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JAMESON, LEANDER STARR (1853– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 148 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMESON, LEANDER STARR (1853– ) , See also:British colonial statesman, son of R. W. Jameson, a writer to the signet in See also:Edinburgh, was See also:born at Edinburgh in 1853, and was educated for the medical profession at University See also:College See also:Hospital, See also:London (M.R.C.S. 1875; M.D. 1877). After acting as See also:house physician, house surgeon and demonstrator of See also:anatomy, and showing promise of a successful professional career in London, his See also:health See also:broke down from overwork in 1878, and he went out to See also:South See also:Africa and settled down in practice at See also:Kimberley. There he rapidly acquired a See also:great reputation as a medical See also:man, and, besides numbering See also:President See also:Kruger and the See also:Matabele See also:chief Lobengula among his patients, came much into contact with See also:Cecil See also:Rhodes. In 1888 his See also:influence with Lobengula was successfully exerted to induce that chieftain to See also:grant the concessions to the agents of Rhodes which led to the formation of the British South Africa See also:Company; and when the company proceeded to open up Mashonaland, Jameson abandoned his medical practice and joined the See also:pioneer expedition of 1890. From this See also:time his fortunes were See also:bound up with Rhodes's schemes in the See also:north. Immediately after the pioneer See also:column had occupied Mashonaland, Jameson, with F. C. See also:Selous and A.

R. Colquhoun, went See also:

east to Manicaland and was instrumental in securing the greater See also:part of that See also:country, to which See also:Portugal was laying claim, for the Chartered Company. In 1891 Jameson succeeded Colquhoun as See also:administrator of See also:Rhodesia. The events connected with his 18o8 ; 3rd ed., 182o) ; Elements of Geognosy (1809) ; Mineralogical Travels through the See also:Hebrides, See also:Orkney and See also:Shetland Islands (2 vols., 1813); and See also:Manual of See also:Mineralogy (1821); besides a number of occasional papers, of which a See also:list will be found in the Edinburgh New Philosophical See also:Journal for See also:July 1854, along with a portrait and See also:biographical See also:sketch of the author. vigorous See also:administration and the See also:wars with the Matabele are narrated under RHODESIA. At the end of 1894 " Dr Jim " (as he was familiarly called) came to See also:England and was feted on all sides; he was made a C.B., and returned to Africa in the See also:spring of 1895 with enhanced See also:prestige. On the last See also:day of that See also:year the See also:world was startled to learn that Jameson, with a force of 600 men, had made a See also:raid into the See also:Transvaal from See also:Mafeking in support of a projected rising in See also:Johannesburg, which had been connived at by Rhodes at the Cape (see RHODES and TRANS-See also:vAAL). Jameson's force was compelled to surrender at Doornkop, receiving a See also:guarantee that the lives of all would be spared; he and his See also:officers were sent to See also:Pretoria, and, after a See also:short delay, during which time sections of the See also:Boer populace clamoured for the See also:execution of Jameson, President Kruger on the surrender of Johannesburg (See also:January 7) handed them over to the British See also:government for See also:punishment. They were tried in London under the See also:Foreign Enlistment See also:Act in May 1896, and Dr Jameson was sentenced to fifteen months' inprisonment at See also:Holloway. He served a year in See also:prison, and was then released on See also:account of See also:ill health. He still retained the affections of the See also:white See also:population of Rhodesia, and subsequently returned there in an unofficial capacity. He was the See also:constant See also:companion of Rhodes on his journeys up to the end of his See also:life, and when Rhodes died in May 1902 Jameson was See also:left one of the executors of his will.

In 1903 Jameson came forward as the See also:

leader of the Progressive (British) party in Cape See also:Colony; and that party being victorious at the See also:general See also:election in January-See also:February 1904, Jameson formed an administration in which he took the See also:post of See also:prime See also:minister. He had to See also:face a serious economic crisis and strenuously promoted the development of the agricultural and See also:pastoral resources of the colony. He also passed a much needed Redistribution Act, and in the session of 1906 passed an See also:Amnesty Act restoring the See also:rebel voters to the See also:franchise. Jameson, as prime minister of Cape Colony, attended the Colonial See also:conference held in London in 1907. In See also:September of that year the Cape See also:parliament was dissolved, and as the elections for the legislative See also:council went in favour of the See also:Bond, Jameson resigned See also:office, 31st of January 1908 (see CAPE COLONY: See also:History). In 1908 he was chosen one of the delegates from Cape Colony to the inter-colonial See also:convention for the closer See also:union of the South See also:African states, and he took a prominent part in settling the terms on which union was effected in 1909. It was at Jameson's See also:suggestion that the See also:Orange See also:River Colony was renamed Orange See also:Free See also:State See also:Province.

End of Article: JAMESON, LEANDER STARR (1853– )

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