Abraham Chiron was a German-born book-keeper and banker who played a key role in the establishment of

Freemasonry in South Africa Freemasonry was brought to South Africa by members of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands in 1772. Today there are lodges chartered under the United Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the Grand Lodge o ...

and served as the country's first Masonic Grand Master. He also played a significant role in the early European settlement of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

in South Africa.

Family

Chiron was born in 1746 in Frankfurt, Germany to Charles Chiron and Susanna Schuler. He married Marie Philippine Roger from Sedan, France. Once settled in South Africa, the couple raised four daughters: Susanna Maria (1771), Marie Charlotte (1774), Jeane Marianne (1775), and Antoinette Caroline (1778).

Career

Chiron joined the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

in 1768 on a five-year contract and arrived the next year in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa on the ship ''Grosvenor'' . As a contracted employee, Chiron was allocated to the Company’s Department of Secretary for Justice in 1775. In 1782, he became responsible for the accounts of supplying ships and general book keeping duties. After ''The Grosvenor'', a ship of the Dutch East India Company, was wrecked in August 1782 on the Pondoland Coast of South Africa, Chiron helped uncover the cause by facilitating the gathering of evidence from the survivors as he was able to speak English. Chiron communicated frequently with

Joachim van Plettenberg Baron Joachim Ammena van Plettenberg (8 March 1739, Leeuwarden, Netherlands – 18 August 1793, Zwolle, Netherlands) was the governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 11 August 1771 to 14 February 1785. Plettenberg was presiding governor after ...

, the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope regarding Dutch East India Company employees matters. He acted as coordinator between deceased Dutch members and their families in the Netherlands regarding their bequests.

Freemasonry

Chiron joined the Zur Einigkeit Freemason Lodge in Germany in 1765. In Cape Town, he met Captain

Abraham van der Weijden Abraham van der Weijden, a Dutch citizen, was a ship’s captain and the initiator of Freemasonry in South Africa. Personal life Van der Weijden was born in Delft, The Netherlands in 1743. He married Johanna Slegge on 29 July 1764. He died in So ...

and a division of the Grand Lodge of the Netherlands was established in 1772. The founding members were Jacobus Alexander le Febre, Johann Coenraad Gie,

Christoffel Brand Sir Christoffel Joseph Brand (21 June 1797 Cape Town – 19 May 1875 Cape Town) was a Cape jurist, politician, statesman and first Speaker of the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, Legislative Assembly of the Cape Colony. Early life and edu ...

, Jan Adriaan van Schoor, Olof Godlieb de Wet and Petrus Johan de Wit. Chiron served as the first Grand Master until 1776, and again from 1776 until 1781 following a brief absence.

Later life

After Chiron resigned from the Dutch East India Company, he and his family returned to the Netherlands in 1784. They settled again in Frankfurt, Germany where Chiron was a bank manager until his death in 1822.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiron, Abraham 1746 births 1822 deaths Bankers from the Holy Roman Empire German bankers South African Freemasons People from Frankfurt