Cecil Rhodes

The Right Honourable  Cecil John Rhodes  DCL
6th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony
In office 1890 – 1896
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Governor	Henry Loch William Gordon Cameron (acting) Hercules Robinson
Preceded by	John Gordon Sprigg
Succeeded by	John Gordon Sprigg
Born	5 July 1853(1853-07-05) Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Died	26 March 1902 (aged 48) Muizenberg, Cape Colony (now South Africa)
Resting place	"World's View", Matopos Hills, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) 20°25′S 28°28′E / 20.417°S 28.467°E / -20.417; 28.467Coordinates: 20°25′S 28°28′E / 20.417°S 28.467°E / -20.417; 28.467
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Never married
Relations	Reverend Francis William Rhodes (Father) Louisa Peacock Rhodes(Mother) Francis William Rhodes(Brother)
Children	None
Alma mater	Bishop's Stortford Grammar School Oriel College, Oxford
Occupation	Businessman Politician

Cecil John Rhodes DCL (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902^[1]) was an English-born businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%.^[2] An ardent believer in colonialism and imperialism, he was the founder of the state of Rhodesia, which was named after him. Rhodesia, later Northern and Southern Rhodesia, became Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively. South Africa's Rhodes University is named after him. He set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.

Childhood in England

Rhodes was born in 1853 in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. He was the fifth son of the Reverend Francis William Rhodes, and his wife Louisa Peacock Rhodes. His father was a Church of England vicar who was proud of never having preached a sermon longer than 10 minutes. His siblings included Francis William Rhodes, who became an army officer.

A sickly, asthmatic teenager, Cecil Rhodes was taken out of grammar school and sent to Natal, South Africa because his family thought the hot climate^{[clarification needed]} would improve his health. They expected he would help his older brother Herbert^[3] who operated a cotton farm.^[4]

Cecil Rhodes (Sketch by Mortimer Menpes)

South Africa

After a brief stay with the Surveyor-General of Natal, Dr. P.C. Sutherland, in Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes took an interest in agriculture and joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomanzi valley in Natal. When he first came to Africa, Rhodes lived on money lent by his aunt Sophia.^[5]

In October 1871, Rhodes left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley. Financed by N M Rothschild & Sons, Rhodes succeeded in buying up all the smaller diamond mining operations in the Kimberley area by 1888. His monopoly of the world's diamond supply was sealed in 1889 through a strategic partnership with the London-based Diamond Syndicate, with whom he agreed to control world supply to maintain high prices.^[6][7] Rhodes supervised the working of his brother's claim and speculated on his behalf. Among his associates in the early days were John X. Merriman and Charles Rudd, who later became his partner in the De Beers Mining Company and Niger Oil Company.

In 1898, Rhodes financed Harry Pickstone's efforts to establish a fruit export business on the farm Nootgedacht in the Stellenbosch-Paarl area of the Cape. The successful operation soon expanded into Rhodes Fruit Farms, and formed the cornerstone of the modern-day Cape fruit industry.^[8]

Education

A portrait bust of Rhodes on the first floor of No. 6 King Edward Street marks the place of his residence whilst in Oxford.

Rhodes attended the Bishop's Stortford Grammar School. In 1873, Rhodes left his farm field in the care of his business partner, Rudd, and sailed for England to complete his studies. He was admitted to Oriel College, Oxford, but stayed for only one term in 1873. He returned to South Africa and did not return for his second term at Oxford until 1876. He was greatly influenced by John Ruskin's inaugural lecture at Oxford, which reinforced his own attachment to the cause of British imperialism. Among his Oxford associates were Rochefort Maguire, later a fellow of All Souls College and a director of the British South Africa Company, and Charles Metcalfe. Due to his university career, he admired the Oxford "system". Eventually he was inspired to develop his scholarship scheme: "Wherever you turn your eye—except in science—an Oxford man is at the top of the tree".

