Charles Robberts Swart - Early Life

Early Life

Swart was born on 5 December 1894 on the farm Morgenzon, in the Winburg district, part of the Boer republic of the Orange Free State (which became a British colony in 1902 and a province of the Union of South Africa in 1910)

He was the third of six children, born to Hermanus Bernardus Swart (1866–1949) and Aletta Catharina Robberts (1870–1929). The Anglo Boer War (Second Boer War) broke out when he was 5 years old. During the war his mother and the children were interned at the Winburg concentration camp. Of the three boys only two survived the concentration camp. His father was wounded and captured by the British during the Battle of Paardeberg. He became a prisoner of war and stayed in Groenpunt and Simonstad until the end of the war.

When Swart was 7 years old he went to the government school in Winburg. He later went to a C.N.O school, which is a school set up by the Afrikaner in response to Lord Milner's anglicisation policy at the government sponsored schools. Later on the schools merged again with the result that he move moved up a grade. He was only 13 years old when he passed his higher exam (matric or last year of school).

He established himself as a barrister in 1914. He spent a brief period in Hollywood acting in silent films, before embarking on his public career. He practised law in Bloemfontein from 1919 to 1948. He earned a degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York in 1921-1922. He reported briefly from Washington for the Die Burger newspaper.