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Willem Johannes Leyds

Willem Johannes Leyds
State Attorney General of the South African Republic
In office 13 October 1884 – 10 January 1889
State Secretary of the South African Republic
In office 10 January 1889 – 31 May 1898
Preceded by	W.E. Bok
Succeeded by	F.W. Reitz
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the South African Republic in Europe
In office 1 June 1898 – 31 May 1902
Preceded by	Jhr. G.J.T. Beelaerts van Blokland
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	(1859-05-01)1 May 1859 Magelang, Dutch East Indies
Died	14 May 1940(1940-05-14) (aged 81) The Hague, Netherlands
Alma mater	University of Amsterdam
Occupation	schoolteacher, civil servant
Profession	lawyer

Willem Johannes Leijds (Magelang, Dutch East Indies, 1 May 1859 – The Hague, Netherlands, 14 May 1940), commonly known as Willem Johannes Leyds, was a Dutch lawyer, who made a career as State Attorney General (1884-1889) and State Secretary (1889-1898) of the South African Republic. From 1898 to 1902, during the crucial period of the South African War, he was the Republic’s Special Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary in Brussels, accredited to several European states.

Leyds started his career in family fashion as a schoolteacher, but moved on to study law. Immediately after he finished university he was appointed State Attorney General of the South African Republic (1884) and migrated to South Africa. Because of his impressive track record as senior law officer and his good working relationship with State President Kruger, Leyds was appointed State Secretary of the Republic in 1889. In this position Leyds had to deal with the complex diplomatic problems generated by the Uitlander question in the Witwatersrand, mounting British pressure, and the Jameson Raid of 1895.

In 1898 Leyds returned to Europe as Special Envoy of the South African Republic. In this position he was te Republic's main representative abroad and as such faced with the enormous task of brnging across the Boer point of view with the European governments, mustering diplomatic, poltical, and military support, and assisting citizens of the republic during the South African War. After the conclusion of the war Leyds semi-retired from public life and devoted most of his time to ordering his archives on the history of the South African Republic and publishing several books on the history of the Boer republics.

In 1904 he accompanied the body of President Kruger to South Africa.

Biography

Family

Leyds was the second son of Willem Johannes Leyds, a government school headmaster on Java, and Trijntje van Beuningen van Helsdingen.

Leyds married twice. His first marriage (10 July 1884), just before he left for South Africa, was with Louise Wilhelmina Suzanna Roeff (died 14 January 1907, a schoolteacher, daughter of the Dutch mathematician professor F. Roeff. The couple had three children. After her death in 1907, Leyds remarried (8 October 1910) with Anna Castens, née Grissee, a widow. This marriage remained without children. Both Leyds’ wives were involved in his work in and for the Boer cause in South Africa. Louise was intelligent and a woman of the world, who assisted her husband throughout his career. Anna accompanied Leyds to South Africa in 1909.

Education and early life

Leyds was born in Magelang in Central Java (Dutch East Indies), where his father was the headmaster of the local government school . His father died when he was only six years old and the family, mother and five young children, returned to the Netherlands where she settled down in Amsterdam. Leyds followed a regular school career and received a scholarship to attend Teacher Training College (Rijkskweekschool) in Haarlem, where he excelled. Leyds received the diploma as primary school teacher in 1878 and went to work in that capacity in the town of Breda in the south of the Netherlands. After some time he moved back to Amsterdam, where he accepted an appointment in a private school and started to prepare for the university entrance examination .

In 1880 Leyds registered with the University of Amsterdam to read law, studying Greek and Latin in his spare time, and financing it all by teaching. Leyds finished his studies cum laude with a doctorate on the legal foundations of damages with regard to preventive custody.

State Attorney General of the South African Republic

At the time Leyds finished his studies, State President Kruger of the South African Republic was visiting Europe, inter alia to recruit a well-qualified Dutch lawyer for the position of State Attorney General of the South African Republic. Through the mediation of two of Leyds' professors, Krüger and Leyds met the day after his graduation. Krüger was impressed by the young man (Leyds was only twenty-five years old at the time) and offered him the most important judicial position of the Boer republic. However, Leyds had his mind set on a career in the Dutch East Indies and initially declined the offer. Only after a repeated offer did he accept for a period of three years and in August 1884 Leyds and his wife travelled to South Africa.

