TOPIC:

Sir Thomas Hyslop, M.L.A.; J.P.

Trooper, Howick Rifle Association
Natal Delegate to the South African National Convention
Colonial Treasurer in the Natal Government (Colonial Administration)

- Queens South Africa Medal (no clasp) to TPR T. HYSLOP. HOWICK R.A.
- Union Medal (1910) unnamed as issued to delegates of the S.A. National Convention




Thomas Hyslop was born in Bank House, New Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland on 9 October 1859 the son of Johnn Hyslop, a wealthy industrialist and his wife Agnes. In 1860 John along with his business partner Kenneth McKenzie, formed the Bank Coal Company. John Hyslop became a major figure in the parish, not only as a coal baron but a JP and landed proprietor. He married Agnes Kirkland the sister of Alexander and Hugh Kirkland, originally from Sorn, who had quickly established themselves as leading merchants in the town and in 1850 had established the New Cumnock Gas Light Company. Together John and Agnes had three sons William, Thomas and George and a daughter Jane – all born at Bank House. It is with Thomas that we concern ourselves in this work.


Bank House, Ayrshire where Hyslop was born and spent his childhood

The 1861 Scotland census revealed that a one year old Thomas was at home in Bank House with his parents and siblings William (5) and Jane (3). As was to be expected from a man of considerable means, Mr Hyslop employed a plethora of servants in the forms of Jane McNight (16), Jane Patrick (16); Elizabeth Simpson (36) and James Rudman (41).

Ten years later, at the time of the 1871 Scotland census, the family were at the same address. Thomas was now 11 years old and there were the usual staff of servants on hand. Shortly after this he was enrolled in Ayr Academy where he received his secondary education. From 1876 until 1882 he was in business in Glasgow – the 1881 Scotland census confirming that he was a 21 year old Commercial Clerk for an East India Merchant. He had taken lodgings in Kelvin in Glasgow, in the home of 80 year old widow.


New Cumnock and Bank House

On 14 June 1882 at the Grand Hotel in Glasgow, he married Margaret Brown Torrance and, at some point later that year, he determined that his future lay elsewhere and boarded a ship for South Africa. Settling in the colony of Natal, he soon found his feet and immersed himself in farming, becoming the President of the Natal Farmers’ Congress in 1899.

With South Africa – the component parts thereof – at war with each other from 11 October 1899, Hyslop, who was farming in the Natal Midlands on the outskirts of the small settlement of Howick, a few miles from Pietermaritzburg, joined the Howick Rifle Association. He might well have been a member of this body when war between the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal and the might of Imperial Britain broke out as Natal was dotted with a number of Rifle Associations in the late 19th century – marksmanship and target shooting being a popular sport with the members of the affluent class.

The Natal Rifle Associations were called out on 28 November 1899 and were similar in nature to the Town Guards formed elsewhere in the country. Although capable of an active role should any fighting in their neighbourhood occur, their primary function was to provide protection and defence of life and property in their borough. The Howick Rifle Association had 30 medals issued to its members who took to the field in the Boer War of which 7 were returned unclaimed. The medal role, under the remarks column states: - “Called out for active military service against the enemy.”


Map of Rifle Associations in Natal

The closest the invading Boers came to Howick was nearby Mooi River, some 30 miles distant, which they reached before running out of steam and being driven back across the Tugela.

The war over on 31 May 1902 Hyslop continued with his farming pursuits although he was, ever-increasingly, active on the political front. A biography of him featured in the publication “20th Century Impressions of Natal” which, ironically considering its title, was published in early 1906. His insert read thus: -

“The Hon. Thomas Hyslop, J.P. (Colonial Treasurer) – like many of the leading colonists of Natal is a Scot. He proceeded to Natal in 1882 and entered upon farming on up-to-date, progressive lines. He is now one of the leading farmers of the Colony, and his ability was recognised in 1899 by his election as President of the Natal Farmers Conference now known as the Natal Agricultural Union. He resigned this position upon accepting a portfolio in the Hime Ministry in 1903.

In 1899 Mr Hyslop was appointed a member of the Invasion Losses Inquiry Commission, which spent over three years in the investigation of over 10 000 claims for damaged caused by the Boer invasion of Natal. For his arduous honorary labours in this connection, Mr Hyslop, in common with his fellow commissioners, received the thanks of Parliament, and was also presented with a valuable memento. In 1902 Mr Hyslop was returned at the head of the poll for the Umgeni Division of Pietermaritzburg County at the General Election for the Legislative Assembly.



Early in 1903 he became Treasurer in the Ministry of Sir Albert Hime, which portfolio he held until the change in Government in the same year. In 1903 Mr Hyslop was one of the Natal delegates to the Bloemfontein Conference, and he has also represented the Colony on other important occasions. During the recess after the 1903 Parliamentary session Mr Hyslop, along with another member of the Assembly, paid a visit to Australia with a view to making enquiries and investigations into the methods of dairy and stock farming, and other agricultural pursuits at the Antipodes. Upon the formation of the Coalition Ministry in May 1905, he again accepted the portfolio of Colonial Treasurer.”

Hyslop was, indirectly, responsible for the Bambatha Rebellion which was to cause so much strife and mayhem in 1906 – as Colonial Treasurer he had failed, owing to the adverse action of a nominated upper chamber, to pass tax measures that appeared to him suitable, it was then decided the Prime Minister should take charge of the bill. It succeeded in passing through both Houses with comparatively little discussion. In August, 1905, it became law. It would not have become law but for the rejection of the other taxing measures that had been passed by the representatives of the people. This tax was, of course, the much despised and disputed Hut Tax or Poll Tax, £1 levied on the head of every male over the age of 18 in Natal.

He was also quoted (famously) as saying that, “We want Indians as indentured labourers but not as free men.” This referring to the Indian question in Natal where thousands had been brought out to South Africa to labour in the sugar cane fields.

To add to his growing list of achievements he was a delegate to the Johannesburg Railway Conference in 1905 and, most importantly, one of Natal’s delegates to the National Convention in 1908 on which occasion he went to London, with the other delegates in connection with the passing of the South Africa Act through the Imperial Parliament. For South Africa this was a momentous achievement – it brought about, in 1910, the unification of the two previous Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the two British Colonies of Natal and the Cape, into one single entity – the Union of South Africa. At these meetings he would have rubbed shoulders with the good and the great – as well as men who, a mere eight years earlier, he would have been required to do battle with should they have encroached on the town of Howick.



For his services to the country, Hyslop was Knighted by King George V, the announcement thereof appearing in the London Gazette of 24 February 1911 (page 1462). Since 1914 he was a member of the Board of the Railways and Harbours of the Union of South Africa and it was whilst attending a meeting of the above in Cape Town on 23 December 1919 that he passed away at The Monastery Nursing Home in Sea Point from Myocardial Degeneration. He had been complaining of being tired and weak for some weeks prior to his death. He was 60 years old at the time and farming at Meadowvale in the Pietermaritzburg area. He was survived by his wife and children – Margaret Daniel; Martha Martin; Agnes Quirk Hyslop and his only son, William Maurice Hyslop, born 18 June 1900 and thus a minor when his father passed away.

Acknowledgements where not mentioned above:
- Ancestry for census data
- David Biggins Anglo Boer War Forum for map of R.A.’s
- Various issued of the South African Railway & Harbour Magazines
- Familysearch for death notice and probate.





6t

Thanks for posting yet another interesting account, Rory. It's not often that medals to cabinet ministers turn up on this forum.