Joseph Millerd Orpen (5 November 1828 – 17 December 1923) was an influential colonial administrator for the British empire in southern Africa, as well as a local member of the Cape Parliament and the Orange Free State Volksraad.

The first Cape Prime Minister John Molteno, having brought all three branches of government under local control, embarked on a policy of slowing territorial expansion, so as to concentrate on internal development of the country.

He focused his attention on annexing to the British Empire, by peaceful means, the territories that lay between the Cape and Natal, extensive Xhosa tribal lands that comprise most of what was later to be known as the Transkei.

While he disavowed violence as a means, favouring treaties, he nonetheless believed that British rule was in the best interests of all inhabitants of southern Africa.

[1] As the "Agent" of the British Governor, he was sent to raise and lead an army into Basutoland (then a part of the Cape Colony) in 1873, to apprehend and capture the rebellious Chief Langalibalele who had fled there from Natal.

At around this time, Orpen left the service of the British Governor, and returned to the Cape Parliament to serve as an MP.

[3] Early on, Orpen developed an intense interest in the indigenous peoples of southern Africa, of whose languages and culture he became a lifelong student.

For this purpose, he spent a great deal of time travelling alone in the vast mountain ranges of the Drakensberg, exhaustively trying to track down any of the last surviving San people of South Africa.

In 1873, while working as a magistrate for the Cape Colony in Basutoland, Orpen travelled to a particularly remote area of mountain ranges – probably the first European to do so.

Orpen befriended the man, who led him through the mountains to ancient caves rich in San rock paintings.

Largely due to Orpen's meticulous recordings of Qing's information, sent to journals such as the Cape Monthly Magazine, the San rock art is today able to be interpreted.