‘Friend of the Native?’: James Sivewright and the Cape Liberal Tradition

For various humanitarian, religious, and material reasons, nineteenth-century Cape liberals of South Africa were renowned for progressive views on African rights. Typically, historians have excluded Highlander James Sivewright, who advanced communications technology, industry, politics and diplomacy in South Africa from 1878 to 1898, from the Cape liberal tradition. This article examines the political actions of powerful Cape liberals and Sivewright in comparative perspective during the apex of their shared political careers within three areas of contention regarding African rights: the Masters and Servants Act (1890), the Cape Franchise (1891–1892), and Glen Grey (1894). Evidence is considered within the context of the Marxist-Liberal debate that dominated South African historiography in the 1970s and 1980s. Sivewright's life in South Africa is also explored more generally in comparative perspective with Scots in major parts of the British Empire. Sivewright not only deserves to be included as a progressive within the Cape liberal tradition, he also belongs among global Scots who made significant contributions to the creation and maintenance of the British Empire.