Ancestry24

The Rev. William Kidwell Cliff

(born 1848 in Audlem, Cheshire, England; died 21 June 1922 in Pietermaritzburg.)

Rev. William Cliff's headstone

There is a plaque on the wall of the Cathedral in Pietermaritzburg where he and his wife are buried. Evidently the congregation held him in some esteem. William Cliff was instrumental in establishing the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in Natal. He was very much involved in the founding of the Cathedral in Pietermaritzburg and seems to have migrated there from England via Grahamstown.

He was the son of Thomas Cliff (1825-1872) and Elizabeth Hall (abt 1820) in Cheshire, England; Elizabeth Hall’s father was Thomas Hall (1784-1809) and her mother Elizabeth Dooler (1820-?). Both their families resident in Cheshire, England. Thomas Hall’s father, William Hall (1765-1816) was a solicitor. His mother was Ann Johnson. Elizabeth Dooler’s parents were Thomas Dooler (1766-1791) and Mary Shuker (1768-1845). Mary Shuker came from a very long line of Shukers stretching back to John Shuker in 1672 in Nantwich, Cheshire, England.

Thomas in turn the son of Joseph Cliff (1786-1873) and Mary unknown (abt 1797). They seem to have been humble people, but owned land which indicates that they were probably cleaner than most of the English at the time.

Joseph was the son of Joseph William Cliff (1754-1834) and Sarah Besford (abt 1750). Sarah’s father was a certain Edward Besford (born 1720 in Edgmond, Shropshire, England, son of Thomas Besford, born 1695). J. W. Cliff was a smart landowner so we must assume because of Thomas Cliff’s reduced circumstances that their finances deteriorated over the early 1800s or under Joseph Jr.

Joseph William Cliff was the eldest son of William Cliff (1710-1802) and Frances Briggs (1732-1784), but was the first to move to Cheshire. His parents were resident in Flintham, Nottinghamshire.

William’s father was John Cliff (1686, Cheshire England) and his mother Mary Barrows (1686-1713). John Cliff is about as far as we can track Cliff accurately. He may or may not have been the original landowner in Cheshire (perhaps his son left to Nottinghamshire temporarily, as his children seem to have reverted to Cheshire).

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After World War I, many female pilots flew the Europe to Cape air route. This led to increasing numbers of South African women joining flying clubs, even though the government’s pupil pilot scheme was reserved for men.World War II saw the SAAF grow from 10 officers, 35 officer cadets, 1,600 men of other ranks and 100 aircraft in 1939 to a force of 31,204 servicemen, including nearly 1,000 pilots and at least 1,700 aircraft, in 1941. In 1944 the South African Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (SAWAAF) consisted of 6,500 members. By 1945, the SAAF had more than 45,000 personnel. More than 10,000 women served in the SAWAAF during the war.

Jackie Sorour

During World War II, Jackie Sorour ferried surplus RAF aircraft to countries in the Middle and Far East. She was a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and flew 63 aircraft types, delivering 1,500 aircraft.

Jackie was born Dolores Teresa Sorour in South Africa on 1st March 1922, where she was flying solo by the age of 16. It took some time for her to overcome her fear of the air sufficiently to pilot an aircraft without assistance. After five hours of solo flying she obtained her A licence. In a further effort to conquer her fear, she undertook a parachute jump in Pretoria on 30th January 1938, breaking her ankle during landing.

In 1939 she went to England to obtain her B licence. At her first attempt to join the newly formed ATA, she was turned down. Jackie was a radar operator during the Battle of Britain. Eventually the ban on women as pilots was relaxed and she was able to transfer to the ATA.

In 1945 she married Lieut. Colonel Reginald Moggridge. In the 1950s she joined the Women’s Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve to convert to Meteor and Vampire jets. In 1957 she joined Channel Airways as an airline pilot. Jackie left the airline after the birth of her second daughter in 1961. She died in January 2004 at her home in Somerset, England.

Diana Barnato Walker

Another woman who made her mark in aviation and has ties to South Africa was Diana Barnato Walker. She is 88 and was one of Britain’s top female pilots. The grand-daughter of Barney Barnet (Barnet Isaacs) and his South African wife Fanny lives in Surrey, England, on a sheep farm. Her grandfather was from east London and made his fortune on the South African mines. He died in 1897 when he fell off the SS Christiana en route back to England. Diana also had a wealthy American grandmother on her mother’s side. Her father, Woolf, was into motor racing.

She was born in January 1918, the younger of two girls and lived with her parents in Hampstead, North London. When she was four years old her parents split up. Her mother later married the war-time pilot Richard Butler Wainwright, who had won the Distinguished Flying Cross. Diana was a debutante in 1936.

She learnt to fly in a Tiger Moth in 1937 at Brooklands racing track when an hour’s lesson used to cost £3. After six hours flying, she flew solo for the first time. Barney Barnato’s nephew Jack flew at Gallipoli for the Royal Naval Air Service. She spent World War II as a member of the ATA ferrying planes across England, having joined them with only 10 hours flying experience. She married Derek Walker in May 1944.

At the beginning of the war women were not officially allowed to ferry outside the UK. In late September 1944 Diana flew a Spitfire to Brussels, following her husband Derek, a Wing Commander in the RAF, in another Spitfire. She was on short leave from the ATA. Shortly after her flight, ATA women pilots were officially cleared to fly to Europe. In the final days of the war some made it to Berlin. Also during this time a few women were given the opportunity to ferry Meteor jets.

Diana lost a fiancé during the war and her fighter-pilot husband in another accident in November 1945. After his death, she earned her B licence. She has flown more than 120 aircraft types. In 1963 she became the first British woman to break the sound barrier in a Lightning jet.

Marjorie Egerton-Bird

Marjorie Egerton-Bird

Marjorie Helen Egerton-Bird was born in Weymouth, Dorsetshire. She came out to South Africa with her parents and brother George in 1902. Marjorie was two years old. James Sydney Egerton-Bird arrived in the Transvaal to build a prison in Pretoria. He had been a governor of the Portland Prison near Wentworth in England. The family lived in Johannesburg for five years until they moved to Pretoria for 15 years. Her father was governor of Central Prison from 1907-1917.
Marjorie attended the Diocesan School for Girls in Pretoria until her father’s death in 1917 at the age of 48. Marjorie and her mother returned to England, settling in Dover. George was already there attending Naval college. After Marjorie’s mother died in 1926, she returned to South Africa and started working at the South African Reserve Bank in Johannesburg.

In 1936 one of Marjorie’s friends took her to Rand Airfield for a flight. The young pilot showed off by looping the loop. Upon landing, Marjorie declared that she never wanted to fly again. The chief instructor had seen this and half an hour later, he took her up and gave her a smoother flight. Soon afterwards, Marjorie received a small inheritance from an aunt and she used it to take flying lessons which cost £3 per hour through Rand Flying Club. In March 1937, three hours after her first solo flight, she obtained her A licence and an hour later, was competing with 22 men in the Aero Club Round the Reef Flying Race, in which she finished in fourth place. Her licence was endorsed for several different types of aircraft on which she was trained by Doreen Hooper. She could also carry passengers. In 1937 Marjorie was one of the 10 women in South Africa to possess an A licence.

Soon after obtaining her licence, she set about trying to make flying more available to women. Together with Joan Blake, she set up a petition to the government. The petition was signed by 150 women interested in flying but Oswald Pirow, then Minister of Defence, replied, “perhaps after the first thousand men pupil pilots were trained then something might be done for women.” This would take about two years. Marjorie approached Doreen Hooper, who promised to help. Six women met with Doreen at her flat – Joan, Elaine Percival-Hart, Sylvia Starfield, Toy Celliers and Marjorie. They approached Mrs Deneys Reitz, who was the Member of Parliament for Parktown, to chair a meeting at the Wanderers’ Club. An advert was put in the newspaper and on the evening of 5th December 1939, 110 women attended. They called themselves the South African Women’s Aviation Association (SAWAA). Later on they were referred to as the Women’s Civil Air Guard.

Mr. Haswell, secretary of the Rand Flying Club, offered to train eight women every weekend at the Rand Flying Club. Soon other clubs followed suit, and within six months, the 110 members were working during weekends learning all about flying. A year after its formation, the SAWAA had branches throughout South Africa, and numbered between 3 000 and 4 000 members. In December 1938, the SAWAA had eight branches, 67 pilots of which 18 had A licences and two were instructors. In February 1939, the East Rand branch had 100 women joining up – all from Benoni. Each branch collected money to give bursaries to members who showed an aptitude for flying. By 1939, 300 women had joined the SAWAA. In 1939, there were only 600 licensed civilian pilots in South Africa. After raising its own funds, the SAWAA purchased a Taylorcraft 65 De Luxe monoplane for £650. They were not able to use it much as all civilian flying ceased in 1940 and all private aircraft were taken over by the government and distributed to air schools.

In February 1940, six SAWAA members flew over Johannesburg in formation flight. Marjorie was one of the pilots, and this was the first time that women pilots had flown in formation flight in the world.

By the late 1930s, South African women had started asking about joining the Defence Force. In May 1939, the Director-General of the Reserve Force, Brigadier J.J. Collyer, met with Lieutenant-Colonel H.C. Daniel (Director of Technical Services) to investigate the utilisation of women. Lt.-Col. Daniel was not keen but Col. J. Holthouse (Director of Air Services) proposed that women be used as typists, clerks, store assistants, canteen and mess personnel, telecommunication operators, drivers, ground personnel and instructors.

As war loomed, SAWAA members started receiving instruction in first aid, fire-fighting, alarms, clerical and administrative work. Military drill was also taught. When war broke out on 3rd September 1939, the SAWAA sent General Smuts a telegram offering their services. On 10th June 1940, a notice appeared in the Government Gazette establishing a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force which would be associated with and act in co-operation with the South African Air Force.

On 1st June 1940, Doreen Hooper was the first woman in South Africa to be called upon to volunteer for full-time war service. She was 22 years old and was given the rank of Major, in command of the SAWAAF. Marjorie was the second woman to be called up 10 days later, and then Elaine Percival-Hart, both with the rank of Captain. Marjorie was second-in-command of the SAWAAF. On 28 June 1940, the first group of 120 women were taken into full-time service. Five months later there were 800 SAWAAFs proudly wearing the orange flash, signifying they had volunteered for overseas service.

