Ancestry24

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

Born in 1882 or 1883 in Forli, Italy; died in 4 March 1956 in Cape Town. Lyric tenor and lecturer in singing.Displaying exceptional gifts at an early age, Giuseppe Paganelli learned to play the cornet during his school years, and obtained a professional diploma at a music school in Venice at the age of seventeen. In 1902 he enrolled at the Academia de Santa Cecilia in Rome and studied the theory of music and composition, until his harmony lecturer advised him to study voice production with the famous teacher, Antonio Cotogni. He was accepted as a student and trained for four years. After an Academy concert he was engaged by a Roman concert impresario to sing the tenor role in The Barber of Seville, and subsequently scored one opera success after another in Italy, North and South America, Greece, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

In 1926 he accompanied the Sistine Chapel Choir as a solo tenor on a world tour. After their successful performance in Cape Town, Prof. W. H. Bell offered him the position of singing master and opera producer at the S.A. College of Music. He accepted and his first presentation was The barber of Seville, in which he and Timothy Farrell sang the leading roles. This was followed by other operas like Don Pasquale, La traviata, The secret marriage (Cimarosa), The marriage of Figaro and La sonnambula (Bellini). He was seriously ill in 1945; shortly afterwards he composed a passion-play based on Da Vinci’s Last supper, which he directed, with Dirk Lourens singing the tenor role. Among his students were his wife Eva Gain, and the soprano Albina Bini, who regularly took part in his productions. After the Second World War, Fiasconaro joined the College as an instructor in singing and started a school of opera under the supervision of Prof. E. Chisholm, thus continuing Paganelli’s pioneering work.

Source: Profile: Giuseppe Paganelli. The Cape Argus, 4 Feb. 1950

Mr. ROSEBERRY BOKWE, son of the late Rev. John Knox Bokwe, was Dorn at Ugie, Griqualand East, 30 years ago. He was educated at Ugie and later at the Lovedale College, where he obtained the Junior Certificate. He then entered the South African Native College and matriculated. Was appointed teacher at the Ohlange Training Institution, Natal, in 1925. Is now in an English University studying medicine. Mr. Bokwe, like his father, is a very good musician.

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.

In European history, Tshaka, King of the Zulus, is described as a cruel king. His name is sometimes written ” Chaka.” He is the king who founded the Zulu nation. Before the organisation of the Africans in Natal, Zulus were not known as a race, but were common people.  Tshaka’s qualifications were that he was a warrior of great ability; a very good fighter and as such won the favour of Chief Dingiswayo, of Mtetwa, who had more influence than any other chief. Although Tshaka did not belong to the tribe of Dingiswayo, he lived with his mother’s people, the Mhlongos, who were under Chief Dingiswayo. When Tshaka’s father, Senzangakona, died, Tshaka, who was not the rightful heir, was helped by Dingiswayo to defeat his brother. Tshaka’s impies were victorious and he became the successor to his father. Tshaka taught his warriors the stategies of war; organised strong regiments and when Chief Dingiswayo died Tshaka brought his impies to fight Dingiswayo’s tribe which he conquered. As a result of his victory he became very ambitious, looked about him and resolved to form a great empire. He did not hesitate to subdue the tribes that were around him. His warriors fought right and left, until the word ” Tshaka ” made everybody tremble. He was the first king to rule from Pongolo to the Cape. The tribes that did not want to come under Tshaka’s rule fled. The Fingoes went south where they met the Xosas, and for eighteen years Tshaka was King and Emperor of Natal and Zululand. It was one of Tshaka’s laws to his regiments that no young men and women of a hostile tribe should be killed at war. His instructions were that they should be captured alive, brought to Zululand and be made naturalised Zulus. These young naturalised Zulus were used as soldiers to fight any tribe Tshaka wished to defeat, and finally he succeeded in building a great nation. He had absolute discipline in the land. He was King, judge and administrator, also a philosopher, a poet and a musician.

When the European settlers arrived in Natal in 1823 they found Tshaka reigning. He did not illtreat them, but extended to them every hospitality. He requested .the foreigners to teach his people their language so that they could be understood. The Europeans had come to trade, fight and conquer, and it must have occurred to Tshaka that they were strong and clever since they had conquered the waves of the ocean and landed in Africa. A number of men were selected to be sent to Europe to be taught, but for reasons unknown to Tshaka, these men were never sent to Europe but were kept at the Cape where they did not learn much.

