[President J. H. Brand and his medical history]

During his term of office of 25 years (1863-1888) Johannes Hendrikus Brand, fourth President of the Orange Free State, proved himself a remarkable statesman of international stature. Born in the Cape Town of Lord Charles Somerset he was educated in the British tradition, and later received knighthoods from both Portugal and Britain. However, in converting his young embryonic state into South Africa's 'Model Republic' he showed himself to be a staunch republican. Total loyalty towards his country of adoption was aptly demonstrated by his uncompromising stand over the British annexation of the diamond fields in 1871. While preparing to put his case before the Colonial Secretary in London, he developed Bright's disease at the age of 49 years in August 1872. After an extreme illness lasting 5 months he appeared to recover fully. His subsequent health was excellent up to the end of the next decade when he developed symptoms of heart failure, epistaxis and possibly a cerebrovascular incident. In March 1888 his two Bloemfontein doctors, C. J. G. Krause and B. O. Kellner, in consultation with Dr Leander Starr Jameson (of Jameson Raid fame) diagnosed a recurrence of his kidney ailment and progressive heart disease. His death on 14 July 1888 was probably due to acute left ventricular failure as a late hypertensive complication of glomerulonephritis.