All SAWAAFs did a three week basic training course at Valhalla under the command of the SAWAAF Sergeant Major (Mrs) Edwards. The SAWAAF technical personnel did their advanced training of a year at the Pretoria Technical College, while other training was done at 73 Air School at Wonderboom. The first female Physical Training Instructors graduated from the Military College in August 1941. Women who were appointed as non-commissioned officers (NCOs) did their NCO course at 100 Air School in Voortrekkerhoogte. By June 1942 there were 34 SAWAAF camps in South Africa. SAWAAF pilots flew communication and ferry flights and served as duty pilots and second pilots in the SAAF shuttle service. Special legislation enabled SAWAAFs to be employed on combatant duty, serving at ack-ack sites on instruments to direct the guns and as searchlight operators.

The SAWAAFs came from all walks of life. Helen Beatrice May Fennell was born in Sussex, England, in 1905. She graduated from King’s College, University of London, in 1927, and taught for three years in India. She came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph. During World War II, Helen was an information and welfare officer in the SAWAAF. Helen became a social worker after the war and was well-known for her role in the anti-apartheid movement. She passed away in 1992.

In December 1940 the first detachment of SAWAAFs were sent up North with Muriel Horrell in charge. They went to Mombassa in a troopship and from there by train to Nairobi, where a camp was established in a grey stone building. Soon this became too small and they moved to another camp of wooden huts. In September 1940 the SAWAAFs were sent to the Middle East, where their housed in a hotel in Cairo.

During the war, the women performed in some 75 different types of work. These included metal workers, welders, wood workers, fitters and turners, inspectors, armament instructors, stores, clerical, cooks, despatch riders, signals, Link Trainer instructors, lorry drivers, meteorological assistants and observers, developing and printing photos, parachute packers, P.T. instructors, shorthand typists, and wireless operators. By 1941, there were 36 A licence pilots in the SAWAAF.

In 1942 a major re-organization occurred within the SAWAAF. Their administrative functions were amalgamated with those of the SAAF. The SAWAAF directorate remained, but with only a few senior officers serving, their function being to direct the policy of the SAWAAF and to maintain the general welfare and well-being of all the SAWAAFs on full-time service.

After the war, Maj. Egerton-Bird was placed in charge of the Women’s Dispersal Section of the Directorate of Demobilization. By the end of December 1945 1, 955 women had been demobilized. In January 1946 alone, 626 women had been through the dispersal camps. The last SAWAAF camp closed on 1st April 1947.

Assistance was provided to enable women to cope with the transition from war to peace. This consisted of grants for educational and vocational training, vocational guidance officers assisting women to choose training suitable to their capabilities, the provision of courses both full-time and part-time (two of the most popular were shorthand-typing and nursing), and assistance for those who wished to establish businesses. All the discharge benefits available to men were also provided for those women with equivalent service. Women who had been artisans during the war found it difficult as there weren’t sufficient factories in the country to absorb them.

While the majority of women returned to civilian life, a number of the women went into the Women’s Auxiliary Defence Corps and were used in the SAAF. An amendment to the Defence Act was made in 1947, allowing women to serve in the military on a voluntary basis, but only in non-combatant roles, with effect from 3rd June 1947. The Women’s Defence Corps (WDC) was then established on 28th November 1947.

In 1948, with a new government in power, the Minister of Defence, F.C. Erasmus, asked for a report on women serving in the Permanent Force. According to the statistics provided in the report, the SAAF had four officers and 30 other ranks in the WDC. In April 1949, women were no longer able to drive military vehicles. The following month, the Minister decided that recruiting women for the WDC Permanent Force was to cease. Only female military nursing personnel and medical officers were retained.

Women were kept out of the Forces until October 1972 when the Minister of Defence granted permission for the appointment of women in the Permanent Force again. The first three women to join the SAAF in 1974 as Permanent Force members were trained at the Civil Defence College in George. On 19th January 1974, 33 women began their basic training at the Air Defence School in Waterkloof. On 21st February 1995, an all-women’s parade was held at the SAAF Gymnasium in Valhalla to celebrate 21 years of women’s service in the Permanent Force.

In 1996, the SAAF recruited the first six women for pilot training. By October 2004, 15 women had received their wings and 13 were still pilots in the SAAF.

Marjorie Egerton-Bird, who did so much to lay the foundation for women in the Air Force, passed away on 4th January 1982, aged 82 years.

Phyllis Doreen Dunning

Phyllis Doreen HOOPER was born in Johannesburg and attended Boksburg Convent School before completing her education under private tuition. She became interested in flying when, aged nine years old, her parents took her to see a “flying machine” in Barberton owned by Alan Cobham. People could write their names on the plane’s fabric, and Doreen wrote hers.

On the 3rd July 1935, soon after her 18th birthday, she started flying lessons with the Johannesburg Light Plane Club, in Baragwanath. She learnt to fly in a Gipsy Moth (ZS-ADW) and her instructor was Captain Stan Halse who was a RFC pilot in WWI. After two weeks and 9 hours of flying, she earned her A licence and decided to make aviation her career.

In 1936 she took second place in the Vereeniging-Durban-Vereeniging air race, flying a Gipsy II Moth. On the 30th October 1936 she obtained her B licence, becoming the first female commercial pilot in South Africa. This was followed by employment with African Flying Services at Rand Airport. In February 1937 she went to England from where she took part in the Oases Race in Egypt. She flew with Captain V. Budge in a miles Hawk and finished 23rd in a field of 40.

In 1938, with Mr. Calderbank as co-pilot, and flying a Leopard Moth, she placed 8th in the Governor-General’s air race. The same year, she placed 2nd in the Round the Reef air race, again in a Gipsy II Moth.

By July 1937 she was studying for her Instructor’s rating and working for the Johannesburg Light Plane Club. She obtained her Instructor’s rating on 20th January 1938, becoming the first female instructor in South Africa. A few months later she re-joined African Flying Services, now based at Grand Central. Her wire-haired terrier, Starkey, was a common sight at Grand Central and had about 70 flying hours to his credit!

At the outbreak of WWII, she had more than 2 000 flying hours. At the age of 24 she was the youngest officer in the British Commonwealth to attain the rank she held. In October 1943 Lt.-Col. Doreen Dunning resigned on a point of principle affecting her work. Maj. Muriel Horrell took over her duties. After Lt.-Col. Dunning had telegraphed news of her resignation to Maj. Egerton-Bird, then stationed in Port Elizabeth, the Major flew to Pretoria to speak to Gen. Smuts. A short while later, Gen. Smuts made a public apology to Lt.-Col. Dunning in the Press.

She was chairwoman of the SAWAAA. She married Edwin Keith Dunning, who was born in Nigel. He died in Natal in 1968. Doreen lives in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal.

Elaine Percival Hart

Elaine Percival Hart was born in Newport, Monmouthshire. She was educated in England and graduated from Bedford Physical Training College. Elaine came to South Africa in January 1914 and joined the staff of Diocesan School for girls in Grahamstown. In 1917 she joined the Military Nursing Service of South Africa, as a masseuse. Elaine was involved in women’s hockey from 1923 to 1937, managing Springbok tours to the UK, Ireland and the USA.

She took her first flying lessons in 1928 from Dick BENTLEY who flew out from England in a Moth. Elaine obtained her A licence in 1936. She had a passenger endorsement with Doreen Hooper as instructor. During WWII she was Assistant Deputy Director of the SAWAAF and a unit commander. Elaine was a member of the Rand Flying Club and the Grand Central Flying Club. She was an executive member of the SAWAA and chairwoman of the Northern Transvaal WAA. In 1934 she was granted an inventor’s British patent for an “Improved Wind Indicator” for night flying and another one in 1939 for a “Wind Speed Indicator”. Elaine died in the Transvaal in 1955, unmarried.

Muriel Horrell

Muriel Horrell was born in Pretoria in 1910 and educated at Pretoria High School. She graduated with a B.Sc. from Wits University. She earned her A licence at Grand Central where she was a pupil of Doreen Hooper. Muriel was a senior member of the SAWAAF.

Sybil Starfield

Sybil Florence Starfield was one of the founder members of the SAWAAF. She was a qualified pilot and was a leading figure in women’s aviation. Sybil played an important role in SAWAAF recruiting campaigns, travelling all over South Africa. In September 1944, Captain Starfield was missing at sea presumed drowned, as a result of a torpedo action against her ship whilst she was en route to England. She had sailed from South Africa in June 1944, having been seconded to the ATA.

Rhenia Slabbert

Frances Rhenia Slabbert was born in Kroonstad and finished her schooling at Girls’ High School in Johannesburg. She was the daughter of J.H. Slabbert, director of Slabbert, Verster and Malherbe, of Johannesburg. Her interest in flying started in childhood and during a visit in Europe, she flew from London to Paris as a passenger. Back in South Africa, she joined the Rand Flying Club and took flying lessons from Captain Gray. She earned her A licence in February 1937, in Durban, becoming the first woman to obtain her pilot’s licence in that city. She often acted as piloted for her father on business trips. During WWII she was attached to the Communication Squadron of the SAWAAF.

Rosamund King Everard-Steenkamp

Rosamund King Everard was born near Carolina, South Africa in 1907 to British parents, Charles Joseph Everard (a trader and farmer) and Amy Bertha King (an artist). The women in her family became well-known artists, known as the Women of Bonnefoi or the Everard Group.

Rosamund was not only an accomplished artist, but also one of South Africa’s female aviation pioneers. Her career was cut short by her death in a Spitfire demonstration accident in England. She was the first woman to pilot a Spitfire. In August 1945 she became the first woman in the world to pilot a jet aircraft in Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary Service (whilst still holding the rank of Captain in the SAWAAF). She flew a Meteor III jet.

