Early Life:
Barney Barnato was born in 4 July 1852, Whitechapel slum of London. His original name was Barnett Issacs but changed it to Barney Barnatto when he was acting as a comedian. He followed his brother Harry to Cape Town in 1873 to seek fortune in the diamond rush that followed the 1866 discovery of diamond in Kimberly. He came to South Africa penniless, but within 10 years he was a millionaire and the Barnato Diamond Mining Company that he helped set up was a competitive rival of Cecil John Rhodes’ De Beers company.

Career:
Rhodes and Barnato set out to dominate the diamond industry by trying to buy up all the shares that came onto the market. Their struggle for control of the only other independent company, 'The French Company' (Compagnie Francais des Mines de Diamant du Cap), was acute, until Barnato merged all his diamond interests in the Kimberley Central Diamond Mining Company and became the owner of the French company. But his victory soured when he learned that Rhodes had managed, through the backing of the Rothschilds and Alfred Beit, to get control of one-fifth of Kimberley Central Mine for himself. Share prices soared as Rhodes tried to outwit his competitor by enticing Barnato's shareholders to sell to his agents. Barnato could not prevent this. The story can be dismissed that Rhodes, after a weary twenty-eight hours of negotiation, suddenly produced a bucket heaped with diamonds. 'Sign, Barney, and it's all yours,' Rhodes is supposed to have said.