John O'Reilly
Full name: John Robert "Diamond Jack" O'Reilly
Lifespan: 1831 Grahamstown - 1904 Taung
Occupation: Travelling peddler, hunter, diamond prospector, farmer
John Robert O'Reilly was the eldest son of James O’Neill O'Reilly (or James O'Neil O'Reilly) and Ida Hendriks (Yda Wilhelmina Hendrikz). His father left the family poorly provided for, prompting O'Reilly and his brothers to become traders and hunters.
He first married Maria Greaves (1845 - 1884, British Bechuanaland) in 1868, in Colesberg. They had six children.
After Maria's death, he married Henrietta Sarah Renou (1867 Port Elizabeth - 1947, Taung) in 1886. The ceremony was officiated by Rector William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927). They had seven children (totaling 13 for O'Reilly).
- The territory known as British Bechuanaland (annexed 1885, later incorporated into the Cape Colony and Union of South Africa) encompassed areas including Vryburg, Mafikeng, Kuruman, and Taung districts.
On May 1, 1865, O'Reilly purchased the farm De Hoek on the Orange River to operate a ferry service to Griqualand West, but Nicolaas Waterboer halted it in February 1867. This led to correspondence with Colonial Secretary Sir Richard Southey seeking intervention.
In March 1867, while traveling by ox-wagon (living at ‘Rooikop’ some hours from De Kalk farm near Hopetown), O'Reilly visited Schalk Jacobus van Niekerk (1828 Graaff-Reinet - 1887 Winburg), a collector of unusual stones. A 15-year-old boy, Erasmus Jacobs, had found a shiny pebble and given it to his neighbor van Niekerk, who suspected it was a diamond due to its hardness and weight. Van Niekerk entrusted it to O'Reilly for identification. O'Reilly showed it to Jewish storekeepers in Hopetown, who thought it might be topaz. In Colesberg, he nearly discarded it, but acting Civil Commissioner Lorenzo Boyes suggested testing it on glass, then sent it to Dr. William Guybon Atherstone (a physician and self-taught geologist/mineralogist) in Grahamstown. Atherstone confirmed it as a 21.25-carat yellowish-brown diamond (the Eureka) on April 2, 1867, valuing it at £500, and forwarded it to Southey.
O'Reilly initially withheld details of its acquisition, hoping to locate a mine. The story leaked in June 1867: van Niekerk had obtained it from the Jacobs family (Willem Schalk Jacobs on Holpan farm).
In May 1867, O'Reilly acquired a second diamond (8 3/16 carats) from Theunis Duvenage (likely Johannes Theunis Duvenhage) on Paardekloof farm, trading sheep and goats for a half share.
Valuations followed: Cape Town lapidary Louis Hond and French Consul E. Héritte assessed the Eureka at £500. Governor Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse purchased both stones for £700 total in December 1867 (after London expert input).
O'Reilly and van Niekerk collaborated again in 1869, when van Niekerk acquired the Star of South Africa (83.5 carats uncut, later cut to 47.69 carats) from a Griqua shepherd for 500 sheep, 10 oxen, and a horse. O'Reilly helped authenticate and sell it for £11,200, intensifying the rush to Colesberg Kopje (renamed Kimberley).
Disputes arose: van Niekerk and Duvenage claimed unfair shares; Hond sought payment for valuations; other claims included a gun trade. O'Reilly sold De Hoek to Lilienfeld Bros. to cover debts.
He petitioned Parliament three times for a reward for publicizing the discovery (July 1869; 1872 with Major George Francis; May 1894 after Lorenzo Boyes' petition) - all rejected, amid contested credit (e.g., Magistrate Chalmers accused him of deception in claiming finder status).
O'Reilly remained in Kimberley for a few years before serving as a mercenary in the Griqua/Tlhaping conflicts (notably around 1878), earning land grants in British Bechuanaland. He farmed at "Toming" (granted land) until his death from old age in 1904, at Magopela (near Taung railway station).
His story was later recounted by his son Anthony Robert Cecil O'Reilly in an article titled "How My Father Found South Africa's First Diamond" (Personality magazine, January 21, 1965). Despite his role in publicizing the finds that sparked the Kimberley rush, O'Reilly received no official reward.
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