British colonial statesman, and prime minister of Cape Colony, South Africa (18906), born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, SE England, UK. Suffering from a lung weakness, he was sent for his health to a brother's cotton farm in South Africa; he subsquently made a fortune at the Kimberley diamond diggings, and amalgamated the several diamond companies to form the De Beers Consolidated Mines Co (1888). Dividing his time between Kimberley and England, he studied at Oxford, and entered the Cape House of Assembly, securing Bechuanaland as a protectorate (1884) and the charter for the British South Africa Company (1889), whose territory was later to be named Rhodesia after him. He became prime minister of Cape Colony, but was forced to resign in 1896 because of complications arising from the Jameson raid. He was a conspicuous figure during the Boer War (18991902), when he organized the defences of Kimberley. His will founded scholarships at Oxford for Americans, Germans, and colonials (Rhodes scholars).
For others with similar names, see Cecil Rhodes (disambiguation).Cecil John Rhodes, PC (July 5, 1853 – March 26, 1902) was a British-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician.
Rhodes profited greatly by exploiting Southern Africa's natural resources, proceeds of which founded the Rhodes Scholarship upon his death. Rhodes is famous for having declared: "all of these stars...
Childhood in England
Rhodes was born in 1853 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Francis William Rhodes, a priest in the Church of England, and his wife Louisa Peacock Rhodes.
South Africa
After a brief stay with the Surveyor-General of Natal, Dr. P. Sutherland, in Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes took an interest in agriculture and joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomaas valley in Natal. In the colony, he established the Rhodes Fruit Farms in the Stellenbosch district. In October 1871, Rhodes left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley. After he first came to Africa Rhodes supported himself with money lent by his Aunt Sophia Peacock.
Education
In 1873, Rhodes left his diamond fields in the care of his partner, Rudd, and sailed for England to complete his studies.
While attending Oxford, Rhodes joined a secret fraternity called Freemasonry.
Diamonds
Whilst at Oxford, Rhodes continued to prosper in Kimberley.
In 1874 and 1875, the diamond fields were in the grip of depression, but Rhodes and Rudd were among those who stayed to consolidate their interests.
In April 1880, Rhodes and Rudd launched the De Beers Mining Company after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With £200,000 of capital, the Company, of which Rhodes was secretary, owned the largest interest in the mine.
Politics
In 1880, Rhodes prepared to enter public life at the Cape. Rhodes chose the constituency of Barkly West, a rural constituency in which Boer voters predominated. Barkly West remained faithful to Rhodes even after the Jameson Raid, and he continued as its member until his death.
The chief preoccupation of the Cape Parliament when Rhodes became a member was the future of Basutoland, where the ministry of Sir Gordon Sprigg was trying to restore order after a rebellion, the Gun War, in 1880. In 1890, Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and implemented laws that would benefit mine and industry owners.
Rhodes' policies were instrumental in the development of British imperial policies in South Africa. In 1895, Rhodes supported an attack on the Transvaal, the infamous Jameson Raid. It was a failure, and Rhodes had to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape.
Rhodesia
Rhodes used his wealth to pursue his dream of creating a British Empire in Africa. The company had hoped to start a "new Rand" from the ancient gold mines of the Mashona, but the gold had been largely depleted long before, so many of the white settlers who accompanied the British South Africa Company to Mashonaland became farmers. When the Matabele and the Mashona - the two main, but rival tribes - separately rebelled against the coming of the white settlers, the British South Africa Company defeated them in the Matabele Wars (1893-1897). The various tribal lands were grouped together and given the name "Rhodesia" in honour of Cecil Rhodes.
Rhodes decreed in his will that he was to be buried in Matobo Hills, so when he died in the Cape in 1902 his body came up by train and wagon to Bulawayo. Rhodes is buried along side both Leander Starr Jameson and the 34 white soldiers killed in the Shangani Patrol.
Political Views
Rhodes wanted to expand the British Empire because he believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was destined to greatness. He wanted to make the British Empire a superpower in which all of the white countries in the empire, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Cape Colony, would be represented in the British Parliament. Rhodes included Americans in the Rhodes scholarships and said that he wanted to breed an American elite of philosopher-kings who would have the USA rejoin the British Empire. Rhodes also respected the Germans and admired the Kaiser, and allowed Germans to be included in the Rhodes scholarships. But although Rhodes is considered by historians to have been an extreme imperialist and racist, in his opinions on domestic politics within the United Kingdom Rhodes was a supporter of the Liberal party ..Rhodes's only major impact on domestic politics within the United Kingdom was his support of the Irish nationalist party, led by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891). Although Rhodes made his support for the Irish nationalists conditional upon an autonomous Ireland still being represented in the British Parliament .. Rhodes was such a strong supporter of Parnell that even after the Liberals and the Irish nationalists had disowned him because of his adultery with the wife of another Irish nationalist, Rhodes continued to support Parnell . Rhodes was much more tolerant of the Dutch-speaking whites in the Cape Colony than the other English-speaking whites in the Cape Colony were. Rhodes also advocated greater self-government for his country, the Cape Colony, which was one of the reasons that he did not get along with the British government.
Princess Radziwill
In the last years of his life, Rhodes was stalked by a Polish princess named Catherine Radziwill (1858–1941), who came from a noble Polish-Lithuanian dynasty called Radziwiłł. Radziwill falsely claimed to people that she was engaged to Rhodes, or that they were having an affair. She asked him to marry her, but Rhodes refused. She wrote a biography of Rhodes called Cecil Rhodes:Man and Empire Maker.
During the Boer War
During the Boer War Rhodes went to Kimberley to help during the siege, but he was more of a liability than an asset, he was a constant nuisance. In particular Lieutenant Colonel Kekewich disliked Rhodes because of Rhodes's inability to cooperate with the military. Rhodes kept demanding that the military adopt his plans and ideas instead of just doing as they said . (source Pakenham, Thomas The Boer War)
Rhodes's will and the Rhodes Scholarship
Although Rhodes remained a leading figure in the politics of southern Africa, especially during the Second Boer War, he was dogged by ill health throughout his relatively short life.
Rhodes wanted to create a secret society that would bring the whole world under British rule. The exact words are as follows:
To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.As a result of his will, however, the Rhodes Scholarships were established instead. Rhodes died in 1902, and was considered at the time one of the wealthiest men in the world. Rhodes Memorial stands on Rhodes' favourite spot on the slopes of Devil's Peak, with a view looking north and east towards the Cape to Cairo route. Rhodes was laid to rest at World's View, a hilltop located approximately 35 kilometers south of Bulawayo, in what was then Rhodesia.
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