Willem Johannes Leyds (1 May 1859 – 14 May 1940) was a Dutch lawyer and statesman who served as state attorney and state secretary of the South African Republic. From 1898 to 1902, during the crucial period of the Second Boer War, he was the Republic's special envoy and minister plenipotentiary in Brussels, accredited to several European states.
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Biography
Early life
Leyds was born in Magelang, then part of the Dutch East Indies, as the son of Dutch teachers. After the death of his father the family returned to the Netherlands. He studied law at the University of Amsterdam, where he excelled and from which he graduated cum laude.
He was recommended for the position of state attorney of the South African Republic to its president, Paul Kruger, by some of his previous lecturers. The president had been conducting a tour of Europe after his country's newly-reclaimed independence from the British, following the First Boer War. Though initially hesitant, Leyds accepted the offer, and he and his wife Louise moved to Pretoria.