# List of governors of British South African colonies

This article lists the governors of British South African colonies, including the colonial prime ministers. It encompasses the period from 1797 to 1910, when present-day South Africa was divided into four British colonies namely: Cape Colony (preceded by Dutch Cape Colony), Natal Colony, Orange River Colony and Transvaal Colony.
After the colonies were disestablished as a result of the creation of the Union of South Africa, the area was divided into four provinces of the Union: Cape Province, Natal Province, Orange Free State Province and Transvaal Province.

## Cape Colony
### Governors

| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
| Governors ||||
| 5 May 1797 to 20 November 1798 | George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney | Known for the 1793 Macartney Embassy to China |
| 20 November 1798 to 9 December 1799 | Francis Dundas | 1st time, acting |
| 10 December 1799 to 20 April 1801 | Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet | |
| 21 April 1801 to 20 February 1803 | Francis Dundas | 2nd time, acting |
| Commissioner-general ||||
| 21 February 1803 to 25 September 1804 | Jacob Abraham de Mist | Represented the Batavian Republic |
| Governors ||||
| 1 March 1803 to 18 January 1806 | Jan Willem Janssens | Represented the Batavian Republic |
| 10 January 1806 to 17 January 1807 | Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet | Military governor, acting |
| 17 January 1807 to 21 May 1807 | Henry George Grey | 1st time, acting |
| 22 May 1807 to 4 July 1811 | Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon | |
| 5 July 1811 to 5 September 1811 | Henry George Grey | 2nd time, acting |
| 6 September 1811 to 6 April 1814 | John Cradock, 1st Baron Howden | |
| 18 October 1813 to 7 January 1814 | Robert Meade | Acting for Cradock; son of Theodosia, Countess of Clanwilliam |
| 6 April 1814 to 5 March 1826 | Lord Charles Somerset | |
| 13 January 1820 to 30 November 1821 | Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin | Acting for Somerset |
| 5 March 1826 to 9 September 1828 | Richard Bourke | Acting |
| 9 September 1828 to 10 August 1833 | Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole | |
| 10 August 1833 to 16 January 1834 | Thomas Francis Wade | Acting (for D'Urban from 10 January 1834) |
| 10 January 1834 to 20 January 1838 | Sir Benjamin D'Urban | |
| 22 January 1838 to 18 March 1844 | Sir George Thomas Napier | |
| 18 March 1844 to 27 January 1847 | Sir Peregrine Maitland | |
| Governors and high commissioners for Southern Africa ||||
| 27 January 1847 to 1 December 1847 | Sir Henry Pottinger | |
| 1 December 1847 to 31 March 1852 | Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet | |
| 31 March 1852 to 26 May 1854 | George Cathcart | |
| 26 May 1854 to 5 December 1854 | Charles Henry Darling | Acting |
| 5 December 1854 to 15 August 1861 | Sir George Grey | |
| 20 August 1859 to 4 July 1860 | Robert Wynyard | 1st time, acting for Grey |
| 15 August 1861 to 15 January 1862 | Robert Wynyard | 2nd time, acting |
| 15 January 1862 to 20 May 1870 | Sir Philip Wodehouse | |
| 20 May 1870 to 31 December 1870 | Charles Craufurd Hay | Acting |
| 31 December 1870 to 31 March 1877 | Sir Henry Barkly | |
| 31 March 1877 to 15 September 1880 | Sir Henry Bartle Frere | Known for initiating the Anglo-Zulu War and the First Boer War |
| 15 September 1880 to 27 September 1880 | Henry Hugh Clifford | Acting |
| 27 September 1880 to 22 January 1881 | Sir George Strahan | Acting |
| 22 January 1881 to 1 May 1889 | Sir Hercules Robinson | 1st time |
| 30 April 1881 to August 1881 | Sir Leicester Smyth | 1st time, acting for Robinson |
| 25 April 1883 to 26 March 1884 | Sir Leicester Smyth | 2nd time, acting for Robinson |
| 7 April 1886 to 7 July 1886 | Sir Henry Torrens | Acting for Robinson |
| 1 May 1889 to 13 December 1889 | Henry Augustus Smyth | Acting |
| 13 December 1889 to 30 May 1895 | Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch | |
| 14 January 1891 to 1 December 1892 | Sir William Gordon Cameron | 1st time, acting for Loch |
| May 1894 to July 1894 | Sir William Gordon Cameron | 2nd time, acting for Loch |
| 30 May 1895 to 21 April 1897 | Sir Hercules Robinson | 2nd time; from 10 August 1896, Hercules Robinson, Baron Rosmead |
| 21 April 1897 to 5 May 1897 | Sir William Howley Goodenough | Acting |
| 5 May 1897 to 6 March 1901 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | |
| 2 November 1898 to 14 February 1899 | Sir William Butler | Acting for Milner |
| 6 March 1901 to 31 May 1910 | Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson | |
| 17 June 1909 to 21 September 1909 | Sir Henry Scobell | Acting for Hely-Hutchinson |

### Prime ministers

| Tenure | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
| 1 December 1872 to 5 February 1878 | John Charles Molteno | n-p | |
| 6 February 1878 to 8 May 1881 | John Gordon Sprigg | n-p | 1st time |
| 9 May 1881 to 12 May 1884 | Thomas Charles Scanlen | n-p | |
| 13 May 1884 to 24 November 1886 | Thomas Upington | n-p | |
| 25 November 1886 to 16 July 1890 | Sir John Gordon Sprigg | n-p | 2nd time |
| 17 July 1890 to 12 January 1896 | Cecil Rhodes | n-p | Resigned in the aftermath of the Jameson Raid |
| 13 January 1896 to 13 October 1898 | Sir John Gordon Sprigg | n-p | 3rd time |
| 13 October 1898 to 17 June 1900 | William Schreiner | n-p | |
| 18 June 1900 to 21 February 1904 | Sir John Gordon Sprigg | PP | 4th time |
| 22 February 1904 to 2 February 1908 | Leander Starr Jameson | PP | Leader of the Jameson Raid |
| 3 February 1908 to 31 May 1910 | John X. Merriman | SAP | |

