Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1897-06-26


fortune was at its zenith. it was esti
mated that he controlled interests
worth in the neighborhood of E1GO.-
600 goo. 1t was the fashion to call him
the richest mas In the world. At that
time he was Virtually the king Of the
London money market.
In the autumn Of 1895. when the boom
In "Kaffirs." the shares Of the COM
paratively new gold mines OF the
Transvaal. South Africa. was at its
height. every man. woman and child
i'm London with money to invest in
vested it in '.Kaffirs." The craze was
the last Of those financial fevers which
periodically at tack conservative Eng
land, the South sea bubble being the
first. For months Il was the controll-
ing passion in London. and Il was
scarcely less rampant in Paris and Ber-
lin. The shares went to unheard of
figures. and fortunes were made ia
day.
The center Of this tremendous finan-
cial outburst was Barney Barnato, and
he was conservativeiy estimated at
that time as worth between 500. 0O0.-
600 and $50, O00. 900. Among his assets
was a bank originally capitalized at
| 81. OO0. 900. In a very few months its
capital stock rose in value to $45. 000.
600.
Barnato was born in London. Little
| is known as to his early life, except
that he received his instruction from
a private tutor. instead of attending
| the public schools. He was a younger
son. and at the age OF 20 went 10 South
Africa, then a much more savage ter
ritory than it is now, and scantily
populated by Englishmen or persons
of English descent, to seek his fortune.
The Kimberly diamond mines were
just beginning to be productive. With
the little capital he could spare he be-
gan dealing in diamonds in a small
way. He was clever and pushing.
Everything he touched he made sue
cessful. In five years he had earned
enough in the retail sale of diamonds
to purchase shares in the mines from
which his merchandise had come. Be
fore another five years had elapsed his
holdings at Kimberly had become very
large, and when the Transvaal gold
fields were discovered he had profits
TO invest in them.
In 1856 Barnato was a definite money
power In South Africa, and began to bs
spoken of as the rival OF Cecil Rhodes
Unlike in temperament and even more
unlike i'm personal ambition, the tw,
men started in to be hot opponents
but in 1888 they reached the conclusion
simultaneously that their respective
interests could be best promoted by
combining forces. and the De Beer.
consolidated mines were the result. on,
of the most valuable pieces of property
Z of the kind in the world.
Although Barnato represented Kim.
berley twice in the Cape Legislature
I he had little time to give TO politics
and little interest in that field OF ac
! | tivity. Cecil Rhodes uses wealth only
! as a means TO political control Bar.
nato aspired only to such control o.
Z men as comes from being fabulouslY
I rich. His record in the Cape legisla
Z ture was quite devoid OF incident
J When the tremendous increase in hi
mining interests called for the estab
lishment Of a London branch, IL tool
the form of the Barnato bank From
that date he spent most of his time Il
London, living at first in Earl Spen
GERS town residence, but moving final
ly into a magnificent mansion over
looking Hyde Park.