While attending Oriel College, Rhodes became a Freemason in the Apollo University Lodge. Although initially he did not approve of the organization, he continued to be a Freemason until his death in 1902. The failures of the Freemasons, in his mind, later caused him to envisage his own secret society with the goal of bringing the entire world under British rule.^[4][9]

Diamonds

Whilst at Oxford, Rhodes continued to prosper in Kimberley. Before his departure for Oxford, he and C.D. Rudd had moved from the Kimberley Mine to invest in the more costly claims of what was known as old De Beers (Vooruitzicht). It was named after Johannes Nicolaas de Beer and his brother, Diederik Arnoldus, who occupied the farm, which with the entire Griqualand West region belonged to the Voortrekker David Stephanus Fourie, the great-great-grandfather of Claudine Fourie-Grosvenor. Fourie had allowed various Afrikaner families, including the De Beers, to reside on the land after he had purchased the entire region: from the Modder River via the Vet River up to the Vaal River from Mr. David Danser, a Koranna chief in the area, in 1839.{as per book by Eric Rosenthal - famous South African surnames and British Intelligence Records and Maps by F. Orpen in 1800's as well as the Official Intelligence Report by the British government in 1879.}

In 1874 and 1875, the diamond fields were in the grip of depression, but Rhodes and Rudd were among those who stayed to consolidate their interests. They believed that diamonds would be numerous in the hard blue ground that had been exposed after the softer, yellow layer near the surface had been worked out. During this time, the technical problem of clearing out the water that was flooding the mines became serious. He and Rudd obtained the contract for pumping the water out of the three main mines. It was during this period that Jim B. Taylor, still a young boy and helping to work his father's claim, first met Rhodes.

On 12 March 1880, Rhodes and Rudd launched the De Beers Mining Company after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With £200,000^[10] of capital, the company, of which Rhodes was secretary, owned the largest interest in the mine.

Politics in South Africa

In 1880, Rhodes prepared to enter public life at the Cape. With the incorporation of Griqualand West into the Cape Colony in 1877, the area obtained six seats in the Cape House of Assembly. Rhodes chose the constituency of Barkly West, a rural constituency in which Boer voters predominated. Barkly West remained faithful to Rhodes even after the Jameson Raid, and he continued as its Member until his death.

When Rhodes became a member of the Cape Parliament, the chief goal of the assembly was to help decide the future of Basutoland. The ministry of Sir Gordon Sprigg was trying to restore order after the 1880 rebellion known as the Gun War. The ministry had precipitated the revolt by applying its disarmament policy to the Basuto. In 1890, Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and implemented laws that would benefit mine and industry owners. He introduced the Glen Grey Act to push black people from their lands and make way for industrial development. He also introduced educational reform to the area.

Rhodes' policies were instrumental in the development of British imperial policies in South Africa, such as the Hut tax. He did not, however, have direct political power over the Boer Republic of the Transvaal. He often disagreed with the Transvaal government's policies, and believed he could use his money and his power to overthrow the Boer government and install a British colonial government supporting mine-owners' interests in its place. In 1895, Rhodes supported an attack on the Transvaal, the infamous Jameson Raid, which proceeded with the tacit approval of governor Joseph Chamberlain. The raid was a catastrophic failure, which forced Cecil Rhodes to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, sent his oldest brother, Col. Frank Rhodes, to jail in Transvaal convicted of high treason, nearly resulted in his hanging, and led to the outbreak of both the Second Matabele War and the Second Boer War.

Expanding the British Empire

Rhodes and the Imperial Factor

Cartoon by Edward Linley Sambourne, published in Punch after Rhodes announced plans for a telegraph line from Cape Town to Cairo.

Rhodes used his wealth and that of his business partner Alfred Beit and other investors to pursue his dream of creating a British Empire in new territories to the north by obtaining mineral concessions from the most powerful chiefs. Rhodes' competitive advantage over other mineral prospecting companies was his combination of wealth and the 'imperial factor', his use of the British Government: he made friendships with its local representatives, the British Commissioners, and through them organised British protectorates over the mineral concession areas via separate but related treaties, conferring both legality and security for mining operations. He could then win over more investors. Imperial expansion and capital investment went hand in hand.^[11]

The imperial factor was a double-edged sword: Rhodes did not want it to mean that the bureaucrats of the Colonial Office in London would interfere in the Empire in Africa. He wanted British settlers and local politicians and governors, like himself, to run it. This put him on a collision course with many in Britain, as well as with British missionaries who favoured what they saw as the more ethical direct rule from London. But Rhodes won because he would pay to administer the territories north of South Africa against future mining profits, the Colonial Office did not have the funds to do it, and his presence would prevent the Portuguese, the Germans or the Boers from moving in to south-central Africa.

