The
Orange River Colony was the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
colony created after this nation first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent
Orange Free StateThe Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
in the
Second Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
as Orange Free State Province.
Constitutional history
During the
Second Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
the British forces entered the territory of the
Orange Free StateThe Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
and occupied the capital
BloemfonteinBloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa as well as one of the nation's three capitals, the judicial capital. The city's Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning "place of cheetahs" and became part of the Mangaung Local Municipality in 2000...
on 13 March 1900. Five months later, on 6 October 1900 the British government declared an official annexation of the full territory of the Orange Free State, despite the fact that the British had not yet occupied the full territory of the state, nor defeated the Free State forces.
The Orange Free State government had moved to
KroonstadKroonstad is the the third-largest town in the Free State province of South Africa, and lies two hours drive from Gauteng. It was established in 1855. In the 1991 census it had a population of 110,963....
during the first months of the war and would subsequently convene in the field until the end of the war. From the perspective of the Orange Free State, independence was only lost with the ratification of the
Treaty of VereenigingThe Treaty of Vereeniging was the peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the South African War between the alliance of the South African Republic and the Republic of the Orange Free State and the British Empire on the other.- Terms of the settlement :This settlement entailed the end of...
on 31 May 1902.
Therefore there existed an ambiguous constitutional situation between 6 October 1900 and 31 May 1902, with two constitutional entities and two governments. On the Boer side the government was led by state president
Martinus Theunis SteynMartinus Theunis Steyn was a South African lawyer, politician, and statesman, sixth and last president of the independent Orange Free State from 1896 to 1902....
(1857 – 1916) until 30 May 1902, when he went on sick-leave and was replaced by general
Christiaan de WetChristiaan Rudolf de Wet was a Boer general, rebel leader and politician.He was born on the farm Leeuwkop, in the district of Smithfield in the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State and later resided at Dewetsdorp, the latter which was named after his father, Jacobus Ignatius de Wet...
as acting state president.
On the British side Sir Alfred Milner was appointed the first governor of the Orange River Colony on 4 January 1901, with Hamilton John Goold-Adams as lieutenant-governor, in office till 23 June 1902. From 1902 to 1910 the colony was governed by a single governor:
- Alfred Milner, Viscount Milner, in office 21 June 1902 – 1 April 1905;
- William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne
William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne KG, GCMG, PC , styled Viscount Wolmer between 1882 and 1895, was a British politician and colonial administrator.-Background and education:...
, in office 2 April 1905 – 7 June 1907;
- Sir Hamilton John Goold-Adams, in office 7 June 1907 – 31 May 1910
Self-government
By 1904 sentiment was growing for some form of self-government. The Orangia Unie (
Orange Union Party) was formally constituted in May 1906, after several months of preparation. A similar organisation, called
Het VolkHet Volk was a Transvaal political party, established in 1905 under the leadership of Louis Botha and his deputy Jan Smuts. Upon the creation of the Union of South Africa in May 1910, it merged with Afrikaner Bond and the Orangia Unie, the dominant political parties of the Cape Colony and Orange...
, had been formed by the Transvaal Boers in January 1905. Both unions had constitutions almost identical with that of the
Afrikaner BondThe Afrikaner Bond was a political party in the Cape Colony. It was formed by the union of the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners under the leadership of Rev S.J...
, a former pan-Afrikaner political movement, and their aims were also similar – to secure the position of the Afrikaners in state and society. The chairman of the
Orangia Unie was
Abraham FischerAbraham Fischer was the sole Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony in South Africa.He was originally a lawyer in Cape Colony, joining the bar in 1875. He became vice-president of the Orange Free State's volksraad in 1893 and a member of the executive council in 1896...
, leading politician of the pre-Boer War period and top diplomat of the Boer republics during the
Second Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
. Among the other prominent members were J.B.M. Hertzog,
C.R. de WetChristiaan Rudolf de Wet was a Boer general, rebel leader and politician.He was born on the farm Leeuwkop, in the district of Smithfield in the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State and later resided at Dewetsdorp, the latter which was named after his father, Jacobus Ignatius de Wet...
and
M.T. SteynMartinus Theunis Steyn was a South African lawyer, politician, and statesman, sixth and last president of the independent Orange Free State from 1896 to 1902....
.
A second political party, the Constitutional Party was formed by a group of burghers content with British rule. Chairman of the party was Sir
John G. FraserJohn G. Fraser, was a prominent Orange Free State politician and member of the Volksraad. He was the son of a Presbyterian minister, who had acted as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church since the middle of the nineteenth century....
