[edit]
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Graaff-Reinet" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Great Trek and Boer Republics[edit]
Andries Pretorius, born Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius (27 November 1798 – 23 July 1853) Great Trek leader after whom Pretoria was named, farmed in the district before the Great Trek. Also instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic.
Andries Hendrik Potgieter, Great Trek leader was born on 19 December 1792 in Graaff-Reinet
Lourens Jacobus Wepener (Louw Wepener) (1812–1865) was born in Graaff-Reinet. He was a commandant in the Orange Free State and was killed in the 2nd Orange Free State–Basuto War while trying to storm the mountain stronghold of Moshoeshoe I, founder of the Basotho nation. He was renowned for his bravery.
Martinus Wessel Pretorius. (1819–1901) Boer soldier and statesman, president of the South African Republic (1857–1871), born in Graaff-Reinet, the son of Andries Pretorius. He succeeded his father as commandant-general in 1853, and was elected president of the South African Republic, and of the Orange Free State (1859–1863). He fought against the British again in 1877, until the independence of the Republic was recognised (1881), then retired.
Gerrit Maritz, Great Trek Leader after whom Pietermaritzburg was partly named was a wagon-maker in the town.
Jan Gerritze Bantjes (1817–1887), explorer, pioneer, scribe and secretary to Andries Pretorius during the Great Trek.
Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff (31 January 1808 – 21 April 1881) was the second president of the Orange Free State, from 1855 to 1859. He was born in Kogmanskloof, Montagu and completed his schooling in Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet where he worked for a further 14 years.
Thomas François Burgers (15 April 1834 – 9 December 1881) was the 4th president of the South African Republic from 1871 to 1877. He was the youngest child of Barend and Elizabeth Burger of the farm Langefontein in the Camdeboo district of Graaff Reinet, Cape Colony.
General Nicolaas Jacobus Smit (30 May 1837 – 1896), commander of the Boer forces at the battles of Ingogo and Majuba. Member of the Volksraad (Parliament), he was vice-president of the ZAR in 1887. Prussia made him Knight of the Red Eagle while the Netherlands gave him their highest award as Commander of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Portugal also gave him the highest award of their country. Born at Doornbos, Graaff-Reinet district, on 30 May 1837, died in Pretoria 4 April 1896.
Politics[edit]
Daniel François Malan (22 May 1874 – 7 February 1959), D.F. Malan, was a prime minister of South Africa. He is seen as the champion of Afrikaner nationalism, and his government started to legalise apartheid policies. An ordained Dutch Reformed minister in Graaff-Reinet between 1912 and 1915. He is positioned 81st on the Top 100 Great South Africans list.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan Africanist Congress in opposition to the Apartheid regime. Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004 Sobukwe was voted 42nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
Dr Beyers Naude – anti-apartheid activist matriculated in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004, he was voted 36th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
Matthew Goniwe (1947–1985) Well known teacher and political activist in South Africa. His political involvement led to his arrest and conviction in 1977 under the Suppression of Communism Act and he was sentenced to four years in prison. He taught at a local school in 1982. On 27 June 1985 Goniwe and three other activists, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli who became known as "The Cradock Four" were killed and mutilated by unnamed members of the Security Forces.
Cameron Dugmore (b. 16 September 1963)—was sworn in as MEC for Education in the Western Cape Province on 30 April 2004. He attended the Union Primary School in Graaff Reinet. His father was principal at Union High School. He has been a member of the Western Cape Provincial Executive of the African National Congress since 1993.
Sir Andries Stockenström, 1st Baronet (6 July 1792, Cape Town – 16 March 1864, London) – lived in Graaff-Reinet.
Sciences[edit]
Francis Guthrie the Four Colour Theorem mathematician and botanist, lived here.
Harry Bolus botanist and founder of the Bolus Herbarium, lived here.
Andrew Geddes Bain (1797 – 20 October 1864), esteemed geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer. Lived in Graaff-Reinet from 1822 for 13 years and worked as a saddle maker. He helped with the construction of the Ouberg Pass and supervised the construction of the Van Rynevelds Pass. In 1837 he was appointed superintendent of military roads by the Royal Engineers. He built eight mountain passes including Michell's Pass and Bain's Kloof Pass. He can rightly be called the father of South African palaeontology. His first fossil discovery was made in 1838. Famous for a fossil he discovered with a very impressive jaw filled with teeth which he named the "Blinkwater Monster". This fossil was later housed at the British Natural History Museum.
