Annie Botha

Annie Botha ( Emmett; 3 July 1864 – 20 May 1937) was a South African civic leader and political hostess. She was the wife of Louis Botha, who served as the first Prime Minister of South Africa. She established an orphanage in South Africa and, with Georgiana Solomon, co-founded and chaired the South African Women's Federation. Biography Young years Botha was born Annie Frances Bland Emmett on 3 July 1864 in Swellendam to John Cheere Emmett (Swellendam, 19 March 1822 – Pretoria, 26 January 1905), a farmer, and his wife, Helen Laetitia Bland (also Helena Letitia du Plessis Bland or Helena Aletta Emmett, born at George, Western Cape, 9 December 1833 – died 1895). Annie was an elder sister to Transvaal Boer War Bittereinder general Joseph James Cheere Emmett (J.C. Emmett, Swellendam, 19 January 1866 – 16 August 1933). She was raised in the Anglican faith and her family were members of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. In 1869, her family moved to the Orange Free State and settled on a farm between Harrismith and Vrede. She was educated at St. Michael's School, an Anglican school in Bloemfontein run by the Community of St Michael and All Angels. Botha later taught at the school until she moved with her parents to Vryheid. Marriage to Louis Botha While living in Vryheid, she met Louis Botha. They married at the Dutch Reformed Church in Vryheid on 13 December 1886 and had five children. Botha later converted from Anglicanism to Dutch Reformed Protestantism. Shortly after their wedding, they settled on the Waterval Farm in Vryheid.