, before the Second Boer War a prominent (pro-British) member of the
Volksraad-South Africa:The Volksraad was the parliament of the former South African Republic , which existed from 1857 to 1902 in part of what is now the Republic of South Africa...
of the
Orange Free StateThe Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
. The Constitutional Party had a strong following in
BloemfonteinBloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa as well as one of the nation's three capitals, the judicial capital. The city's Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning "place of cheetahs" and became part of the Mangaung Local Municipality in 2000...
, but not outside of the capital. It is noteworthy that the political programmes of the two parties were very similar, the real difference between them being the attitude towards British annexation and Afrikaner influence.
In 1905 Lord Selborne, formerly First Lord of the Admiralty, replaced Viscount Milner as high commissioner for South Africa and governor of the
TransvaalThe Transvaal is the name of an area of northern South Africa. Originally the bulk of the independent Boer South African Republic, after the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 it became the Transvaal Colony, and one of the founding provinces of the Union of South Africa, with its regional capital in...
and Orange River colonies. Selborne had come to South Africa with a brief to guide the former Boer republics from crown colony government towards self-government. When
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the mid 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become...
came into office in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
in December 1905 the process was speeded up, with the decision to give both the Transvaal and Orange River colonies self-government without delay. Selborne accepted the changed situation, and the experiment proved successful. He ceased to be governor of the Orange River Colony on its assumption of self-government in June 1907, but retained his other posts until May 1910, retiring on the eve of the establishment of the
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
.
On 7 January 1907 Selborne released a despatch, known as the Selborne Memorandum. It reviewed the situation in South Africa in all its economic and political aspects and was a masterly and comprehensive statement of the dangers inherent in the existing political system and of the advantages a political union offered. The document had a marked influence on the course of events and together with Selborne's conciliatory approach assisted in reconciling the Dutch and British communities of South Africa.
After the elections of 1907, the colony received self-government on 27 November 1907.
Abraham FischerAbraham Fischer was the sole Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony in South Africa.He was originally a lawyer in Cape Colony, joining the bar in 1875. He became vice-president of the Orange Free State's volksraad in 1893 and a member of the executive council in 1896...
became the first (and only) prime minister of the colony (in office 27 Nov 1907 – 31 May 1910). The first Legislative Assembly consisted of twenty-nine members of the
Orangia Unie, five Constitutionalists and four independents. Fischer's cabinet consisted of:
- J.B.M. Hertzog, attorney-general and director of education;
- A.E.W. Ramsbottom, treasurer;
- C.R. de Wet
Christiaan Rudolf de Wet was a Boer general, rebel leader and politician.He was born on the farm Leeuwkop, in the district of Smithfield in the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State and later resided at Dewetsdorp, the latter which was named after his father, Jacobus Ignatius de Wet...
, minister of agriculture;
- C.H. Wessels
Sir Cornelius Hermanus Wessels was a South African politician and statesman....
, minister of public works
Fischer, besides the premiership, held the portfolio of colonial secretary. The first Legislative Council counted five members from the
Orangia Unie, five Constitutionalists, and one independent member, in effect holding the balance.
Policies
In May 1908, the Orange River Colony took part in an inter-state conference which met at
PretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
and
Cape TownCape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa, and the largest in land area, forming part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. It is the provincial capital of the Western Cape, as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many...
, and determined to renew the existing customs convention and to make no alteration in railway rates. These decisions were the result of an agreement to bring before the parliaments of the various colonies a resolution advocating the closer union of the South African states and the appointment of delegates to a national convention to frame a draft constitution.
In this convention former state president
M.T. SteynMartinus Theunis Steyn was a South African lawyer, politician, and statesman, sixth and last president of the independent Orange Free State from 1896 to 1902....
took a leading and conciliatory part, and subsequently the Orange River legislature agreed to the terms drawn up by the convention for the unification of the four self-governing colonies in the
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
. Under the imperial act by which unification was established (31 May 1910) the colony entered the Union under the style of the Orange Free State Province. Fischer and Hertzog became members of the first Union government, while A.E.W. Ramsbottom became the first administrator of the Orange Free State as a province of the Union.
See also
- Orange River Sovereignty
The Orange River Sovereignty was a short-lived political entity between the Orange and Vaal rivers in southern Africa. In 1854, it became the Orange Free State, and is now the Free State province of South Africa.-History:...
- Orange Free State
The Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
- Free State Province
- Vicariate Apostolic of Orange River
The Vicariate Apostolic of Orange River was a Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction located in part of South Africa.-History:The Apostolic vicariate was erected as such in 1897 after having been a prefecture Apostolic since July, 1885. It comprised the whole of Little Namaqualand The Vicariate...
for the Catholic missionary history