Scott Alexander
Full name: Scott Dreyer Alexander
Lifespan: 1848 St Helena - c.1938 Transvaal
Family: He married Alice Elizabeth (unknown surname) (c.1850 - ?) in 1870 in St Helena. They had two children, Reginald Scott Spencer Alexander (1871 St Helena - ?) and Charles Spencer Alexander (1874 St Helena - 1934 Rhodesia).
Occupation: Prospector, merchant, stratigraphist, mill manager
Early Life and Background (1848–1868)
Scott Alexander was born in May 1848 on the remote island of St. Helena, into a family that had operated as ship chandlers for the East India Company since the 18th century. His father personally knew Napoleon Bonaparte and was responsible for opening the emperor's coffin in 1840 before its removal to France. An uncle had even supplied the site for Napoleon's original grave on the island. The family competed with the Solomon firm (ancestors of Cape politician Saul Solomon), and another uncle amassed a fortune of £1 million from shipwrecks, later adopting Scott as his godson and heir.
Alexander left St. Helena at age 12 for education in England, followed by studies at the University of Bonn in 1864 (where he took geology under Professor Richter and later claimed to be its oldest living alumnus) and two years in France to master the language. He returned briefly to St. Helena, retaining a 1868 militia commission there.
Arrival in South Africa and Diamond Era (1868–1891)
Drawn by news of the diamond discoveries, Alexander visited Cape Town in 1868, where he viewed the famous "Star of South Africa" on display. He witnessed Japan's emergence as a modern power firsthand: while living in London as a student, he saw the first group of Japanese naval cadets arrive in 1868 (including the future Admiral Togo, who later defeated the Russian fleet).
He married in 1870, returned to South Africa the next year, and headed to the Kimberley diamond fields. What was meant to be a short stay stretched into 15 years. He became deeply embedded in the early mining scene, living through the boom that included the flotation of the Premier Diamond Mining Company and the excavation of a massive open pit (one of the world's largest man-made holes at the time) near land associated with local farmer Willem Prinsloo. The era also saw the recovery of legendary stones like the Cullinan diamond.
Gold Rush and Rand Career (1891 onward)
In 1891, while visiting Port Elizabeth, Alexander spotted a large gold nugget from Lydenburg that resembled a profile of Gladstone. This ignited his passion for gold prospecting. He headed to the eastern Transvaal Lowveld, working claims around Lydenburg, Barberton, and Leydsdorp. As soon as the Witwatersrand goldfields opened, he took a position as mill manager with the Meyer and Leeb Company.
Cecil Rhodes personally hired him to develop the Botha Mine near Krugersdorp, where Alexander began intensive study of the Black Reef series. Even after Rhodes abandoned the property, he retained Alexander on full salary for further investigations. Alexander later partnered with S.G. Bantjes on the West Rand and embraced the life of an independent "free lance" prospector.
Later Years and Geological Legacy
1920 article from The SA Mining and Engineering Journal.
Tall and soldierly in bearing, Alexander styled himself a "Rand stratigraphist." He became a vocal, unorthodox commentator, submitting frequent letters to Johannesburg newspapers with bold geological theories. His most famous claim was that the entire city had been built in the wrong location - directly over payable gold reefs. To prove it, he collected samples with his hammer and bag from the old Market Square (site of the future City Hall), the Ansteys building, and Castle Mansions in Eloff Street, all of which showed traces of gold. He passionately (but unsuccessfully) argued for erecting a headgear right in the city center. History later validated his view, but by then the value of standing property made relocation impossible.
He had spent 35 years studying South Africa’s gold-bearing rocks “intimately” and was still passionately arguing that Johannesburg was built in the wrong place and that the Black Reef series held far more potential than official surveys admitted.
- Shovel and Sieve. Rosenthal, E. c.1959. George Allen and Unwin: London.
- Scott Dreyer Alexander
- The SA Mining and Engineering Journal, Aug 21, 1920.
- The SA Mining and Engineering Journal, Sept 15, 1923.
- The SA Mining and Engineering Journal, June 3, 1921.
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