Sir Thomas Cullinan, digger and founder of the Premier diamond company, is born

Date: 12 Feb 1862
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Sir Thomas Cullinan was born in the The Cape Colony in 1862. He settled in Barberton, before moving to Johannesburg in 1887. He began working as a bricklayer in Johannesburg, a job he later left for prospecting. He discovered the Premier Diamond Fields in 1898 and was co-founder and member of what became the The Transvaal Chamber of Industries. He was knighted in 1910 in recognition of his contribution to the Diamond industry and has a town and the biggest diamond ever found named after him. He married Annie Francis Harding in 1886. He died in 1936.

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01The Cullinan and Cullinane geneology project, Sir Thomas Major Cullinan (1862-1936) of Johannesburg, South Africa, from Rootsweb, [online], Available at freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com [Accessed: 23 January 2011]
02Family tree maker, Sir Thomas Cullinan (b. 1862, d. 23 Aug 1936), [online], Available at familytreemaker.genealogy.com [Accessed: 23 January 2012]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, February 10). Sir Thomas Cullinan, digger and founder of the Premier diamond company, is born. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074096

South African History Online (2012) 'Sir Thomas Cullinan, digger and founder of the Premier diamond company, is born', South African History Online, 10 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074096 (Accessed: 24 September 2026).

South African History Online, Sir Thomas Cullinan, digger and founder of the Premier diamond company, is born [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074096, (accessed 24 September 2026).

"Sir Thomas Cullinan, digger and founder of the Premier diamond company, is born." South African History Online, 10 Feb. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074096. Accessed 24 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Sir Thomas Cullinan, digger and founder of the Premier diamond company, is born." South African History Online. February 10, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074096.