Thomas Charles John Bain (29 September 1830 – 1893) became an even more famous road builder than his father and is the best known of the 19th century road builders. Famous for his 24 mountain passes. He was born in Graaff-Reinet; the second son and seventh child of Andrew Geddes Bain.
Prof James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 October 1897 – 7 January 1968) was a famous South African ichthyologist who was born in Graaff Reinet. He was the first to identify, in 1938, a captured fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought long extinct.
Dr Sidney Henry Southey Rubidge (31 May 1887 – 1970) Farmer on "Wellwood" Farm in the district. His hobby of fossil collecting became so highly developed that it brought him worldwide recognition for his contribution to science in the field of palaeontology. In 1952 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of the Orange Free State for his work in this field. He built and maintained a fossil museum on "Wellwood". This has come to be recognised as the finest private collection of Karoo fossils in the world. A founder of the Merino Ram Breeders' Association of South Africa and of what today is the National Wool Growers Association of South Africa.
Johannes Jacobus Brummer (Joe) was born in Graaff-Reinet on 2 September 1921. He was an economic geologist and one of the most successful mine finders ever. He was responsible for finding copper in Zambia, nickel, copper and zinc deposits in Manitoba as well as zinc and uranium deposits in Saskatchewan. Recipient of the Barlow Gold Medal (CIM) in 1978 and in 1984 the GAC awarded him the Duncan R. Derry medal for his major contributions to economic geology.
Prof James William Kitching (6 February 1922 – 24 December 2003) who grew up in the district was a South African vertebrate palaeontologist and regarded as one of the world's greatest fossil finders. He, together with James (Jim) Collinson, was the first person to identify and collect therapsid fossils in the Antarctic confirming the former continental link between southern Africa and Antarctica.[citation needed]
Aubrey Sheiham (12 September 1936 – 24 November 2015) was a dental epidemiologist and professor at University College London.
William Smith is South Africa's best-known and most popular television science and mathematics teacher. He matriculated at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004, he was voted 86th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. The coelacanth "living fossil" was discovered by Smith's father, Professor James Leonard Brierley Smith, a renowned ichthyologist.
Pierre Terblanche, born in 1956 in Graaff-Reinet, was one of the designers of the Ducati 916. The Ducati 916 is an Italian sports motorcycle manufactured by Ducati from 1993 to 1999. He also worked on the Ducati 888 and the 916. He has been the director of design at Ducati since 1997.
Sports[edit]
Herbert Hayton Castens (23 November 1864 – 18 October 1929), born in the village of Pearston neighbouring the Graaff-Reinet District. He is a former South African rugby union footballer, and cricketer. He was South Africa's first ever rugby and cricket captain. On 30 July 1891 he captained South Africa in their first ever rugby international, against the touring British Isles team. In 1894 a South African cricket tour to England was organised, with Castens appointed as the first-ever South African cricket captain.
Arthur Edward Ochse (born 11 March 1870 in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, died 11 April 1918 in France) He was a South African cricketer who played two Tests for South Africa in 1888–89. Known to his teammates as 'Okey', Ochse held a unique record in South African cricket history for well over one hundred years, being the youngest test cricketer selected for South Africa at 19 years and one day when he took the field for the first test.
Arthur Lennox Ochse (b. 11 October 1899, Graaff-Reinet) Springbok cricketer; Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler. Debut: Against England, 3rd Test, Marylebone Cricket Club in South Africa 1927/28 Kingsmead, Durban, South Africa
Louis Babrow (24 April 1915 – 26 January 2004) Famous Springbok rugby player. Babrow's international career was a brief one—just one season with the Springboks, but it was a great enough one for him to be included in the 50 top Springboks of all time in a recent book, The Chosen. The year in which he played was 1937—when the Springboks became the first team to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, a feat not equalled till 1971. During World War II he was awarded a Military Cross for gallantry at the Battle of El Alamein, when he was wounded. After the War, Babrow captained the British Empire XV against the Rest of the World. He attended Sacred Heart Convent in Graaff-Reinet.
