Joseph Orpen
| Joseph Orpen | |
|---|---|
Joseph Orpen, as MLA for Queenstown. 1872.
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| Born |
5 November 1828 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 17 December 1923 (aged 95) |
| Occupation | colonial administrator, anthropologist |
Joseph Millerd Orpen (5 November 1828 – 17 December 1923) was an influential colonial administrator for the British empire in southern Africa, as well as a local member of the Cape Parliament and the Orange Free State Volksraad. In addition, he was a self-taught anthropologist and a student of indigenous southern African cultures.
Orpen was born in 1828 in Dublin, Ireland and emigrated in 1846 to the Cape, as a land surveyor, with three of his brothers.
With his brother he moved to the Orange River Sovereignty for surveying work, and was elected in 1853 to stand against the departure of British control over the sovereignty. He then became a citizen (or "burgher") of the resulting Orange Free State. He was elected as a representative in the Volksraad (parliament) of the Orange Free State and wrote the country's constitution, influenced a great deal by that of the United States.
He served on the Free State Supreme Court and in the country's government he was for a while in charge of relations with the surrounding native African nations, and in this capacity he pursued relatively benign and peaceful policies.
As magistrate ("Landrost") of Harrismith he founded the town of Kroonstad. This town he named in honour of a horse named "Kroon" that he had seen drown in a nearby ravine. While he was undeniably a gentle man, he also briefly commanded the Free State's military force of Boer commandos and was reputedly the first man to have shed blood in defence of that country.
Orpen moved to the Cape Colony in the early 1860s. He worked again as a surveyor in the region of Aliwal North, and was commissioned by the British Imperial Government to travel to the seat of government of the Basotho King, Moshesh, in 1862. As Resident Magistrate he facilitated the annexation of Basutoland to the British Empire soon afterwards.
In 1872 he was elected to the Cape Parliament to represent the district of Queenstown. Under its new system of "Responsible Government", the Cape had just wrested a degree of independence from the British Empire. The first Cape Prime Minister John Molteno, having brought all three branches of government under local control, embarked on a policy of slowing territorial expansion, so as to concentrate on internal development of the country.
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