James Stevenson-Hamilton

Major James Stevenson-Hamilton (October 2 1867 - December 10 1957) born in Ireland was the eldest of 9 children and heir to a family title and home at Fairholm, by Larkhall in Scotland. He is considered the father of the Kruger National Park, in South Africa.

James Stevenson-Hamilton accepted a British Army posting as warden of what was then the Sabie Nature Reserve in 1902 after the Second Boer War. When he retired from the position in 1946, he had successfully nurtured and expanded the reserve into what we now know as the Kruger National Park.

In the early days he struggled against renegade remainders of the Boer forces who sheltered in the reserve and against disease and the animals themselves. Malaria claimed many staff while the imported european horses fell to horse fever. Lions and leopards were a constant threat and claimed more lives.

A fierce administrator, he fought hard for the park's status and saw the evolution of the new science of nature conservancy. He was ruthless in carrying through the policy of clearing human habitation from within the reserve and fought vets over their perception of the reserve as a breeding ground for disease.A skilled diplomat, he knew that the adoption of the title 'Kruger Game Reserve' after the former national leader and hero would win great political support - even though, as he often remarked, the 'old man' only ever knew antilope as 'biltong' (dried pressed meat).

He returned to his unit to serve in the First World war and at the end of the First World War, James was employed in the Sudan civil service and by 1921 the Sudanese game protection legislation was drafted in which endured for a number of decades.

He married an artist, Hilda Cholmondeley who was 34 years younger, she was an influence in having them move back to Kruger and bore him 3 children Hilda (born November 8 1933 died of meningitis aged 3), James (1933) and Caroline (1935).

James was known as "Skukuza", a Shangaan name meaning either " he who sweeps clean" or "he who turns everything upside down", by his staff at Kruger National Park. Later in 1936 the main rest camp's name was changed from Sabie Bridge to Skukuza to honour him.