Rhodes' companies and agents cemented these advantages by obtaining many mining concessions, as exemplified by the Rudd and Lochner Concessions.^[11]

Treaties, concessions and charters

Rhodes had already tried and failed to get a mining concession from Lobengula, king of the Ndebele of Matabeleland. In 1888 he tried again. He sent John Moffat, son of the missionary Robert Moffat, who was trusted by Lobengula, to persuade the latter to sign a treaty of friendship with Britain, and to look favourably on Rhodes' proposals. His agent, Francis Thompson, who had travelled to Bulawayo in the company of Charles Rudd and Rochfort Maguire, assured Lobengula that no more than ten white men would mine in Matabeleland, but this was left out of the actual document Lobengula signed, the Rudd Concession. Furthermore it stated that the mining companies could do anything necessary to their operations. When Lobengula discovered later what the concession really meant, he tried to renounce it, but the British Government ignored him.^[11]

Armed with the Rudd Concession, in 1889 Rhodes obtained a charter from the British Government for his British South Africa Company (BSAC) to rule, police and make new treaties and concessions from the Limpopo River to the great lakes of Central Africa. He obtained further concessions and treaties north of the Zambezi, such as those in Barotseland (the Lochner Concession with King Lewanika in 1890, which was similar to the Rudd Concession), and in the Lake Mweru area (Alfred Sharpe's 1890 Kazembe concession). Rhodes also sent Sharpe to get a concession over mineral-rich Katanga, but met his match in ruthlessness: when Sharpe was rebuffed by its ruler Msiri, King Leopold II of Belgium obtained a concession over Msiri's dead body for his Congo Free State.^[12]

Rhodes also wanted Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) under the BSAC charter but three Tswana kings including Khama III travelled to Britain and won over British public opinion for it to remain governed by London. Rhodes commented: "It is humiliating to be utterly beaten by these niggers".^[11]

The British Colonial Office also decided to administer British Central Africa (Nyasaland, today's Malawi) owing to the presence there of Scottish missionaries trying to end the slave trade. Rhodes paid much of the cost so that the British Central Africa Commissioner, Sir Harry Johnston (and his successor, Alfred Sharpe) would assist with security in the BSAC's north-eastern territories. Johnston shared Rhodes' expansionist views, but he and his successors were not as pro-settler as Rhodes and disagreed on dealings with Africans.

Rhodesia

The BSAC had its own police force, which was used to control Matabeleland and Mashonaland, in present-day Zimbabwe. The company had hoped to start a "new Rand" from the ancient gold mines of the Shona, but the gold deposits were on a much smaller scale, so many of the white settlers who accompanied the British South Africa Company to Mashonaland became farmers. When the Ndebele and the Shona—the two main, but rival peoples—separately rebelled against the coming of the white settlers, the British South Africa Company defeated them in the two Matabele Wars (1893–94; 1896–97). Shortly after learning of the assassination of the Ndebele spiritual leader, Mlimo, by the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, Rhodes walked unarmed into the Ndebele stronghold in Matobo Hills and persuaded the Impi to lay down their arms, thus ending the Second Matabele War.^[13]

By the end of 1894, the territories over which the BSAC had concessions or treaties, collectively called "Zambesia" after the Zambezi River flowing through the middle, comprised an area of 1,143,000 km² between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika. In May 1895, its name was officially changed to "Rhodesia", reflecting Rhodes' popularity among settlers who had been using the name informally since 1891. The designation Southern Rhodesia was officially adopted in 1898 for the part south of the Zambezi which later became Zimbabwe, and the designations North-Western and North-Eastern Rhodesia were used from 1895 for the territory which later became Northern Rhodesia, then Zambia.^[14][15]

Rhodes decreed in his will that he was to be buried in Matobo Hills, so when he died in the Cape in 1902 his body came up by train to Bulawayo. His burial was attended by Ndebele chiefs, who asked that the firing party should not discharge their rifles as this would disturb the spirits. Then, for the first and probably the only time, they gave the white man the Matabele royal salute "Bayete". Rhodes is buried alongside both Leander Starr Jameson and the 34 white soldiers killed in the Shangani Patrol.