Tshaka’s reign came to an end in 1828, when he was murdered by his brothers who instructed his chief induna, Mbopa, to stab him. They had not forgotten that Tshaka was not the rightful King. Though fatally stabbed, Tshaka had the opportunity, before he died, to inform his brothers and murderer that they would never rule over the Zulus, but that the white men would rule them. Tshaka’s brothers were not as friendly to the invaders as he was, and, it seems, were also ignorant of Tshaka’s dealings with them, for it was clear that they would have killed the white nien had they known of the friendship that existed between Tshaka and these white settlers. Tshaka was a thinker–on one occasion he killed a beast and painted the floor of a hut with its blood. This he did without being seen by anybody, and then summoned all the witch doctors in the land to a great feast at his kraal. When the doctors were assembled he took them one by one to the hut with the blood on its floor, and asked them the cause of the blood. It is said many so-called doctors failed in this test.

Tshaka was a very busy man, being his own Field-Marshal, Minister of War, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister, Administrator, Political Agent, and King. He was also engaged in research work. This is indeed a big task for any man, even under the most favourable circumstances. That Tshaka, like William the Conqueror, was a great man nobody can doubt, and to state that he was a cruel King is to pay a man who broke virgin ground and founded a nation the poorest compliment. Had there been no Tshaka there might never have been a proud Zulu nation. In Tshaka’s day there was no need to have an army of detectives and a force of police. Every man and woman had perfect respect for law and order. Tshaka was well built, tall and indeed a fine specimen of a man. Strict as he was, hundreds of civilised Zulus to this day swear by Tshaka. Whatever may be said, the Zulus are indeed a fine people, well developed physically, good natured, full of humour, and as brave as. lions.

Mr. JAMES W. A. TYAMZASHE, elder son of Rev. Gwayi Tyamzashe, was born at Kimberley, 11th March, 1879. Attended the Dutch Reformed and Perseverance Schools at Kimberley and finally went to Lovedale in 1896 where he passed his Third Year Teacher’s and School Higher Examinations of the Cape of Good Hope University. He also read for the Matriculation Examination. Passed the Second Year Teachers’ Examination with honours in 1898. Taught at Lovedale, Mnggesha, Mafeking, Tigerkloof, Uitenhage and finally at the Pirie Mission Station, where, owing to failing health, he was granted a Government pension. Mr. Tyamzashe was an exceptionally good pianist and organist. Composed several songs and his notes on Tonic Solfa and Staff Notation were published in the Education Gazette, and were very highly commented upon by the then Superintendent-General of Education for the Cape. One of the Inspectors of Schools considered him the best of native teachers in school method and music. Prior to his death, which took place at the early age of 52, he was appointed messenger of the court for the district of Kingwilliamstown. By his death an accomplished scholar and musician was lost to the African nation. He married Mina Elizabeth, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Xholla, of Grahamstown, who survives him with eight children.

Rev. Tiyo Soga, the first of the African race in South Africa to become an ordained minister of the Gospel, was born in 1829, at Gwali, a station of the Glasgow Missionary Society in the Chumie Valley, Cape Province.
His father was one of the chief councillors of Gaika. A polygamist and husband of eight wives and a father of thirty-nine children, and personally a remarkable man. Tiyo’s mother was the principle wife of Soga, and Tiyo was her seventh child. Soga was killed in the war of 1878. His wife became a Christian, and young Tiyo began to attend school in the village, taught by his elder brother Festire. From the village school he was sent to Mr.. William Chalmers who discovered that Tiyo was a bright boy.

In 1844 the United Presbyterian Mission sent him to Lovedale. At Lovedale he slowly but surely crept to the head of all his classes. About 1846 he went to Scotland with Mr. Govan, and continued his studies at Inchinnan, and afterwards at the Glasgow Free Church Normal Seminary. He returned to Africa with the Rev. George Brown. Became an evangelist at Keiskama and at Amatole,. and later returned to Scotland with Mr. Niven about 1850. He entered the Glasgow University in 1851, and in 1852 he began to attend the Theological Hall of the United Presbyterian Church at Edinburgh. He completed his course in 1856, and on leaving, his, fellow-students presented him with a valuable testimonial in books, as a mark of universal respect and esteem. Having passed the final examinations, he was licensed at the end of that year by the United Presbyterian Presbytery of Glasgow to preach the Gospel. The following year he married Miss Janet Burnside in Glasgow.

