Governor of Cape Colony

This article lists the '''governors of British South Africa.

## Governors

|Tenure|Portrait|Incumbent|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|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|
|21 February 1803 to 25 September 1804||**Jacob Abraham de Mist**|Represented the Batavian Republic|
|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 Pre 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**||
|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|rowspan="2"|rowspan="2"|**Robert Wynyard**|1st time, acting for Grey|
|15 August 1861 to 15 January 1862|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|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|rowspan="2"|rowspan="2"|**Sir William Gordon Cameron**|1st time, acting for Loch|
|May 1894 to July 1894|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|Portrait|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||