"Cape to Cairo Red Line"

Map showing almost complete British control of the Cape to Cairo route, 1914

Main articles: Cape to Cairo Railway and Cape to Cairo Road

One of Rhodes' dreams (and the dream of many other members of the British Empire) was for a "red line" on the map from the Cape to Cairo. (On geo-political maps, British dominions were always denoted in red or pink.)

Rhodes had been instrumental in securing southern African states for the Empire. He and others felt the best way to "unify the possessions, facilitate governance, enable the military to move quickly to hot spots or conduct war, help settlement, and foster trade" would be to build the "Cape to Cairo Railway".

This enterprise was not without its problems; France had a rival strategy in the late 1890s to link its colonies from west to east across the continent, and the Portuguese produced the "Pink Map" representing their claims to sovereignty in Africa.

Political views

Cecil Rhodes

Rhodes wanted to expand the British Empire because he believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was destined to greatness. In his last will and testament, Rhodes said of the British, "I contend that we are the first race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race."^[16] He wanted to make the British Empire a superpower in which all of the white countries in the empire, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Cape Colony, would be represented in the British Parliament. Rhodes included Americans in the Rhodes scholarships and said that he wanted to breed an American elite of philosopher-kings who would have the United States rejoin the British Empire. As Rhodes also respected the Germans and admired the Kaiser, he allowed Germans to be included in the Rhodes scholarships. He believed that eventually Great Britain, the USA and Germany together would dominate the world and ensure peace.^[5]

On domestic politics within the United Kingdom, Rhodes was a supporter of the Liberal Party.^[5] Rhodes' only major impact on domestic politics within the United Kingdom was his support of the Irish nationalist party, led by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891). He contributed a great deal of money to the Irish nationalists,^[4][5] although Rhodes made his support conditional upon an autonomous Ireland's still being represented in the British Parliament.^[5] Rhodes was such a strong supporter of Parnell that even after the Liberals and the Irish nationalists had disowned him because of adultery with the wife of another Irish nationalist, Rhodes continued his own support.^[4]

Rhodes was more tolerant of the Dutch-speaking whites in the Cape Colony than were the other English-speaking whites in the Cape Colony. He supported teaching Dutch as well as English in public schools in the Cape Colony and lent money to support this cause. While Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, he helped to remove most of the legal disabilities that English-speaking whites had imposed on Dutch-speaking whites.^[5] He was a friend of Jan Hofmeyr, leader of the Afrikaner Bond, and it was largely because of Afrikaner support that he became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.^[4][5] Rhodes advocated greater self-government for the Cape Colony, in line with his preference for the empire to be controlled by local settlers and politicians rather than by London (see "Rhodes and the imperial factor" above).

Confusingly for the modern reader, self-government of the type Rhodes supported was known as "colonialism". The opposed policy, direct control of a colony from London, was known as "imperialism". This should be kept in mind when reading documents from this time.

Personal relationships

Sexuality

Rhodes never married, pleading "I have too much work on my hands" and saying that he would not be a dutiful husband.^[17] However, some writers and academics^[18][19] have suggested that Rhodes may have been homosexual, although the amount of direct evidence is scarce.

The scholar Richard Brown observed: "there is still the simpler but major problem of the extraordinarily thin evidence on which the conclusions about Rhodes are reached. Rhodes himself left few details... Indeed, Rhodes is a singularly difficult subject... since there exists little intimate material - no diaries and few personal letters."^[20]

Brown also comments: "On the issue of Rhodes' sexuality... there is, once again, simply not enough reliable evidence to reach firm, irrefutable conclusions. It is inferred, but not proved, that Rhodes was homosexual and it is assumed (but not proved) that his relationships with men were sometimes physical. Neville Pickering is described as Rhodes' lover in spite of the absence of decisive evidence."^[20]

Rhodes’ was close to Pickering; he returned from negotiations for Pickering's 25th birthday in 1882. On that occasion, Rhodes drew up a new will leaving his estate to Pickering.^[17] Two years later, Pickering suffered a riding accident. Rhodes nursed him faithfully for six weeks, refusing even to answer telegrams concerning his business interests. Pickering died in Rhodes' arms, and at his funeral Rhodes was said to have wept with fervor.^[18]

