Wilbur Smith – Cattle ranch Child and Accountant
Who is Wilbur Smith?
Wilbur Smith was born in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, (now Zambia), He was named after aviator Wilbur Wright (The Wright Brothers).
His father Herbert was a metal worker who opened a sheet metal factory and then created a 25,000-acre cattle ranch on the banks of the Kafue River near Mazabuka.
As a baby, Smith was sick with cerebral malaria for ten days but made a full recovery. He spent the first years of his life on his parent’s cattle ranch and his companions were the sons of the ranch workers, small black boys with the same interests and preoccupations as Smith. With his companions, he ranged through the bush, hiking, hunting, and trapping birds and small mammals.
As his mother loved reading, he was read a bedtime story every night and later used reading novels as an escape and excitement. This piqued his interest in fiction; however, his father discouraged him from pursuing writing. According to Smith, his father never read a book in his life.
Where was Wilbur Smith Educated?
Smith Attended boarding school from a very young age. He completed matric at Michaelhouse in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. He was always an avid reader at school and had the good fortune to have an English master who made him his protégé while at school.
Smith wanted to become a journalist and write about social conditions in South Africa. His father had other ideas and pushed him to become a tax accountant.
He attended Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1954. During university holidays he worked in the gold mines as well as fishing boats. Following graduation, he joined the Goodyear Tires and Rubber Co in Port Elizabeth, where he worked until 1958.
Wilbur Smiths’ personal life and career
After selling their ranch his parents retired to Kloof, Durban. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties, Smith’s father had to return to work. In partnership with his son, he established a sheet metal manufacturing business, H. J. Smith and Son Ltd, but this was short-lived and forced Smith to take a job in 1963 as a tax assessor at the Inland Revenue Service in Salisbury, Rhodesia. He was 25 years old.
It was during this time that Smith met his first wife, Anne Rennie, a secretary in Salisbury. They were married in 1957 and divorced in 1962 after conceiving a son and daughter (Shaun and Christian).
Smith married his second wife Jewell Slabbert in 1964 and they had a son, Lawrence. His first novel was published the same year – When the Lion Feeds. This tells the story of two young men, twins Sean and Garrick Courtney, the sons of a ranch worker. The story is very tied to Smiths’ own life growing up. In later years, Smith admitted to this book remaining his favourite. He sold the Film rights to Stanley Baker but no movie resulted. This money, however, enabled Smith to pursue writing as a full-time career and leave the taxation office. His marriage ended in divorce.
Now 30 and single once again, Smith started writing his second novel in a caravan, parked in the mountains. Smith’s second published novel was The Dark of the Sun (1965), a tale about mercenaries during the Congo Crisis. Film rights were sold to George Englund and MGM and it was filmed in 1968 starring Rod Taylor.
Smith married his third wife, Danielle Thomas in 1971. They were never happy, but he dedicated all his books to her until she died in 1999, following a six-year battle with cancer.
What books did Wilbur Smith write?
When the Lion Feeds (1964)
The Dark of the Sun (1965) – available on Bakgat Books
The Sound of Thunder (1966)
Shout at the Devil (1968)
Gold Mine (1970),
The Diamond Hunters (1971) – available on Bakgat Books
The Sunbird (1972) – available on Bakgat Books
Eagle in the Sky (1974) – available on Bakgat Books
The Eye of the Tiger (1975) – available on Bakgat Books
Shout at the Devil (1976)
Cry Wolf (1976)
A Sparrow Falls (1977)
Hungry as the Sea (1978)
Wild Justice (1979) – available on Bakgat Books
A Falcon Flies (1980) – available on Bakgat Books
Men of Men (1981) – available on Bakgat Books
The Angels Weep (1982) – available on Bakgat Books
The Leopard Hunts in Darkness (1984) – available on Bakgat Books
The Burning Shore (1985) – available on Bakgat Books
Power of the Sword (1986) – available on Bakgat Books
Rage (1987) – available on Bakgat Books
A Time to Die (1989)
Golden Fox (1990)
Elephant Song (1991) – available on Bakgat Books
River God (1993)
The Seventh Scroll (1995)
Birds of Prey (1997) – available on Bakgat Books
Monsoon (1999)
Warlock (2001)]
Blue Horizon (2003)
The Triumph of the Sun (2005) – available on Bakgat Books
The Quest (2007)
Assegai (2009) – available on Bakgat Books
Those in Peril (2011)
Vicious Circle (2013)
Desert God (2014) – available on Bakgat Books
Golden Lion (2015)
Predator (2016)
Pharaoh (2016)
The Tiger’s Prey (2017)
War Cry (2017)
On Leopard Rock (2018)
Courtney’s War (2018)
Kings of Kings (2019)
Ghost Fire (2019)
Call of The Raven (2020)
Legacy of War (2021)
The New Kingdom (2021)
Storm Tide (2022)
Titans of War (2022)
Pray Zone (2022)
In 2021 Picadilly Press published two books for children by Wilbur Smith, co-written with Chris Wakling – Cloudburst and Thunderbolt.
Smiths’ Final Years
When Smith married Danielle Thomas, he cut off contact with his son Shaun and daughter Christian. He was also estranged from his son Lawrence (second marriage). Unlike his last marriage, the previous ones had not been happy as his relationship with the children’s mothers broke down and he never agreed with their morality of life.
Despite his personal turmoil throughout life, Wilbur Smith left this world happy and content. He met his fourth wife, a Tadjik woman named Mokhiniso Rakhimova, in January 2000. The two fell in love and married in Cape Town in May 2000. She was a law student studying at Moscow University. She was 39 years younger than him.
On their relationship, Smith said: “It really was love at first sight”.
Smith died unexpectedly on 13 November 2021 at his Cape Town home. He was 88. His website announced that “He leaves behind him a treasure-trove of novels, as well as completed and yet-to-be-published co-authored books and outlines for future stories.”
His stories are still being published to date.
Books Available on Bakgat Books:
