7 September 1884

Lydia Van Niekerk, professor of Dutch Literature and the first woman to be appointed to the chair at the University of Stellenbosch, was born on the farm Diepkloof, district Uitenhage. Van Niekerk studied at the universities of Leyden and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. On her return to South Africa after obtaining a D.

Litt ET Phil degree, she lectured at the Huguenot University College in Wellington. In 1920 she was offered a professorship at the University of Stellenbosch, where she worked until her death on 2 November 1929. Van Niekerk was an important literary critic and an authority on literary subjects.