George Cory
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Sir George Cory |
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| Born |
3 June 1862 Stoke Newington |
| Died | 28 April 1935 (aged 72) Cape Town |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | chemist and historian |
| Known for | being one of the four founding professors at Rhodes University |
Sir George Edward Cory (3 June 1862 in Stoke Newington – 28 April 1935 in Cape Town), was an English-born South African chemist and historian, best known for his six-volume publication "The Rise of South Africa".
The son of George Nicholas Cory, George was apprenticed at age twelve to an ivory turner. He was privately tutored and later attended St. John's College at Hurstpierpoint. At the age of 23 he was employed as assistant telegraph engineer at Siemens Brothers in Woolwich. In 1881, together with Cameron Swan, son of the inventor Joseph Swan, he installed the first electric light in London in the Savoy Theatre. In 1886 he was admitted to the University of Cambridge as a non-collegiate student, graduating with a BA in 1888, taking honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos, becoming a member of King's College and appointed a demonstrator in chemistry while studying medicine in his spare time.
He was awarded an MA degree in 1891 and emigrated to South Africa in the same year, taking up the position of vice-principal at the Grahamstown Public School . He soon went on to become government lecturer in physics and chemistry at St. Andrew's College in 1894. Here he founded the chemical laboratory, financed by Barney Barnato and other sponsors. On the establishing of Rhodes University College in 1904, Cory took up the post of Professor of Chemistry, a position he held until 1925 when he retired.
After his arrival in Grahamstown, Cory found a new interest in the history of the Eastern Province, perhaps sparked by his home in Grahamstown having formerly been the Drostdy, the residence of the Landdrost or magistrate. He wasted little time in developing an intellectual circle of friends – "Some time in 1892 or thereabouts, some of us—Meredith, Rev G W Cross, Adv. Lardner-Burke, Webb of St. Andrew's, all now dead—and myself started a Society called the "Athenaeum".
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