1858–59 Cape Colony parliamentary election

1858–59 Cape Colony parliamentary election

8 September 1858 – 2 March 1859 (1858-09-08 – 1859-03-02)
All 46 seats in the Assembly (lower house) 24 seats are needed for a majority All 15 seats in the Council (upper house) 8 seats are needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Rawson W. Rawson John Paterson Party Administration Western Liberal group Eastern separatist group Seats won Appointed (Colonial Secretary) Eastern Province (council)
Provinces and electoral districts.

The 1858–59 Cape Colony parliamentary election was conducted between September 1858 and early March 1859. This was the second election for the Cape parliament, which had been established in 1854.

Despite the election, the parliament was weak and executive power remained firmly in the hands of the Governor, Sir George Grey, who was appointed from London. Rawson W. Rawson continued as the colony's Colonial Secretary. As Colonial Secretary, Rawson could speak in both the Assembly and Council, but held no voting rights.

Since the previous election, the parliament had moved to a new building: the Goede Hoop Masonic Lodge buildings.

In the Eastern Province, the assembly elections saw little excitement, with some constituencies had difficulty even finding willing candidates. In the Assembly constituency of Albany, which returned 2 members of the Assembly, only 4 people voted. Andries Stockenström and Robert Godlonton, both representatives for the Eastern Division in the Council, chose not to seek re-election.

Constituencies

For elections to the House of Assembly, the Cape was divided into 22 electoral divisions, returning a total of 46 members. The electoral division boundaries corresponded with the existing Cape Colony fiscal divisions. The only exceptions to this were for Albany, and the urban areas of Cape Town-Green Point and Grahamstown, (which were not included in the Cape electoral division), which had their own electoral divisions.

Members elected

Assembly

Constituency	Member	Party
Albany	Henry Calderwood
Albany	SLATER
Albert	KRUGER
Albert	HOPLEY
Beaufort West	John Charles Molteno
Beaufort West	Dr James Christie
Caledon
Caledon
Cape Town	J. D. Thompson
Cape Town	M. J. Louw
Cape Town	Saul Solomon
Cape Town	Petrus Kotzé
Cape Division	BLAKE
Cape Division	Johan Conrad Silberbauer
Clanwilliam
Clanwilliam
Colesburg
Colesburg
Cradock	Charles Scanlen
Cradock	CALDECOTT
Fort Beaufort
Fort Beaufort
George	PRINCE
George	WALTERS
Graaff-Reinet	MEINTJES
Graaff-Reinet	Jeremias Ziervogel
Grahams Town
Grahams Town
Malmesbury	LEEDOLFF
Malmesbury	DUCKITT
Paarl	J. J. Proctor
Paarl	HAUPT
Port Elizabeth	John Ross Philip
Port Elizabeth
Somerset	BOWKER
Somerset	KRUGER
Stellenbosch	Christoffel Brand
Stellenbosch	BOSMAN
Swellendam	John Fairbairn
Swellendam	WHITE
Worcester	MINNIK
Worcester	LE SUEUR
Uitenhage	BILLINGHAM
Uitenhage	KROG
Victoria East
Victoria East

Council

Constituency	Member	Party
Eastern Province	Joseph Cawood
Eastern Province	Charles Pote
Eastern Province	John Paterson
Eastern Province	William Southey
Eastern Province	Julius Mosenthal
Eastern Province	Ludwig Johan Frederick von Maltitz
Eastern Province	James Henry Greathead
Western Province	Joseph Barry
Western Province	John Stein
Western Province	Petrus Emanuel Roubaix
Western Province	Jan de Wet, LLD
Western Province	Hercules Crosse Jarvis
Western Province	Johan Hendrik Wicht
Western Province	Dirk Gysbert van Breda
Western Province	Francis William Reitz