Rosamund attended Eunice School in Bloemfontein. She started painting in the mid-1920s when she was a music student in London and Paris. Rosamund returned to the family farms in the eastern Transvaal in 1926, where she became a successful farmer. She became the first woman to qualify as a cattle judge in South Africa. Rosamund spoke French and isiSwazi.
In 1935 she started flying, earning her A licence (no. 453) on 23rd January 1936. Together with her brother, Sebastian King Everard, also a pilot, she operated a Moth (ZS-AFF). She undertook her first flight across Africa to Britain in 1937. Rosamund went to England and earned her B licence (no. 14171) on 16th March 1938. She earned a 2nd Class navigator’s licence (no. 729) on 28th September 1938 and the Guild of Air Pilots & Navigators Instructors Endorsement on the 29th October 1938. After her B licence she took part in the Empire Air Display at Hendon, London. While in England she also flew in Europe and Scotland. Rosamund won the race for the Wright Trophy at the Njoro Air Rally and Derby in Kenya.

Rosamund returned to South Africa and on 21st April 1939, she earned her South African B licence and Instructor’s Endorsement. She then joined the staff of the Witwatersrand Technical College as a flying instructor stationed in Ermelo and Carolina. She trained many pupil pilots who later distinguished themselves in the SAAF.

When WWII broke out, she was commissioned with the rank of Captain and posted to 61 Squadron where she gave instruction and did flying duties. By 1942 she and Rhenia Slabbert were flying Lodestars between South Africa and Cairo. In 1944 she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying many types of aircraft to the operational bases. By then she had more than 3 500 flying hours on active service.

She was killed in a flying accident at Littlewick Green, 5 km west of Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. There was low cloud at the time, and the Spitfire that she was piloting crashed into a hill. She had over 4 000 flying hours. During the war she was attached to the Communications Squadron of the SAWAAF, which ferried important officials to various military centres. Membership of this unit was one of the most envied and coveted jobs in the SAWAAF.

She was a member of the Johannesburg Light Plane Club, the Royal Aero Club in London, the London Aeroplane Club, the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators of Great Britain, an honourable member of the Leicester Aero Club and an associate of the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.

She met and married Hermanus Nicolaas Fourie Steenkamp in 1940, whom she had taught to fly. He was a Lieutenant in the SAAF when he died on 01 December 1942. He was buried on the family farm Welgelegen, in Ermelo.

Amongst Rosamund’s other interests were shooting, swimming, tennis, squash, music, dancing and painting. In November 2000, her painting The Blue Furrow was sold for R55 000 at an auction by Stephan Welz (Sotheby’s).

Enid Marjorie Russell

Enid Marjorie Russell was born in Perth, Australia, and educated at the Perth Modern School. She obtained a law degree in Australia before moving to South Africa. Enid was secretary of the Aero Club of South Africa which was founded in Kimberley. This work involved the running of the Governor-General’s Cup air race. She was also the organiser of the South African Model Aeroplane Championship in 1938-9. Enid was a member of the Rand Flying Club.

Ursula Smith

Ursula “Duffy” Smith was born in Port Elizabeth in 1921 and educated at Holy Rosary Convent. She first flew in the 1920s when Allister Miller took her on a flight. She took up gliding at the age of 14 and obtained a gliding licence. In 1938 she took up powered flight and had to wait until August 1938, on her 17th birthday to go solo, becoming one of the youngest qualified pilots in the British Empire and Commonwealth. Ursula was in university when WWII broke out, so she joined the SAWAAF and trained pilots in a Link simulator. She was also a navigation instructor. She was a member of the Port Elizabeth Aero Club.

Mollie Noreen Goldsmith

Mollie Noreen Goldsmith was born in Benoni and educated at St Andrew’s School in Johannesburg and UCT. She became a member of the Rand Flying Club and took flying lessons from Captain Gray. After almost 12 hours of dual instruction, she went solo, the first woman to do so at Benoni Aerodrome. She was strong apposed to the discriminatory policies that prevented more women from flying.

Muriel Shires

Muriel Shires was born in Johannesburg in 1922 and educated at Kingsmead College. In 1941 she was a pupil pilot at Grand Central where she trained to ultimately become an instructor. Muriel was a member of the SAWAA.

Claire Elizabeth Seawright

Claire Elizabeth Seawright was born in Johannesburg. She was a pupil pilot at the Johannesburg Light Plane Club, where she earned her A licence. In 1935 she won the Star Aviation Competition. Claire graduated with a B.Comm. from Wits University.

Susanne du Plessis

Susanne du Plessis was born in Philipstown, Cape, in January 1890. She was educated at Middelburg and Rondebosch. In June 1937 she earned her A licence at Air Taxi Company in Cape Town. This was renewed in 1938 and 1939 at Pretoria Flying School and rand Central respectively. Susanne was a member of the Transvaal Women’s Civil Aviation Association.

Ethel Louisa Phillips

Ethel Louisa Phillips was born in Sussex, England, in October 1893. In November 1938 she imported a Miles Monarch from England and used it to compete in the Governor-General’s air race from Durban. Ethel was Adjutant of the SAWAAF in Cape Town and presented a bursary for the best all-round cadet. She was a founding member of the Cape Peninsula Flying Club and a member of the Port Elizabeth Aero Club. Ethel was killed when her aircraft went into a spin and crashed at Brooklyn Aerodrome in Cape Town on 19th February 1940. Her A licence had lapsed on the 5th February and had not been renewed at the date of the accident. It was reported that age was understated by at least 12 years on her licence.

Edith D. Watson

Edith D. Watson (maiden name Nicol) was a member of the SAWAAF and an aircraft fitter at AFB Ysterplaat during WWII. She often made her own tools when supplies were short. The tools are on display at the Air Force Museum at Ysterplaat.

Marjorie Juta

Constance Marjorie Juta was born in Cape Town in 1901. Amongst her many accomplishments – horse riding, golfing, big game shooting, author, playwright – she was also a pilot. In 1928 she was riding a horse towards Youngsfield when she saw an aeroplane being unpacked. It belonged to Colonel Henderson, who was starting a flying school. Amongst the people watching this were Sir John and Lady Heath. Marjorie asked him how much it would cost to learn to fly and he replied, “About £60″. A few days later, he agreed to teach Marjorie for the price of the fuel. She spent 10 days with him, often being air sick. After weeks of gales, she finally made her first solo flight in an Avro-Renault. She went on to earn her A licence. At the same time as Marjorie was learning to fly, so were two of her school friends, unbeknown to her,

Marjorie Douglas and Dulcie Evans.

Marjorie, along with Lt. Miss Penny E. Otto, was awarded the Croix de Guerre (avec palmes) for courage as ambulance drivers when they were members of the Mechanized Transport Corps serving in the Battle of France in May 1940. The presentation was done in 1941 in Mombassa, Kenya. When South African women marched to the Union Buildings in 1954, Marjorie was responsible for organising them into ranks of six abreast.

Marjorie Douglas

Marjorie Douglas was one of the first two women to qualify for an A licence in South Africa. She was born in Sea Point, Cape Town, the daughter of Thomas Douglas and Catherina Eleanor Cousins (daughter of Rev. George Cousins). Her brother, Rod, was managing director of De Havilland Aircraft Company in South Africa. She attended St Andrew’s School in Johannesburg and trained as a physiotherapist. Marjorie was a member of the Johannesburg Light Plane Club.

Dulcie Evans

Dulcie Evans was one of the first two women to obtain an A licence in South Africa. Both were trained by Graham Bellin at the Johannesburg Light Plane Club at Baragwanath in 1928. By 1931 the club had nine female pilots besides Marjorie and Dulcie. The nine included Mrs. Haggie and her daughter Diana, Nancy Ferguson, and Mrs. Humble.

Helen Marcelle Harrison

Helen Marcelle Harrison was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1909. Whilst still a child she was sent to St Mary’s School in Calne, Wiltshire, England. During her residence in Eastbourne, she went on her first flight and decided to become a pilot. She secretly took flying lessons until she received her A licence in 1935. While visiting Singapore, she qualified for her seaplane rating. She obtained her B licence at the London Aeroplane Club in April 1936 and in October qualified for her instructor’s rating. Soon afterwards, she moved to South Africa and settled in Somerset West.
In February 1937, Helen was employed by the Air Taxi Company at Wingfield, Cape Town. She became the first female instructor in South Africa and was the first female pilot to instruct pupil pilots under the government’s training scheme. She left Wingfield in May 1937 and joined the staff of the Pretoria Flying School. Helen attended an Instructor’s refresher course at Roberts Heights, becoming the first female pilot to fly military aircraft in South Africa. She was also employed by African Flying Services and worked from Grand Central Aerodrome. Her next employer was Haller Aviation Company in Grahamstown.

Towards the end of the war Helen flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary in Britain. After logging 500 hours she was discharged with the rank of First Officer (class V). Helen returned to Canada after the war, having acquired commercial instructor’s, multi-engine and instrument licences from four countries. Despite her qualifications, she found it very difficult to find a job in aviation. At one point she drove a taxi at Dorval Airport in Montreal. From 1961 until her retirement in 1969, she taught floatplane flying on the Canadian west coast. When she passed away in April 1995, she had logged over 15,000 flying hours.

Helen had a number of surnames. According to her divorce record in South Africa, her maiden name was Testemale. This was a divorce from Louis Botha de Waal in 1939. Various sources give her maiden name as Harrison. In April 1935, according to a legal notice published in The Times, London, she was living at 33 Heathurst Road, Sanderstead, Surrey, when she renounced the surname Barnes and stated that she was to be known as Helen Marcelle Harrison. Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame lists her as Helen Marcelle Harrison Bristol

Winifred Beatrice Beardmore

Winifred Beatrice Beardmore was born in Cape Town in 1914. She attended Wynberg Girls’ High. Winifred started flying in 1938 and obtained her A licence. She was a secretary at Cape Town Airport for a number of years. She served as the secretary of the Cape Peninsula Flying Club, of which she was a founding member. She was also treasurer of the Women’s Aviation Association. Winifred worked for Air Taxi Company when she joined the SAWAAF where she held the rank of Major.

She married Ritchie Tennant, son of Sidney and Daisy. He was a Major with 24 Squadron, SAAF, and died in March 1942.

