Klaas-Jan BAKKER - AMORC

y Christian Bernard, FRC
Imperator of AMORC
Jan Christiaan Smuts statue in
Parliament Square, London.
by Pieter Wagener, FRC
an Christiaan Smuts (1870-
1950) was born in Bovenplaats near
Malmesbury in the current province of
the Western Cape in South Africa. He
was Prime Minister of the Union of South
Africa on two occasions from 1919-1924
and from 1939-1948. He was considered
not only a statesman in his own country, but
throughout the British Commonwealth. Among
his many accomplishments, he was President of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science,
Lord Rector of St Andrews University in Scotland
and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, as
well as an amateur botanist and philosopher.
Jan Smuts was one of the most celebrated and
eminent statesmen during the first half of the
20 th century. Author of the preambles of both the
League of Nations and of the United Nations,
his insight guided many other statesmen, one
of them being the great Winston Churchill. As
a permanent tribute to the great stature of this
somewhat forgotten leader, a statue of him faces
the Houses of Parliament in London. His political
eminence however, overshadowed his genius as a
soldier, scientist and philosopher.
Graduating with an exceptional double
first in law from Cambridge University in
England, Smuts became a commanding general
The Rosicrucian Beacon -- December 2007