This lady stood faithfully by her hunband’s side through all the difficulties of his life. The late Rev. Tiyo Soga was the father otf four sons and three daughters. His sons are well known in South Africa. They are Dr. John William Soga, M.D., C.M., Glasgow University, and Mr. Allen Soga, also at Glasgow University, who at one time acted as Assistant Magistrate at St. Marks. The Youngest son, Mr. J. F. Soga, is a M.R.C.V.S. of Dick College, Edinburgh. Tiyo Soga’s eldest daughter died in 1880. The second is engaged in mission work in the Cape Province. The youngest is a music teacher in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Rev. Tiyo Soga returned to South Africa in the year 1857 and proceeded to Peelton, in the district of Kingwilliamstown, a station of the London Missionary Society. Later he moved to Emgwali, where, along with the Rev. R. Johnson, who had been a class-fellow in Edinburgh, he set about reorganising the good work that was broken by the wars of the previous years. Rev. Soga succeeded in converting a very large number of his countrymen. Then came the task of building a church. To do this he visited a number of larger towns to collect funds. He had already preached to many European congregations with great acceptance. In 1860 lie received and accepted an invitation to an audience by H.R.H. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh who was in Cape-town at the time. Rev. Soga travelled extensively in the Cape Province and his work grew wonderfully, but in 1866 he had to cease work for a time on account of ill-health. During his illness he completed his translation of the Pilgrim’s Progress into Xosa. He also composed a number of hymns of great merit, including the famous Lizalis’ idinga lako (Fulfil Thy promise, 0 Lord).

He gradually became worse until he could move about only with the greatest difficulty. In 1868 he rendered most valuable service as one of the Board formed for revising the Xosa Bible, which was translated by the Rev. W. Appleyard. In 1867 the Rev. Tiyo Soga moved from Emgwali to Somerville at the request of the late Chief Kreli and continued there in spite of all difficulties to preach, organise and translate. In 1871 a change for the worse came about as a result of getting thoroughly wet while visiting Chief Mapasa on mission work. He died on the 12th August in the arms of his friend, the Rev. Richard Ross, at the age of 42.
The Rev. Tiyo Soga was neither an enthusiast, a fanatic nor a bigot. He was a true Christian, a thorough gentleman, who died in the service of his Master.
From the many articles that appeared in the Press at the death of the Rev. Tiyo Soga, we can only insert the following two:
“This gentleman-for in the true meaning of the word he was, to all intents and purposes, a perfect gentleman-was a pure-born Kaffir. His father was, and still is, a councillor of Sandile’s tribe, and an avowed heathen, in point of fact, a “Red Kaffir.” His son, however, as a youth, was sent to the Missionary Institution at Lovedale, and there distinguished himself so much by his keen intelligence and his ready aptitude for learning, that he was sent home to Glasgow to prosecute and complete his studies at the University of that place. He went through the full curriculum required in Scotland from candidates for the ministry, and in due time was licensed and ordained as a minister-missionary of the United Presbyterian Church. As a preacher, he was eloquent in speech and keen in thought, and talked with a Scottish accent, as strong as if he had been born on the banks of the Clyde, instead of those of the Chumie. He took a deep interest in everything calculated to advance the civilisation of his countrymen, and did so with a breadth of view and warmth of sympathy, in which mere sectarianism had no part. Among his accomplished works we may mention his translation of the Pilgrim’s Progress into Kaffir, which so high an authority as Mr. Charles Brownlee pronounces to be a perfect masterpiece of easy idiomatic writing. His services as one of the Board of Revisers of the translation of the Bible into Kaffir have been invaluable, and will now be seriously missed. In general conversation and discussion on ordinary topics he was one of the most intelligent and best informed men we ever knew; and many an hour have we spent with him, in which one utterly forgot his nationality ar his colour.”–The Cape Argus.
” The Kaffir youth who six years before left the shores of South Africa, little removed above his Christianised countrymen, having just as much knowledge as fitted him with efficiency to conduct a station school, and just as much power over the English language as enabled him to be a tolerable interpreter to the preacher yet ignorant of the Kaffir language, now returns to his native shores and people, thoroughly educated; an ordained minister of the Gospel, an accredited missionary of the Cross, and with a knowledge of and mastery over the English language which has often surprised those best capable of judging. A wonderful transformation has been wrought during these few years. In him there comes a new power into the Colony and Kaffirland, if the Colony and Kaffirland only recognise and receive it. The mental grasp and the moral capability of the Kaffir race are demonstrated in him. Men cannot despise the Kaffir race as they contemplate him. Without race-pattern or precedent, the first of his people, often strangely alone, surrounded and pressed upon by peculiar difficulties, he has manfully and successfully wrought his way up to the comparatively high level of educated English Christian life-the conquered has become the conqueror.”

