Cecil John Rhodes was born on the 5 July 1853 at Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire and educated at Bishop's Stortford Grammar School. In 1870 Rhodes emigrated to Natal and made a fortune in the Kimberley diamond mines. In 1880 he founded the De Beers Mining Company. Rhodes dreamed of building a British Empire in Africa that stretched from the Cape to Cairo. In 1885 he persuaded the British government to form a protectorate over Bechuanaland (now Botswana). In 1889 he founded the British South Africa Company, which occupied Mashonaland and Matabeleland, thus forming Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe). Rhodes was prime minister (1890-1896) of Cape Colony. The discovery of his role in Leander Starr Jameson's attempt to overthrow Paul Kruger in the Transvaal (Jameson's Raid, 1895-1896) led to his resignation. He died on the 26 March 1902 in Muizenberg, Cape Colony. By his will he established the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford University.

Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey, was born on the 28 November 1851 and educated at Harrow, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as Member of Parliament (Liberal) for South Northumberland (1880-1885); Member of Parliament for Northumberland (Tyneside, 1885-1886); Administrator of Rhodesia (1896-1897); Director of the British South Africa Company (1898-1904), and Governor­General and Commander­in­Chief of Canada (1904-1911). Earl Grey was awarded the GCMG (1904), GCVO (1908) and GCB (1911). He died on the 29 August 1917.