Isie Smuts

Sybella "Isie" Margaretha Smuts was the second First Lady of the Union of South Africa, and a teacher, farmer, charity organiser and scrapbooker. She grew up in the British Cape Colony and qualified as a teacher in 1891. She taught for six years before marrying Jan Smuts, who later became the second Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. She was a staunch supporter of Afrikaner nationalist aims to break free of British rule. Smuts eventually supported her husband's efforts to bring reconciliation to the Dutch and English communities and the creation of the self-governing union. During the Second Boer War (1899–1902) and World War I she supplied care parcels to inmates and soldiers. When the war ended, she was active in the Suid-Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie, a social welfare service for war widows and orphans.