Rhodes' tomb

Rhodes remained close to Jameson after the two met in Kimberly, where they shared a bungalow. In 1896 someone came to give Rhodes bad news. Rhodes instantly jumped to the conclusion that Jameson, who was ill, had died. On learning that his house had burnt down he commented, "Thank goodness. If Dr. Jim had died, I should never have got over it."^[21] Jameson nursed Rhodes during his final illness, was a trustee of his estate and residuary beneficiary of his will, which allowed him to continue living in Rhodes' mansion after his death. Rhodes' secretary, Jourdan, who was present shortly after Rhodes' death said, "Jameson was fighting against his own grief...No mother could have displayed more tenderness towards the remains of a loved son". Jameson died in England in 1917, but after the war in 1920 his body was transferred to a grave beside that of Rhodes on Malindidzimu Hill or World's View, a granite hill in the Matobo National Park 40 km south of Bulawayo.^[22]

Princess Radziwiłł

In the last years of his life, Rhodes was stalked by Polish princess Catherine Radziwiłł, born Rzewuska, married into a noble Polish-Lithuanian dynasty called Radziwiłł. Radziwiłł falsely claimed that she was engaged to Rhodes, or that they were having an affair. She asked him to marry her, but Rhodes refused. She got revenge by falsely accusing him of loan fraud. He had to go to trial and testify against her accusation. He died shortly after the trial in 1902. She wrote a biography of Rhodes called Cecil Rhodes: Man and Empire Maker. Her accusations were eventually proven false.^[4][23]

Boer War

During the Boer War Rhodes went to Kimberley at the onset of the siege, in a calculated move to raise the political states on the government to dedicate resources to the defence of the city. The military felt he was more of a liability than an asset and found him intolerable. In particular, Lieutenant Colonel Kekewich disliked Rhodes because of Rhodes' inability to cooperate with the military;^[24] Rhodes insisted that the military adopt his plans and ideas instead of following their orders.^[4][25] Despite the differences, Rhodes' company was instrumental in the defense of the city, providing water, refrigeration facilities, constructing fortifications, manufacturing an armoured train, shells and a one-off gun named Long Cecil.^[26]

Rhodes used his position and influence to lobby the British government to relieve the siege of Kimberley, claiming in the press that the situation in the city was desperate. The military wanted to assemble a large force to take the Boer cities of Bloemfontein and Pretoria, however they were compelled to change their plans and send three separate smaller forces to relieve the sieges of Kimberley, Mafeking and Ladysmith.^[27]

Death and legacy

Funeral of Rhodes in Adderley St, Cape Town on 3 April 1902

Although Rhodes remained a leading figure in the politics of southern Africa, especially during the Second Boer War, he was dogged by ill health throughout his relatively short life. Rhodes died in 1902, and was considered at the time one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was laid to rest at World's View, a hilltop located approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Bulawayo, in what was then Rhodesia. Today, his grave site is part of Matobo National Park, Zimbabwe.

In 2004, he was voted 56th in the SABC3 television series Great South Africans.

In his first will, of 1877, (before he had accumulated his wealth), Rhodes wanted to create a secret society that would bring the whole world under British rule.^[4] The exact wording from this will is:^{[cite this quote]}

To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.

Rhodes' final will^[28] left a large area of land on the slopes of Table Mountain to the South African nation. Part of this estate became the upper campus of the University of Cape Town, another part became the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, while much was spared from development and is now an important conservation area.

Rhodes Scholarship

Rhodes House in 2004.

In his last will and testament, he provided for the establishment of the famous Rhodes Scholarship,^[28] the world's first international study programme. The scholarship enabled students from territories under British rule, formerly under British rule, and from Germany, to study at the University of Oxford.^[28]

Memorials

Rhodes memorial at Devil's Peak, Cape Town

Rhodes Memorial stands on Rhodes' favourite spot on the slopes of Devil's Peak, with a view looking north and east towards the Cape to Cairo route. Rhodes' house in Cape Town, Groote Schuur, has recently^[when?] been inhabited by the President of the R.S.A. Jacob Zuma.^{[citation needed]}

His birthplace was established as a museum in 1938, now known as Bishops Stortford Museum.^[29] The cottage in Muizenberg where he died is a South African national monument.

Rhodes University College, now Rhodes University, in Grahamstown, was established in his name by his trustees and founded by Act of Parliament on 31 May 1904.

