Cornelius Hermanus Wessels

Sir Cornelius Hermanus Wessels (26 April 1851 Rietfontein, Winburg, Orange River Sovereignty – 1 March 1924 Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, Union of South Africa) was a South African statesman.

Wessels stemmed from an important Orange Free State family clan, dedicated to farming and the Boer way of life. Mainly self-educated, he turned to politics in his early thirties. As a member of the Volksraad he developed his skills as a diplomat and mediator, and was involved in many of the important political decisions the Orange Free State had to make in the 1880s and 1890s. In 1897 he was appointed president of the Volksraad.

During the South African War (1899–1902), Wessels was first a member of the war cabinet, and later a member of the Joint Diplomatic Delegation of the Boer Republics sent to Europe and the United States to muster support for the Boer cause. After the war Wessels sided with De Wet and Hertzog and became a cabinet minister in the Free State government. In 1915, the colonial government appointed Wessels as administrator of the Orange Free State. He was awarded a knighthood for his services to the state in the 1920 New Year Honours.

Family

Wessels was the youngest son of three boys and two girls born to Johannes Jacobus Wessels and Hester Sophia Antonetta (née) Wessels.

Wessels married twice. His first wife was Christina Magdalena (née) Wessels (d. 5 November 1905), with whom he had five sons and three daughters. He remarried in 1907 with Eliza Alice Bosman née Keytler (d. 6 March 1941), a widow.

Life and career

Wessels grew up in the Boshof District in the Orange Free State, where his parents moved when he was five years old. Here he received some private tuition, before – still at a young age – becoming a full-time and successful farmer. In 1892, he bought the farm Kwagafontein just outside Bloemfontein.

Wessels' political influence showed itself in him being appointed to several important positions regarding the discussions between the Orange Free State and the South African Republic about closer co-operation between the two Boer states. From 1897, he represented the Orange Free State in the Council of Representatives that monitored the co-operation. The delegation's mission to Europe failed, and was caught out by history in the United States. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Vereeniging Wessels and the other member of the delegation returned to South Africa.

Afrikaner politics were complicated in the new colonial province, and Wessels fell out with Hertzog about agricultural affairs, the appointment of English-speaking officials in his department, and because of temperamental differences.

In November 1923, aged 72, Wessels suffered a stroke, and although he recovered almost fully, a second stroke hit him on 15 February 1924, and he died as a result two weeks later.

Legacy

Financially Wessels was independent, due to his fortuitous farming activities. In character he was modest, courteous to others, interested in people, and a good story-teller. Altogether these traits accounted for his natural aptitude for diplomacy and his long and successful political career, although it did not make him a visionary statesman.