Betty Rowell Beatty

Betty Rowell grew up in Southern Rhodesia. She was educated in Gwelo and Weybridge, Surrey. In 1938 she settled in South Africa. During WWII Betty joined the SAWAAF in South Africa where she was a Flight Sergeant. She worked in the meteorological office at Youngsfield, as an observer taking weather observations from a psychrometer strapped to the wing struts of a Wapiti biplane and later a Harvard. During one of these flights, Betty noticed a cloud effect downwind of Table Mountain. This cloud creates a specific effect for gliders and became known as Betty’s Wave.
In June 1946 Betty flew solo at Youngsfield after 2 hours 15 minutes dual instruction from Captain P. de Wet, a former SAAF pilot. She broke the record of Joy Cairns of Port Elizabeth, who had gone solo after 3 hours 25 minutes instruction.

After the war, Betty worked for the civil Met office. In November 1954, with 94 flying hours to her credit, Betty bought a new Auster Aiglet and flew it to Ndola, together with a newly qualified private pilot, Dorothy Alton, who was a missionary. Betty sold the aircraft in Ndola and took the train to her parents who lived in Hermanus. She married Pat Beatty who designed and built gliders. Their daughter is Sue Beatty, the helicopter pilot.
Just for the Love of Flying was written by Betty and is the story of her 1954 flight from England to Ndola and other aviation experiences.

Una Eileen Betts

Una Eileen Ross was born in Natal. She was a private pilot and became honorary secretary of the Port Elizabeth Aero Club in 1936. In 1939 she was secretary to the Port Elizabeth Air Rally. The Port Elizabeth branch of SAWAA was founded in May 1939, with Una as a founding member. She married Captain G.C. Betts who served in the RAF during WWI. Una had two brothers in the RAF, one of whom was awarded the Croix de Guerre posthumously.

Master Builder of Cape Town

William J. Morris was born on the 11th February 1826 in Oxon, England, and was employed by the Duke of Marlborough as a game keeper when he developed pulmonary tuberculosis during the severe winter of 1856. His doctor recommended that he move to a sunnier climate.

Not long after this William was accepted, together with his wife and three children, for the Sir George Grey Immigration Scheme. In screening the prospective applicants, there were some basic requirements: good health, sober habits, industrious, good moral character, and in the habit of working for wages (as promulgated by Act No. 8 of 1857). From these regulations it would seem that a person with T.B. would certainly not have been accepted, and as the gentleman in question lived to the grand age of 90, and certainly worked industriously on arrival in the Cape (not conducive to a sickly person) the circumstances appear to dispel such a legend.

Standard Bank, Adderley Street

The journey to the Cape was aboard the vessel named “Edward Oliver” under the command of Master J. Baker. The ship departed from Birkenhead on 10th July 1858, and after 57 days at sea arrived in Table Bay on 5th September 1858. Little is known about the voyage excepting 14 deaths were recorded and seven births took place on board. Listed as the ships surgeon was Dr. Fred Johnson as well as trained teacher Mr. Tom Gibbs who were to care for the passenger’s health and education. It is possible that it was not a pleasant journey for the Morris family remembering that the three children Richard, Kate and William were still young and the latter being under twelve months of age.

The majority of the artisans and tradesmen had been fixed up with immediate employment, as there was a great demand for skilled and semi-skilled men for the new railway track being constructed from Cape Town to Wellington, as well as the harbour construction project in Table Bay.

Not long after Williams arrival he leased some land at the top end of Duke Road in Rondebosch, then a distant suburb of Cape Town, and very reminiscent of Wychwood Forest and his native Oxfordshire. This piece of land was developed into a market garden and the family lived in a nearby cottage.

It was whilst William J. Morris and family were living in Rondebosch that on 29 April 1862 their youngest son Benjamin Charles Morris was born and baptized in St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Rondebosch, whereby his father (William) declared his occupation as a “gardener” and place of residence as “Rouwkoop Road”, Rondebosch. Click here to search these church records.

Benjamin Charles Morris's Baptism Record

Richard H. Morris was still a growing boy of just 8 years old. By the age of 14 years and still living in Rondebosch, he was indentured to Alexander Bain, a shipbuilder/shipwright of 17 Chiappini Street, Cape Town as an apprentice carpenter/shipwright.

Although the new suburban railway from Cape Town to Wynberg had been opened to the public in 1865, Richard was obliged to walk from Rondebosch to the North Wharf in Dock Road, Cape Town as transport was too expensive for his meager earnings. However, he was soon organized in getting a “lift” from the coachman he befriended who worked for the governor of Rustenburg House. Richard secured his free lift on the footman’s place at the rear of the coach, where he would sit in reasonable comfort for the journey which took him to the Castle. Unfortunately this mode of travel did not operate for the return journey home, nor did it operate during the winter months, so Richard just had to “jog”.

It would appear that the last train from Cape Town to Wynberg in the afternoons was scheduled for departure from the city at 5pm, but needless to say as an apprentice, Richard was still working at the shipyard. Despite the arduous circumstances of his youth, the enforced exercise proved most beneficial a few years later when he entered into competitive sport i.e. race rowing, especially as Richard was just over 5ft. tall and weighed less than 60 kilos.

During 1870, the Bain’s Shipyard was taken over by Mr. Christopher Robertson, as specialist in sailing ships and wooden masts, and as Richard was learning his trade with three other young apprentices, he was taught the art of shaping a sailing vessel’s mast with the hand spokeshave. The firm from then on was known as “Robertson & Bain” which continued operating in Dock Road, Cape Town for several decades, specializing in the supply of wooden masts for sea-going sailing ships.

Before carrying on with the life story of Richard H. Morris it is important to mention that the Anglican Church of St. Johns on the corner of Long and Waterkant Street had been built in 1856. It was at this church that during the 1860’s Richard became a choir boy and in 1872 a Sunday School Teacher.

In 1876 the Templar rowing club started in Cape Town where Richard and his brother were both members and enthusiastic oarsmen.

The christening of the personally constructed fast rowing boat by Richard came as no surprise by the owners of Robertson and Bain. The name of the boat was called the “Alpha”.

In 1882 the construction of a row of cottages built by Wm. J. Morris and his brother Richard (father & son) was started in Upper Church and Longmarket Streets and were to be called “Lorne Cottages” in honour of the Lorne Rowing Club which was started in Cape Town in 1875 and named after the Scottish Firth near Island of Mull of Kintyre.
On Saturday 6th June 1885 Richard married Helen Ann Lyell in St. John’s church. The newly married couple went that day to “Lorne Cottages” to make their permanent home and raise a family.

Richard and Helen Ann Lyell's Marriage Certificate

Helen was in fact a little girl of ten years old when she first encountered Richard. That was when he was in his twenties and he was late for work and was running along the road when he accidentally knocked over a little girl. He tried to console her, and from this time onwards a very special friendship developed.

It was in the same church that Richard’s younger brother William John married Matilda Jane Altree on 25th August 1886 and a younger brother married in St. Paul’s in Rondebosch on 14th September 1887. It is interesting to note that St. John’s Church was deconsecrated after the last evening service in June 1970 as the ground and building was sold, after much pressure from business interests, for an astronomical amount, and the church was completely demolished to make way for the present modern commercial complex known as “St. Johns Place”. Click here to search these church records.

In 1884 Richard Morris as cox and his brother of the “Templar Club” had their first win as champions winning both “Maiden Oarsmen” and “Championship of Table Bay” events.

In June 1878 Richard H. Morris went into partnership with friend & neighbour Chas. Algar from Rondebosch, who had known the Morris family for quite some time. Little known to Chas was that Richard was to be the future brother-in-law to his sister Bertha Algar.

The first workshops of Algar and Morris were at 39 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town. (between Long and Loop Street ). But misfortune was the cause of the break-up of the working partnerships as the 30-year-old Chas Algar died suddenly on 4th October 1883.

Banking institutions were now playing a major role in the economy of the country and in 1883 Richard Morris landed the contract to build the Standard Bank in Adderley Street for the amount of £32,000 – the two storied building was designed in neo-classical style by Charles Freeman. Two additional floors were added on by Morris in 1921.

Richard made a repeat performance in May 1885 wining the 2 mile race in 15 minutes and 55 seconds.

March 1886 saw the arrival of Richard and his wife Helen’s daughter Kate as well as Richard wining the “Champion of Table Bay” for the third consecutive year.

Eleven years after the death of Chas Algar, Richard Morris secured the construction contract for the new City Club in Queen Victoria Street for a sum of £22,000.

Between the years of 1888 and 1895 Helen Morris gave birth to Edith, Bertha and William Henry Morris, the only son to Richard.

By 1896 Richard H. Morris had become known as a builder of distinguished quality and workmanship and the fame of R.H. Morris had spread. Herbert Baker had met Richard on several occasions and took immediately to this man who built with such fine quality and precision. It was then that R.H. Morris secured the prestige contract for the restoration of “Groote Schuur”, after the building had been extensively destroyed by fire.

Richard H. Morris by 1899 had workshops in both 52 Rose Street and 173 Longmarket Street. In 1902 Frank Lardner joined the staff of R.H. Morris and in 1911 he became the manager.

Father, William James Morris, died at the old age of ninety years on 22 March 1915. In 1919 the company of R. H. Morris (Pty) Ltd was officially formed to cope with the new lumber contract in Knysna. It was from this time onwards that R.H. Morris was renowned throughout Southern Africa for the excellent workmanship and quality in carpentry all starting from old Mr. Morris himself. School desks, church pews and altars were manufactured in their joinery shop for years to come. The items were delivered as far away as Botswana, Rhodesia, Zambia and Mozambique. Along with the desk and school equipment Morris ink wells and stands were also produced.

The Morris workshop also manufactured one of the very few original gramophones that were ever produced in South Africa and which was called a “melophone”. Many of these items can be seen on display in the Educational Museum in Aliwal Road, Wynberg today.

Sadness unfortunately halted joy when Richard and Helen Morris celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on 6th June 1935 and then on 24 July Helen tragically passed away at home as well as Bertha, wife of Benjamin Morris, on the 6th December.

