Richard Solomon (barrister)

Sir Richard Solomon, GCMG, KCB, KCVO, KC (18 October 1850 – 10 November 1913) was a South African attorney and legislator.

[3] Upon his return to the Cape Colony, Solomon was appointed legal adviser to the then newly formed De Beers Consolidated Mines and Cecil Rhodes in Kimberley.

[6] In a despatch from June 1902, Lord Kitchener wrote how "His quickness and his ability, joined to his intimate knowledge of South Africa and its people, have always been fully and loyally placed at my disposal.

"[7] Following the peace treaty on 31 May 1902, on 21 June he was appointed Attorney General in the Transvaal Colony, and thus a member of the executive council of the governor, Lord Milner.

Solomon was aligned to the Transvaal National Association, of which his brother Edward was president, but also had ties to the Het Volk Party led by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

[12] Standing for the seat of South Central Pretoria, Solomon was unsuccessful against the Progressive Party candidate Sir Percy FitzPatrick, and his political career was over before it had begun.

[13][14] Solomon's defeat was a disappointment to many liberals in the colony who had hoped to see a cabinet led by him, and the Governor, The Earl of Selbourne, wrote to the Colonial Office: "The clear majority which Het Volk has won over all other parties combined, together with the defeat of Sir Richard Solomon by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, has of course made it necessary for me to send for General Botha, and I have very little doubt that he will form a Ministry consisting mainly, if not entirely, of members of his own party".