Orange River Colony

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The Orange River Colony was a British colony created by the annexation of the Orange Free State in 1900, after the Boer War, till its 1910 transformation into the South African constitutive Orange Free State Province. Image:Flag of Orange River Colony.svg

1 History
2 Postage stamps
3 Source and references
4 See also

[edit] History

There still were two Boer State Presidents, in exile since 1900:

4 March 1896 - 31 May 1902 Marthinus Theunis Steyn (b. 1857 - d. 1916)
30 May 1902 - 31 May 1902 Christiaan Rudolph de Wet (b. 1854 - d. 1922), (acting for Steyn)

Field Marshal Roberts hoisted the Union Jack over Bloemfontein on May 28 1900, and annexation became official on October 6.

Sir Alfred Milner (b. 1854 - d. 1925) was appointed the first Governor on January 4, 1901, with Hamilton John Goold-Adams (b. 1858 - d. 1920) as Lieutenant-governor till 23 June 1902 .

Next there were Governors only:

21 June 1902 - 1 April 1905 the above Alfred Milner, Viscount Milner
2 April 1905 - 7 June 1907 William Waldegrave Palmer, Earl of Selborne (b. 1859 - d. 1942)
7 June 1907 - 31 May 1910 the above Sir Hamilton John Goold-Adams

By 1904 sentiment was growing for some form of self-government, and the Oranje Unie party was formed to promote the idea. In the following year Lord Milner retired and Lord Selborne became the new governor. The colony achieved self-government in 1907, and on November 27 Abraham Fischer (b. 1850 - d. 1913, NPP) of the Oranje Unie became its first Prime Minister (27 Nov 1907 - 31 May 1910). In 1910 it joined the Union of South Africa as the "Orange Free State Province".

[edit] Postage stamps

Immediately upon annexation, the British overprinted the republic's stamps with "V.R.I." (Victoria Regina Imperatrix 'Victoria Queen-Empress'). There were many minor variations, some rare and prized today.

Stamps of the Cape Colony were also overprinted, with "ORANGE RIVER COLONY" (August 10, before the colony officially existed).

Only in 1903 did the Orange River Colony get its own stamps. These stamps featured a portrait of King Edward VII, along with small pictures of a springbok and a gnu. They were used until the union in 1910, and are generally readily available and inexpensive today.