Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
William Duncan Baxter
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
William Duncan Baxter was born in Dundee, Scotland, on 14.6.1868, the third son of a Dundee businessman, and had five brothers and three sisters. He was educated at the Dundee Institute (which later became part of the Harris Academy) and after graduating at the age of 16½ he attended evening classes at the University College, Dundee. He was 18 years old in 1886 when he arrived in Cape Town and joined his uncle, William Duncan, in his drapery business. He became a prominent businessman and was also actively engaged in political affairs. He was elected to the Cape Town City Council in 1904, becoming mayor in 1907 - 1908. In 1908 he was elected to the Cape Legislative Assembly and from 1910 - 1920 was Unionist M.P. for Cape Town Gardens. He was twice President of the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce, in 1916 - 1918 and again in 1926 - 1928, and in 1918 of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa. He served on several government commissions, and was chairman of the Provincial Finances Commission (the Baxter Commission), between 1922 and 1923. For many years he served on the governing body of the National Botanic Gardens at Kirstenbosch, of which he was chairman from 1918 - 1957, and the Botanical Society of South Africa, of which he was president from 1936 - 1956, of the South African Reserve Bank, of the Board of the Southern Life Association, J W Jagger and Co. (Pty) Ltd., and the Council of the University of Cape Town, of which he was Chairman from 1946 to 1959.In 1940 he was awarded the degree of LL.D. (honoris causa) by the University of Cape Town and in 1958, with Bishop S W Lavis, he became one of the first two men to receive the freedom of the City of Cape Town. He married Ethel Olympe Jagger in 1911 and had two sons and four daughters. He died in Cape Town in 1960 and left the sum of ca R500,000 to U.C.T. for the erection of a theatre for Cape Town. The money was used for the Baxter Theatre in Rondebosch.
A women's residence and a road on the lower U.C.T. campus have also been named after him.
In 1954 his autobiography "Turn back the pages" was published. References: Baxter, W.D. Turn back the pages: sixty-eight years at the Cape. Cape Town, Juta, 1954 Dictionary of South African Biography. W.D.Baxter. v. 4, p. 22. Pretoria, H.S.R.C., 1981 Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa. W.D.Baxter.v.2, p 215-6 Cape Town, Nason, 1970.
A women's residence and a road on the lower U.C.T. campus have also been named after him.
In 1954 his autobiography "Turn back the pages" was published. References: Baxter, W.D. Turn back the pages: sixty-eight years at the Cape. Cape Town, Juta, 1954 Dictionary of South African Biography. W.D.Baxter. v. 4, p. 22. Pretoria, H.S.R.C., 1981 Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa. W.D.Baxter.v.2, p 215-6 Cape Town, Nason, 1970.