29 Facts About Saul Solomon

Saul Solomon was an influential liberal politician of the Cape Colony, a British colony in what is South Africa.

Saul Solomon was born on the island of St Helena on 25 May 1817.

Saul Solomon spent his first years at a Jewish children's home in England, where he suffered from the malnutrition and rickets that physically affected him for the rest of his life.

Saul Solomon then had a rudimentary formal education in South Africa before beginning work as an apprentice in a printing business.

Saul Solomon later acquired the business and built it into the largest printing business in the country, founding the Cape Argus newspaper.

Saul Solomon was one of the founders of Old Mutual, today one of the largest insurance firms in South Africa.

Saul Solomon remained an MP for this constituency until his retirement in 1883.

Saul Solomon proceeded to put it to parliament every year, only for it to be repeatedly rejected, until it was finally passed under the Molteno government in 1875.

Saul Solomon joined the movement for responsible government in the Cape and helped to institute it when it was established in 1872.

Saul Solomon supported the Molteno Ministry, though he refused offers of cabinet positions so as to be able to oppose the government if and when his conscience required it.

Saul Solomon joined the Cape government in arguing that the Cape's multi-racial constitution might not survive a session of bargaining with the Boer republics.

Consequently, Saul Solomon opposed Carnarvon's proposal and the "new and impatient imperialism" which motivated it.

Saul Solomon ordered a review and cancellation of all government contracts with the Argus and other businesses that were linked to Saul Solomon.

Once again the editor resigned, and Saul Solomon survived, in spite of losing the trial.

Faure was driven from his official career by the Sprigg government, but Saul Solomon later sought out the unemployed Faure and gave him a token translator job with the Argus.

Saul Solomon emerged from these attacks financially damaged, but largely victorious.

Saul Solomon's physical condition was particularly drawn attention to by his very high-pitched voice, as well as by the frequent presence by his side of his friend and political ally Molteno, who was unusually tall, and the image of the two men together was a topic for caricature by the political cartoonists of the time.

Saul Solomon was nonetheless an eloquent and persuasive speaker with a skill for reasoned argument.

Saul Solomon's proposals were usually well researched and he characteristically spent long hours studying censuses and other government publications for the precise facts and figures that he believed should inform his opinions.

Saul Solomon is the most remarkable statesman in the Cape.

Saul Solomon has led a life of steadfast consistency, and has conferred benefits upon the colony, which must earn for his name the unswerving veneration of generations of South Africans yet to come.

Saul Solomon secured for the Cape the boon of representative institutions, he stimulated her energies in all matters educational, and that grand educational establishment, the South African College, is vastly his debtor.

Saul Solomon has been ever foremost in making every effort to provide for suitable instruction for the people.

Saul Solomon lived at Clarensville House in Sea Point, Cape Town for most of his life.

Saul Solomon's health declined and he withdrew from public life, even handing his business over to his nephews.

Saul Solomon retired from public life, and the family moved to Bedford in England in 1888, where their sons attended Bedford School.

Saul Solomon retired from public life completely in 1883 due to poor health and moved to Kilcreggan, Scotland, in 1888.

Saul Solomon's wife Georgiana survived him by over 40 years, and was an influential suffragette.

Saul Solomon was a high court judge, and William Ewart Gladstone Solomon was a noted painter who followed his mother into educational leadership as principal of the Bombay School of Art.