Abe Bailey

Bailey's mother, Ann Drummond McEwan, was Scottish by birth while his father, Thomas Bailey, was from Yorkshire, England. Married in 1860 in South Africa, Thomas and Ann Bailey had four children, Mary, Abraham, Susannah and Alice, before Ann Bailey's premature death in 1872, when young Abe was only seven years old.[1] Abe Bailey was sent to England to be educated, first at Keighley and later at Clewer House.

After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, a corps of imperial volunteers from London was formed in late December 1899. The corps included infantry, mounted infantry and artillery divisions and was authorized with the name City of London Imperial Volunteers. It proceeded to South Africa in January 1900, returned in October the same year, and was disbanded in December 1900. Bailey was appointed a lieutenant of the mounted infantry division on 3 January 1900, with the temporary rank of lieutenant in the army,[2] but the appointment was later cancelled.[3] He saw active service in South Africa with a different regiment, and returned to the United Kingdom in July 1900 on the RMS Dunottar Castle. In December 1902 he was appointed a captain in the Sussex Yeomanry.[4]

Returning from the Boer War on the RMS Dunottar Castle, July 1900.[5] Standing L-R: Sir Byron Leighton, Claud Grenfel, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, Captain Gordon Forbes, Abe Bailey (his son John would marry Diana Churchill in 1932), next two unidentified, John Weston Brooke. Seated L-R: Major Bobby White, Lord Downe, General Sir Henry Edward Colville (a year later Churchill as MP would demand an inquiry over his dismissal from South Africa), Major Harry White, Major Joe Laycock, Winston Churchill, Sir Charles Bentinck. Sitting L-R: unidentified, Col. Maurice Gifford (who had lost his arm in the Second Matabele War).

In October 1902, Bailey stood unopposed as a Progressive Party candidate for the Barkly West constituency of the Cape Colony Legislative Assembly.[6] The constituency had been represented by Cecil Rhodes until his death earlier the same year.

Via his business interests and his ties to Cecil Rhodes, Abe Bailey acquired substantial mining and land properties in the former Rhodesia. By the 1930s he was one of the world's wealthiest men.[1] Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1911,[7] he was created baronet in 1919,[8] one of a number of "Randlords" knighted for their services to the British Empire.

Bailey played three first-class matches for Transvaal in the 1890s.[9] Later he played an important role in initiating the 1912 Triangular Tournament between England, Australia and South Africa, who at the time were the only Test-playing countries. He first proposed the idea on a trip to England in 1907, stating: "Inter-rivalry within the Empire cannot fail to draw together in closer friendly interest all those many thousands of our kinsmen who regard cricket as our national sport, while secondly it would probably give a direct stimulus to amateurism."

The idea was immediately embraced by the Marylebone Cricket Club, who were then effectively in charge of cricket, and 1909 was the first year designated for the tournament. But the administrators could not agree and by the time 1912 was alighted on, world cricket was in conflict. Infighting and a poor performance from the South African team in 1912 ensured that the idea of a three-nation Test match tournament was not repeated.[10]

These interests, as much as his aspirations to the titles and the lifestyle of the English landed gentry were influential in the formation of his personal art collection. This collection was mostly displayed in his London home and moved for safe-keeping to the north of England during the Second World War (1939–1945). On his death in 1940 the terms of his will placed his collection under the protection of a special trust established in his name and bequeathed it to the South African nation. Bailey was one of the very few South African Randlords to leave a bequest of this nature to South Africa.[11]

At his specific recommendation, this collection was placed under the curatorship of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, where it first went on display in 1947. Numbering over 400 items, including paintings, prints and drawings, the Sir Abe Bailey Bequest' is the largest bequest held at the South African National Gallery to this day. It also constitutes one of the largest collections of British sporting art held by any public art museum in the world. The Sir Abe Bailey Trust is actively involved in its maintenance, and conservation work on the collection.

Under the terms of his will annual travel bursaries are awarded to outstanding university students and young academics (less than 25 years old) to travel to the UK to widen their experience.

• Portraits of Abe Bailey at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• The Sir Abe Bailey Collection
• Lady Mary Bailey

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abe Bailey.

• Newspaper clippings about Abe Bailey in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW