World War 2 was a horrendous time for boys being sent to the front line and most of South Africa’s schools can be proud of the service that past pupils  during this time.

Today we pay tribute to the men of Maritzburg College that fought for King and Country. A list of over 600 Old Boys from the College are now available here.

Foreword to Old Boys on Service

December 1941

Do you remember “Mr. Chips”! Do you ? remember how the Latin lesson went on during a bombing raid and how the old man found a humorous reference to the barbaric Hun in Caesar The school went on; the routine of lessons and “prep.” and games continued. Its ideals were good, its sons the finest flowers of the Empire. So, too, in the quiet of the Park your school goes on. The rising bell still rings at 6 a.m. Roll-call at 6.30 is followed by early “prep.” and so the routine of the carefree schoolboy days is pursued. But there is this difference. 1 think I see a greater seriousness of purpose among the senior boys than I remember in the years 1926-1931. Possibly most of us are wondering what the future holds, not for ourselves, but for our friends and that way of life we have learnt to love. Certainly it is no exaggeration to state that the Old Boys on service ore continually in our thoughts. How to follow your fortunes is evident, I think, from the contents of this Magazine. Mr. Valentine and the Old Boys’ Association have spent hours and days in trying to truce Old Collegians on service, and we dedicate this record to you all. Here we hope you will find news of your former colleagues and much of interest in the affairs of the School.

You will be interested to know that the old Chemistry Laboratory has been converted into a Refectory. We believe this Refectory scheme, one of Mr. Snow’s ideas, will prove a boon to day boys. The former Physics Laboratory will be used next year for Geometrical and Engineering Drawing. It should prove an ideal room for the purpose. I am glad also to be able to tell you, that the Main Building is to be renovated and enlarged in the near future. An ablution block, with modern bathrooms. showers, lockers, towel-racks, etc.. is to be built on to Clark’s. It will link up with the “Crows’ Nest” and there will be a direct entry from the Sixth Form Dormitory. These improvements have long been needed, and we believe you will rejoice to hear of them.

The School sends you greetings. May God guard you and assist you in all your undertakings.

J. W Hudson

Extracted from the Maritzburg College Magazine No 72 December 1941

We open up a book of names and we see a name that looks nice and there we have it.

A hundred thousand years ago, the cave man ancestors of ours did not have convenient books. When they wanted to call their next cave door person they called Oog. Sometimes they had to call the next cave door person but one and they did not want Oog so they decided on a new name Boog. Eventually it got around the cave village that that man should be called Oog and that man Boog and in return you might be called Loog.

As the cave settlement grew,  there would be a Oog son and a Boogson and a Loog son, and years later, the man who was responsible for the provision of dairy products might get another type of name, he would be called Milk because he brought the milk and the chief hunter would be called Meat because he brought that product.

The man who lived furthest from the settlement, on the hill would be called Hill, and the man on the edge of the lake, Lake. Each person got an identifying name of some kind because as you communicate you have to communicate with a name.

Then as the settlements got bigger the idea of second names came about. Not for everyone but for a lot of people. There still was a Boog, but now he had children and grand children. People like the Jews and the Arabs called their offspring with the original fathers name, Little Boog son of Boog. Tiny Boog, son of Little Boog of the tribe of Boog.

Other people did not recognize the progenitor and just called the new child Oog the Milk or Boog the Meat.

As sophistication took hold, names got further from the original Boogs and Oogs, and grew to have actual meanings.

Jews continued to name their children with the father’s name as a surname, but a trend was happening in some countries for a formal surname to be used. In Spain many Jews took on surnames and, just as we do today, they had two sets of names, the Hebrew name ben name, and the Spanish Name del ..   In Eastern Europe the trend remained that a child had a name been after his father and that was his name. In most of Europe the vast majority of people did not have formal surnames.

