JAMESON, SIR LEANDER STARR British colonial statesman, son of R. W. Jameson, a writer to the signet in Edinburgh, was born at Edinburgh in 1853, and was educated for the medical profession at University College Hos pital, London (M.R.C.S. 1875; M.D. 1877). After acting as house physician, house surgeon and demonstrator of anatomy, his health broke down from overwork in 1878, and he went out to South Africa and settled down in practice at Kimberley. There he came into contact with Cecil Rhodes. In 1888 he used his influence with Lobengula, who was one of his patients, to induce him to grant the concessions to the agents of Rhodes which led to the formation of the British South Africa Company; and when the company proceeded to open up Mashonaland, Jameson abandoned his medical practice and joined the pioneer expedi tion of 1890. From this time his fortunes were bound up with Rhodes's schemes in the north. Immediately after the pioneer column had occupied Mashonaland, Jameson, with F. C. Selous and A. R. Colquhoun, went east to Manicaland and secured the greater part of that country, to which Portugal was laying claim, for the Chartered Company. In 1891 Jameson succeeded Col quhoun as administrator of Rhodesia. At the end of 5894 "Dr. Jim" (as he was familiarly called) came to England and was feted on all sides.
On the last day of 1895 the world was startled to learn that Jameson, with a force of 600 men, had made a raid into the Transvaal from Mafeking in support of a projected rising in Johannesburg, which had been connived at by Rhodes at the Cape (see RHODES, CECIL, and TRANSVAAL). Jameson's force was compelled to surrender at Doornkop, receiving a guarantee that the lives of all would be spared ; he and his officers were sent to Pretoria, and, after a short delay, President Kruger, on the surrender of Johannesburg (Jan. 7), handed them over to the British government for punishment. They were tried in Lon don under the Foreign Enlistment Act in May 1896, and Dr.
Jameson was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment at Holloway.
He served a year in prison, and was then released on account of ill health. He still retained the affections of the white popula tion of Rhodesia, and returned there in an unofficial capacity.
He was the constant companion of Rhodes on his journeys up to the end of his life, and when Rhodes died in May 1902, Jameson was left one of the executors of his will. In 1903 Jameson came
forward as the leader of the Progressive party in Cape Colony; and after the Progressive victory at the general election in Jan.— Feb. 5904, Jameson was prime minister. He attended the Colonial conference held in London in 5907. In September of that year the Progressives were defeated at the polls, and Jameson re signed office on Jan. 31, 1908. In 1908 he was one of the dele gates from Cape Colony to the inter-colonial convention for the closer union of the South African states. The union of the South African colonies in 1909 accomplished the principal object which Jameson had set before himself as a political leader. He wished to carry the spirit of union further by forming a combination of political parties to support a non-racial government for the new Union, regarded General Botha as the natural leader of such a combination, and was completely ready to serve under him. This project of a "best man" government, however, was not accepted by Botha, who thought that the Dutch-speaking people of South Africa were not ready for it. The alternative, to which Jameson then set himself, was the formation of a new party representing the majority of the English-speaking people in the Cape, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and Natal. The programme of the new Unionist party of South Africa showed his influence in every clause.
For two years Jameson led the Unionists in the South African house of assembly with moderation and self-restraint, but he was compelled by ill-health to retire from the leadership of the party in 1912. He returned to England and settled in London, devoting himself to business interests. He died on Nov. 26, 1917. Diffident and utterly free from self-seeking, Jameson's labours for racial reconciliation and material progress in South Africa were conspicuous, and the close friendship of Botha was a final proof of the quality of his patriotism. Jameson was created a K.C.M.G. on the inauguration of the Union in 1909 and a baronet in IOU. See also SOUTH AFRICA, UNION OF.