The residents of Kimberley elected to build a memorial in Rhodes' honour in their city, which was unveiled in 1907. The 72-ton bronze statue depicts Rhodes on his horse, looking north with map in hand, and dressed as he was when met the Ndebele after their rebellion.^[30]

Quotations

Rhodes famously declared: "To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far."^[31]

“We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave labor that is available from the natives of the colonies. The colonies would also provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories.”^[32][33]

“Pure philanthropy is very well in its way but philanthropy plus five percent is a good deal better.”^[34]

"I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race...If there be a God, I think that what he would like me to do is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as possible..."^[35]

"In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, our colonial statesmen must acquire new lands for settling the surplus population of this country, to provide new markets... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question"^[36]

"To be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life."^[37]

Popular culture

• Mark Twain's summation of Rhodes ("I admire him, I frankly confess it; and when his time comes I shall buy a piece of the rope for a keepsake"), from Chapter LXIX of Following the Equator, still often appears in collections of famous insults.^[38]

• The will of Cecil Rhodes is the central theme in the science fiction book Great Work of Time by John Crowley, an alternate history in which the Secret Society stipulated in the will was indeed established. Its members eventually achieve the secret of time travel and use it to restrain World War I and prevent World War II, and to perpetuate the world ascendancy of the British Empire up to the end of the Twentieth Century. The book contains a vivid description of Cecil Rhodes himself, seen through the eyes of a traveller from the future British Empire.

• In the British film Rhodes of Africa (1936, directed by Austrian filmmaker Berthold Viertel), Rhodes was portrayed by American actor Walter Huston.^[39]

• In 1996, BBC-TV made an eight-part television drama about Rhodes called Rhodes: The Life and Legend of Cecil Rhodes. It was produced by David Drury and written by Antony Thomas. It tells the story of Rhodes' life through a series of flashbacks of conversations between him and Princess Catherine Radziwill and also between her and people who knew him. It also shows the story of how she stalked and eventually ruined him. In the movie, Cecil Rhodes is played by Martin Shaw, the younger Cecil Rhodes is played by his son Joe Shaw, and Princess Radziwill is played by Frances Barber. In the movie Rhodes is portrayed as ruthless and greedy. The movie also strongly suggests that he was homosexual.^[40]

• The Wilbur Smith "Ballantyne" series of novels feature Rhodes. These novels also strongly suggest that he was homosexual.^{[citation needed]}

• In 1901, Rhodes bought Dalham Hall, Suffolk. In 1902 Colonel Francis William Rhodes erected the village hall ^[41] in the village of Dalham, to commemorate the life of his brother, who had died before taking possession of the estate.

• Rhodes was a peripheral but influential character in the historical novel The Covenant by James A. Michener.

Controversies

• Rhodes has been portrayed by Dr. C. Magbaily Fyle, Ph.D. as a violent and brutal racist who used forced labour tactics as a means of founding De Beers and other portions of his lucrative success.^[42]

See also

Find more about Cecil Rhodes on Wikipedia's sister projects:

Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons

• British South Africa Company
• British South Africa Police
• Origin of 'Rhodesia'
• Leander Starr Jameson
• Pioneer Column
• Rhodes University
• John Ruskin
• Frank W. Rhodes

References

Further reading

• Ziegler, Philip (2008). Legacy: Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Trust and Rhodes Scholarships. Yale: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300118353. 
• Cecil Rhodes by Princess Catherine Radziwill at Project Gutenberg
• Robert I. Rotberg & Miles F. Shore (1988). The founder: Cecil Rhodes and the pursuit of power. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195049683. http://books.google.com/books?id=9gRzAAAAMAAJ. 
• Vindex (F. Verschoyle) (1900). Cecil Rhodes. Chapman and Hall, limited. http://books.google.com/books?id=tGcdUr3Lg9YC&pg=PR40&dq=Cecil+Rhodes&as_brr=1#PPR1,M1. 

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Author:Cecil Rhodes

• Banquet in Rhodes' honour held in London 1895
• Africa Stage: Monica Dispatch - 30 June 1999 at www.worldtrek.org
• Cecil John Rhodes at www.sahistory.org.za
• Rhodes, Cecil John. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07 at www.bartleby.com
• Rhodes Memorial, Cape Town Photo Gallery by Don at pbase.com at www.pbase.com Photographs of Rhodes Memorial, Cape Town, South Africa
• Rondebosch.net official site
• Cecil John Rhodes: historic overview of his Life and times
• Cecil Rhodes at Find a Grave