Abe Bailey
Encyclopedia
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(6 November 1864, Cradock, Eastern Cape
Cradock, Eastern Cape
Cradock is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, in the upper valley of the Great Fish River, by rail northeast of Port Elizabeth. The town is the administrative seat of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in the Chris Hani District of the Eastern Cape. The estimated population...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
– 10 August 1940, Muizenberg
Muizenberg
Muizenberg is a beach-side suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
), was a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n diamond tycoon, politician, financier and cricketer.
Early years
Married in 1860 in South Africa, Thomas and Ann Bailey had four children, Mary, Abraham, Susannah and Alice, before Ann Bailey's premature death in 1872, when young Abe was only seven (7) years old. Abe Bailey's mother, Ann Drummond McEwan, was ScottishScottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
by birth while his father, Thomas Bailey, was from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. Abe Bailey was sent to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to be educated, first at Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
and later at Clewer House.
Business
Via his business interests and his ties to Cecil John RhodesCecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
, Abe Bailey acquired substantial mining and land properties in the former Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
. By the 1930s he was one of the world's wealthiest men. He was made Baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1919, one of a number of "Randlord
Randlord
Randlord is a term used to denote the entrepreneurs who controlled the diamond and gold mining industries in South Africa in its pioneer phase from the 1870s up to World War I....
s" knighted for their services to the British Empire.
Cricket
Abe Bailey played three first-class matches for TransvaalSouth African Republic
The South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...
.
Art collection
These interests, as much as his aspirations to the titles and the lifestyle of the English landed gentry were influential in the formation of his personal art collection. This collection was mostly displayed in his London home and moved for safe-keeping to the north of England during the Second World War (1939–1945). On his death in 1940 the terms of his willWill (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
placed his collection under the protection of a special trust established in his name and bequeathed it to the South African nation. Bailey was one of the very few South African Randlords to leave a bequest of this nature to South Africa.
At his specific recommendation, this collection was placed under the curatorship of the South African National Gallery
South African National Gallery
The South African National Gallery is the national art gallery of South Africa located in Cape Town. The collection began in 1872 with the donation of Sir Thomas Butterworth's personal gallery....
in Cape Town, where it first went on display in 1947. Numbering over 400 items, including paintings, prints and drawings, the "Sir Abe Bailey Bequest" is the largest bequest held at the South African National Gallery to this day. It also constitutes one of the largest collections of British sporting art held by any public art museum in the world. The "Sir Abe Bailey Trust" is actively involved in its maintenance, and conservation work on the collection.
Abe Bailey Travel Bursary
Under the terms of his will annual travel bursaries are awarded to outstanding university students and young academics (less than 26 years old) to travel to the UK to widen their experience.First wife/children by first marriage
- Hon. Caroline Mary Paddon (d. 23 March 1902)
- Cecil Marguerite Bailey (8 June 1895 - 29 June 1962); married Dr William F Christie.
- Sir John Milner Bailey, 2nd Bt. (15 June 1900 East GrimsteadEast GrimsteadEast Grimstead is a village in Grimstead civil parish, on the River Dun in Wiltshire, England, about east of Salisbury.-External links:...
- 13 February 1946 Cape TownCape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
); married, firstly, Diana ChurchillDiana ChurchillDiana Spencer-Churchill was the eldest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill .- Personal life :...
(1909–1963) (eldest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Ogilvy Hozier) on 12 December 1932 (divorced in 1935); married, secondly, Muriel Mullins on 18 October 1939 (divorced in 1945); married, lastly, Stella Mary Chiappini on 4 May 1945.
Second wife/children by second marriage
- Hon. Mary WestenraMary Bailey (DBE)The Hon. Dame Mary Bailey, née Westenra DBE was a British aviatrix.The daughter of Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore, of Rossmore Castle, County Monaghan and his wife, Mittie , Mary Westenra Bailey was known as one of the finest aviatrices of her time, who "personally guided a...
(1 December 1890 - 29 July 1960), daughter of Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Lord RossmoreBaron RossmoreBaron Rossmore, of Monaghan in the County of Monaghan, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1796 for the soldier Robert Cuninghame, with remainder to his wife Elizabeth's nephews Henry Alexander Jones and Warner William Westenra...
, of Rossmore CastleRossmore CastleRossmore Castle also known as Rossmore Park was a castle in Monaghan in Ireland. It has been demolished now.-History:The building was a 19th century castle. Originally built by the 2nd Lord Rossmore in 1827 in the Gothic style, it was extended in 1858...
, County MonaghanCounty MonaghanCounty Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
. Mary Westenra Bailey was the greatest British aviatrix of her time, who "personally guided a plane from England to the nether tip of South Africa and back" (TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, 28 January 1930). In January 1930 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(DBE) and was styled as Dame Mary BaileyMary Bailey (DBE)The Hon. Dame Mary Bailey, née Westenra DBE was a British aviatrix.The daughter of Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore, of Rossmore Castle, County Monaghan and his wife, Mittie , Mary Westenra Bailey was known as one of the finest aviatrices of her time, who "personally guided a...
.
- Mittie Mary Starr Bailey (1 August 1913 - 10 April 1961); married Robin Grant Lawson, son of Sir John Grant Lawson, 1st Bt. on 23 May 1934 (divorced in 1935); married, secondly, to William Frederick Lloyd on December 1935 (divorced in 1947); married, lastly, George Edward Frederick Rogers 1947 (divorced in 1958).
- Sir Derrick Thomas Louis Bailey, 3rd BtDerrick BaileySir Derrick Thomas Louis Bailey, 3rd Baronet, DFC was the son of the South African entrepreneur Sir Abe Bailey and of the pioneer aviator Dame Mary Bailey, and won fame for himself as a decorated Second World War pilot, a cricketer and a businessman...
. (b. 15 August 1918 - 19 June 2009); married, firstly, Katharine Nancy Darling on 18 July 1946 (divorced before 1980); married, secondly, Jean Bailey (maiden name unknown) in 1980 (divorced in 1990). - Ann Hester Zia Bailey (b. 15 August 1918); married, firstly, Pierce Nicholas Netterville Synnott (divorced).
- James Richard Abe Bailey (b. 23 October 1919); married, firstly, Gillian Mary Parker in 1958 (divorced in 1963); married, thirdly, Barbara Louise Epstein on 16 April 1964.
- Noreen Helen Rosemary Bailey (b. 27 July 1921); married, firstly, W/Cmdr. Peter Anker Simmons on 27 January 1941; married, secondly, Count Peter Christian Raben-Levetzau, son of Count Siegfried Raben-Levetzau on 8 August 1947 (divorced in 1951).