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Showing posts with the label Matjiesfontein

9 November 2016 - Dr Dean Allen, 'Empire, War & Cricket in South Africa: Logan of Matjiesfontein'

In 1877 James Douglas Logan , the 19-year-old son of a Borders railwayman, left Scotland for a new life in Australia. En route he landed in Cape Town - and there he stayed. In little more than a decade the entrepreneurial L ogan - like his friend and ally Ce cil Rhodes - amassed a huge fortune via the diamond fields and railways of his adopted country. But how could he achieve the social elevation he craved? The answer lay in the British Empire's favourite sport – cricket. In Empire, War & Cricket in South Africa , profu se ly illustrated wi th rare and unpublished photographs and documents , Dean Allen uncovers Logan's fascinating rags-to-riches story . Although hopeless at cricket , Logan played a vital role in developing the sport in South Africa, sponsori ng teams primarily as a means of personal advancement. Using Lord Hawke as his agent, he arranged some of the earliest international matches between England and South Africa - once having the c aptain and