Henry Charles Hull was the first South African Minister of Finance when the Union of South Africa was formed in March 1910. He served in the first Louis Botha cabinet. He assisted in drafting of South Africa's first constitution. He was a lawyer, politician, and mining financier. He assisted in the formation of Anglo American plc.

Background

His career started with an appointment in the Cape civil service based in Kimberley. He soon took the bar and practiced as a lawyer. In 1889, he left Kimberley and head for Johannesburg and its goldfields to continue his legal career. There he would join the

Johannesburg Reform Committee The Reform Committee was an organisation of prominent Johannesburg citizens which existed late 1895/early 1896. History The Transvaal gold rush had brought in a considerable foreign population, chiefly British although there were substantial min ...

that was advocating for equal rights for

Uitlanders Uitlander, Afrikaans for "foreigner" (lit. "outlander"), was a foreign (mainly British) migrant worker during the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in the independent Transvaal Republic following the discovery of gold in 1886. The limited rights granted to ...

in the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

. After the failed attempt to overthrow of that government via the

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched Raid (military), raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the emplo ...

, Hull was arrested as were many other members of the Reform Committee. Tried for treason, he was found guilty, imprisoned for two years, commuted, expelled for three years, and fined £2000. When the

Second Boer 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 ...

started in 1899, he recruited men to British army in order to form the

South African Light Horse The South African Light Horse regiment of the British Army were raised in Cape Colony in 1899 and disbanded in 1907. The commanding officer tasked with raising the regiment was Major (locally a Lieutenant Colonel) the Honourable Julian Byng. ( ...

Marshall's Horse Marshall's Horse was a South African cavalry unit formed in 1899 at the start of the Second Boer War to provide military support for the British campaign. The unit was created from the Uitenhage Rifles and 1st City (Grahamstown) Volunteers. They ...

, and the Eastern Province Horse. Hull would participate in war with General Brabant's column when it relieved the besieged British forces at

Wepener Wepener is a town in the Free State, South Africa, located near the border of Lesotho. History The town is named after Louw Wepener, the leader of the Boers in their war with the Basotho chief Moshoeshoe I in 1865. It was founded in 1867 on t ...

. After the end of hostilities in 1902, he was appointed to the unelected Legislative Council of the

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

in 1903 by

Alfred 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 ...

. In 1904, Hull formed a legal partnership in Johannesburg with lawyers

Edward Solomon Edward Solomon (25 July 1855 – 22 January 1895) was an English composer, conductor, orchestrator and pianist. He died at age 39 by which time he had written dozens of works produced for the stage, including several for the D'Oyly Carte Oper ...

, Charles A. Wentzel, and Walter Webber. Hull would join the Transvaal National Association, later called the Nationalists, and was opposed to Milner's use of Chinese labour on goldfields. In 1907, the Transvaal Colony obtain self-governance and Hull was elected to the seat Georgetown for the Nationalists. He was asked to join

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 cabinet as its Colonial Treasurer. In May 1908, he was one of three cabinet members that represented the Transvaal Colony at the Intercolonial Customs and Railways Conference. The conference, with participants from the other three colonies, resolved the number of delegates from each colony that would draft the constitution for the Union of South Africa at a

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

for presentation in parliament in London. Later he would be one of eight men that represented the Transvaal Colony in drafting the constitution between 1908 and 1909. The Union of South Africa was created on 31 March 1910, with Louis Botha as its first prime minister with Hull joining the Botha cabinet , as finance minister. The

1910 South African general election Year 191 ( CXCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Bradua (or, less frequently, year 944 ''Ab urbe condit ...

followed in September 1910. He resigned in 1912 after a dispute with Minister for Railways, J.W. Sauer over the latter's failure to tell cabinet about its excessive expenditure and tariff reductions. Botha reluctantly backed Sauer and Hull resigned his post. He would represent the constituency of Barberton from October 1910 until August 1915. After leaving politics, Hull assisted in the formation of Anglo American to fund gold mining on the Far East Rand. He accompanied

Ernest Oppenheimer Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957), KStJ was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. Career Ernest Oppenhei ...

to London in 1915 to organise finance for the new company with American investors fronted by Herbert C. Hoover and William L. Honnold. The

Anglo American Corporation Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people o ...

was formed in 1917 with £1 million capital. Hull would be appointed one of six directors on the board of the new company. Hull used his political connection to Jan Smuts and Louis Botha to ensure that Consolidated Diamond Mines and Oppenheimer obtain the exclusive rights to alluvial diamonds in

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

(Namibia). Oppenheimer would accompany Botha to Versailles peace conference in 1919 that resulted in the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

and the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

that granted South Africa a mandate to administrate South West Africa.

Marriage

He had four sons and one daughter.

Death

Hull died in Muizenberg, Cape Town in 1932.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hull, Henry Charles 1860 births 1932 deaths Finance ministers of South Africa White South African people South African politicians 20th-century South African politicians