Name Charles Fairbridge | ||
 | ||
Born 1824 Wynberg, Cape Town Died 4 July 1893
Tenerife, Canary Islands Occupation Book collector
Parliament
Lawyer | ||
Charles Aken Fairbridge (1824 - 1893) was a book collector and an influential conservative member of the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope.
Fairbridge entered the first Cape Parliament in 1854, representing Caledon District until 1858. In 1862 he settled in Sea Point, Cape Town, where he built his house, "Mimosas".
He was chiefly known as a book collector though, with an enormous library that was later donated to the South African Library. He was involved in the establishment of the national museum. In 1874 he was requested to re-design the arms of the Cape Colony, and produced the emblem that was used by the Cape Province up until the late 20th century.
In 1874 he also returned to Parliament, this time as one of the members representing Cape Town. He was a strong opponent of the attempts by Lord Carnarvon in the late 1870s to enforce a British confederation on southern Africa.
Fairbridge died on 4 July 1893, after returning from a holiday in Tenerife.