Charles Leonard

In 1895, Charles Leonard, a prominent and popular Johannesburg attorney, was elected Chairman of the Transvaal National Union, a cosmopolitan group of activists who initially petitioned President Paul Kruger and his Boer government for reforms, but then plotted to overthrow the regime in an armed insurrection.

In this, they had the secret but full support of Cecil John Rhodes, then Prime Minister of the Cape, and leading members of his British South Africa Company, as well as the tacit support of the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain. Then, at the eleventh hour, disaster struck. In the ensuing pandemonium and international diplomatic crisis, Charles Leonard managed to escape, leading most historians to label him a coward.

In this meticulously crafted biography, Simon Winter uncovers Charles Leonard’s humble beginnings on the eastern frontier of the Cape, his rise to the top of the legal profession in Cape Town and early Johannesburg, and his outspoken opposition to President Kruger and his government. It was only after numerous peaceful petitions had been repudiated that he was persuaded to lead an armed uprising, secretly supported by the Prime Minister of the Cape and the British Colonial Secretary.

Charles Leonard emerges from the shadows of the past as a remarkably compelling and attractive figure. The human drama of his life, both public and private, makes for engrossing reading. He was certainly no coward, as many historians have unfairly portrayed him. Conversely, he is a man who deserves - belatedly - to be accorded his rightful place amongst the leading figures of South African history.