Richard at the age of 83 years old in 1936 retired from the construction industry and handed the reigns over to Frank Lardner. Frank ran the company until 1942 when he passed away. The business was then handed over to a young civil engineer, Clifford Harris. The existing premises of Rose and Longmarket Street were finally vacated when the furniture workshops and Building /Civil Engineering were consolidated and new premises built in Ndabeni.

In April 1949 Richard Henry Morris succumbed to natural causes and passed away at the age of 95 years and 5 months.

This was certainly not the end of an era for R.H. Morris Pty Ltd – as in 1952 the company was given financial backing for the New Municipal Market at Epping in Cape Town by the British Engineering giant Humphreys. The firm is no longer associated with the family. Later the company was taken over by the Fowler Group and is now in the hands of Group Five Construction who have retained the image of the name in perpetuating the fine record of the founder Richard Henry Morris.

Many of the other buildings in Cape Town which were either completed by or alterations were performed on, include the University of Cape Town, Diocesan College in Rondebosch, Music School at U.C.T. as well as many Sir Herbert Baker buildings.

In 1995 when much of this research was done I managed to find a second “melophone” and an original “Morris” desk for sale which ex-Managing Director Frank Wright was extremely grateful for me finding these wonderful company artifacts. Shortly before the final documents were found I also located the grand nephew of R.H. Morris who very kindly gave me the medal won by Richard in the “Championship of Table Bay”. This is now on display in the boardroom of Group Five Construction in Plum Park, Plumstead in the Cape.

Authors: Heather MacAlister and H.W Haddon

Samson Rickard Stuttaford

Samson Rickard Stuttaford born in Helston, Cornwall, July 1833 and died in April 1914 London, England, departmental store pioneer, was the son of humble Cornish parents, Samson Pote Stuttaford and his wife, Anne.After attending school in Plymouth, Samson worked as a retail shop assistant in London before immigrating to the Cape in 1854 and three years later began a retail business in Cape Town. Here he opened his own draper’s shop in Harrington Street, moving to Darling Street three years later, where he was joined by his brother, William Foot Stuttaford. In 1867, when Prince Alfred – Queen Victoria ’s youngest son – paid an official visit to the Colony, S.R. Stuttaford and Co. were appointed to supply goods to the royal party. In 1872 the firm moved again, this time to a portion of the Adderley Street site which it still occupies, and a Welsh immigrant, William Thorne, was taken in as a partner. At the same time a buying office was opened in London.

Over the next few decades Stuttaford greatly expanded the firm’s range of products to include ladies’ fashion goods, bicycles, cameras, and optical instruments; mail-order operations also were greatly extended and in 1894 the Stuttaford catalogue ran to over 700 pages. Meanwhile, a year earlier the firm had opened a branch in Pritchard Street, Johannesburg.

In November 1898 Stuttaford’s became a public company, with a share capital of £350 100. By that time William Foot had withdrawn from the enterprise; Thorne became chairman and Samson took up permanent residence in England as London director; his eldest son Richard who was born 13th June 1870 was appointed managing director in Cape Town.

After that Samson also became the owner of the well-known English men’s clothing business of Isaac Walton (London and Newcastle), and gained a major interest in Charles Baker, men’s and boys’ ready-to-wear clothiers of London.

In 1909, five years before his death, Stuttaford arranged for 3 000 preference shares in Stuttafords Ltd. to be donated to the South African College for ‘library purposes’; this gift was to play a major role in building up the library of what was to become the University of Cape Town. He married Elizabeth Bawden on 16th April 1858 in Cape Town.

Below is a list of staff members, who in 1957, had worked at Stuttafords for 20 years or more:

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography

Born in Culmstock, Devonshire, England on 25th April 1808 and died in Southfield, Plumstead in the Cape on 22nd July 1901. Cape civil servant and politician was the second of the four sons of George Southey (born 1777) and his wife Joan Baker (born 1782). He was educated at a grammar-school in Devon, and in 1820 he left Gravesend for the Cape Colony in the Hennersley Castle, one of a party of forty-nine British Settlers from Somersetshire headed by his father.

Having landed at Algoa Bay in May 1820, the family settled on a farm near Round Hill on a branch of the Kowie River between Bathurst and Grahamstown. In 1824 Richard went to Grahamstown as a clerk to the merchants Heugh and Fleming but, tiring of this dull life, he determined to seek adventure in the interior. First, in 1828, he volunteered with others to man the military outposts on the frontier while the regular troops were on special service in Kaffraria, and was stationed at Fort Beaufort. The next year he was off on a hunting expedition into Pondoland and Bomvanaland but, finding this less profitable than he had envisaged, decided to settle as a farmer in the eastern districts. This he did at first on the family farm near Trompetter’s Drift, and then, after a short spell of speculating in stock with Grahamstown as his base, on the farm Kap River, which he and his brothers had bought and where he stayed until the outbreak of the Sixth Frontier War in December 1834.

He immediately organized a volunteer force of farmers, and took a very active part in the war. First he was a lieutenant of the Albany mounted sharp-shooters; then, early in 1835, he became commander of Colonel Harry Smith’s guide corps. It was while this corps was guarding the Xhosa paramount chief, Hintsa, that Hintsa was shot on 12th May 1835 by one of Richard’s younger brothers, George Southey (born 1810, died 7th November 1867), a lieutenant in the corps. At the end of the war Richard was appointed resident agent and justice of the peace to the amaNdlambe at Mount Coke, serving in this capacity until the reversal of Sir Benjamin D’Urban’s frontier settlement and the abolition of this office in 1836.

Having lost a great deal in livestock and other property, the Southeys decided to move from the frontier to the inland division of Graaff-Reinet. Here, for ten years, Southey concentrated on his private affairs. In 1843 he went into partnership with William Shaw, and stocked the farms Klipgat, Modderfontein and Knoffelhoek with horses, cattle and sheep. While Shaw acted as manager of the business, Richard was left free to practise as a law agent in Graaff-Reinet.

When Sir Harry Smith returned to the Cape as Governor and High Commisioner in 1847, he remembered Sothey’s earlier service and, appreciating his knowledge of frontier affairs, offered Richard the post of private secretary, an office which he held till 1849. Thus he accompanied Smith on his reconnaissance of the interior early in 1848, met the Boer deputation led by A. W. J. Pretorius, was present when Smith proclaimed British sovereignty over the Transorangia in February 1848, and was present at the battle of Boomplaats in August.

Richard did not leave the Sovereignty with Smith, for he had been appointed president of the war-tribute commission, which investigated cases of men who had been engaged in the recent rebellion. The extremely difficult task of investigating and levying fines throughout the Sovereignty Southey performed with tact and conciliatory success. He remained in Bloemfontein until Major H. D. Warden had been re-installed as British resident and continued as commissioner until his duties were transferred to the Governor’s private secretary in 1849. Apart from his active role in dealing with Moshweshwe and the affairs of the Basuto border, Southey played a vigorous part in the latter months of 1848, countering by all means possible a recrudescence of the influence and activity of Pretorius and his supporters south of the Vaal River. Southey also took the opportunity of meeting A. H. Potgieter, Pretorius’s political rival in the territory beyond the Vaal, at Potchefstroom, and found Potgieter ready to discredit Pretorius, and willing to allow British authority to be re-asserted in the Sovereignty. Very deftly Southey succeeded in persuading the leaders of the Over-Vaal, who were still officially regarded in Cape Town and London as British subjects, to accept assurances of non-intervention in the affairs of the Over-Vaal in return for abstention from attempts to exert political pressure within the Sovereignty.

He returned to the Cape Colony in January 1849. At the end of 1849 he was appointed civil commissioner and resident magistrate of Swellendam. But the Eighth Frontier War broke out and he was called upon to perform many special duties, including the enrolment of Natives to serve in the war, and acting for the commissariat department. In April 1852 he was asked to act as secretary to the government during the leave of absence of John Montagu, and, apart from a brief interruption, he held this post until May 1854. It was in January 1853 that the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Charles Darling, suspended Southey from office on the grounds that he had connived at the irregular dispatch of executive minutes. The Auditor-General, William Hope, succeeded Southey. It was typical of Southey’s character that he did not let the matter rest there. He sailed for England, where he appealed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Duke of Newcastle, who ordered his reinstatement. Meanwhile, in November 1853, Montagu had died, and the now permanent vacancy was filled by Rawson W. Rawson, formerly Treasurer and Paymaster-General of Mauritius.

After again serving a short term as civil commissioner and resident magistrate of Swellendam from May 1854 to February 1855, Southey was appointed secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor in Grahamstown (March 1855). When the Auditor-General, Hope, died in 1858, Southey was appointed by Sir George Grey, and acted in this capacity between January and April 1859. However, a quarrel between the Governor and the Colonial Secretary, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, on the question of official patronage, resulted in the appointment of E. M. Cole to the auditor-general-ship, and Southey returned to his post as secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor. By this time his wide and varied experience of colonial affairs, the public regard for him, and his ability and efficiency had clearly destined him for permanent office in the central administration. When, in August 1860, Rawson went on leave, Southey again acted as Colonial Secretary and made clear his opposition to the quick introduction of responsible government. His first budget speech, in 1861, showed financial acumen. Thus, when the Treasurer-General, Harry Rivers, died in 1861, Southey was recommended to succeed him and was appointed to this office in January 1862. As a member of the executive government he was so efficient that, on the retirement of Rawson in July 1864, Southey was appointed Colonial Secretary, an office which he held until December 1872, when the Cape was given responsible government.

The period during which Southey was secretary to the government was one of the most momentous in the history of the Colony. It coincided with the governorship of Sir Philip Wodehouse and questions such as responsible government, alternate parliaments, the annexation of British Kaffraria, new advances in Native policy, and the difficult management of colonial finances. Southey’s voluminous correspondence with frontiersmen, administrators, missionaries, farmers and speculators, and particularly the frank semi-official letters preserved in the Southey Collection in the Cape Archives, clearly illustrate his views and the prominent part he played in advancing the colonial frontier. He was still a determined expansionist who believed firmly that imperial control over the natives of the whole sub-continent offered the only assurance of a unified, peaceful and progressive Native policy.

