General Smuts Arrives At Northolt By Air To Be Installed As Chancellor Of Cambridge University -- General Smuts seen on his arrival at Northolt Airport. After fifty momentus years, General Jan Christiaan Smuts is preparing quietly to fight his last political battle. General Smuts first became Prime Minister in 1919 serving until 1924. His first Ministerial appointment in the Union was as Minister of the interior and Defence in 1910. He arrived in England by air yesterday morning, June 7th, to be installed as chancellor of Cambridge University - and to "cap" his old friends Winston Churchill as a doctor of Literature. June 28, 1948.