James Hawthorn Woolston, mathematician, was the eldest son of Frederic Woolston and his wife Mary Ann. He obtained the degree Master of Arts (MA) at the University of Cambridge, England. He arrived in the Orange River Colony (now the Free State) probably in 1903, when he became a member of the recently founded Philosophical Society of the Orange River Colony. (This society resolved itself into the Orange Free State branch of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1914). In January 1904 he assumed duty as the first professor of mathematics and applied mathematics at Grey University College in Bloemfontein, a post he held until 1911. The college, initially the advanced section of the Grey College School, became independent in 1904 and introduced teaching at the second and third year level of the BA degree. Shortly before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 the college was formally recognized by legislation as a university institution.

Woolston represented the Orange River Colony on the council of the University of the Cape of Good Hope (an examining body only, and the only university in southern Africa at that time) from 1913 to 1918. In 1909 the university admitted him to the MA degree on the basis of his Cambridge qualification. By 1910 he was a member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. He was on active duty as a lance corporal in the South African Infantry during World War 1 (1914-1918) and died of his wounds in 1918.

List of sources:

Boucher, M. Spes in ardus: 'n Geskiedenis van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, 1973.

Civil service list of the Orange River Colony, 1907, 1910.

Every One Remembered: James Hawthorn Woolston. Retrieved on 17 June 2021 from https://www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/120561/

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Woolston, James Hawthorn / Woolston, J.H.

Philosophical Society of the Orange River Colony. Transactions, 1903-1907, Vol. 1, list of members.

South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Report, 1910, list of members.

Standard encyclopaedia of southern Africa (SESA). Cape Town: NASOU, 1970-1976.

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1917/8.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2021-06-17 11:57:33