Jeppe (F 9)

Name:Jeppe

Sir Julius Gottlieb Ferdinand Jeppe was born in Rostock, Mecklenburg- Schwerin, Germany in July 1859. Jeppe and his family immigrated to South Africa in 1870, and settled in Pretoria.

Jeppe took part in President T.F. Burger’s commando operations at Sekhukhune I and also fought in the First Anglo Boer War (1880-1). Jeppe began his career as a mining and property magnate as a clerk in the firm of Schiffman and Company in Pretoria, and quickly rose to a managerial position.

However, with the discovery of gold in the nearby Witwatersrand, he and his elder bother, Carl Jeppe, devoted their time to prospecting and developing land in the Johannesburg area.

The Jeppe’s originally controlled a syndicate that owned land called Randjeslaagte, which when deemed unfit for mining, later became Jeppestown and Fordsburg under Jeppe’s chairmanship.

During the Second Anglo-Boer War, Jeppe served as head of the Transvaal Red Cross. After the war ended, Jeppe entered into a partnership with Sir Abe Bailey in 1905, and merged his company with the Witwatersrand Township Estate and Finance Corporation.

In 1919, this company became known as the South African Townships, Mining and Finance Corporation, with Jeppe as the chairman and managing director up until his death.

In 1891, Jeppe married Grace Cowen, and together they had five children. Jeppe was also highly involved in the Johannesburg town council from 1889, and served on the executive of the Chamber of Mines and the Rand Water Board.

Source: http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/jeppe_j.htm

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The magnificent stone buildings of Jeppe High were built in 1909 on land donated by Sir Julius Jeppe. They were designed by Ralston, a student of Sir Herbert Baker.
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