John Wessels (judge)

He was the second of three sons of Cape solicitor Jacobus Christoffel Wessels, Esq. (Joostenberg, Stellenbosch, 26 September 1814 - Green Point, Cape Town, 22 October 1889) and Anna Marthina Neethling (Cape Town, 30 October 1822 - Green Point, Capetown, 28 April 1897) and attended the South African College. After matriculating he attended the University of Cape Town and obtained a BA Honours in 1882. With a scholarship to read law, he attended Downing College, Cambridge and graduated in 1885 with a Law Tripos. He won a scholarship in international and constitutional law at the Middle Temple and took the Bar in 1886. ==Career==

He returned to South Africa and joined the Bar in the Cape Colony and the Transvaal Bar in 1887. He was knighted in 1909. On the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, he became a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division. In 1920 he became the Judge President of the Transvaal Provincial Division and then elevated to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa in 1923. In 1932 he became its Chief Justice and the following year a member of the Privy Council. ==Marriage==

Wessels married twice. Helen Duff in 1891 and after she died in 1925, married her sister Agnes in 1928. ==Family==

Wessels' family had a farm in Green Point today known as Braemar Estate, and erected a burial vault on the farm known as the Woutersen Wessels Vault dating back to the 19th century. Wessels' brother, Adv. M L Wessels, and other family members are memorialised in the vault, which is today a protected heritage site. ==References==