James Wellwood Mushet

The Honourable
James Wellwood Mushet
J. W. Mushet fifth from left
Minister of Public Works
Prime MinisterJan Christian Smuts
Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
Prime MinisterJan Christian Smuts
Minister of Economic Development
In office
January 1948 – 4 June 1948
Prime MinisterJan Christian Smuts
Preceded bySidney Frank Waterson
Succeeded byEric Hendrik Louw
Member of the House of Assembly
In office
10 March 1920 – 1921
ConstituencyLiesbeek
In office
18 May 1938 – 15 April 1953
ConstituencyMaitland (1938–1943)
Vasco (1943–1953)
Personal details
Born1881/1882
Died31 May 1954(1954-05-31) (aged 71–72)
PartyUnionist
South African
United

James Wellwood Mushet (1881/1882 – 31 May 1954) was a Scottish-born South African businessman and politician. He held several cabinet posts and served as a member of the House of Assembly.

Life and Career

Mushet grew up in Scotland but emigrated to South Africa in 1899 at the age of 18, where he established a general merchant business, J. W. Mushet & Co., with branches in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. In 1912, he married Alice Henrietta Elizabeth Findlay, the niece of Olive Schreiner, in a childless marrige. He became a close friend of Jack A. L. Basson, a fellow UP politician and later MP for Sea Point, who named his son, James Wellwood Basson, after him and Mushet even regarded him as his own son.

Political Career

Mushet unsuccessfully contested the 1915 general election as an independent candidate in Woodstock, but later joined the Unionist Party and won the Liesbeek constituency in 1920 election. He joined the South African Party as a part of its merger with the Unionist Party and defended his seat in the 1921 election, but resigned soon after. He attempted to return to national politics in 1933 when he unsuccessfully contested the Bellville seat as an independent, but was defeated by the former Labour leader Frederic Creswell. He joined the United Party and was elected for Maitland in 1938 and later was reelected twice for Vasco constituency, which had replaced Maitland. In the 1953 election, he stood in Bellville-Parow, but was defieted by Jan Haak from the National Party.

From 1945, he served in the Smuts' cabinet and held several ministerial portfolios, including Public Works, Posts and Telegraphs and Economic Development.

References

  1. ↑ Goodson, Stephen Mitford (2014). Inside the South African Reserve Bank: Its Origins and Secrets Exposed (PDF). Black House Publishing Ltd.
  2. 1 2 "Mr Mushet(t)". The Olive Schreiner Letters Online. Retrieved 2026-08-27.
  3. ↑ "James Wellwood Mushet". WorldCat Entities. Retrieved 2026-08-27.
  4. 1 2 Joubert, Niel (2022). Whitey: Sakereus van Shoprite: Voorwoord deur Johann Rupert. ISBN 9780624089193.
  5. ↑ Oranje, Mark Christiaan (1977). The language game of South African urban and regional planning: A cognitive mapping from past into the future.

Further reading