In the 1700’s the rulers of countries such as Prussia, parts of Russia, parts of France, realized that in order to provide themselves with adequate income, they had to tax their subjects. It was difficult to tax their subjects efficiently if their subjects did not have names that they could list, and check.  After England’s Doomsday book  was compiled specifically for the reason that William needed to know who was paying how much tax, it was generally realized that a, if you knew peoples names you could make formal lists, and b, that if they did not have complete names, that is, a name with some sort of surname, you could not make lists. So gradually among the crowned heads a series of laws were made which got people to adopt surnames.

Eventually, maybe because they knew that the Jews were more likely than others to have cash as opposed to having non taxable assets like pigs and chickens, the Jews were brought into the ring of having to take on surnames.

The giving of surnames to Jews has been going on for 300 years and as recently as the late 19^th century there were still Jews without surnames. So if you were to meet your great grandfather and tell him with pride that your name is Shirl Metz or Mary Davidson, he would look at you and say, so what…because in all likelihood he would not know that surname. My maternal grandfather and his brother left Poland in the late 19^th century and they effectively walked most of the way to England. They might have wanted to go to the Goldene Medina of America but they settled in England. They were asked” What is your surname” and they asked, in turn, “What is a surname?”

When the concept of a surname was explained to them, they said that they had come from a town called Shedletz so they would allow their surname to be Shedletzsky – from the place of Shedletz.  This name gradually became Seletsky and when my uncles became educated and professional men they toned it down to Sedley. This happened at that time in America, England and South Africa with hundreds of thousands of people. So don’t be surprised when you meet your great grandfather and he doesn’t know who you are. Learn your Hebrew name so that you have a better chance of introducing yourself.

The rulers of the countries appointed inspectors whose job it was to check that everybody had an acceptable surname and if they did not, to give that person a surname.

There are 4 basic types of surname.

The patronymic, which is an inherited family name

The trade name, which is the occupation practised by the person.

A place name which is the town or area whence he came.

A descriptive name, describing his looks or his abilities or his reputation.

English surnames also use Habitat such as Lake, Mountain or Bush.

There are also Jewish surnames which are Matronymic, like Gittelsohn , son of Gittel, because possibly the father was not known, as in case of rape.

Some surnames are also acronyms, made up of initials.

If the inspector was in a good mood, or if he received a nice payment from you, he would allow you to have a nice surname. One of your choice. If he did not get a backhander, or if he was in a bad mood, you would get the horrible surname that he wanted you to have.  Krombein. Mr crooked leg. Mr Gross. Mr Fat. Or Mr Dinner. Mr thin. Mr Zaika = -Mr Stutterer. Mr Heiker= Mr Hunchback or Mr Cripple.A good name was Greenbaum, Green Tree, Rosen=Roses, Rosenbaum, Appelbaum.

The descriptive name. Lange, Korte, Dinner, Gross. Long or tall, short, thin, fat. Kluge – clever, Gootte – good, Ehrlich trustworthy. Gluck is lucky and Glick and Glicksman fall into the same group, and Shein is beautiful.

Those of who who know Ronnie and other members of the Chorn family – a Chorn is a sloe which is a blue-black  fruit and anyone with a dark colour, complexion, eyes or hair, could be named as a Chorn. You know the song Achachornya. Same root. If anyone knows Martin Gelb, or the Gelb family, Gelb is a Russian word meaning Yellow. So blonde hairs people are sometimes called Gelb.

The patronymic is the inherited name. On Shabbat when a man gets called up in shul he gets called up by his traditional Hebrew name. David ben Yossel ha Cohen.

From the tribe of Levi, in the Torah, Moses selected his nephews, the sons of Aaron to be the Cohens, the priests, of the Jewish people. If you are a Cohen you are a descendant of this caste. Your name could be Cohen or Kahn or Kagan, or Caganoff or Kahanowitz. Why. If you settled in Russia, in the Russian language there is no sybillant H sound so Cohen – remember many people pronounced it Kayen, became Kagan. In Germany Cohen took on that country’s way of speaking and became Kahn.

In Russia Cohen, meaning a priest, took on a name Kaplan because a Kaplan in Russian is a chaplain. Perfect match.

Kahanowitz is the son of a Kahan, or son of a Cohen, because owitz like Mac and like Ben, means son of.