” And how was the Rev. Tiyo Soga received when he returned to his native shores and people? Perhaps it was to be expected that in the Colony there should be manifested a great amount of caution and reserve, and that not a little suspicion should be entertained regarding him. Perhaps, too, it was only natural that, with some, special enmity should be aroused, and words of strong indignation used. We can excuse those men and women now who said we had made him specially to order in Scotland, and that he was the finest specimen ever imported of home educational cramming. This was a new thing under the South African sun. The thieving Kaffir, the marauding Kaffir, the irreclaimable Kaffir, a University-educated missionary of the Cross. This was too good to be true. At least men would wait and see. It was a mere experiment, and time alone could tell how it would succeed. Few went to the length of foretelling the time, near at hand, when he would have reverted to the red clay and blanket and all the heathen ways of his people.
” But while there was much of this’ reserve and caution everywhere, and not a little such doubt and suspicion, he was received by all missionaries and by all ministers of the Gospel-with one or two painful exceptions-with open arms and with most joyous hearts. From one end of the Eastern Province to the other there were only a few so-called professing Christians-miserable specimens surely of the disciples of the Nazarene-who did what they could, by indignant word and threat, to keep him out of the pulpits of the churches to which they belonged, and who absented themselves from divine service, because, despite them, he should conduct it.

” To the fine sensitive disposition of Tiyo Soga, to his generous manly nature, all such manifestations were very galling, and very difficult to bear. He had strength of mind and he had charity and forebearance enough to rise above them, and wisdom to make of them new incentives to his life-work.”
The colonists, generally, soon came to know him. He was watched with lynx-eyes everywhere on the frontier. Whenever lie preached or lectured, or addressed, such criticising crowds flocked to hear him as was the experience of no other South African missionary of his day. Nobly he stood this public test. He came out of the fire, in public estimation, purer and stronger than ever before.”-The Journal.

Rev. Arthur G. Nyovane was educated at St. John’s College and went to St. Columbus as a Catechist. Worked at St. Columbus and Capetown until his ordination as a deacon. Went to Kimberley and worked for a number of years at the Holy Cross and St. Paul’s Missions. As a student of Divinity he was versed in Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Translated some books and took a keen interest in politics and history. A hard worker and an honest and straightforward man, and was also a very good speaker. Mr. Nyovane was very prominent among his people, who respected him very much. He took a keen interest in the education of the young people. He was a good speaker and was often invited to speak at public meetings Fond of sport and was a fine tennis player, and president of the Duke of Wellington Cricket Club at Kimberley. Was also a very fine musician. He died in the Diocese of George where he worked among the natives.

Mr. SAUL MSANE. Born in Natal, where he received his early education. Later he was sent to Healdtown Institution and there completed his education. Was a good musician, and possessed a deep bass voice. While touring Europe with the Zulu Choir in 1892, he made many friends, especially in England. On
his return to South Africa, he was appointed compound manager of the Jubilee & Bali:bury Gold Mining Company, Limited, in Johannesburg. After many years he retired and took an active part in politics. Was Vice-President of the African National Congress. Also a member of the I9I3 deputation that was sent to England to protest against the 1913 Lands Act, then a Bill. Was a very progressive man, and took great interest in the education of his people.
At one time was editor of the Abantu Batho newspaper in Johannesburg, and one of the best of Zulu writers. A man of sound judgment, many seeking his advice on important matters. In the Wesleyan Methodist Church he took prominent part, and in addition to being a local preacher, he was also choirmaster. Had a devoted wife to whom he owed many of his successes. In the latter part of his life he was a labour-agent. It was while he was engaged in this work in Zululand that he took ill and died.

Mr. STEPHEN B. MPAMA was a Zulu by birth, but his home was in the Transvaal. After he completed his. education he was employed as a clerk, and later became a clerk and interpreter in the Magistrate’s Office, Potchefstroom, Transvaal. After some years he retired from the Civil Service and became clerk at the Robinson Deep Gold Mine. In Johannesburg, Mr. Mpama soon became popular. Was a member of the Bantu Men’s Social Centre, Joint Council of Europeans and Natives, and a great lover of music. He died in Johannesburg in 1927.