Nicolaas Smit
Nicolaas Smit | |
|---|---|
General | |
| Commands held | Transvaal Commandos |
| Battles/wars | First Boer War |
| Awards | Order of the Red Eagle (Prussia) Order of the Netherlands Lion (the Netherlands) |
| Relations | Nicolaas Van der Merwe |
| Other work | Vice State President of the South African Republic 1888-1896 |
Nicolaas Jacobus Smit (5 May 1837 – 4 April 1896) was a
general and politician. During the First Boer War, he led Boer forces to victory during the Battle of Majuba Hill. He served as Vice State President of the South African Republic
from 1887 and served until his death.
Early years
The son of Nicolaas Jacobus Smit (1811-1887) and Elizabeth Magdalena Van der Merwe (1815-1892), the young Nicolaas was born at Doornbos, near
Graaf Reinet
. The family was descended from the first Dutch Calvinist immigrants, who, having arrived at the Cape before 1688, were among the first white settlers on the continent. At age 25 he moved to Natal with his parents. They lived in Durban for a while but disliked English society. Smit decided to join the army and eventually entered the veldt with a group of comrades.
Later life and military career
Smit settled on a Sheepmor farm with his family in 1873. He also acquired the lease of a head of cattle in the
Battle of Ingogo Heights
, he and 200 soldiers managed to hold off an opposing force three times as strong in atrocious weather conditions.
At the
Transvaal War to a swift conclusion. It enabled the Boer Republic to be established at the Pretoria Convention, which went unchallenged until the Second Boer War. The London Convention (1884), which superseded the Pretoria Convention and to which Smit was a signatory, ceded suzerainty to the Boers for all time.[2]
For his courage and presence of mind on the battlefield, Smit was elected to political office. First, he was appointed as
President Kruger
.
Marriages
Smit married Hendrika Stephina (1841-1894), daughter of Hendrik Stephanus Pretorius and Rachel Jacoba Liebenberg, at Rustenburg in April 1863. They had three sons and two daughters. In May 1895 he married Sussana Bosman, a widow.
Awards
- Order of the Red Eagle (Prussia)
- Order of the Netherlands Lion (the Netherlands)
Gallery
-
Nicolaas Jacobus Smit -
The Boer Delegates 1883-1884 -
Western side panel of the Kruger statue in Pretoria
References
- ^ H M Jones, Bibliographical Register of Swaziland to 1902
- ^ Boberts, Salisbury, p.247-8
- ^ Hermann, H.B.K. "Pretoriana, no. 081, July 1981, 003_p026-035.pdf". Journal of the Old Pretoria Society.
- ^ http://hdl.handle.net/10394/14081 Die ontstaan en ontwikkeling van die amp van die staatspresident in die Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, 1858-1902, "Du Plessis_JS_Chapter11.pdf" (2.125Mb)