James Barry Munnik (known as JBM or Barry) Hertzog was born on the farm Soetendal in the Cape Colony district of Wellington on 6 April 1866. His future political rival, Jan Christian Smuts, was born close by at Riebeek West four years later.
After his schooling, Hertzog studied law at Victoria College, later to become Stellenbosch University, and graduated in 1889. In the same year, he was accepted into the University of Amsterdam and received his doctorate in law in 1892.
Returning to the Cape Colony, he soon became disillusioned with British rule and moved to the Transvaal, where he opened a law practice in Pretoria. It was here
