Sir Walter Ernest Mortimer Stanford (2 August 1850 – 9 September 1933) was a South African civil servant and politician.
Stanford was born in
Alice, South Africa
Alice is a small town in Eastern Cape, South Africa that is named after Princess Alice, the daughter of the British Queen Victoria. It was settled in 1824 by British colonists it's adjacent to the Tyhume River. It has rail and road connectio ...
, in 1850 and was educated at the
Lovedale Mission School. He left school and became a clerk under his uncle, the government agent to the
Thembu
The Thembu Kingdom (''abaThembu ababhuzu-bhuzu, abanisi bemvula ilanga libalele'') was a Xhosa-state in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
According to Xhosa oral tradition, the AbaThembu migrated along the east coast of Southern Africa ...
. At age 18 he joined the civil service and was stationed at Queenstown, East London and in 1876 was appointed magistrate to the Qwathi chief, Dalasile, and settled at
Engcobo
Ngcobo (formerly Engcobo) is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
Ngcobo is the main town of the Engcobo Local Municipality, which falls within the Chris Hani District Municipality of the Eastern Cape. It is situated in the west ...
, in
Thembuland
Thembuland, af, Temboeland, is a natural region in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Its territory is the traditional region of the abaThembu, one of the states of the Xhosa nation.
It was formerly also known as "Tamboekieland" or "Tam ...
. He married Alice Sarah Walker in 1883 and they had three sons and four daughters. In 1885 he was promoted to chief magistrate of
Griqualand East
Griqualand East (Afrikaans: ''Griekwaland-Oos''), officially known as New Griqualand ( Dutch: ''Nieuw Griqualand''), was one of four short-lived Griqua states in Southern Africa from the early 1860s until the late 1870s and was located between ...
at Kokstad.
Stanford was involved in negotiations with the Mpondo and in 1886 reached an agreement which provided for peaceful future relations. He was appointed
CMG in 1891 and became responsible for the administration of eastern Pondoland. In 1897 Stanford became under-secretary for native affairs in Cape Town, and subsequently the first chief magistrate of the newly formed Transkeian Territories. In 1904 he was appointed to the headship of the Native Affairs department, as well as chief magistrate. Special duties included roles as an adviser at the inter-state customs conference 1903, membership of the native affairs commission, 1903–1905, and acting as adviser to
William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...
, the British High Commissioner to South Africa) on Swazi affairs in 1906. Stanford entered the Cape Legislative Assembly in 1908 as an independent member for
Thembuland
Thembuland, af, Temboeland, is a natural region in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Its territory is the traditional region of the abaThembu, one of the states of the Xhosa nation.
It was formerly also known as "Tamboekieland" or "Tam ...
and was selected to represent the views of the African people at the
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 Nationa ...
of 1909, which led to the Union of South Africa. He argued strongly for universal franchise, regardless of race and gender but his proposal was not accepted. From 1910 to 1929, he served in the Senate, nominated for his knowledge of the African peoples. He was a colonel with the South African forces in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In 1919 he was appointed
KBE, and died age 83 in 1933.
Early years
Stanford was descended from the British
1820 Settlers
The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820.
Origins
After ...
in the Cape Colony on both his father's (William Stanford) and his mother's (Joanna Warner) sides. Walter Ernest Mortimer was their second son, born at Alice on 2 August 1850. His father died in 1856 at the early age of 36 following amputation of a leg after a riding accident. His mother 'was a small woman of indomitable courage who continued trading, farming and transport-riding, while still finding time to encourage her sons to read and write".
Walter was in "poor health" so was sent at the age of 7 to live with his uncle Joseph Cox Warner in the Queenstown district where the altitude might improve his strength, a strategy which seems to have been effective, judging by his long and strenuous career. He received some schooling from a maiden aunt, Mary Warner, and for two years attended the Lovedale Missionary Institution, finishing his formal education just before he turned twelve.
On 1 July 1863, just before his 13th birthday, Walter became a clerk under his uncle, the government agent to the
Thembu
The Thembu Kingdom (''abaThembu ababhuzu-bhuzu, abanisi bemvula ilanga libalele'') was a Xhosa-state in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
According to Xhosa oral tradition, the AbaThembu migrated along the east coast of Southern Africa ...
at Glen Grey. He thus entered the service of the department of African affairs in which he was to remain for 45 years and through which "he was destined to exercise a profound influence on the development of South Africa". Responsibility came early: in his uncle's absence he became in effect the agent, Her Majesty's representative to a semi-independent African tribe. He continued in Thembuland for six years, before moving to Queenstown and then East London as a servant of the department.
Magistracy
Walter advanced steadily and in 1876 was appointed magistrate to
Thembuland
Thembuland, af, Temboeland, is a natural region in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Its territory is the traditional region of the abaThembu, one of the states of the Xhosa nation.
It was formerly also known as "Tamboekieland" or "Tam ...
. He was commissioned and fought in the Ninth Frontier War (1877–8) with "gallantry, energy and judgement". This was followed by further skirmishes and tribal unrest, before Walter returned to magisterial duties in 1881. His first task was to relocate the defeated tribes. The Report of the Thembuland Commission testifies to "the fairness of the magistrates and the tenacity with which they attempted to ensure their native charges were justly treated". He was also appointed to the Native Laws and Customs Commission, which was responsible for drafting a criminal code which recognised both African custom and European principles of justice.
In 1883 Walter married Alice Walker of Port Elizabeth, a long and happy marriage, with seven children: Walter, Dorothy, Robert, Alice, Arthur, Helen and Eileen.
