John Michael Peacock MLA, MLC ( – ) was a prominent "border man" and a member of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council of the Cape Colony Parliament''Prominent men of Cape Colony, South Africa''. Portland, Maine: Lakeside Press, 1902 in

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

Biography

Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, the son of draper George and Hannah Peacock, he emigrated to the

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 ...

in 1861, and started his business in the eastern frontier of the Cape, in King Williams Town and then in Queenstown. In 1867 he married Maria Kentish Hincksman (d.1888), daughter of a cotton spinner TC Hincksman from Preston, England, and they had a large family. Mr Peacock - Zingari Vol IV 14 Aug 1874

MLA (1874-1877)

He represented King Williams Town in the General Assembly (lower house) of the

Cape Parliament The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope functioned as the legislature of the Cape Colony, from its founding in 1853, until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it was dissolved and the Parliament of South Africa was establis ...

from 1874 until 1877. He also served on that town's council. He was one of the first officers in the Kaffrarian Volunteers, and was a leader of the movement which opposed the dis-annexation of

British Kaffraria British Kaffraria was a British colony/subordinate administrative entity in present-day South Africa, consisting of the districts now known as Qonce and East London. It was also called Queen Adelaide's Province. The British Kaffraria was establish ...

by the Cape Colony.

Diplomatic agent in England (1877-1889)

After he resigned his seat in Parliament, he returned to England for a while. While there, he was appointed by the Cape Prime Minister

Thomas Charles 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 histo ...

to be a Member of the Council of Advice to the Agent General. Here he also kept a close eye on the interests of the Cape frontier region, especially its principal shipping port, East London.

MLC (1891-1898)

When he returned to the Cape in 1889, he settled in Addiscombe, Queenstown. He represented the Eastern Circle (Province) in the Legislative Council (upper house) of the Cape Parliament from 1891 until 1898.

References

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

Cape Colony politicians 1820 Settlers Year of death missing 1830s births {{EasternCape-politician-stub