Brand, Sir John Henry

Brand, Sir John Henry, or Jan Hendrik Brand (yän hĕn`drək bränt), 1823–88, South African politician, president of the Orange Free State, b. Capetown. He was called to the English bar in 1849 and practiced law in South Africa. In 1863 he was elected president of the struggling Orange Free State and immediately made war (1864–69) on the Basutos. Reelected in 1869 (and at each election until his death), Brand refused (1871) to become president of both the Orange Free State and the Transvaal because of the Transvaal's anti-British policy. He was knighted for his mediation services in the British-Transvaal disputes.