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ROBINSON, SIR JOSEPH BENJAMIN (1845– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 423 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROBINSON, See also:SIR See also:JOSEPH See also:BENJAMIN (1845– ) , See also:South See also:African mine-owner, was See also:born at See also:Cradock, Cape See also:Colony, in 1845. At the See also:age of sixteen he started business as a See also:general trader, See also:wool-buyer and stock-breeder, but on the See also:discovery of diamonds in South See also:Africa in 1867 he hastened to the See also:Vaal See also:river See also:district, where, by purchasing the stones from the natives and afterwards by buying See also:diamond-bearing See also:land, notably at See also:Kimberley, he soon acquired a considerable See also:fortune. He was See also:mayor of Kimberley in 188o, and for four years was a representative of Griqualand See also:West in the Cape See also:parliament. On the discovery of See also:gold in the Witwatersrand district in 1886. Robinson See also:purchased the Langlaagte and Randfontein estates, His views as to the See also:westerly trend of the See also:main gold-bearing See also:reef were entirely contrary to the bulk of South African See also:opinion at the See also:time, but events proved him to be correct, and the enormous appreciation in value of his various properties made him one of the richest men in South Africa. As a See also:Rand capitalist he stood aloof from combinations with other gold-See also:mining interests, and took no See also:part in the See also:Johannesburg reform See also:movement, maintaining friendly relations with See also:President See also:Kruger. He claimed that it was as the result of his representations after the See also:Jameson See also:Raid that Kruger appointed the See also:Industrial See also:Commission of 1897, whose recommendations—had they been carried out—would have remedied some of the Uitlander grievances. In 1908 he was created a See also:baronet.

End of Article: ROBINSON, SIR JOSEPH BENJAMIN (1845– )

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