Some Jews went to Germany and did not want to have too Jewish sounding a name. they found that there is a synonym for the word Kahn. Kahn in German is a ship and Schiff is too, so some Kahns became Schiff.

There are many variants.  I mentioned surnames made up of Initial letters, and I will get to that but I must mention the name Katz. At some stage there was a gentleman called Cohen who achieved or did a remarkable deed so he was rewarded with the “title” of Cohen Tzaddik – a righteous Cohen. Kohen Tzaddick  is Katz.

We have the Levy family, from the tribe of Levi, the people who ran the whole religion business in the Wilderness and later in the Temple. Levy and Levin and Levinsky are all the same name. The famous American secretary Lewinsky is of that family.

We have many inherited names such as Davidowitz, the son of David, Abrahamson, Isaacson, and to be sure these are hereditary names but their history in the same family does not go back as far as the Levis and the Cohens.

One of the things that I have been promising to do and will one day, is to draw up a chart showing the twelve tribes and show each ones emblem, that Reuben was a wolf, one was an ass, one  a camel, and each tribes stone, the sapphire and the onyx and ….I just don’t have them to hand, and then the translation of each stone so that we can see what families have inherited those names as their hereditary surnames. Some of the Epsteins and Einsteins and other Steins are people who have obtained surnames relating to the ten other tribes.

The trade name is the next on our list. In the Tanach we find a Sandler – a sandal maker or a shoemaker. More recently we have called them Schusters. I know of cousins, the Fleishers and the Rezniks. Anything unusual? They have the same meaning – they are both butchers. They are not butchers but their surnames  both mean butchers. Shneider, Krawitz and Chayat are all tailors. We know of Aptekers, who were originally pharmacists, Machanic,   My surname is Plen. In Russian a Plen also a 4 letter word, means a prisoner of war. If you look at the history of Estonia you will see that after one of the wars in the region, the surviving prisoners of war were repatriated to Estonia and  left to settle there. A lot kept their title of Plen as a surname.

A Furman was a carter, he led a horse cart. What was a Wasserman?  In those old days before we had water brought to our houses with piping reticulation we had men like Mr Wasserman who would sling a pair of buckets over their shoulders and bring water to you. A Tocker was a turner or a worker in wood more skilled than a carpenter. A tucker was an English occupational name meaning a person in the cloth trade who fulled the cloth. The name Fuller had the same job. Most likely Jews with the name Tucker had altered the name Tocker to fit in in the West.

The names Garber and Gerber. So close that you would think they are the same but Garber is a person who binds things up, like sticks for firewood or wheat stalks. A Gerber is a tanner.

Now here is an interesting occupational name. Tranter. I have a client whose surname is Tranter. He is English and he is not Jewish. What does his name mean? A tranter was a salesman who traveled around in a dilapidated vehicle. What is a tranter in Yiddish. A dilapidated vehicle.

Someone wrote to me and said his name was Casper, although it was not a Jewish name, could I give them the origin and meaning.

My references show that the name Casper was originally associated with the Three wise men, Caspar, Balthusar and Melchior. Do you remember that we used to have a Chief Rabbi Casper in South Africa.

It is used as a surname today mainly in German and Polish, spelled Kasper and the name comes from the Persian word, for a treasurer. Makes sense hey, treasurer into a Jewish name.

A name I could not find an answer for is Medalie. There was a family living in the East Rand with this name and I did not even think it was Jewish until I was told so. Then a member of the family wrote and asked me what it means. They had some histories but wanted to know if I know. I wrote back to them and said, Tell me your story.

One of their ancestors did something of great benefit to their king, they thought in France, and was rewarded with a medal. When surnames were introduced the man was given the surname D’Medalle, the man of the medal. I could not find a better story or any other translation, so I like it.

Place names. Just as my grandfather called his surname after his home town, so many other people did too. Some from where they came, and some from where they would have liked to have come from. Goldberg is a place in Germany. But a very small place. If all the people named Goldberg had come from there it would have had to be a country. Hurwitz, and with Hurwitz you have Gurwitz because when you are in Russia there is no H sound, and Horowitz and Gorowitz all have the same place name, a town on the German border. Also Ginsburg. The letters ofsky at the end of a name mean from the place of and often show the shtetl that they came from.

