Major Pieter Voltelyn Graham van der Byl MC (21 February 1889 – 21 January 1975) was a South African soldier and statesman. In South African politics, he was a member of the liberal South African Party and then the United Party from 1929 to 1966 and a member of Jan Smuts' cabinet from 1939 to 1948, during which time, he was minister of Native Affairs. Major Piet (as he was commonly known) was a chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, Honorary Colonel of the University of Cape Town Regiment, as well as receiving the Military Cross and the King George VI Coronation Medal.
Family history and early life
The first Van der Byl to arrive in the Cape was Gerrit van der Byl (from Overschie, Dutch Republic) in 1668. Over the centuries, the Van der Byls became powerful landowners by acquiring estates such as: Vredenberg, Klavervlei, Joostenberg, De Leeuwenhoek, Welmoed, Spier, Fairfield (where the family still resides) and Groote Schuur (the current residence of the president of South Africa and the estate came into the family's possession from Hester Anne Myburgh. It was later sold to Cecil John Rhodes).
Born on 21 February 1889 in Caledon, Cape Colony, van der Byl was the youngest of Adelaide Taylor and Tim van der Byl's four children. His father chose to educate his children locally, instead of sending them abroad, so van der Byl attended Diocesan College, in Cape Town, and then continued the family tradition of studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He fared feebly at school due to serious illness, however when he went to Cambridge, van der Byl excelled at rowing, partaking several times in the Oxford-Cambridge boat race and in his final year he received a Blue, becoming possibly the first South African to do so for rowing.
Military career
After completing a master's degree in agriculture, van der Byl returned to the Cape with the intention of farming. However, he received a letter in 1911 from General Methuen who needed the aid of someone with local expertise for the forthcoming maneuvers in the Caledon area, after which van der Byl was asked to enlist in an officer's course in the newly formed Union Defence Force by General Jan Smuts. Many of his colleagues on the staff were former enemies from the Boer and British armies, some of which were destined to clash again in the Maritz Rebellion of 1914.
At the outbreak of World War I, van der Byl served with distinction under Generals Jan Smuts and Louis Botha in the Maritz Rebellion, German South-West Africa campaign and the East-Africa Campaign (where he caught malaria that would severely affect his health for the rest of his life). In East Africa, van der Byl was appointed staff captain to General Smuts. He was often used to negotiate with the German Army (under the command of the formidable General: who, with only 3000 German Officers and several thousand local Askaris, would keep the South African and British forces at bay for the duration of the War). During this time, van der Byl frequently called on an old family acquaintance and famed big game hunter, F C Selous, and would be one of the last people to see him before his assassination.
Since there was little left for him to do in East Africa, van der Byl managed to secure a transfer to the Western Front, where he joined the RAF. The war however drew to a close before van der Byl was able to complete his training. For his efforts during the war, van der Byl was made a chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by the French Government and he was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the Military Cross.
Farming and politics
The conclusion of the war in Europe signalled a return to a more quiet life of living between England and running the family estates in South Africa. Back in South Africa, van der Byl by chance met Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and the two immediately struck up a close, lifelong friendship.
In 1922, he married Joyce Clare (née Fleming), a Scottish woman and daughter of the physician and magistrate Lieut.-Col. Samuel Fleming and his wife Elizabeth Knox Clare (née Ball). He had known Joyce since the end of the war. After a meeting with General Smuts that year, Smuts persuaded van der Byl to continue to serve under him in an official capacity in the Ministry of Defence. In 1923, van der Byl's first son, P K van der Byl, was born and in 1925 his wife had a second son, William. In 1928, van der Byl decided to begin a career in politics. Campaigning for the South African Party, van der Byl was elected candidate for Bredasdorp in 1929.