Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff : sakeman en politikus aan die Kaap 1859 –1931

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is a biography of Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, Bt, of Cape Town, who was bornin 1859 and died in 1931. It covers his whole life span, from his birth as a poor farm boy in thedistrict of Villiersdorp until his death as one of South Africa's most innovative businessmenafter he also distinguished himself in a political career. As the pioneer of cold storage in SouthAfrica he brought the practice of frozen meat and food to the country at the end of thenineteenth century and in the meat trade he built up one of the biggest business undertakingsin the Southern Hemisphere. As mayor of Cape Town at the youthful age of 31 he played adecisive rol in the modernisation of the city. As a member of Genl. Louis Botha's first Cabinetafter Union in 1910, a defining event which laid down the borders of the present Republic ofSouth Africa, he played a sometimes underestimated role in the development of the countryand its economy after the tribulations and long-term effects of the Anglo-Boer War. The life ofthis complex businessman/politician, a Cape Afrikaner who as a bachelor at an advanced agereceived a hereditary British title and thereafter married the daughter of the dominee of hisDutch Reformed congegation, is also a fascinating example of the difficult choices which CapeAfrikaners in colonial times had to make between loyalty to the British Crown and commitmentto the native soil of South Africa. His biography furthermore offers an insight into the role of atop business leader who enters politics, a facet which has received little coverage in SouthAfrican historial research. By describing the mosaic of his life in the time span in which he wasa prominent figure, it was endeavoured to cast more light on the social and cultural context ofan epoch-making period, thereby seeking to contribute to a nuanced understanding of theSouth African past.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University