Page:A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry Vol 2.djvu/402

 778 BURKE'S COLONIAL GENTRY. ^Itcrman. SIR JOHN WILLIAM AKERMAN, K.C.M.G., formerly Speaker of the Legislative Council of Natal, h. at Plymoutli, 16tli August, 1825 ; m. first, 28tli Juuo, 1850, Jaue, daughter of C. Stantial, of Corsliam, aud has had issue, I. James, h. 1852, d. in infancy. I. Susan, b. 1854, d. in infancy. II. Elizabeth Charlotte, b. 16th October, 1855, m. December, 1878, Thomas Daniel Barry, M.L.A., of Lismore, Swellendam, Cape Colony, who d. October, 1890. III. Catherine, b. 1856, d. in infancy. Sir John m. secondly, 3rd January, 1878, Emma Elizabeth, daughter of W. H. Brumey, of Bath, and by her had issue, II. Conrad, b. 8th October, 1878. Sir J. W. Akerman embarked at Plymouth in the " British Tar," bound for Natal, and arrived there in September, 1850, and is one of the few sur- vivors of the English colonists of that early period, the real founders of the colony's fortunes. He took up his abode amongst the Dutch inhabitants of the upper districts of the colony for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of their method of farming, their language, and their modes of thought, an acquisition which proved of great nse to him in after years. In 1855, he removed to Pietermaritzburg, and turned Lis attention to the profession in which he had been trained for eleven years in the mother country, where he was one of the foundation associates of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. He retired from business in 1875, and devoted himself entirely to public life. He sat from 1857 to 1862 as member of the Municij^al Corporation of Pieter- maritzburg, and was mayor of that city for one year, when he founded the Alexandra Park, and carried out other important town improvements. He sat for Pietermaritzburg in the Legislative Council almost continuously from 1862 to 1892, aud was one of its most active members and a leader of a large party in that house, and is identified with all the great legislative measures of those years. In 1870 he was summoned to the Executive Council, and was the first elective member so honoured. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1863 for Pietermai'itzburg, and subsequently for the whole colony. In October, 1880, he was elected Speaker, and was re-elected on four other occa- sions. His tenure of this office extended to nearly twelve years. He repre- sented Natal at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886, and was created a K.C.M.G. in the following year, being the first Natal colonist, holding only an elective office, so honoui-ed by Her Majesty. Sir John has been president, vice-president, or committee-man in most of the public institutions of the colony, including the Natal Society, the Natal Rifle Association, the Botanic Society, and many others. He has served on almost all the imijortant commissions of his colony. Sir John started, during the war, the " Zulu War ReUef Fund" and the "Sick and Wounded Fund," and succeeded in collecting nearly £8,000 from Natal, the adjacent states, and Mauritius,