James Weston Leonard (20 April 1853 – 3 September 1909) was an influential politician of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a 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 it united with t ...

Early life and education

Leonard was born in

Somerset East Somerset East ( af, Somerset-Oos) is a town in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825. The Blue Crane Route follows the national road R63 from Pearston, via S ...

and received his schooling at

Gill College Gill College is a South African high school in Somerset East, Sarah Baartman District Municipality. It was founded in 1869 as a university. The school's namesake, Dr. William Gill, died in 1863 and left an estate equivalent to £23,000 () for th ...

. He studied law at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, graduating with an

LL.B. 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 People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1876.

Career

In the same year that he obtained his degree, he became a member of the Cape Bar and practised at the Cape until 1888. He served as Member of the Cape Legislative Assembly for Oudtshoorn (1880–88) and served as Attorney General in the governments of Cape

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 i ...

Gordon Sprigg Sir John Gordon Sprigg, (27 April 1830 – 4 February 1913) was an English-born colonial administrator, politician and four-time prime minister of the Cape Colony. Early life Sprigg was born in Ipswich, England, into a strongly Puritan fam ...

in 1881 and

Thomas Scanlen Sir Thomas Charles Scanlen (9 July 1834 – 15 December 1912) was a politician and administrator of the Cape Colony. He was briefly Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, from 1881 to 1884, during an especially turbulent period in the Cape's histor ...

from 1882 until 1884. In 1883, at the age of thirty, he received the status of QC. After the discovery of gold he settled in Johannesburg and from 1888 he practised at the Johannesburg Bar and was implicated in the

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

of 1895–6. In 1899 he moved to London.

References

Members of the House of Assembly of the Cape Colony 19th-century South African people 1853 births 1909 deaths South African Queen's Counsel {{WesternCape-politician-stub