Lady Annie Francis (née Harding) Cullinan (1866-1963) was the wife of Sir Thomas Cullinan, D.S.O., first chairman of the Premier Diamond Mine, after whom the Cullinan Diamond was named.
Lady Cullinan was born in Dortrecht, Cape Colony, the daughter of an 1820 settler. When Thomas Major Cullinan first met Annie Francis Harding in the mid-1880s he was working for a firm of building contractors and had recently helped to build a stone steeple for the Dutch Reformed Church at Dordrecht. Thomas was an amateur geologist and had always been interested in the mineral wealth of South Africa having witnessed the transformation of the country resulting from the various discoveries of diamonds and gold; when he married Annie in 1886 they decide to seek their fortune and trekked across the country finally settling in the Rand. Thomas eventually became wealthy as a building contractor but retained his fascination with prospecting; in 1902 he purchased a 699-hectare farm near Pretoria which famously became the Premier Mine and the source of an enormous 3,106 metric carat diamond. After it was cut and polished the principal stones from the Cullinan Diamond were eventually presented to King Edward VII by the Transvaal and now adorn the British Crown Jewels. In recognition of his work and qualities Thomas was made a Knight Bachelor in July 1910.
In his biography of Sir Thomas, Nigel Helm sums up the great influence and support that Lady Cullinan provided to her husband throughout their long marriage ‘Sir Thomas’s greatest friend and companion was his wife. Despite the early years of hardship and the burden of bringing up ten children, she outlived him by many years and died aged 97. Physically and mentally strong, she was always, like Sir Thomas, a commanding figure and always held herself very upright…Unpretentious, courageous and understanding, and with a delightful sense of humour, she was much loved by family and friends, and to her husband she was a constant source of affection, moral support and wise counsel’. Sir Thomas Major Cullinan: a Biography (McGraw-Hill, Johannesburg 1974).