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Herbert George Latilla

1877 - 1949

Herbert Latilla was born in 1877.

Latilla started his career in South Africa as secretary to Sir Abe Bailey. Bailey was one of the "Rand Lords" who made their fortunes from the Witwatersrand gold mines and who was involved in the Jameson raid of 1895.

Latilla was married twice and his first wife Ethel May died November 26, 1944. They had two daughters: Gwen and Edith. Then on November 3, 1945, Herbert Latilla married Edith Ashton.

Throughout his life Herbert Latilla was heavily connected with mining mainly in Africa although he had some Canadian and Indian interests. The following is a list of some of his business interests:

Secretary of Exploring Land and Minerals Co. Ltd., London. 1901
Gatling Hill Gold Mining Company. Secretary. 1901
Liquidator, East Rand Deep Ltd. 1906
Rhodesian Banket Company. Secretary. 1907
Eldorado Banket Gold Mining Co. Director. 1908
Liquidator, Ayrshire Gold Mine, Salisbury House. 1909
Shamva Mines. Director. 1910
British and Colonial Investments Ltd. Chairman and Managing Director. 1910
Rhodesia Exploration and Development Company. Director. 1910

In 1911 Marsland and most of the land passed to Latilla who formed the Marsland Estate Co. to hold his Itchingfield Property.

Between 1911 and 1913 Latilla was in England and Canada and in September 1913 he visited the Ptarmigan Mine on Big Interior Mountain on Vancouver Island. The party included Major Frank Johnson and his brother Harry a mining engineer consultant, Sir James Sivewright, Rudolph Feilding (9th Earl of Denbigh) and his daughter Lady Marjorie, John Corry Wood the MLA for Alberni, and several vendors representing the mine.

Kirkland Lake Proprietary, Ontario, Canada. Director, 1914
Transvaal and Rhodesian Estates Ltd. - position unknown. 1914 - Chairman by 1927
Rhodesia Chrome and Asbesto Co. Company Director and Chairman.
Ex-Lands Nigeria Ltd. Chairman. 1917
Rhodesian Cattle and land Co. Ltd. - joined board, 1918
Indo Burma Oilfields Ltd. Director. 1920.
Bischi Tin Company (Nigeria). Director. 1929
Wanderer Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd. Director. 1932
Gold Coast Selection Trust Ltd. Director and Chairman. 1933
Daggafonein Mines Ltd. Director. 1933
The H.E. Proprietary Ltd. Director. 1933
East Rand Consolidated. Director. 1934
Marlu Gold Mining Areas, Ltd. Director. 1934
Amalgamated Banket Areas, Ltd. Director. 1935
West Spaarwater Ltd. Chairman by 1937
New Far Eastern Rand Group. Chairman. 1937
Bremang Gold Dredging Co. Chairman. 1938
Tarkwa Banket West. Chairman. 1938
London and African Mining Trust, Chairman by 1938
National Mining Corporation Ltd. Chairman. 1945
Ariston Gold Mines. Chairman, by 1945
East Rand Consolidated. Chairman. 1946

Herbert George Latilla passed away on August 16, 1949, at the age of seventy-two. In his obituary in Cape Town's newspaper the Cape Times, Latilla was described as the gold-mining millionaire "King of the West African Market."

Today in South Africa, the Latilla Mineral Marketing (BOP) (Pty) Ltd. continues to operate and is run by the Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Eileen Latilla, and is involved in the business sector in Mining Exploration and the Quarrying Industry. The company provides an exploration field management service. It undertakes activities from grass roots exploration to EMP Preparation and applications.

Sources:
Brook, Colin. Fleet Street, Press Barons and Politics: The Journals of Collin Brooks, 1932 - 1940. Cambridge University Press. Pg. 57.

Harvey, Charles E. The Rio Tinto Company: An Economic History Of A Leading International Mining Concern 1873 - 1934. A. Hodges. Penzance, Cornwall. 1981.

"Ptarmigan Gold Copper." Alberni Advocate. [Alberni, B.C.] (September 28, 1913) p. 1.

"British Capital in Island Mine." Daily British Colonist. [Victoria, B.C.] (September 16, 1913) p. 14.

"Daring Exploits on Island Mountain." Daily British Colonist. [Victoria, B.C.] (September 25, 1913) p. 11.

Obituary for Herbert George Latilla. Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (August 19, 1949) p. 3.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (September 22, 1910) p. 13: Reported the first ordinary general meeting of British and Colonial Investments Ltd., Chairman and Managing Director H.G. Latilla. He sent his apologies for absence because he was ill following his stay in Africa.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (February 3, 1914) p. 16: Reporting the statutory company meeting February 2, 1914, tells us that his Canadian interest was Director of Kirkland Lake Proprietary, near Swastika Station on the Tamiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway. The consulting engineer was Mr. H.H. Johnson of Belmont House, Victoria, B.C. In November 1913 Latilla had been in British Columbia.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (February 9, 1920) p. 24: Carried an advertisement promoting Indo Burma Oilfields [1920] Ltd. Directors included the Earl of Denbigh and Herbert Latilla.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (August 2, 1927) p. 17: Tells us that Latilla recently paid a visit to South Africa and probably Rhodesia.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (April 8, 1932) Tells us that the Earl of Denbigh attended the wedding of Latilla's elder daughter Edith.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (March 18, 1936) p. 17: Gwen Latilla, youngest daughter of H.G. Latilla is engaged to Edmund George Campbell of Durban.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (June 23, 1938) p. 24: Frank Johnson is Chairman of Tarkwa Banket West. Latilla is a Director.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (September 29, 1938) p. 20: Lt. Col. Frank Johnson is Chairman and H.G. Latilla is Deputy Chairman, of London and African Mining Trust.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (November 29, 1939) p. 11: Funeral of Lord Denbigh - attended by close friends including Latilla.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (November 28, 1944) p. 1: Wife Ethel May died on November 26, 1944.

Cape Times. [Cape Town, South Africa.] (November 7, 1945) p. 7: Latilla married Miss Edith Ashton on November 3, 1945.

Latilla gave dinner for Rhodesian Prime Minister G.M. Huggins in 1935. Sir Abe Bailey also attended. In June 1937, Latilla attended a dinner for the Prime Minister of South Africa put on by his mentor Sir Abe Bailey.

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