William Benbow Humphreys
William Benbow Humphreys, City Councillor in Kimberley, Member of the Cape Provincial Council, and Member of Parliament, was the founder of the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley. He became, in 1961, the second recipient of the Freedom of the City of Kimberley. Humphreys was born in Oudtshoorn on 5 April 1889 and died in Kimberley on 25 July 1965.
Early life
He was born in Oudtshoorn and at six months old moved to Kimberley with his family. He was educated at Kimberley Boys' High School, matriculating there in 1908.Humphreys graduated from the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute, Stellenbosch, and moved to Campbell district west of Kimberley. He worked with his father, S.B. Humphreys, who was a general dealer and produce merchant in Giddy Street, Kimberley.
In 1910 he married Maude Elizabeth Searle, born in 1890. They had six children.
Political career
He was elected to the Kimberley City Council in 1917, and became a Member of the Cape Provincial Council in 1927, when he also retired from the family business. In 1929 years later he was elected to the Union Parliament as the representative for Beaconsfield, one of the Kimberley constituencies, succeeding David Harris.In 1933 he was returned to the Beaconsfield seat unopposed, as the coalition candidate of the South African Party.
When Sir Ernest Oppenheimer's retired from Parliament in 1938, Humphreys took over the Kimberley seat. In 1948 he retired from politics.