Leander Starr Jameson (1895-1917)

Sir Leander Starr Jameson  - was a British colonial administrator and statesman in South Africa. As a young man, he was a respected and influential physician at Kimberley, South Africa (1878). He became associated with Cecil Rhodes in his colonizing ventures, and was appointed (1891) administrator of Mashonaland. On December 29, 1895, he led a band of volunteers on the famous Jameson Raid into the Boer colony of Transvaal in an effort to support a brewing rebellion by foreign settlers (mainly British), and to further Rhodes's ambition for a united South Africa. The raid was premature. Jameson was captured within a few days and turned over by President Kruger to the British to be punished for his unauthorized venture. He was returned to London for trial and sentenced to imprisonment for 15 months. On his release he returned to South Africa, served in the Cape Colony Parliament (1900-1902), and was Pime Minister (1904-1808). He played an important role in the South African National Convention (1908-1909), which achieved the union of the South African colonies. [1]

Leander Jameson was born February 9. 1853, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the twelfth and youngest son of Robert William and Christian (Pringle) Jameson. This was an old and accomplished Scottish family in Edinburgh, with roots back to the Shetlands. Leander's father Robert was a Writer to the Signet, his grand uncle was the famous naturalist, Robert Jameson and his grandfather, Thomas Jameson, a wealthy ship owner and merchant in Edinburgh. Leander's name was from an American visiting Edinburgh, who by chance happened upon Leander's father who had fallen into the river the morning of Leander's birth, saving his life.

Leander grew up in Stranraer, in the southwest corner of Scotland, until about 1861 when the family moved to London. It was here he was educated for the medical profession at University College Hospital, London.

Y-DNA test, associated with this family, #: None Known