Willem Johannes Leyds

Biography

Early life

Leyds was born in Magelang, then part of the Dutch East Indies, as the son of Dutch teachers. After the death of his father the family returned to the Netherlands. He studied law at the University of Amsterdam, where he excelled and from which he graduated cum laude.

He was recommended for the position of state attorney of the South African Republic to its president, Paul Kruger, by some of his previous lecturers. The president had been conducting a tour of Europe after his country's newly-reclaimed independence from the British, following the First Boer War. Though initially hesitant, Leyds accepted the offer, and he and his wife Louise moved to Pretoria.

South African Republic

As state attorney of the Transvaal, Leyds was tasked with judicial cases of the republic, as well as the founding of the promising Netherlands–South African Railway Company. Leyds soon became the right-hand man of Kruger, and in 1888, he was promoted to state secretary of the booming republic.

Due to health problems relating to his throat, in 1896, Leyds travelled to Europe for treatment. After his return to Pretoria, he resigned as state secretary due to his recurring health troubles. He was succeeded in that capacity by Francis William Reitz, and returned to Europe to serve as envoy of the South African Republic in Brussels.

Return to Europe

During the Second Boer War, Leyds served as diplomat for the South African Republic, and attempted in vain to win support for the Boer cause. His diplomatic career came to a halt with the conclusion of hostilities, marked by the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging.

He accompanied Paul Kruger's remains back to Pretoria in 1904, having died in Switzerland. After his return to The Hague, he authored a work on the history of the South African Republic. His wife Louise died at the age of 52 in 1907; he subsequently married the daughter of a Dutch official on the Dutch East Indies' island of Java, in 1910.