Pieter Kuyper Albertyn (PK) (b. 27 May 1897) Dutch Reformed minister in Graaff-Reinet between 1906 and 1921.[citation needed] Springbok rugby captain in 1924.
Clarence Skelton Wimble, a South African cricketer, was born in Graaff-Reinet on 22 April 1861 and died in Johannesburg on 28 January 1930, aged 68.
Louis Davids – Rugby player, South African Federation Rugby Union.
Jano Vermaak – Springbok and Western Province Rugby Player.
Elton Jantjies - Springboks and Lions Rugby Player
Literature and the Arts[edit]
Andrew Murray (jnr) (1828–1917) was a Christian pastor and author who was born in Graaff-Reinet. He was a champion of the South African Revival of 1860. Murray served as the first president of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Fellowship) and authored over 240 books. Over 2 million of his books have been published to date.
Bishop Patrick Monwabisi Matolengwe born (1937-2019) born in Graaff-Reinet Was ordained as the youngest Bishop in the Anglican Church of South Africa.
Helen Elizabeth Martins (23 December 1897 – 8 December 1976) is considered South Africa's foremost outsider artist. She was schooled in Graaff-Reinet, and her "Owl House" is situated in the village of Nieu-Bethesda 50 km away.
Stephanus Le Roux Marais, (1 February 1896 – 25 May 1979) – well-known Afrikaans organist, teacher and composer especially of Afrikaans lieder (art songs), lived in Graaff-Reinet.
Anna Neethling-Pohl (1906–1992), regarded as a legend of Afrikaans theatre, was born in Graaff-Reinet. She performed in more than 50 stage works and lead roles, and translated 7 of Shakespeare's dramas into Afrikaans. She published several novels for which she received the Langenhoven prize in 1926 and the Vaderland prize in 1937. Professor of Drama at Pretoria University.
Hymne Weiss (1910 – 6 October 2001) An author of novels and short stories matriculated at Hoër Volkskool in Graaff-Reinet. Hymne also translated many books from German, Dutch, English, Norwegian and Swedish into Afrikaans and was awarded the Academy Award for the translation of Barabbas by Pär Lagerkvist – Swedish (1953): Barábas Daughter of JF Naudé
Wilhelm Otto Kühne (7 June 1924 – 21 September 1988) journalist, children's book writer and conservationist. Best known for his Huppelkind stories and as columnist at Die Burger.
Dalene Matthee (13 October 1938 – 20 February 2005) was a well-known South African author who studied music at the Holy Cross Convent in Graaff-Reinet.
Etienne van Heerden (1954), a well-known writer, grew up on a merino farm in the Graaff-Reinet district. He is the author of novels, short story collections, books of poetry, essays, cabaret collections and a theoretical book on post-modernism. He also is the founding editor of the multi-cultural South-African internet journal, LitNet, and currently teaches at the University of Cape Town.
Madelene Van Aardt (1896–1982) was a composer who was born in Graaff-Reinet. She was among the first musicians to write in the light Afrikaans music genre.
Isobel Dixon (1969) was born in Umtata but raised in Graaff-Reinet. Her father, previously the Dean of Umtata Cathedral, taught at Union High School where Isobel matriculated in 1987. Isobel is the author of two books, Weather Eye (Carapace 2001) and A Fold in the Map (UK: Salt 2007; SA: Jacana 2007). Weather Eye won the unpublished section of the Sanlam Prize in South Africa in 2000 and the Olive Schreiner Prize, administered by the English Academy of South Africa, in 2004.
Economics[edit]
Anton Rupert (4 October 1916 – 18 January 2006) was an Afrikaner-South African entrepreneur, businessman and conservationist. He was born and raised in Graaff-Reinet and was educated in the Hoër Volkskool in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004, he was voted 28th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
Other[edit]
Gert Adendorff (1848-c.1914), soldier with the Natal Native Contingent who fought in the Battle of Isandlwana and at Rorke's Drift
Sylvia Raphael, one of the leading female operatives in Israel's external intelligence agency, the Mossad, was a Graaff-Reinet-born Christian with a Jewish father. Posing as a Canadian photojournalist under the alias "Patricia Roxborough", she was one of the first Mossad agents to penetrate Yasser Arafat's bases in Jordan and Lebanon in the 1960s. She was closely involved in Israel's partially successful attempts to track down the PLO terrorists responsible for the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
