# Harry Escombe > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Harry_Escombe > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Harry_Escombe.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Escombe > Source revision: 1329363692 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|South African statesman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Use South African English|date=June 2019}} thumb|'''Rt. Hon. Harry Escombe (1838–1899), Premier of Natal''' '''Harry Escombe''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} (25 July 1838{{snd}}27 December 1899) was a South African statesman. Born in London, Escombe emigrated to the [Colony of Natal](/source/Colony_of_Natal). There he worked as a lawyer. He was briefly prime minister of the colony in 1897 and died two years later. thumb|City Hall and Memorial Gardens. 263 West Street, Durban. ==Early life== A member of a [Somerset](/source/Somerset)shire family, Escombe was born at [Notting Hill](/source/Notting_Hill), London, and was educated at [St Paul's School](/source/St_Paul's_School_(London)). After four years in a stockbroker's office, he emigrated, in 1859, to the [Cape](/source/Cape_of_Good_Hope). The following year he moved to the [Colony of Natal](/source/Colony_of_Natal), and, after trying other occupations, qualified as an [attorney](/source/lawyer). ==Career== Escombe became recognized as the ablest pleader in the colony, and, in 1872, was elected for [Durban](/source/Durban) as a member of the legislative council, and subsequently was also placed on the executive council. In 1880 he secured the appointment of a harbour board for Natal, and was himself made chairman. The transformation of the port of Durban into a harbour available for ocean liners was as a result of his and [Cathcart William Methven](/source/Cathcart_William_Methven)'s work.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}} In 1888–1889 he defended [Dinizulu](/source/Dinizulu) and other [Zulu](/source/Zulu_people) chiefs against a charge of [high treason](/source/high_treason). For several years he opposed the grant of responsible government to Natal, but by 1890 had become convinced of its desirability, and on its conferment in 1893 he joined the first ministry formed, serving under Sir [John Robinson](/source/John_Robinson_(Natal_politician)) as attorney-general. In February 1897, on Sir John's retirement, Escombe became premier, remaining attorney-general and also holding the office of minister of education and minister of defence. In the summer of that year he was in [London](/source/London) with the other colonial premiers at the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of [Queen Victoria](/source/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom), and was made a member of the privy council. [Cambridge University](/source/University_of_Cambridge) conferred upon him the honorary degree of [LL.D](/source/LL.D). The election that followed his return to Natal proved unfavourable to his policy, and he was succeeded in office, in October 1897, by Sir [Henry Binns](/source/Henry_Binns). Throughout his life he took an active interest in national defence. He had served in the [Zulu War of 1879](/source/Anglo-Zulu_War) in the Durban Mounted Reserve,{{sfn|Laband|2009|p=77}} was commander of the Natal Naval Volunteers and received the volunteer long service decoration. In October 1899 he went to the northern confines of the colony to take part in preparing measures of defence against the invasion by the [Boers](/source/Boers). On 13 January 1897, [Mahatma Gandhi](/source/Mahatma_Gandhi) arrived on a ship with his family in Natal docks. Escombe criticized Gandhi in the media due to the unpopularity of the Indian immigration at the time.''The Life of Mahatma Gandhi'', Louis Fischer, page 52 Escombe was instrumental in the creation of the [Natal Observatory](/source/Natal_Observatory). In 1882 [David Gill](/source/David_Gill_(astronomer)), director of the [Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope](/source/Royal_Observatory%2C_Cape_of_Good_Hope), requested the government of Natal to establish an astronomical observatory at [Durban](/source/Durban), in anticipation of the [transit of Venus](/source/transit_of_Venus) on 4 December that year. A site for the observatory was chosen in the southwest corner of the [Natal Botanic Gardens](/source/Durban_Botanic_Gardens). Escombe equipped the observatory with an 8-inch refractor from which he personally bought from [Grubb](/source/Sir_Howard_Grubb%2C_Parsons_and_Co._Ltd.) for £600.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}} He lived at 15 Beach Grove in Durban{{sfn|Kearney|1972}} in a house designed by Philip Maurice Dudgeon. == Legacy == thumb|Durban City Hall, 263 West Street, Durban. 1883. Has Merorial Gardens too. 02 He is commemorated with a statue on [Francis Farewell](/source/Francis_Farewell) Square outside the Durban City Hall. A Durban Harbour tug was named in his honour. A suburb in Queensburgh {{coord |-29.8721266 |30.8990881 |format=dms |display=inline}} in Durban is named after him. ==Notes and references== {{Cite web | title = Statue of Harry Escombe | last = van Vuuren | first = Danie | work = Boer and Brit | date = 8 June 2015 | access-date = 2017-11-09 | url = http://www.boerenbrit.com/archives/973 | quote = }} {{Flickr tag inline link|tugharryescombe}} {{cite journal|last=Neison|first= Edmund|author-link=Edmund Neison|title=The Natal Observatory|journal=Science|volume=3|issue=59|date=21 March 1884|pages=356–358|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.ns-3.59.356|pmid= 17838191|bibcode= 1884Sci.....3..356.}} {{Cite web | title = House Harry Escombe details | author = | work = artefacts.co.za | date = | access-date = 2017-11-09 | url = https://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=3778 | language = | quote = }} {{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Escombe, Harry|volume=9|page=766}} {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|last=Laband|first=John |title=Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pnf1BC_XORoC&pg=PA77|date=18 May 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6300-2}} *{{cite book|editor-first=J. T. |editor-last=Henderson|title=Speeches of the Late Right Honourable Harry Escombe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Dg6AQAAMAAJ|year=1904|publisher=P. Davis & Sons|location=[Pietermaritzburg](/source/Pietermaritzburg)}} *{{Cite journal | title = A House for Harry | first= B.T.|last=Kearney | journal= Natalia|publisher=Natal Society Foundation|volume=2|date=1972 | access-date = 2017-11-09 | url = https://www.natalia.org.za/Files/2/Natalia%20v02%20article%20p21-23%20C.pdf | pages= 21–23 }} *{{cite book|last=Herman|first=Arthur |title=Gandhi and Churchill: The Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8JjbAVs2vUC&pg=PA111|year=2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4090-6363-6}} *{{cite book|last=Gandhi|first=Mohandas |authorlink=Mohandas Gandhi|title=Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biTDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT198|year=2012|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-11751-5}} {{refend}} ==External links== * {{npg name|id=98875|2=Harry Escombe}} {{NatalPremiers}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Escombe, Harry}} Category:1838 births Category:1899 deaths Category:British colonial army officers Category:British military personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War Category:Colony of Natal people Category:South African members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Harry Escombe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Escombe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Escombe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.