Sidney Frank Waterson (June 4, 1896 – August 8, 1976) was a South African politician.
Born in Sydenham, Kent, the son of the architect John Waterson, Sidney Waterson was taken to South Africa as a child, then returned for his education, at St Clare School, Walmer and Westminster School, where he was a King's Scholar. He joined the British Army in 1915 (the Royal Sussex Regiment), was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps, and saw service in Salonika and France.
Returning to South Africa after the war, he went into business as a wine merchant. He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1929 for South Peninsula for the South African Party (later the United Party). in January 1939, he was sidelined by J. B. M. Hertzog as a result of his criticisms of the government's neutralist policies and was appointed South African minister to France. He was then made High Commissioner to the United Kingdom later the same year.
He became Minister of Commerce and Industry in 1943, and was elected for Claremont. He then became Minister of Economic Development and Mines in 1945, and Minister of Transport in 1948. He then served as the opposition's chief financial spokesman for two decades, serving as an MP for Constantia from 1953 until 1970.
References
- ^ "The Hon. S. F. Waterson". The Times. 2 September 1976. p. 14.
- ^ "Fonds BC631 - Waterson Family Papers". University of Cape Town Libraries.
- Lambert, John (March 2012). "'To Back up the British Government': Sidney Waterson's Role as South African High Commissioner in Wartime Britain, 1939–42". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 40 (1): 25–43.
External links
Categories:- People from Sydenham, London
- 1976 deaths
- British emigrants to South Africa
- People educated at Westminster School, London
- Machine Gun Corps officers
- Royal Sussex Regiment officers
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa)
- Ambassadors of South Africa to France
- High commissioners of South Africa to the United Kingdom