In addition you have Moskow, Copenhager, Metz, and Berlin.

And in the last set of names, there are Matronymics and Acronyms. If a woman had been raped, say during a war, she would not know the name of her attacker so her child would receive her name: Gittleson, Faigelson.

And then we have names like Bank, Back, Sack, Sacks and Katz. For various reasons, they had titles and the titles were initiallised and made into words. Bnei Kodesh, sons of holiness, were martyrs and their children were honoured with the title.

I have used several sources for my research. One book which I had to leave in Johannesburg was the Surnames in the Russian Empire. I have this Dictionary of  surnames. And of course I use the net but I have not yet found a satisfactory place on the net to always look up meanings.

This book was recommended by the experts. I had to have it. So I went to exclusive Books and they quoted me on special order R450. In those days that was a lot of money for a book. I was going to England soon thereafter so I waited until I got to London. I had read that Foyles was the largest second hand book store in the world so as soon as I had unpacked I made a beeline for Foyles. But Foyles is now a new books only store. And they were selling this book for sixty pounds, at that time that was R360. I walked out of the shop wondering if I could negotiate with my wife on our spending money, and then I saw OXFORD press across the road, the publishers. They had the book for sixty pounds but they did not have a new copy, only a shop soiled one which they could let me have for twenty pounds. I hugged that man.

Every now and again after I have written an article in a newspaper or read my lecture to a group like you, I get people coming back to me and asking what their name means. I am just going to run through a few.

A Wechsler is a broker or an agent.

Biederman is an honest person

A Segal is a segan Levi, a deputy priest.

Sroka. Comes from the Polish word for a magpie and infers an insolent person, like a magpie can be seen to be cheeky or insolent.

Incidentally many Jewish names come from Jewish occupations relating to the synagogue. Chazan is the leader of prayer. Melamed is a teacher. Sopher is a scribe. And from that indirectly comes Schreiber, the German word for a scribe which is also a Jewish occupational name.

The name Fink is derived from the name of a bird, the finch. The name Finkelstein. I am sorry. It is some kind of stone but I cannot relate a Finch to a stone.

A woman wrote to me and her name is Skoll. Skoll is a part of the name Schuller, and relates to activity in a shul or a shul school. He could be the person who attends shul or the person who, like a shamas, runs the shul.

A name like Dubnik means an Oakman. Related to this is Dubnikov and even Dembovsky. An oakman is thought to have meant the man who lived near the oak tree or maybe it meant that he was as strong as an oak,

I met a coloured person who had the name Sobotnik. He wanted to know from me how people got surnames. My trusty book showed that a Sobotnik was converted on the Sabbath day. Not Jewish, more likely Catholic. But an interesting name.

While we are on the subject of not Jewish names, can we delve a little. In 1492 the Spanish King and Queen gave the Jews a choice, leave the country or convert or die. The Portuguese did not give as wide a choice. They just said, You cannot leave the country so convert or die. Many Spanish and Portuguese Jews converted but tried to continue being Jews in a hidden manner. They chose surnames, because they became people of the country, and among the Portuguese ex Jewish surnames are:

D’Abreu which probably means of the Hebrew.

Perreira and Ferreira are fruit trees, most likely chosen by Jews.

The very devout names like De Jesus and Santamaria were often chosen by converting Jews to reduce any doubts in their conversion.

Written by Colin Plen

Meer as 600 bekende, invloedryke en gesiene persone is hier begrawe en die inligting is nou beskikbaar op Ancestry24. Baie van hulle het ‘n belangrike bydrae gelewer op verskillende gebiede in hul gemeenskap.

Die lys is weliswaar onvolledig as gevolg van beskadigde en onleesbare grafstene. Van die name sluit in:

Petrus Borchardus Borcherds oorl. 1871, eerste resident magistraat van die Kaap skrywer van die bekende Borcherd’s Memoirs 1861 en

Janetta Joh. Blanckenberg oorl. 1861, sy vrou.