In October of that year Leyds took up his new job. The work of the State Attorney General was extensive: as the first law officer he was responsible for the drafting and editing of new bills, but also for the running of the bar, and acting as the chief prosecutor. Besides, the State Attorney General was the chief legal adviser to the government.

Leyds entry into his new job was far from straightforward. Almost immediately after his arrival, he had to advice on a serious constitutional crisis between the South African Republic and the British colonial government. According to the London Convention of 1884,

Diplomat in Europe

Special Diplomatic Delegation of the Boer Republics to Europe and America, 1900, l.t.r. front: A.D.W. Wolmarans, A. Fischer, C.H. Wessels, and back: Dr. W.J. Leyds and Dr. H.P.N. Muller

Memberships

• Member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (Netherlands Literary Society)
• Member and board member of the Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Vereeniging (Netherlands - South African Society)
• Member and board member of the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Vereeniging 'Het Nederlandsche Lied' (Royal Dutch Society 'The Dutch Song')

Academic titles

• Doctor of Law cum laude, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, 11 June 1884.
• Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, 1934.
• Honorary Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil), University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, 6 December 1939

See also

• Orange Free State
• South African Republic
• Second Boer War
• Hendrik Pieter Nicolaas Muller

Bibliography

• Leyds, W.J. (11 June 1884). "De rechtsgrond der schadevergoeding voor preventieve hechtenis" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |version= ignored (help)
• Leyds, W.J. (1906). De eerste annexatie van de Transvaal. Amsterdam: Allert de Lange.

• Leyds, W.J. (1914). Het insluiten van de Boeren-Republieken, een vervolg op De eerste annexatie van de Transvaal. Vol. 2 vols. Amsterdam: J.H. de Bussy.
• Leyds, W.J. (1918). Eenige correspondentie uit 1899 (Eerste verzameling). Amsterdam: J.H. de Bussy.
• Leyds, W.J. (1930). Tweede verzameling (Correspondentie 1899-1900). Vol. 2 vols. in 3 covers. Den Haag: N.V. Geuze en Co.
• Leyds, W.J. (1931). Derde verzameling (Correspondentie 1900). Vol. 2 vols. Den Haag: N.V. Geuze en Co.
• Leyds, W.J. (1934). Vierde verzameling (Correspondentie 1900-1902). Vol. 2 vols. in 3 covers. Den Haag: N.V. Geuze en Co.

References

Literature

• Botha, P.R. (1926). Die staatkundige ontwikkeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek onder Krüger en Leyds. Amsterdam.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Kröll, U. (1973). Die internationale Buren-agitation 1899-1902. Münster.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Krüger, D.W. (1977). "Leyds, Willem Johannes". Suid-Afrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek. Vol. 3. Kaapstad & Johannesburg. pp. 529–533.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Netscher, F. (1899). "Dr. W.J. Leyds". Karakters. Haarlem.
• Scholtz, G.D. (June 1941). "Dr. W.J. Leyds, 1859-1940". T.W.K.
• Schutte, G.J. (1994). "Leijds, Willem Johannes (1859-1940)". Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland. Vol. 4. Den Haag. Retrieved 2008-03-13.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• van Jaarsveld, F.A. (April 1954). "Tyd en geskiedenisbeeld. 'n Metodologies-kritiese ondersoek na die werk van dr. W.J. Leyds". T.W.K.
• van Niekerk, L.E. (2004). "Leyds, Willem Johannes (1859-1940)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. xx. Oxford. pp. xxx–xxx.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• van Winter, P.J. (1937–1938). Onder Krugers Hollanders: geschiedenis van de Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (2 vols.). Amsterdam: De Bussy.
• van Winter, P.J. (1942). "Dr. Leyds en Zuid-Afrika". Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden 1941-1942. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 13–36. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
• van Winter, P.J. (1942). "Willem Johannes Leyds. Magelang, 1 Mei 1859 – 's-Gravenhage, Mei 1940". Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden 1941-1942. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 108–111. Retrieved 2008-04-14.

External links

• Willem Johannes Leijds (1859-1940) at Digitale Bibliotheek der Nederlandse Letteren.