| Historical states in present-day South Africa |
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 South Africaportal |
Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived "Diggers Republic" on the diamond fields of southern Africa.
| Historical states in present-day South Africa |
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| South Africaportal |
Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived "Diggers Republic" on the diamond fields of southern Africa.
Originally an auctioneer and artist, Parker moved to mining in Griqualand West in southern Africa, where he rose to prominence as commandant of the miners' "Mutual Protection Association". The chaotic diamond fields were disputed among several political claimants, such as the local Griqua people, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. The white British miners ("diggers") rejected all of these claims and, following a series of disputes, a faction of the miners declared themselves independent until they could attain annexation to the British Empire.
On 30 July 1870 at the settlement of Klipdrift, Parker became the first and only President of the short-lived self-declared "Diamond Diggers Republic" (also known as the "Klipdrift Republic"). His government renamed Klipdrift as "Parkerton" after its new president, and began to collect taxes (often at gunpoint). The size of mining plots was limited in a move towards economic egalitarianism; however non-white persons were prohibited from holding either land or mining licenses.
When the British authorities arrived and declared their authority over the area, Parker and his government resigned in February 1871. [2] [3] [4] [5]
He then moved to Lydenburg in the Transvaal, where he opened the "Masonic Lodge" and was elected to the Volksraad (parliament) of the Transvaal Republic. [6]
He was widely known for his distinctive and memorable appearance. He always dressed extremely elaborately in a presidential manner. His signature item of clothing was his large white top-hats, that he always wore and that made him immediately recognisable. The journalist R.W. Murray described him as a "swagger citizen", and a master story-teller. [7]
He was portrayed by David Farrar in the film Diamond City (1949).
The South African Republic, also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result of the Second Boer War.
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The Transvaal Colony was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The borders of the Transvaal Colony were larger than the defeated South African Republic. In 1910 the entire territory became the Transvaal Province of the Union of South Africa.
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The Orange Free State was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.
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The following lists events that happened during 1871 in South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 1870 in South Africa.
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Diamond City is a 1949 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring David Farrar, Honor Blackman, Diana Dors and Niall MacGinnis.
Canteen Kopje is an archaeological site, formally protected as a grade 2 provincial heritage site, and approved in 2017 for re-grading to national status, situated outside Barkly West in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The place was previously known as Klipdrift, meaning stony drift, a translation from a still earlier !Ora name, !a |aub. Canteen Kopje is best known for its long and exceptionally rich Earlier Stone Age sequence, spanning circa >0.5 to 1.7 million years, occurring within gravels exposed in late nineteenth and early twentieth century mining pits. Also attracting attention are more recent archaeological levels in the overlying Hutton Sands, which contain material known as Fauresmith, Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age, and late Iron Age with evidence of protocolonial and colonial contact and interaction, probably, with nineteenth century diamond diggers.
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