Southey considered imperial control of Basutoland the focal point of his expansionist programme. In the crucial years 1865-68 his attitude and correspondence emphasize this single aim, and, once the annexation had been accomplished, he was equally determined in his support for Wodehouse and the contention that Basutoland should not be transferred either to the Cape or to Natal. Similarly, he supported both Grey and Wodehouse in their policy of White colonization: Grey’s policy in the Ciskei and Wodehouse’s policy in the areas beyond the Kei. When the Cape Legislature and the British government withdrew their support, Southey still opposed a Bantu Transkei and awaited with anxiety Britain ’s decision about British Kaffraria. Like Wodehouse, he advocated its annexation to the Cape, partly as a base for a British advance up the coast and partly as support for his schemes for White settlement further north. His Native policy, if it can be called this, gained for him and his immediate superior severe censure from the Cape Parliament , and misgivings in Whitehall, but he persevered in the belief that opposition would give way before the need for long-term security.

Southey regarded the diamond discoveries of and after 1867 as another opportunity for the extension of British authority, and a possible means of ending the depression in the Cape Colony. He had much in common with David Arnot, whose motives were perhaps less altruistic than those of Southey Persuaded by Arnot that the extension of British rule was essential, Southey made direct representations to the British Colonial Office, particularly after the Transvaal proclamation of 1868.

But he found his hands tied by the unwillingness of both High Commissioner and Whitehall to intervene unless approached by both parties in the dispute. Only after Wodehouse had left in May, 1870, did the Southey-Arnot negotiations proceed more rapidly. Southey pressed Arnot to persuade the Griquas, like the Basuto, to request British suzerainty, for he well knew the imperial government’s aversion to accepting responsibility without authority. He collected evidence on boundaries and Griqua rights, assiduously preparing the way for British annexation while at the same time steering commercial interests at the Cape into an attitude favourable to annexation. When this annexation came in 1871 it was due largely to the preparatory work which Southey had done at his key post in Cape Town.

Throughout his period as Colonial Secretary Southey was a firm opponent of responsible government, alienating not only a large section of Parliament but even members of the Executive Council such as William Porter. Like Wodehouse, Southey believed that the Cape Parliament’s obstructionist attitude was irreconcilable with its demand for responsible government, and so he backed the Governor in all his schemes for financial reform and, in later years, in the alternate schemes for constitutional reform. His opposition to responsible government came to a head when Sir Henry Barkly took over from Wodehouse. Barkly was committed by imperial resolution to the adoption of responsible government, a fact which did not prevent Southey, backed to a large degree by the eastern districts, from opposing the measure. When the change was made at the end of 1872, Southey retired from the colonial service. He was created a C.M.G. and presented by the colonists with silver plate.

His retirement was brief; in December 1872 he was asked by Barkly to accept the lieutenant-governorship of the crown colony of Griqualand West, and this post he held from January 1873 until August 1875. This involved the difficult task of negotiating boundaries disputed by the O.F.S. and working out the details of administration for a territory whose future was uncertain and whose restless digger population at Kimberley even staged an abortive miners’ revolt in 1875. At this time his expansionist views forced on him the belief that the occupation of Bechuanaland would round off British influence to the north. But this was an aim achieved only a decade after Southey had left Griqualand.

After his turbulent and harassing administration Southey returned to the eastern districts, only to enter politics in September 1876 as the Member of Parliament for Grahamstown after the death of George Carver Clough. He joined the opposition to the ministry of John Charles Molteno. When Parliament was prorogued in August 1878 Southey’s public career ended, and he finally went into retirement near Wynberg. He maintained, however, for many years more his interest in public affairs, serving as president of the Edinburgh Exhibition Committee in 1884, and being elected a colonel of the Cape Town voluntary artillery. In 1891 he was made a K.C.M.G. in recognition of his services to his country.

Southey was an ardent Freemason; he was initiated at the Lodge De Goede Hoop, Cape Town, in 1848, and had, by 1862, become provincial Grand Master of South Africa, later holding other high offices as well in Freemasonry. Southey was buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Wynberg. He was twice married. In 1830, he married Isabella Shaw (†1869), the youngest daughter of John Shaw, by whom he had five sons: Charles William Southey (1832-1924), founder of the Culmstock horse stud and M.L.C. for the eastern districts, 1858-1859; John Henry Oliver Southey (1836-1876), government land surveyor and farmer in the Queenstown district; William Robert James Southey (1839-1909); Richard George Southey; and Juan Smith Southey, a Cape civil servant. In 1872 Southey married Susanna Maria Hendrika Krynauw (†1890), daughter of a descendant of the French Huguenots, Anthony David (David Anthonie) Krynauw, of Krynauw’s Hof, Grabouw, and his wife Helena Geertruida Gie. Susanna was a younger sister of Daniel Krynauw, an authority on Cape heraldry, and a sister of Helena Gertruida Johanna Krynauw, who married Charles Davidson Bell in 1859. After the second marriage there were two children, Helena Georgina Southey (unmarried) and Cecil Henry Southey, a farmer of East Griqualand.

A photograph portrait of SOUTHEY by Frederick York appears in the Cape Monthly Magazine, VIII (Jul.-Dec. 1860), ‘Our portrait gallery, no. 21′; and there are other portraits in the collection of the S.A. Library, Cape Town. There is a portrait of SOUTHEY in the McGregor Memorial Museum, Kimberley; and a bust (1969) for the 1820 Settler Memorial at Grahamstown by I. Mitford-Barberton. Portraits of SOUTHEY also appear in A. F. Williams, Some dreams come true (Cape Town, 1948); R. W. Murray, South African reminiscences (Cape Town, 1894); and Wilmot (infra).

Family Tree of Richard Southey

George Southey born 5th December 1777 baptised Culmstock, Devon, England 12 January 1778, left Bristol 19 December 1819 on board Kennersley Castle arrived in Algoa Bay 2 May 1820 where land 30 miles from Grahamstown was allocated to them died Grahamstown, July 1831 son of John Southey and Elizabeth Potter married Culmstock, Devon 10 September 1800 Joan BAKER born circa 1782, † Grahamstown 16 October 1835.

b1John born 23.11.1801 in Culmstock 13.12.1801 † Culmstock 19.11.1818

b2 Sophia born 9.8.1804 Culmstock 6.1.1805 † 4.9.1880, divorced Peddie, Eastern Cape married Grahamstown 28.9.1826 Joseph STIRK born Headingley, Yorkshire 13.12.1801 died Grahamstown 22.7.1881 Wesleyan Cemetery, Peddie son of John Stirk and Mary Prockter

b3 William born 6.9.1806 Culmstock, Devon 19.10.1806 died “De Puts” (now Lansdown), district Middelburg, CP 14.11.1882 buried “De Puts” married Graaff-Reinet 10.10.1839 Henrietta Geddes BAIN born 2.2.1823 Graaff-Reinet 11.5.1823 † “Quagga’s Valley”, district Graaff-Reinet 24.10.1842 daughter if Andrew Geddes Bain and Maria Elizabeth von Backstrom

c1 Henrietta born 26.9.1840 † 7.5.1854

c2 William Geddes born 13.3.1842 “Bloemhof’, dist. Graaff-Reinet 31.1.1843 † 7.5.1854

b4 Richard (Sir) born 25.4.1808 Culmstock, Devon 12.6.1808 t Southfield, Plumstead, Cape Town 22.7.1901 buried St. John’s, Wynberg, Cape Town married circa 1830 Isabella SHAW born England circa 1810, † Cape Town 21.6.1869 (John-dg) married second time Nov. 1872 Susanna Maria Hendrika KRYNAUW born circa 1842 † Southfield 14.2.1890 daughter if Anthonie David Krynauw and Helena Gertruida Wilhelmina Gie

c1 Charles William born Grahamstown 18.7.1832, Senator died “Culmstock”, Schoombee 30.7.1924 buried Middelburg, CP married St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Cradock circa 1864 Georgina Sarah Maria GREAVES born district Cradock 6.12.1848 died “Culmstock”, Schoombee 7.8.1923 † Middelburg, CP daughter if George Duly Greaves and Elizabeth Mary Gilfillan

To find out more buy the book SA Genealogies Volume 12 from GISA

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography

Image Source: National Library

(Sir Harry) Soldier and governor. Whittlesey (England)
(28.6.1787 – London 12.10.1860)His father was John Smith, a surgeon, and his mother Eleanor, daughter of the Rev. George Moore, of Whittlesey.

Educated by the Rev. George Burgess at Whittlesey, Harry (as he was known all his life) was commissioned as ensign in the Rifle Brigade (at that time the 95th Foot) on 17 May 1805. He saw service in South America in 1807, fighting at the siege and surrender of Monte-video, and was with the British force that surrendered at Buenos Aires. From 1808 to 1814 he fought in the Peninsular War, and he was wounded at the River Coa in 1810. In 1814 and 1815 he served in North America in the war against the United States. After this he was appointed assistant quartermaster-general under the Duke of Wellington and fought at Waterloo.

He was promoted lieutenant on 15 Aug. 1805, captain in 1812, major in 1814, and lt.-colonel in 1815. To escape the atrocities that followed the fall of Badajoz (17 April 1812), two Spanish ladies fled the city and threw themselves on the mercy of two young British officers, John Kincaid and Harry Smith. The younger lady was a convent-bred fourteen-year-old girl, Juana Maria de los Dolores de Leon (27.3.1798 – 10.10.1872), whom Harry Smith married a few days later. She was with him throughout the Peninsular campaign and was involved in many adventurous situations; she was in Belgium during the Battle of Waterloo and accompanied her husband to India and South Africa. Although brought up as a Catholic, she conformed to the Church of England from the time of their first residence at the Cape. This was indeed a most successful marriage, although they had no children.

In 1825, accompanied by his wife, Harry Smith sailed with his regiment for Nova Scotia, where he became aide-de-camp to the Governor, Sir James Kempt. ‘I thus learnt much of the administration of a Government, which was afterwards of the greatest possible use to me when administering a Government myself’, he wrote. He was appointed deputy quartermaster-general in Jamaica in 1827 and in 1829 deputy quartermaster-general at the Cape of Good Hope.

