Jacobus Arnoldus Graaff

Sir Jacobus Arnoldus Combrinck Graaff (4 March 1863 – 5 April 1927), also known as 'Sir James', was a South African cabinet minister, Senator, businessman, and South African Party whip.

Jacobus Graaff, younger brother of Sir David Graaff, was born on the Wolfhuiskloof farm near Villiersdorp in 1863. Following his father's death in 1875, he left Villiersdorp to work with his brother David at the Combrinck & Co. butchery in Cape Town. In partnership with his brother he took over the business in 1881. In 1899 he and his brother co-founded and was a partner in the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company. or R471,195,167 in 2010 ) for the establishment of the De Villiers Graaff High School in Villiersdorp.

He lived in a large mansion, Bordeaux, on the beach front in Sea Point, Cape Town. Graaffs Pool, the walled off ocean backed tidal pool on the beach opposite Bordeaux, was named after him.

Jacobus Graaff married Susanna Elizabeth Marie Theunissen of Vergelegen, Somerset West, in 1889. They had four Children: Johanna Veronique Waterson Graaff (1890), Petrus Norbertus Graaff (1892), Willem Jan Hofmeyer Graaff (1897) and Jacobus Arnoldus Combrinck Graaff (1906).