Jan smuts biography

General Jan Christiaan Smuts was born near Riebeeck West in the Cape Colony on 24 May His mother taught him the elements of reading and writing in English, and he only entered school at the age of 12, when his elder brother Michiel died.

After only five years of formal schooling, he matriculated with distinction at the Victoria College in Stellenbosch. His time at Stellenbosch is considered significant, as there he embraced the political philosophy of J.H Hofmeyr “Onze Jan”, the leader of the Afrikaner Bond.

It was also during his time at Stellenbosch that he developed an affinity for botany under Professor R. Marloth and met his future wife, Sybella Margaretha “Isie” Krige, the daughter of a leading local farmer.

In , he gained a double first in the combined literary and science degree examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope, which is now the University of South Africa (UNISA). This achievement earned him the Ebden scholarship to st

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Jan Smuts

South African statesman and military leader (–)

Field MarshalJan Christian Smuts, OM, CH, DTD, ED, PC, KC, FRS (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May – 11 September ) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher.^[1] In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from to and to

Smuts was born to Afrikaner parents in the British Cape Colony. He was educated at Victoria College, Stellenbosch before reading law at Christ's College, Cambridge on a scholarship. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in but returned home the following year. In the leadup to the Second Boer War, Smuts practised law in Pretoria, the capital of the South African Republic. He led the republic's delegation to the Bloemfontein Conference and served as an officer in a commando unit following the outbreak of war in In , he played a key rol

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Smuts, Field-Marshal, Jan Christian. (). Jan Christian Smuts was born 24 May , on the farm Ongegund near Riebeeck West in what is now South Africa. He was educated at Victoria College at Stellenbosch and studied law at Cambridge. He returned to South Africa after his studies at Cambridge in As a result of the Jameson Raid against the Transvaal (29 December - 2 January , certainly one of the initiating events of the Boer War), his political leanings turned from endorsement of Cecil Rhodes� dream of a British Africa to support of President Paulus Kruger and the South African Republic. In June , Smuts was appointed State Attorney for the South African Republic.

After the start of the Boer War and the fall of Pretoria in June , Smuts took to the field and led a Boer unit in the area of Vereeniging and Potchefstroom. At the Boer conference in June , it was decided Smuts would lead an expedition into the Cape Colony. In early September Smuts and his unit crossed the Orange River near Za