Rhodes

Rhodes, the Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN, statesman, was born 5th July 1853, the fourth son of the vicar of Bishop-Stortford in Hertfordshire, and after attending the local grammar-school was sent for his health to Natal, where his brother was a planter. He subsequently went to the Kimberley diamond diggings; there he soon became conspicuous and amassed a fortune. He came back to England and entered at Oriel College, Oxford, and though his residence was cut short by ill-health, he ultimately took his degree. He entered the Cape House of Assembly as member for Barkly. In 1884 General Gordon asked him to go with him to Khartoum as secretary; but Rhodes had just taken office in the Cape ministry. He sent £10,000 to Mr Parnell to forward the cause of Irish Home Rule. In 1890-94 he was prime-minister of Cape Colony; but even before this he had become the ruling spirit in recent extensions of British territory, as in securing the charter for the British South Africa Company (see MATABELELAND). He it was mainly who brought it about that Bechuanaland remained a British possession, instead of falling to the Boers. And 'Rhodesia' has not unnaturally superseded Zambesia (q.v.) as the name of a vast area now British, north and south of the Zambesi, which he has done much to develop. For the Jameson raid into the Transvaal, which he was believed to have prompted, see JAMESON (L. S.). Since 1898 he has strenuously promoted an African Continental telegraph and a Cape to Cairo railway. He was in Kimberley during the siege by the Boers, and was thanked for his services in supporting and inspiring the defence. He maintains a great menagerie (lions, &c.) on Table Mountain; and in large enclosures zebras, ostriches, and antelopes of all kinds run wild. He is D.C.L. of Oxford, and a member of the Privy Council. There is a (eulogistic) Biography and Appreciation by 'Imperialist' (1897) and a collection of his speeches (1890).