Skip to main content
Menu
♥ Donate
eventREF E-0012740Revised

Event record

Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies

Updated
30 Sep 2019
Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies

Alan Paton Image source

Alan Paton is one of South Africa's most celebrated authors. His most renowned novel 'Cry, the Beloved Country', which was published in 1948 is still in print. Paton was a founding member of the Liberal Party and was much involved in South African politics and efforts at social reform. In 1953, he went on to lead the party. Paton often felt divided in his calling, and he is quoted as saying "My whole life has been a struggle between the writer and the activist, and it has not stopped" In April 1988, Paton was diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the throat. He died in Durban on 12 April 1988. 

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?
View more events from this day

How we know this

  1. 01The New York Times,"Alan Paton, Author And Apartheid Foe, Dies of Cancer at 85",From: The New York Times,[Online],Available at: www.nytimes.com,[Accessed on:08 April 2014]
  2. 02Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012740

South African History Online (2011) 'Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012740 (Accessed: 29 August 2026).

South African History Online, Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012740, (accessed 29 August 2026).

"Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012740. Accessed 29 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Alan Paton, author of “Cry, the Beloved Country” and founder member of the Liberal Party, dies." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012740.

Further reading

Oyster Bay Place

Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay or “Oesterbaai” in Afrikaans, is a small coastal hamlet and resort located about 22.5 kilometres (14.
Popular Content
Mooivallei, Dairy Farm Place

Mooivallei, Dairy Farm

Mooivallei Suiwel is a cheese and butter producer based at Bonnievale, a town in the Breede River Valley in the Western....
Popular Content

SAHO is free because readers fund it. Donate →

Contribute to this record0 comments

Comments are reader contributions. They are not part of the archival record.