Egbert Andries Buyskes oorl. 1865, einaar van “Onder Schuur” (tans Westbrooke) leidende rol in stigting van gemeente van Wynberg, scriba van kerkraad en Eliz. Buyskes oorl. 1865, sy vrou.

Carl Gerhard Blanckenberg oorl. 1861, jarelang ouderling van die gemeente en Anna Catharina Blanckenberg, oorl. 1894. Van haar skryf De Kerkbode:

“Zij had den heegen ouderdon van ruim 92 jaren bereikt, gedurende welken tijd zij ruimschoots bevijzen gaf van hare innige belangstelling in de geestelijke en stoffelijke welvaart der gemeente, waarvan zij een voorbeeldig lid was. Armen klopten nooit tevergeefs aan hare deur; scholen opgericht in de gemeente vonden bij haar warme en milddindige ondersteuning. De Kerk en hare inrichtingen van Zending, Doofstommen en Kweekschool ontving van haar steeds ruime bijdragen.”

Ds. Philip Eduard Faure oorl. 1862, eerste leraar van die gemeente Wynberg wat hy onafgebroke vir 48 jaar gedien het, vier maal Moderator en drie maal Assessor van die Kaapse Kerk. Kurator van die Teologies Kweekskool waarvan hy een van die stigtern was (Pheleppi na hom vernoem en)

Anna Maria Wilh. Faure gebore Cambler oorl. 1875, sy vrou.

Jean Cambier oorl. 1863, haar vader Kapt-Luitenant van Vloot aan die Kaap onder Betaafse bewind en Wilhelmina Cambier oorl. 1854, sy vrou.

Ds. G.F.C. Faustmann, leraar van gemeente Wynberg, oorl. 1948 en Amalia Eliz. Wilh. Faustmann oorl. 1925, sy vrou.

J. Cambler Faure oorl. 1897, magistraat Kaapstad, seun van Ds. Philip Faure.

Danie Hendrik Visser oorl. 1942, asst. Klerk Kaapse parlement 1907-10, asst. Klerk Unie parlement 1910-20. Klerk van die Volksraad 1920-40 (lg. pos is vanaf 1961 bekend as sekretaris en Anna Magdalena Visser gebore Mostert oorl. 1944, sy vrou.

Cornelis de Kock oorl. 1856, voorleser van die gemeente vanaf 1836, eerste sending arbeider v.d. gemeente en Magtelda de Kock oorl. 1856, sy vrou.

Gabriel Jac. Vos de Kock oorl. 1897, seun van vorige, meer as 50 jaar hoof van die Sondagskool van die gemeente en Martha Theodora de Kock oorl. 1870, sy vrou.

Hendrik Cornelis Dreyer, geb. “Moedersbewys” (tans Kelvin) oudeling en kassier van die gemeente Wynberg.

Jonas Michiel Hidding oorl. 1888, Mediese dokter, kerkraadslid, einaar van Nuwelandhuis en bierbrouery en Maria Cath. Hidding geb. Cloete, oorl. 1907, sy vrou

Stephanus Petrus Lategan oorl. 1891, einaar van “Buiteverwachting”, Constantia.

Jacob Gustav Letterstedt Dreyer oorl. 1907, eienaar van “Kleine Schuur”, stigter van gemeente Rondebosch en Joh. Dor. Letterstedt Dreyer oorl. 1928, sy vrou

Joh. Louisa Morgenrood oorl. 1879, skenker van orrel aan gemeente 1879. Philip Dominiqui Morgenrood,  en sy vrou.

Oloff Joh. Truter oorl. 1841 (groot grafkelder ) ere scriba v.d. gemeente, seun van Sir John Truter eerste hoofregter v.d. Kaap. Ander lede van Truter fam. O.a. Oloff John. Jr eerste dopeling van die gemeente 1829

Petronella Anna Wilh. Nellie Brink oorl. 1905, stigter van die Ladies Seminary op versoek van Ds. Strasheim, tweede leraar van die gemeente. Word later Wynberg Girls High School.

