Leila Agnes Businne (Wright) Reitz (1887 - 1959)

Born 13 Dec 1887 in Wynberg, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Ancestors

Wife of Deneys Reitz — married 12 Jun 1920 in Johannesburg

Descendants

Died 23 Dec 1959 at age 72 in Wynberg, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Beverley Wright [send private message]

Biography

The first South African woman member of the House of Assembly, was the daughter of Harry Claude Wright, a Wynberg doctor.

She matriculated in the first class at the High School for Girls (now Rustenburg High for Girls), Rondebosch in 1905 before attending the South African College, Cape Town, where in 1909 she gained a BA degree with honours in history from the University of the Cape of Good Hope. From 1910 to 1913 she attended Newham College, Cambridge, England, on a Cape University scholarship. After successfully completing the tripos in history she returned to South Africa and lectured in that subject at the University of Cape Town until her marriage.

Early in her married life she became associated with the South African Party, first while supporting her husband, Col. Deneys Reitz in his political career, and later in her own right as an executive member of the women's section of the Party, the Witwatersrand executive, and the head committee for the country. In the company with others like Bertha Solomon she helped to secure the vote for women in 1930, and in 1933 was elected to the House of Assembly as South African Party representative for the Parktown constituency. She was returned unopposed and held the seat until 1943. Both within and outside the House of Assembly she was a staunch advocate of women's rights.

She supported legislation designed to make divorce easier for women, introducing as a private member the Matrimonial Causes Jurisdiction Bill, and served on the Legal Disabilities of Women Commission, originally appointed in 1939 but deferred, owing to the Second World War, to 1946.

In 1948 this commission submitted its report, which led to the Matrimonial Affairs Act of 1953. She advocated the advantages of a university education for women, the benefits to be derived from conscripting women in peace time to undertake welfare work, and the right of the married women to secure permanent posts in the public service. Her sharp intellect, persuasive oratory, deep sympathy with the underprivileged made her an enthusiastic and successful social reformer and protagonist of women's rights.

Her other parliamentary interests were the problems of juvenile delinquency and the hardships of the Poor Whites. She played a prominent part in the in the passage of the Children's Act.

In the broader political sense she supported the union of J.B.M. Hertzog and J.C. Smuts parties to form the United South African National Party in 1934; the fusion of the British and Afrikaner sections of the community; and the retention of the British nationality. She envisaged that progress for the Black people would come through Black councils.

In 1943 she gave up her parliamentary career to accompany her husband to London on his appointment as High Commissioner for the Union of South Africa.

During the Second World war she was an ardent worker, helping to found, and becoming president of the Women's Aviation Association, later the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

She was a good tennis player, having captained the Cambridge women's lawn tennis team against Oxford. Other interests were gardening, music, old furniture, and china. Her later years were spent in retirement in Cape Town. There were two sons of her marriage.

Photographs of her appear in S.A.W.W. and the South African Women's Who's Who (both infra)

  Source Dictionary of South Biography Vol.V

Birth

13 December 1887 Cape Town : the date is recorded on the baptism certificate: referenced below under Baptism ^[1]

Leila Agnes Businne Wright was a daughter of Harry Claude Wright (1856-1931) and Hannah Perkins Clark ^[2]

===Baptism===

22 February 1888 ^[3]

Census 31 March 1901 Lambeth, London, England ^[4]

Harry C Wright Head Male 45 Launceston, Cornwall

Hannah P Wright Wife Female 43 Watford, Hertfordshire

Evered L Wright Son Male 18 Cape Colony Wynberg

Leila A Wright Daughter Female 13 Cape Colony Wynberg

Dorothy M Wright Daughter Female 10 Cape Colony Wynberg

Charles L L Wright Son Male 4 Cape Colony Wynberg

Cedric C V Wright Son Male 2 Bexhill On Sea, Sussex

Marie Levesque Governess Female 44 France

Violet E Duncan Nurse Female 23 Hastings, Sussex

Siblings

Frank Claude Wright ^[2][5]

Everard Lister Wright ^[2][5]

Steuart Wright ^[2] 1883-1940 ^[5]

John Leonard Wright ^[2][5]

Leila Agnes Buissine Wright x Reitz ^[2][5]

Dorothy Mabel Wright x Wessels^[2] xx Quinn ^[5]

Cedric Cecil Vernon Wright ^[2][5]

Charles Leslie Lupton Wright ^[2][5]

Marriage

12 June 1920 St Mary's Johannesburg, Deneys Reitz 38 b1882 Bloemfontein, and Leila Agnes Buissinne Wright 32 b1888 Wynberg CC ^[6]

Death

29 December 1959 Cape Town ^{[7] [citation needed]}

• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6VRF-ZD1N : 7 February 2023), Leila Agnes Buissinne Wright Reitz, ; Burial, Mpumalanga, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Reitz Graves; citing record ID 247640341, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

Sources

1. ↑ South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVS4-5HKC : Mon Oct 30 09:10:33 UTC 2023), Entry for Leila Agnes Bisissine and Hannah Wright, 22 Feb 1888.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8} her father's probate: "South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1834-1989", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPQ7-S5F9 : 27 April 2020), Leila Agnes Buissinne Wright Reitz, 1931 Baxter-5470 11 September 2020
3. ↑ "South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVS4-5HKC : Mon Oct 30 09:10:33 UTC 2023), Entry for Leila Agnes Bisissine and Hannah Wright, 22 Feb 1888. here
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9C9-QRZ : 20 May 2019), Cedric C V Wright in household of Harry C Wright, Lambeth, London, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Norwood subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey. Baxter-5470 11 September 2020
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7} brother's probate, Steauart Wright, unmarried, s/o Harry Claude Wright and Hanna Perkins Clark, siblings cited : "South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1834-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91W-5SSV-4?cc=2517051&wc=WV44-S9G%3A1598062417 : 28 September 2018), 007736481 > image 1202 of 1556; Pietermaritzburg Archives (Formerly Natal State Archives), South Africa Baxter-5470 11 September 2020
6. ↑ "South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Marriages, 1870-1930," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPH1-3JLT : 27 September 2019), Deneys Reitz and Leila Agnes Buissimmé Wright, Johannesburg, Johannesburg; citing Marriage, , NARS "Civil registration (marriages - coloureds), Transvaal and Swaziland, 1898-1927." The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa, Pretoria Baxter-5470 11 September 2020
7. ↑ user tree, B&D dates, unsourced : https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/M2KS-DD6 Baxter-5470 11 September 2020

• "South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1834-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91Q-MSM8-M?cc=2517051&wc=WV44-9TM%3A1598052321 : 9 February 2020), 007735065 > image 463 of 1201; Pietermaritzburg Archives (Formerly Natal State Archives), South Africa.