Johan Zulch de Villiers

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Johan Zulch de Villiers
Mayor of Johannesburg
In office
1 October 1897 – 31 May 1900
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byWalter Alfred John O'Meara
Personal details
Born(1845-07-12)12 July 1845
Paarl, Cape Colony
Died18 July 1910(1910-07-18) (aged 65)
Pretoria, Union of South Africa
NationalitySouth African
SpouseSusanna Margaretha de Villiers
Children8
OccupationPolitician

Johan Zulch de Villiers (12 July 1845 – 18 July 1910) was a South African politician and attorney. He was mayor of Johannesburg from 1897 to 1900.

Life[edit]

Johan Zulch de Villiers was born in 1845 in Paarl, Cape Colony.[1] He was educated at the Paarl gymnasium as well as privately by Dr. Rose Innes at Cape Town.[2] For fifteen months he joined the Orange Free State forces in the Basuto Gun War.[2] He passed as an attorney and was an advocate of the High Court.[2] He then entered civil service becoming the private secretary to President Johannes Brand.[2] Between 1881 and 1897 de Villiers was the landdrost of several towns including Pretoria, Barberton and Lydenburg.[3] He also worked in Swaziland.[4] The government appointed him as the first mayor (Dutch: burgemeester)[5] of Johannesburg on 1 October 1897.[6] The first meeting of the town council was held on 4 October 1897.[7] He was the mayor until Johannesburg's surrender to Frederick Roberts on 31 May 1900 during the Second Boer War.[8][9] The British then appointed Colonel Walter Alfred John O'Meara as the new mayor and administrator of the city.[10] De Villiers died in Pretoria in 1910 at the age of 65.[11]

Personal life[edit]

He is a member of the de Villiers family who are of French Huguenot descent.[12] On 1 November 1870 he married Susanna Margaretha de Villiers, the first cousin of John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers.[2] They had 10 children: Rachel Gerhardina, Secondus Petrus, Victor Izaak, Anna Matilda, Maria Mandy, Margaretha, Johan Zulch Voight, George Ferdinan Esselen, Ludowicus van der Merwe, and Septima Elizabeth Bland.[11] His daughter Anna Matilda later married George Wreford Hudson, the master and registrar of the Swaziland court.[13]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Meiring 1976, p. 32.
  2. ^ a b c d e Barrett 1884, p. 40.
  3. ^ "General information Joburg Mayors". Joburg. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  4. ^ Jones 1993, p. 88.
  5. ^ Bulpin 1955, p. 240.
  6. ^ Shorten 1970, p. 1093.
  7. ^ Van Riebeeck Society 1986, p. 102.
  8. ^ Fraser 1985, p. 102.
  9. ^ Raugh 2004, p. 202.
  10. ^ Phillips 1977, p. 383.
  11. ^ a b "Death Notice of Johan Zulch de Villiers". Geni. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  12. ^ De Villiers 1960, p. 95.
  13. ^ Royal Colonial Institute 1894, p. 498.

Sources[edit]

New title Mayor of Johannesburg
1897–1900
Succeeded by