Portrait of Barney Barnato

People/magnate, financier

Barney Barnato

Barney Barnato (1851–1897), magnate, financier, from United Kingdom. Linked to diamonds, gold.

The lucky break

Followed his brother Harry to the Kimberley diamond fields in 1873 and was a millionaire within ten years. The DNB says he had over fifty pounds on reaching Cape Town and that the penniless story was one of his own fictions.1,2,3

The downfall

Lost the fight for control of Kimberley Central to Rhodes in 1888. He went overboard from the Scot near Madeira on 14 June 1897; a coroner's jury returned a verdict of death by drowning while temporarily insane.1,2,3

Legacy

His Barnato Diamond Mining Company was the main rival to De Beers before the 1888 merger. He later sat in the Cape Parliament for Kimberley.1,2,3

Story cards

Drag to turn the globe

Where next

People

Rival ofCecil RhodesBarnato sold out to Rhodes in 1888 for a price said to be over five million pounds.1,4FamilyWoolf JoelThe nephew who inherited Barnato's empire was shot dead within a year.2

Mines

OwnedKimberley Big HoleFrom penniless arrival to millionaire in ten years in Kimberley.1

Sources

  1. Barney Barnato South African History Online
  2. Barnato, Barnett Isaacs Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement (public-domain text on Wikisource), article by A. F. Pollard
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. Cecil John Rhodes South African History Online

Pictures on this page: Barney Barnato00.jpg, Unknown author (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

The Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at sunsetMining historyGold rushes, then and nowGold and lithium · WorldwideAn underground loader carrying a full bucket of rock through a dark mine roomEquipmentUnderground mining equipmentUnderground · FleetLessons from historyPrice shocks and the supply response1893-2025Lessons from historyThe deposits that made fortunes, and who kept them1485-2008

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).