Leander Starr Jameson

Leander Starr Jameson (1853-1917), British physician and statesman, who led the Jameson raid into the Transvaal region of South Africa in 1895.

Jameson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and educated at the University of London. In 1878, because of ill health, he went to South Africa and practiced medicine in Kimberley. There he met the British empire builder Cecil John Rhodes. Jameson assisted Rhodes in negotiations with the indigenous people of South Africa and induced the Matabele king Lobengula to grant mineral concessions to Britain in what is now part of Zimbabwe. In 1891 Jameson became administrator of the region and three years later ensured British control by putting down a revolt. Although unauthorized, he attempted to assist in an uprising of the Uitlanders, the British residents of the Afrikaner republics, the South African Republic in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The Uitlanders were planning an uprising in Johannesburg against the government of the Afrikaners or Boers. Jameson, on December 29, 1895, led a force of about 500 men in a raid into the Transvaal. The raid met resistance. At Doornkop, on January 2, 1896, after 36 hours, Jameson surrendered. He was turned over to the British and was sentenced to ten months in prison. After eight months he was released due to illness.

The Jameson raid was one of the most important causes of the Boer War (1899-1902), in which Jameson fought. He became a member of the Cape Colony legislature in 1900 and served as prime minister from 1904 to 1908. He was a member of the Union of South Africa Parliament from 1910 to 1912, when he was forced to retire due to ill health. He was created a baronet in 1911.