Stationed at Cape Town from 1829 to the end of 1834, he was sent to the Eastern Province on the out break of the Sixth Frontier War, with full civil and military powers. He rode post from Cape Town to Grahamstown in six days, starting on 1 Jan. 1835 with one Hottentot attendant. He proclaimed martial law, strengthened the defences of Grahamstown, and reoccupied Fort Wiltshire. After the arrival of the Governor, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, Smith served as second in command.

From February to June he was occupied in clearing the country of the enemy, and when the Governor returned to Grahamstown, Smith was appointed to take charge of the new Province of Queen Adelaide with headquarters at King William’s Town, where he was joined by his wife. They worked hard at settling the province and civilising the Xhosas until Lord Glenelg reversed D’Urban’s policy, ordering Queen Adelaide Province to be abandoned and Andries Stockenström to succeed Smith on the frontier. Smith was promoted to the rank of colonel on 10 Jan. 1837. He was much fêted in Cape Town for his zealous, humane and enlightened administration on the frontier. He left the Cape in June 1840 on being appointed adjutant-general to the British forces in India.

He was knighted (K.C.B.)for his part in the Gwalior campaign and for his services at the Battle of Maha­rajpur (Dec. 1843); in 1845 and 1846 he saw much fighting against the Sikhs, won a great victory at Aliwal, where he led the final charge in person, and commanded a division at Sobraon. In 1846, for his services in India, he was given the Grand Cross of the Bath and created a baronet, with the unusual appella­lation ‘of Aliwal on the Sutlej’. Having returned to England in 1847, Sir Harry was made a freeman of London and Glasgow, received an honorary degree at Cambridge, and as from 9 Nov. 1846 was promoted major-general. On 3 Sept. 1847 he was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony, High Commissioner and commander-in-chief. With Lady Smith he landed at the Cape on 1. Dec. 1847, The Seventh Frontier War had just ended and Smith left Cape Town on 11 Dec. for King William’s Town to meet the Bantu chiefs. On 17 Dec. at Grahamstown he issued a proclamation greatly extending the boundaries of the Colony, and on 23 Dec. 1847 at King William’s Town, in the presence of the Xhosa chiefs, he proclaimed British Kaffraria a British sovereignty.

On this occasion he made each chief touch either the staff of peace or the staff of war and kiss his foot. Another great meeting of chiefs was held on 7 Jan. 1848 when Sir Harry made them take an oath to obey the laws, to cease the practice of witchcraft, to abolish the sin of buying wives, to listen to the missionaries, etc. In order to impress on them what would happen if they broke their word, he blew up a wagon full of explosives.

On 28 Dec. 1847 the Governor annexed the port and village of East London to the Cape Colony, and in 1848 settled discharged soldiers in the new villages of Ely, Woburn, Auckland and Juanasburg. Having proclaimed the territory between the Orange and Vaal Rivers a British sovereignty and determined the form of government, he defeated the Boer forces tinder Comdt.-Gen. Andries Pretorius at the Battle of Boomplaats.

Although strongly opposed to the use of the Cape as a convict settlement, it was Smith’s duty as gover­nor to give effect to the Order in Council establishing it as such. In forwarding to Earl Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies, numerous petitions against the proposal, Smith hoped that ‘the decision of rendering this Colony a penal settlement, so objec­tionable to myself and obnoxious to the inhabitants, may be revoked’. When the Neptune arrived with convicts aboard it was his duty to settle them, and he refused to send the Neptune away, but agreed not to allow the convicts to land until he had made further representations to Earl Grey.

His determined stand against adopting the extreme measures demanded by the Anti-Convict Association brought him much unpopularity at the time, while his refusal to allow the convicts to land brought him a severe reprimand from Earl Grey, who later admitted that in the circumstances Smith could not have acted otherwise.

When Smith thought that he had brought the frontier to a state of tranquility and had returned to Cape Town, the Eighth Frontier War broke out. He hastened to the front, where he was besieged at Fort Cox and broke through the hordes of savages and arrived safely at King Williams Town. He took part in the fighting in the early months of 1851 and continued to direct operations until he was superseded as governor and commander-in-chief by Sir George Cathcart. There were many differences of opinion about the recall of Smith, but he was greeted as a great victor. Promoted lt.-general in 1854, he commanded the Northern military district in England from 1854 to 1859.

Sir Harry Smith was small in stature and slight in build. He was a great soldier, energetic and decisive, a strict disciplinarian, but humane to the men under his command – a man of firm purpose, but of a romantic temperament and given to theatrical gestures. Not only his sterling qualities but also his eccentricities endeared him to both soldiers and civilians.

Various places in South Africa have been named after him or his wife or after places with which he was associated: Harrismith, Fauresmith, Smithfield, Ladysmith, Ladismith, Juanasburg, Aliwal North and Whittlesea. Sir Harry received many decorations and medals.

Juana Smith

Sir Harry Smith

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

Old Map of Harrismith, Free State

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

Born: Bloemfontein, 02 April 1882; Died: London, England, 19 October 1944.Cabinet minister, author and soldier, Reitz was the third of five sons, his mother, Blanka Thesen, a member of a Norwegian family, of Knysna, being the first wife of Francis William Reitz, chief justice and afterwards president of the O.F.S. Reitz was given the family name of his paternal grandmother, Cornelia Magdalena Deneys.

He was educated in Bloemfontein. At the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War he joined the Boer forces at the age of seventeen, saw service at Ladysmith, and accompanied Gen. J. C. Smuts on his famous raid in the Cape Colony (1901-02), of which it, in 1929, wrote a stirring account in his autobiography, Commando. Refusing to take the oath of allegiance at the end of the war, he endured three harsh years abroad, mainly in Madagascar, but was persuaded by Mrs J. C. Smuts to return in 1905, and in 1908 established himself as an attorney in Heilbron.

During the First World War he served on Smuts’s staff in German South-West Africa, and in German East Africa commanded the Fourth South African Horse. Going overseas in 1917, he was twice severely wounded on the western front, was mentioned in dispatches, and ended the war a colonel commanding a battalion of the First Royal Scots fusiliers.

On his return to South Africa he, in 1919, married Leila Agnes Buissiné Wright (1887-1959), of Wynberg, who subsequently became the first woman member of parliament in South Africa. They had two sons.

Entering politics as a member of the South African party, Reitz represented Bloemfontein South in 1920, and, a few months later, Port Elizabeth, having been ousted in a general election by Dr Colin Steyn. Subsequently, in 1929, he represented Barberton. Though he lacked the benefits of an advanced education, Reitz through experience and sheer force of personality, proved a good debater. Appointed to the Smuts cabinet, he, as minister of lands, introduced legislation relating to several important projects, notably the establishment of the Kruger national park.

Out of office from 1924 to 1933, Reitz joined a firm of Johannesburg solicitors and, both personally and on business, travelled widely, visiting the Rhodesias, the Belgian Congo, and, more especially, the Kaokoveld in South-West Africa. It was then, in 1929, that he wrote Commando, the first of his literary successes.

Back in office in 1933, he was appointed minister of lands as a member of Gen. J. B. M. Hertzog’s coalition cabinet, subsequently be-coming minister of agriculture and forestry in 1935 and minister of mines in 1938. From 1939 to 1943 he was minister of native affairs and deputy prime minister in Smuts’s war-time cabinet. In 1943 he went to London as high commissioner for South Africa, an office that he held until his death in 1944. In South Africa he was regarded as an enterprising cabinet minister, and in the United Kingdom as an admirable representative of the Union of South Africa.

Publication of Commando was followed by that of Trekking on in 1933, and of No outspan in 1943. The first two narratives end with the First World War; the third, a lively mixture of history, politics, travel and sports, covers the next twenty-five years. All three were marked successes, Trekking on achieving a reception as enthusiastic as that of Commando. Both were regarded as classics of adventure, not merely because of their stirring themes, but because of the personality of the narrator and a forthright sincerity of style that matches admirably its material.

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography, Volume I. Copyright: Media24 Digital

Image: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

Colonel Deneys Reitz

Benjamin Osler also known as Bennie born in Aliwal North on 23rd November 1901 and died in Cape Town on 23rd April 1962, Springbok rugby player, was the son of Benjamin and Isobel Osler. Bennie’s ancestors have been traced back to Edward Osler, a prominent merchant and ship-owner, with a hint of piracy involvement.Bennie went to various schools, including the Western Province Preparatory School, Rondebosch Boys’ High School, and Kingswood College, Grahamstown. From 1921 he read law at the University of Cape Town, qualifying in 1925. During this period he represented the University on the rugby field, but from 1926 to 1930 played for Hamiltons and from 1931 to 1933 for Villagers. He acted as captain of all three clubs and on various occasions captained Western Province, which he represented from 1922 to 1933.

He gained his Springbok colours in 1924, when he played against Ronald Cove-Smith’s British team in all four test matches. Four years later (1928) he also played in all four tests against Maurice Brownlee’s New Zealand touring side, and in 1931-32 captained the Springbok team (which went to the British Isles) in all the tests of that series. He rounded off his rugby career in 1933 by playing in all five tests against the visiting Australians, acting as captain in the second test. He had scored forty-six points in the seventeen consecutive tests in which he played Osler is generally regarded as the best fly-half South Africa has produced so far (1979), a man who could dictate play. The decade during which he was a Springbok is even called the ‘Osler Era’ by sports writers, owing to his influence on the game. While he played for South Africa the country won all the test series, his province carried off the Currie Cup throughout, and each club for which he played won the Grand Challenge Cup. He had no equal as a tactical kicker and it was in particular his almost perfectly-placed corner kicks to wings which gained many tries for the Springboks. He could launch long outside kicks from any corner and as a drop-kicker he often clinched matches. Nobody was more feared by opponents than Osler.