Two years later he was appointed chief magistrate and administrative head of East Griqualand, headquartered in
Kokstad
Kokstad is a town in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Kokstad is named after the Griqua chief Adam Kok III who settled here in 1863. Kokstad is the capital town of the East Griqualand region, as i ...
. This was a tricky appointment as there were constant border skirmishes, raids and friction with the neighbouring Mpondo tribe until Stanford negotiated a treaty, signed in 1886, despite unhelpful instructions from the Government and Prime Minister in Cape Town, which Stanford was able largely to ignore because of the distance by horse! In due course he was appointed C.M.G (Companion of the
Order of St Michael and St George) for this achievement.
In 1894 the paramount chief of the Pondo died, leaving a leadership vacuum which led to a decision by
Cecil Rhodes to annexe
Pondoland
Pondoland or Mpondoland (Xhosa: ''EmaMpondweni''), is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Mpondo Kingdom of the Mpondo peop ...
. That this contentious act was achieved without bloodshed was largely due to the diplomacy of Stanford and other magistrates. Rhodes was not pleased by the magistrates' commitment to just and fair treatment of the natives, leading to some acrimony (for which Rhodes apologised to Stanford much later).
Cape Town
In 1896 the Prime Minister,
Sir Gordon Sprigg, appointed Stanford under-secretary for native affairs, in Cape Town. Stanford accompanied the next Prime Minister,
W.P. Schreiner on a tour of the Eastern Province in 1899, explaining the African culture so coherently that Schreiner described the tour as "his road to Damascus" so profound a change did it make to his views on African policy.
During 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 South ...
Stanford was the liaison between the Cape authorities and the
Transkeian Territories and soon was placed in charge of a field force there. Following the war the Territories were consolidated under one magistrate, to which post Stanford was appointed in 1902. Remarkably the two assistant magistrates were his brothers: Robert at
Kokstad
Kokstad is a town in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Kokstad is named after the Griqua chief Adam Kok III who settled here in 1863. Kokstad is the capital town of the East Griqualand region, as i ...
and Arthur at
Umtata
Mthatha , formerly Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known as the K. D. Matan ...
. Walter was always sympathetic to the Transkeians. Known by them as 'Ndabeni' ('in the news'), he was deeply respected. His popularity was such that when Cape Town's first African township was set up in 1901, on Crown land near Maitland, following recommendations by a commission chaired by Stanford, it was named
Ndabeni in his honour at the residents' request.
From 1903 to 1905 Walter Stanford was a member of the Native Affairs Commission 1903 which recommended, inter alia "that a central Native College be established for training native teachers and to afford opportunity for higher education to native students", although these high principles came to nothing. Walter also advocated the commission's recommendations that Africans should have representation in Parliament. In 1904 he was recalled to Cape Town to head the Native Affairs Department but by 1907 his heart was under strain and he retired on medical advice. However, by 1908 he was so recovered that he stood for Parliament and was returned for Thembuland, as an Independent
National Convention
An election in 1908 brought in
John X. Merriman as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, opening the way to convening representatives of the four hitherto rival South African colonies (Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State). The
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 Nationa ...
was set up to advise on the nature and constitution of the Union, and Stanford was appointed as one of the 30 members, reflecting the liberal view as well as the interests of the Transkei and other African communities. He put the interest of the great majority of the population before the need for unifying the two colonies and two former republics, all of them legislated for and governed solely by white men.
Colonel Stanford argued strongly for enfranchisement of the Native Peoples and asserted "there must be a just native policy". He formally proposed "that all subjects of His Majesty resident in South Africa shall be entitled to franchise rights irrespective of race or colour…” He argued that the franchise was the crux of the whole native question in South Africa.
Despite his reputation and his understanding of African life he was unable to persuade the convention to adopt a universal franchise. The Convention did however agree to preserve the existing non-racial
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 ...
franchise and to entrench it in the
South Africa Act
The South Africa Act 1909 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created the Union of South Africa from the British Cape Colony, Colony of Natal, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal Colony. The Act also made provisions for pote ...
, passed by Parliament in London in May 1910, which created the Union of South Africa.
Later years
Following the Union Stanford was nominated to the Senate on the basis of his experience with the African people, and continued to champion their cause until the outbreak of the First World War when he took up recruiting work for the army, serving with the
Cape Corps
The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served.
History
As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape ...
, of which he later became Hon Colonel.
In November 1914 he was sent to East Griqualand where there were fears of an armed uprising. He identified genuine grievances (related to sheep dipping regulations) made recommendations and negotiated a peaceful settlement. He returned to Cape Town and in 1918 became director of recruiting. At the end of the war he was appointed commissioner for returned soldiers. His lifelong services were recognised in 1919 with his appointment as Knight Commander of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(KBE)
After the war Stanford remained busy. He helped found the
1820 Memorial Settlers Association and served as a steward of the South African Turf Club for 20 years. He gave his time and energy to the Western Province Agricultural Society, the Church, and the Community Chest of Cape Town. In 1927 he was awarded the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...
by 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 ...
, an honour he greatly valued. Senate work continued until he retired in 1929.
In 1933 Walter and Alice celebrated their golden wedding, surrounded by their children and grandchildren. Soon afterwards Walter was taken ill and died on 9 September 1933.
[Obituary, Cape Argus 27 September 1933]
Following his death
Jan Smuts
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...
(Prime Minister 1919–1924, 1939–48)) wrote to Alice: "I counted Sir Walter Stanford among those of my friends on whom I could rely for wise counsel and support and it is a deep sorrow that he has passed away. He has had an exceptional record of service to his country, and leaves behind a record of which we are all very proud".
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanford, Sir Walter
South African civil servants
South African politicians
19th-century South African people
1850 births
1933 deaths
People from Kokstad
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companions of the Order of the Bath