Eerw. Barend Pienaar oorl. 1928, leraar N.G. Sendingkerk Wynberg.

Alexander Brown M.D. oorl. 1867 aan die groot koors epidemie. Eerste mediese dokter aan die Kaap om gelisensieer te word deur die nuutgestigte Cape Medical Committee; uitgebreide praktyk onder die armes, dikwels in diens van die N.G. Kerk Wynberg.

Aletta Hendrina Brown oorl. 1879, dogter van Ds. Philip Faure

Jan Gys. Reynier Cambier Faure oorl. 1897, magistraat Kaapstad, seun v. Ds. Faure.

Anna Narua v. Ryneveld oorl. 1864 “relict of the late Honoratus Maynier Esq.” in der waarheid sy weduwee. Hy was einaar van “Protea” (tans Bishopscourt) seun van Landros Maynier van Swellendam.

Georg McCall Theal oorl. 1919, beroemde geskiedkundige en skrywer oor S.A. geskiedenis oor 50 jaar. Sy portret, geskilder deur Roworth, hang in S.A. Biblioteek in Kaapstad. Dr. Dan Sleigh skryf van hom – “’n pionier van die S.A.Biblioteek in altesaam het hy meer as 70 volumes van groot omvang en gehalte gepubliseer.” En Mary Stewart oorl. 1911, sy vrou.

Ou Kaapse Families:

Cloete Familie van “Plumstead”, “Constantia” en “Alphen”.

o.a. Dirk oorl. 1894, eerste Cloete eienaar van “Alphen”, seun van Ryk Arnoldus Mauritius, eerste ouderling v.d. gemeente, donateur van eerste preekstoel.

Van der Byl familie van Groote Schuur

o.a. Hester Anna oorl. 1909 wed. van Joh. Alb. Van der Byl grootmoeder van Maj. Piet v.d. Byl.

Versveld familie van “Claasenbosch”.

Eksteen familie

o.a. Dirk Gysbert oorl. 1855 op “Boschbeek”, eerste diaken van gemeente Wynberg

Jan Willem oorl. 1875, eienaar van “Zorgvliet”, Rondebosch.

Dirk Gysbert oorl. 1909, sy seun.

Van Reenen familie van “Welgelegen”

o.a. Sebastiaan oorl. 1885.

Familie Koopmans en De Wet van Strandstraat, Kaapstad.

Adv. Johannes de Wet oorl.1875, lid van Kaapse Parlement.

Adriana D. Horak oorl. 1868, sy vrou.

Maria Koopmans de Wet oorl. 1906, sy dogter, die merkwaardigste vrou van haar tyd, Kamvegter vir die behoud van on Kultuurerfenis. Deur haar vertoë aan Rhodes is die Kasteel gered van sloping. Ook Kampvegter vir die Nederlandse en Afrikaanse taal,.

Onwrikbare ondersteuner van die Boere-saak tydens die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog. Van haar skrywe Dr. Pama: “ Indeed the Cape never saw a woman of her calibre again “.

Margaretha J. oorl. 1909, sy dogter

Johan C.Koopmans oorl. 1880, man van Maria.

Buissinnefamilie,gesiene lidmate van die kerk oor verskeie geslagte, etlike nalatenskappe aan die gemeente.

Alexander Jak.van Breda oorl. 1889, Ouderling van die gemeente, eienaar van die plaas “Boshof” (kleinseun van Alexander (1775-1842) in wie se tyd die vergadering gehou is op 7 Junie 1829 wat gelei het tot die stigting can die gemeenteWynberg. Hy self word eerste hoofouderling. Hy, asook sy seun Jakobus Alexander, ook ouderling, is albei op Boshof begrawe.) en

Hester Eliz. V. Breda. Oorl. 1867, eerste vrou van Alex. Jak.

Mary West v. Breda oorl. 1888, tweede vrou van Alex. Jak.

Controversial cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro came face to face with his Jewish roots on SABC2 on the 20th September 2009 in the last episode of “Who do you think you are?”

Acknowledgement and kind permission for use of cartoon from his official website. Get invited to his book launch. www.Zapiro.com