James Tennant Molteno

Sir James Molteno
Sir James Molteno as Parliamentary Speaker.
Speaker of the Cape House of Assembly
In office 1908–1910
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	John X. Merriman
Preceded by	Sir William Bisset Berry
Succeeded by	Office ended with Union
1st Speaker of the South African National Assembly
In office 1910–1915
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Louis Botha
Preceded by	Position Established
Succeeded by	Joel Krige
Personal details
Born	5 January 1865 Cape Town, Cape Colony
Died	16 September 1936 London, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession	Barrister, Speaker of Parliament

Sir James Molteno (5 January 1865 – 16 September 1936), was an influential barrister and parliamentarian of South Africa. Rising to prominence as an unconventional anti-imperialist, he was briefly opposition leader, before becoming parliamentary Speaker.

He was the last Speaker for the Parliament of the Cape Colony, and the first Speaker of Parliament of South Africa.

The son of Prime Minister Sir John Molteno, James was born on 5 January 1865 at his family's Claremont estate. He matriculated with honours from Diocesan College and read law at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was noted not just for his academic diligence but for his unusual strength and physical fitness (An extremely athletic man, he excelled in sports from horseracing and boxing to swimming and shooting). He was elected first president of the Trinity College Debating Society and was active on the committee of the Union. Otherwise he divided his time at university between frenzied study, and backpacking around Europe attending drunken parties with fellow students. He also acquired a passion for card-playing that remained with him for the rest of his life.

When he graduated with honours he was called to the Inner Temple in London, before returning to Cape Town to become an Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1889.

Molteno entered the Cape Parliament in 1890, at the age of 25, and became Speaker of Parliament in 1908. He was in fact to be the last speaker before the Cape Parliament dissolved itself on the act of Union.