François Stephanus Malan PC (12 March 1871 – 31 December 1941), usually called F. S. Malan or just F. S., was a South African politician. Malan was the son of a farmer and was born in Leeuwenjacht, near Paarl,

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

. As his name suggests, he was of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

(French Protestants who fled to South Africa and were assimilated in the Afrikaner population) descent. His brother, Charles W. Malan, also entered politics. Malan was educated at Paarl Boys' High, Victoria College, Stellenbosch, the

University of the Cape of Good Hope The University of the Cape of Good Hope, renamed the University of South Africa in 1916, was created when the Molteno government passed Act 16 of 1873 in the Cape of Good Hope Parliament. Modelled on the University of London, it offered examinati ...

(where he studied science) and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, graduating from Cambridge in 1894 with an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

. He returned to Cape Colony in 1895 and was admitted as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

. He never practised, however, and later that year became editor of '' Ons Land'', the Cape's leading

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

. He vigorously opposed

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

and the Progressive Party, precipitated the fall of

William Philip Schreiner William Philip Schreiner (30 August 1857 – 28 June 1919) was a barrister, politician, statesman and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the Second Boer War. Early life Schreiner was born at Wittebergen Mission Station near Hersc ...

's government in 1902, and opposed

Lord Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From De ...

. He was sentenced to a year's imprisonment during the

South African War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

. In 1900, Malan was elected to the Cape Assembly for the

Afrikander Bond The Afrikaner Bond (Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch for "Afrikaner Union"; South African Dutch: Afrikander Bond) was founded as an anti-imperialist political party in 19th century southern Africa. While its origins were largely in the Orang ...

, of which he later became leader. In 1908 he resigned from ''Ons Land'' and was appointed Minister of Agriculture in

John X. Merriman John Xavier Merriman (15 March 1841 – 1 August 1926) was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Early life He was born in Street, Somerset, England. His parents were Nathaniel Jame ...

's government. He served until the creation of the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...

in 1910, when he was elected to the Union Parliament for the South African Party and joined

Louis Botha Louis Botha (; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa – the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer War, ...

's government as Minister of Education. He also became Minister of Mines (later Mines and Industries) in 1912. He remained in the government after Jan Smuts succeeded Botha in 1919. In April 1920 he also became Minister of Agriculture. He also acted as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

for eight months while Botha and Smuts were away at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. After Smuts's government fell in 1924, Malan never again held government office. In 1927 he was elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, becoming its President (Speaker) in January 1940."General Hertzog and the War", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 20 January 1940 He held this post until his death. He was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in the

1920 Birthday Honours The 1920 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were p ...

, entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable".

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, ''

'', 2 January 1942 {{DEFAULTSORT:Malan, Francois 1871 births 1941 deaths People from Drakenstein Local Municipality Cape Colony people Afrikaner people South African Party (Union of South Africa) politicians United Party (South Africa) politicians Education ministers of South Africa Presidents of the Senate of South Africa Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) South African members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom South African newspaper editors Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge South African people of French descent