Cornelius van Rooyen

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Cornelius Johannes van Rooyen, known as Nellis, (1859–1915) was an early Rhodesian settler, big game hunter, and hunting guide. He is best known for breeding the dogs that became the Rhodesian Ridgeback, once called van Rooyen’s lion dog.

He was born near Uitenhage in the Cape Colony on 5 November 1859 and baptized in January 1860 in Alexandria, South Africa. His parents were Gerrit van Rooyen and Cornelia Jacoba Crous, and he was the third of four children.

As a young man, van Rooyen worked as a hunter and herder around the area that would become Rhodesia, roughly between Pretoria, Victoria Falls, and Umtali. He was already an accomplished hunter by age 19 when he married Maria Margareta Vermaak.

Maria, born in 1867, was the daughter of Salomo Vermaak and Maria Margaretha Riekert. Van Rooyen settled in the Mangwe area of Rhodesia and joined the colonists there. He fought for the colonists and the British South Africa Company in the First and Second Matabele Wars.

Van Rooyen became friends with famous hunter Frederick Selous and knew many notable figures of the era, including Lobengula, Paul Kruger, Cecil Rhodes, Leander Jameson, Raleigh Grey, and Randolph Churchill. Although he knew Jameson and others, he does not appear to have played a major role in the political deals around the Rudd Concession of 1888.

In 1879, Reverend Charles Helm brought two hunting dogs to a mission near Bulawayo. Van Rooyen wanted dogs that could track big game, especially lions. He found the initial Khoikhoi dogs lacking in scenting ability and speed, so he began crossing them with European breeds. He spent about 35 years breeding dogs, using a simple rule: a good dog is one that survives; a bad one is one that does not.

The dogs he developed laid the groundwork for the Rhodesian Ridgeback. In 1908 he joined an expedition with Ellis Josephs to capture wild animals for zoos.

Van Rooyen died in Bulawayo on 20 January 1915 from malaria, pneumonia, and heart failure. He was buried at Plumtree, Zimbabwe. At his death his residence was listed as “Van Rooyen’s Rest” in the Mangwe District. His wife Maria died in 1916 in Bulawayo from burns and the shock that followed.