He was also an attacking fly-half who could send his full-backs off with incredible speed when circumstances permitted or, if not, could himself shoot through an opening like lightning. Autocratic on the field, he would tolerate no passes from scrumhalfs that were above waist height; if the centres next to him blundered even once, he usually mistrusted them afterwards and would rather kick the ball – a course of action which can be regarded as one of his few weaknesses. As a captain he attached great value to tactical planning before a match, and he believed in strict team discipline.

During the Second World War (1939-45) Bennie went with the South African forces to East Africa where he contracted both malaria and amoebic dysentery which probably contributed to his relatively early death.

Unlike other great players Osler had little interest in coaching or the administration of the sport when he retired. After working as a salesman for a long time, he eventually went farming on a small scale, at first near East London and later near Bellville.

The brothers Bennie and Stanley Osler

He married Gladys Hobson and had two children. Photographs of him appear inter alia in The Bennie Osler story and Springbok saga (both infra).

Osler’s Cornish Connections

Benjamin. Falmouth born circa 1776 son of Edward and Mary (Paddy) Osler of Falmouth and husband of Jane (Sawle) Osler born 1775. father of Susannah, Stephen Sawle, Mary Anne, Amelia, Elizabeth, Sarah, Joseph, Jane, Benjamin, Phillippa and Julia. Leader of W.J. Cornish 1820 Settlers. Returned to Cornwall with wife and some members of his family 4.1822.

Stephen Sawle born in Falmouth 27th September 1804, died 21st October 1867 in Simonstown. Son of Benjamin and Jane (Sawle) Osler and husband of Catherine Osler (born Dakins, formerly Wright) of Llaway Glen, Montgomeryshire, Wales. 1802-1881. father to Benjamin, James Goodriche, Catherine and Jane; and also Christina, dtr of Orange Kleyne (Klein). Founder of the Osler family in SA.

Susannah Osler born in Falmouth circa 1800. daughter of Benjamin and Jane (Sawle) Osler married 1st John Coleman (1792-1829) of Cock’s party at Reedfountain, Eastern Cape on 17th June 1820, 2nd time to Mr Fineran from Quebec.

The small Cornish party, under the leadership of Benjamin Osler of Falmouth, Cornwall, sailed in the ‘Weymouth’, which left Portsmouth in January 1820. Having arrived in Albany so that he might supervise the first arrivals, Sir Rufane Donkin considered that a more central and accessible site should be chosen for the administration of the settlement. Ignoring the fact of Graham’s Town’s better defensible position and that it was already established as a military base, the site he chose on 9 May 1820, was just west of Thorn Ridge. This was to be the centre of the civilian administration and also the seat of magistracy. Sir Rufane declared it was to supercede Graham’s Town as the capital town of Albany, and it was to be named Bathurst in honour of Earl Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies. In his enthusiasm Donkin allotted plots to the Earl and also his own sons and nephews, while 500 acres of Glebe were allotted for a clergyman and chaplain of the Church of England, the vacant post to be filled in due course by a suitable man. The post of administrator, however, was filled by the transfer to Albany from the Western Cape of Capt Charles Trappes.

By 9 June the Cornish party of Benjamin Osler was enroute to their location from Algoa Bay. Osler’s party, it had been decided, was to be located some 12 miles southwest of the new town of Bathurst, and halfway to the Kowie River mouth. This was in the curve of the Mansfield River, a left bank tributary to Kowie River, today known as Grove Hill. Osler named the location Pendennis in memory of the similarity the area bore to his Cornish hometown of Falmouth and its Pendennis Castle.

Pitching their tents for protection from the cold winter nights and the intermittent drizzle, the party immediately set to clearing the land so that ploughing and sowing of their first crop could be done. Soon after arrival, they were to be joined by a young man, John Coleman, 28 years of age and a gardener from Cock’s party who had sailed with them in the Weymouth. Coleman was not altogether an unexpected arrival, for he had made his intentions clear earlier and on the 17 June, he was married by the Rev William Shaw to Benjamin Osler’s eldest daughter, Susannah. Theirs were the first marriage in the whole settlement.

The proximity to Bathurst of Osler’s location at Pendennis meant that these settlers were closely concerned with the early development of that town. Lots were already being offered for sale and the Colonial Secretary had ordered erection of a prison. The building of the Bathurst Residency got under way by October. All this activity afforded employment to bricklayers, carpenters, slaters, sawyers and stone-masons, who were able to direct their energies into a rewarding field while they waited patiently for the crops to ripen. Hopes for the future were bright, but by the end of November it became apparent that ‘rust’ had affected practically all the wheat sown since their arrival and the crops were useless. With little resources to withstand such a disaster, the administration decided that the issue of rations was therefore to be continued, but they became an additional charge against the deposit money. When that had been exhausted, it was a liability for future repayment. By Christmas Day that year, the circumstances of many were desperate and prospects for the future grim.

Undaunted by these hardships and their considerably reduced circumstances, the settlers sought what work they could find. The Bathurst Residency, long delayed in its completion by the number of unfortunate disputes that had arisen, was still an avenue for employment. William Mallett, a mason with Osler’s party joined with Thomas Marham of Bethany, James’ party’s location, and together they contracted on 5 November 1821, for slating and plastering work on the Residency to the value of £16. 10. 0d.

Lots had continued to be sold at Bathurst and houses built on them, but again, as a year earlier, ‘rust’ began to appear in the wheat and by the end of the year it was apparent to all that the wheat crop had once again failed. This was now a major calamity. Though rations were continued, they were reduced to half portions. Despite what the settlers had previously received, and even for those in dire need who had no money or hope of ever redeeming what they already owed, a parsiminous administration ruled they were only to get half a pound of rice per adult per week. Meagre indeed, but to ameliorate their difficulties, the stringent pass laws restricting settlers to their locations were relaxed and many now went in search of work, not only in Albany, but further afield if they could afford to get themselves there.

Lord Charles Somerset had by now returned to the Cape from his bride hunting furlough in England, and once again took up the reins of office as Governor.

He was furious to find the number of rather illogical decisions taken by Sir Rufane were actually detrimental to the scheme as he had originally envisaged it. He thus immediately set about reversing them. Bathurst was demoted from its pre-eminent position, which consequently caused another sharp depression when the Magistracy was summarily removed to Graham’s Town and the many settlers who had invested their small capital in establishing business premises in order that they might better serve the community, now faced ruin and impoverishment as it was quite evident the town of Bathurst would stagnate. It did and many then returned their attention to trading. Fairs were permitted at Fort Willshire and to these came the native tribesmen from beyond the Colony’s borders. James Weeks was one of the Cornish settlers who took to offering the more conventional manufactures. He and others traded tobacco and cloth in exchange for hides and skins, ivory, cut wood and simple items of use that could either be sold again in Graham’s Town or taken down to Algoa Bay and bartered there for the farming implements in such short supply. But the air of depression continued, it was no good having the basis for an exchange of goods if the majority the inhabitants, both settler and tribesmen, were so impoverished that goods and hard cash were virtually an unknown commodity amongst them. Osler left his location in April 1822 to return with his wife and five younger children to Cornwall. What remained of Osler’s party slowly broke up. Headed by John Dale, it began to disintegrate further. Osler’s daughter, Susannah and her husband decided to make their home at Simonstown where they were to be joined by her brother, Stephen Sawle Osler, who had elected not to return to Cornwall. By the beginning of 1824 William Mallett had moved away to Uitenhage and matrimony was to call Joseph Richards to a date in Graham’s Town where on 23 September that year, he was married to Sarah Attwell, the seventeen year old daughter of Richard Attwell of Crause’s party. Grace Weeks had died and the end of the year saw Charles Pearse returning to England to rejoin his wife with and family who had been unable to embark with him.

The small party of Cornish settlers, comprising only eleven men and their families at the outset, was already diminished in number by nearly half, and the few that did remain on Pendennis were to become so insignificant numerically that from then on their story melds with that of the settlement itself, conversely reflecting their great adaptability and absorption into the new country.

Source:
Dictionary of South Africa Biography Vol 5.
Cornish Immigrants to South Africa by Graham Dickason.
History of South African Rugby Football (1875 – 1932) by Ivor Difford

Further reading and resources:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bathonia/OslerBathFrancisConnections.htm

Osler Library – http://www.mcgill.ca/osler-library/

Acknowledgements: Michael Bath

NANA  SIR OFORI ATTA, Natural Ruler of the Gold Coast, West Africa, is the Paramount Chief, and has a number of chiefs under him. He is well educated and is a good and eloquent speaker. Nana Sir Ofori Atta is an advocate of progress, but he is anxious that his people should progress along the right lines. Yet he is opposed to breaking contact with the past. He has no wish to cut himself and his people away from the traditions of his country. He is anxious to prove to the world that before the advent of European administration Africans had their own civilisations. It is his firm belief that the customs and institutions of Africa should not be impaired in any way, save only that some will require to be polished and improved as time goes on. Nana Sir Ofori Atta takes a very active part in the politics of his country. He is highly respected by the Government officials of West Africa and the Colonial Office in England. His people and chiefs look upon him as a father, they love him and they respect him. He is, in fact, popular with all sections.

Mrs. E. XINIWE was born and educated at Middledrift, Cape Province. She married the late Paul Xiniwe, of Kingwilliamstown, They lived together at Port Elizabeth where the husband was teaching. After some time they went to Kingwilliamstown where they established a general dealer’s business and hotel, later branches of this business were established at East London and Port Elizabeth. Mrs. Xiniwe, like her husband, proved to be very good in business. Was also a very good musician with a fine soprano voice. She and her husband toured Europe with a native choir. They sang before Royalties. When Mr. Xiniwe died Mrs. Xiniwe took full control .of the business which continued to prosper in her charge in spite of her husband’s death. She was the mother of three sons and two daughters to whom she gave a good education, and a start in business. Her property was a big double-storey building on the Market Square in Kingwilliamstown. As her husband was an African pioneer in business, so she was the first African women to control successfully :such vast business interests in South Africa. Mrs. Xiniwe had many friends both in South Africa and England. She was the mother of Mrs. Skota, wife of the editor of this book, and Mrs. B. Tyamzashe, and Messrs. B. B., M. and G. Xiniwe. Her death was a great blow to many people in the Cape Province.