Hertzog, J(ames) B(arry) M(unnik) 1866-1942
South African statesman

Born in Wellington, Cape Colony, he studied law at Stellenbosch and Amsterdam, became a Boer general (1899-1902), and in 1910 became Minister of Justice in the first Union government. In 1913 he founded the Nationalist Party, advocating complete South African independence from the British Empire, and in World War I opposed co-operation with Great Britain. As Prime Minister (1924-39), in coalition with Labour (1924-29), and with Jan Smuts in a United Party (1933-39), he pursued a programme which destroyed the African franchise, created reservation for whites, and tightened land segregation. He renounced his earlier secessionism, but at the outbreak of World War II declared for neutrality, was defeated, lost office, and in 1940 retired.

Bibliography: L E Neame, General Hertzog (1930)