Gustav Imroth (29 June 1862 – 10 October 1946) was a minor Randlord
Randlords were the capitalists who controlled the diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. At Standard conditions for temperature and pres ...
who played a role in the development of the South African diamond-mining industry and sports.
He was born in Friedberg, Germany in 1862 into a Jewish banking family, travelled first to London in 1880, where he was naturalised British, and then to Kimberley, South Africa
Kimberley is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal River, Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historica ...
in 1884 to work in the diamond industry for Dunkelsbuhler and Company alongside his cousins Louis Oppenheimer and Fredrich Hirschhorn. Gustav Imroth later represented Barnato Brothers in their dealings with the diamond syndicate (later De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. At Standard conditions for ...
), working closely with Solomon Joel
Solomon Barnato "Solly" Joel (23 May 1865 – 22 May 1931), born in London, England, moved to South Africa in the 1880s where he made his fortune in connection with diamonds, later becoming a financier with interests in mining, brewing and railwa ...
and Ernest Oppenheimer
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957) was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers Consolidated Mines, De Beers and founded the Anglo American plc, Anglo American Corporatio ...
(also a first cousin). He helped found the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company Limited (“Johnnies”) and was its managing director from 1911 to 1920, when he retired to London.
An amateur boxer, keen supporter of South African sports and founder member of the Wanderers Club, Gustav Imroth was a boxing umpire in the 1908 London Olympics and served as chairman of the Olympic Games Committee.
He married his maternal first cousin Florence Hirschhorne (1871-1974) in London in 1893; they had three children: Leslie (1896-1918), Freda (1899-1960) and Alice (1903-1992). Lieutenant Leslie Imroth of the 11th Hampshire Regiment
The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regim ...
died in 1918 of wounds sustained during the Great War.
References
*Sir Theodore Gregory, Ernest Oppenheimer and the Economic Development of South Africa (Oxford University Press, 1962, page 48). *Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Randlords: South Africa's Robber Barons and the Mines that Forged a Nation (Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, 1987, page 274). 1862 births 1948 deaths British mining businesspeople People from the Northern Cape South African businesspeople 19th-century German Jews South African mining businesspeople German emigrants to the United Kingdom British emigrants to South Africa German emigrants to South Africa Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom {{SouthAfrica-business-bio-stub