## Natal Colony
### Governors

| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
| Special Commissioner ||||
| 10 May 1843 to 31 May 1844 | Henry Cloete | |
| 31 May 1844 to 4 December 1845 | direct rule by Cape Colony | During this time, Sir Peregrine Maitland served as the governor of Cape Colony |
| Lieutenant-governors ||||
| 4 December 1845 to 1 August 1849 | Martin Thomas West | |
| 19 April 1850 to 3 Mar 1855 | Benjamin Pine | 1st time |
| 5 November 1856 to 31 December 1864 | John Scott | |
| 31 December 1864 to 26 July 1865 | John Maclean | |
| 26 July 1865 to 26 August 1865 | John Wellesley Thomas | Acting |
| 26 August 1865 to 24 May 1867 | John Jarvis Bisset | Acting |
| 24 May 1867 to 19 July 1872 | Robert William Keate | |
| 19 July 1872 to 30 April 1873 | Anthony Musgrave | |
| 30 April 1873 to 22 July 1873 | Thomas Milles | Acting |
| 22 July 1873 to 1 April 1875 | Sir Benjamin Pine | 2nd time |
| 1 April 1875 to 3 September 1875 | Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley | Acting |
| 3 September 1875 to 20 April 1880 | Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer | 1st time |
| 20 April 1880 to 5 May 1880 | William Bellairs | Acting |
| 5 May 1880 to 2 July 1880 | Henry Hugh Clifford | Acting |
| Governors ||||
| 2 July 1880 to 27 February 1881 | Sir George Pomeroy Colley | |
| 17 August 1880 to 14 September 1880 | Henry Alexander | Acting for Colley |
| 27 February 1881 to 3 April 1881 | Sir Evelyn Wood | Acting |
| 3 April 1881 to 9 August 1881 | Redvers Buller | Acting |
| 22 December 1881 to 6 March 1882 | Charles Mitchell | 1st time, acting |
| 6 March 1882 to 23 October 1885 | Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer | 2nd time |
| 18 February 1886 to 5 June 1889 | Sir Arthur Havelock | |
| 1 December 1889 to July 1893 | Charles Mitchell | 2nd time |
| July 1893 to 27 September 1893 | Francis Seymour Haden | Acting |
| 28 September 1893 to 6 May 1901 | Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson | |
| 13 May 1901 to 7 June 1907 | Sir Henry McCallum | |
| 2 September 1907 to 23 December 1909 | Sir Matthew Nathan | |
| 17 January 1910 to 31 May 1910 | Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen | |

### Prime ministers

| Tenure | Incumbent | Party |
| 10 October 1893 to 14 February 1897 | Sir John Robinson | n-p |
| 15 February 1897 to 4 October 1897 | Harry Escombe | n-p |
| 5 October 1897 to 8 June 1899 | Sir Henry Binns | n-p |
| 9 June 1899 to 17 August 1903 | Sir Albert Henry Hime | n-p |
| 18 August 1903 to 16 May 1905 | George Morris Sutton | n-p |
| 16 May 1905 to 28 November 1906 | Charles John Smythe | n-p |
| 28 November 1906 to 28 April 1910 | Frederick Moor | n-p |

## Orange River Colony
### Governors

| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
| 23 June 1902 to 1 April 1905 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | Simultaneously served as the governor of Transvaal Colony |
| 2 April 1905 to 7 June 1907 | William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne | |
| 7 June 1907 to 31 May 1910 | Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams | |

### Prime minister

| Tenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
| 27 November 1907 to 31 May 1910 | | Abraham Fischer | ORU | Later served as the Minister of the Interior Affairs of South Africa, from 1912 to 1913 |

## Transvaal Colony
### Governors of the Transvaal

| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
| First annexation ||||
| Administrators ||||
| 12 April 1877 to 4 March 1879 | Sir Theophilus Shepstone | |
| 4 March 1879 to 8 August 1881 | Owen Lanyon | From 6 April 1880, Sir William Owen Lanyon; acting for Wolseley 29 September 1879 – 27 April 1880 |
| Governor ||||
| 29 September 1879 to 27 April 1880 | Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley | |
| Second annexation ||||
| Administrator ||||
| 4 January 1901 to 23 June 1902 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | Simultaneously served as the Administrator of Orange River Colony |
| Governors ||||
| 21 June 1902 to 1 April 1905 | Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner | Simultaneously served as the governor of Orange River Colony |
| 2 April 1905 to 31 May 1910 | William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne | |

### Lieutenant-governors of the Transvaal

| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
| Second annexation ||||
| Lieutenant-Governors ||||
| 29 September 1902 to 4 December 1905 | Sir Arthur Lawley | Appointed Governor of Madras |
| 23 March 1906 to January 1907 | Sir Richard Solomon | Acting for Selborne 4 December 1905 to 2 October 1906 |

### Prime Minister of the Transvaal

| Tenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Party | Notes |
| 4 March 1907 to 31 May 1910 | | Louis Botha | HV | Afterwards served as the first prime minister of South Africa, from 1910 to 1919 |