BEIT, ALFRED

(1853-1906)

   German-British financier. Born to a Portuguese family in Hamburg, his parents were baptized after their marriage. Educated in Hamburg, he went to work with a firm importing wool and diamonds; in 1871 he went to Holland, and in 1875 joined a relative's firm in South Africa as a diamond buyer. In 1890 he established the firm of Wernher, Beit and Company. He also set up and controlled the Pretoria Waterworks, the Pretoria Electric Lighting Company, and the National Bank of South Africa. In 1888 Beit and Cecil Rhodes formed De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited.