africa Company
and in 1890 he joined Rhodes in the invasion and occupation of
Mashonaland.
Cecil Rhodes, together with British politicians and
businessmen keen to profit from the gold and diamond reserves of
the Rand, plotted to bring South Africa under British control.
These plans had the private support of the British Colonial
Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain. In October 1895 Rhodes encouraged
Jameson to lead the British South Africa Company's private army in
an invasion of the Transvaal; this action, it was hoped, would lead
to a local uprising and the overthrow of the Boer-led government.
But the invasion, known to history as The Jameson Raid, went
disastrously wrong and Jameson's men were forced to surrender to
the Boers. There was a major political scandal in Britain and the
British South Africa Company was forced to pay a considerable sum
in compensation to the Transvaal government. Jameson was brought
back to England where he was tried, found guilty and sentenced to
15 months imprisonment. He was later pardoned.
The Jameson Raid, despite its failure, made the British
public aware of the political situation in South Africa and was
used by a pro-imperialist press to drum up a hatred of the Boers.
In many ways it was a prelude to the Anglo-Boer War of
1899-1901.
Leander Starr Jameson went on to make a name for himself as
a colonial administrator and in 1906 he became Prime Minister of
Cape Colony. It is widely believed that Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If'
was written in celebration of Jameson's personal
qualities.
Jameson died in 1917 and was buried next to Cecil Rhodes on
Malindidzimu Hill in Zimbabwe.
