Jan Willem Spruyt

Who was Jan Willem Spruyt?

Jan Willem Spruyt, also known as Jan Willem Spruijt and Jan Willem Landskroon Spruijt, was a South African civil servant, lawyer and statesman of Dutch descent. Spruyt was government secretary and several times acting state president of the Orange Free State, and state secretary of the South African Republic.

Spruyt grew up in the Netherlands, studied law, but did not complete his studies, and worked as a schoolteacher, before coming to South Africa. Here he practised as law agent in private practice in both Boer republics. Soon after his arrival he was also quickly enrolled in the administration of the Orange Free State, and attained a powerful position as government secretary. In this capacity he stood in for state president M.W. Pretorius several times in the period 1860–1862. In the third quarter of the nineteenth century several many Afrikaner politicians and government officials served in both Boer republics. So did Spruyt, who finished his career as state secretary of the South African Republic.