Born in Cape Colony, Goldman was an uitlander who spent much of his life in the Transvaal. Charles Sydney Goldman was perhaps one of the Province's most enigmatic historic figures. A German of Jewish ancestry, he left Germany for England, where he married the granddaughter of Sir Robert Peel. His next move was to South Africa, where he made a fortune in ostrich farming and gold mining. As a young man he built up a fortune in mining, using some of the profits to purchase an extensive estate known as Schoongezicht in the Middelburg District. During the Second Boer War, Goldman was a war correspondent for "The Standard" and was a major in the British forces, who assisted Winston Churchill as a war correspondent. Initially attached to Sir Redvers Buller's relief force, he travelled with them as far as Ladysmith after which he transferred to the cavalry advancing north in order to report on their endeavours. These experiences served as the foundation for Goldman's subsequent book "With General French and the Cavalry in South Africa". He then moved to British Columbia, where he founded Nicola Stock Farm (now Nicola Ranch) in Merritt. He wrote a lengthy account of the Boer War, edited and translated several other historic works, as well as being a collector of Pre-Raphaelite art. One of his legacies still enjoyed by the public is Monck Provincial Park on the shore of Nicola Lake.