Cetshwayo, son of Mpande - Source: Cape Archives, E3248

What were our ancestors doing in 1882?

Who was making the headlines and What did they talk about around the supper table?

Here is a look at some of the people, places and events that made the news in 1882.

Huguenot Memorial School

The Huguenot Memorial School (Gedenkschool der Hugenoten) was opened on the 1st February 1882 on the farm Kleinbosch in Daljosafat, near Paarl. It was a private Christian school and the first school with Afrikaans as teaching medium.

The school was under the auspices of the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners. Past pupils included the writers Andries Gerhardus VISSER, Daniël François MALHERBE and Jakob Daniël DU TOIT (Totius). The first classes were given in a small room but soon an old wine cellar was converted into a two-storey building which housed two classrooms downstairs and the boarding school upstairs. The first Afrikaans newspaper, Die Patriot, as well as the first Afrikaans magazine, Ons Klyntji, came from this school.

The Coat of Arms of "Die Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners"

The school was closed down in 1910 as by then Afrikaans was taught in government schools. In 2001 renovation work was started after a fundraising campaign brought in more than R1-million. Most of the money came from readers of the Afrikaans newspapers, Die Burger and the Volksblad. Naspers, the Stigting vir Afrikaans and KWV also made important contributions. The renovated building was opened in March 2002. It has an Afrikaans training centre upstairs and guest rooms downstairs.

The main people behind the renovation project were writer Dr. Willem Abraham DE KLERK (1917 – 1996) and Fanie THERON (chairman of the Simon van der Stel Foundation and the Huguenot Society, deceased 1989). Others who were also very involved included Sr. C.F. ALBERTYN (Naspers director), Van der Spuy UYS and Dr. Eduard BEUKKMAN. In 1985 they launched the Hugenote Gedenkskool Board of Trustees and with a R10 000 donation from the Helpmekaarfonds, a servitude on the building and land was bought. De Klerk’s wife, Finnie, and Theron’s wife, Anna, were at the official opening as their husbands did not live to see their dream come to fruition.

Dutch as official language

After the second British occupation of the Cape in 1806, English became the only official language. In 1856 J.A. KRUGER, the M.L.A. for Albert, asked for permission to address Parliament in Dutch. His requested was denied, and this started a campaign to get Dutch recognised as an official language in Parliament. On the 30th March 1882, Jan Hendrik HOFMEYR (1845 – 1909), also known as Onze Jan, appealed for the use of Dutch as an official language in Parliament alongside English. He was supported by Saul SOLOMON, a Jewish newspaper publisher and printer in Cape Town. On the 9th June the campaign finally got a positive result when an amendement was made to the Constitution allowing the use of Dutch in Parliament.

Official status was granted on the 1st May and the Act was later passed. On the 13th June, Jan Roeland Georg LUTTIG, the Beaufort-West M.L.A., was the first to officially deliver a speech in Dutch. There is no official record of the speech in Dutch, but the English version was published in the 14th June 1882 Cape Argus newspaper. The other version is in the Cape Parliament Hansard.

It was a short speech – “Meneer die Speaker, ons is baie dankbaar dat die opsionele gebruik van die Hollandse taal in albei huise van die parlement toegelaat is. Wanneer ek sê dankbaar, dink ek praat ek namens diegene wat die twee huise met hul petisies vir dié doel genader het. Ek put vreugde daaruit dat my Engelssprekende vriende die voorstel nie teengestaan het nie, my komplimente gaan aan hulle.

Ek hoop om die raad in die toekoms ook in Engels, in my ou Boere styl, toe te spreek. Sodoende kan dié Engelse vriende wat nie Hollands verstaan nie, die geleentheid hê om te verstaan wat ek probeer oordra. Ek vertrou ook dat alle nasionale verskille in die toekoms sal verdwyn en dat mense van alle nasionaliteite en standpunte hand aan hand sal beweeg om die welvaart en vooruitgang van die kolonie te bevorder”. According to the Hansard, the Speaker pointed out that the Act had not yet been proclaimed, so members could not yet make speeches in Dutch, but that the House would accommodate him this time.

On the 15th June, Cape school regulations were amended to allow the use of Dutch alongside English.

On the 26th and 27th June, the town of Burgersdorp celebrated the use of Dutch. The celebrations were organised by Jotham JOUBERT (M.L.A. and later a Cape Rebel ) who also proposed a monument to mark the occassion. A country-wide fundraising campaign was launched. The monument was built by S.R. OGDEN of Aliwal-North for £430. It consisted of a sandstone pedestal on which stood a life-size marble statue of a woman. She points her finger at a tablet held in her other hand on which the main inscription reads “De Overwinning de Hollandsche Taal “. The monument was unveiled on the 18th January 1893 by D.P. VAN DEN HEEVER, with Stephanus Jacobus DU TOIT (1847 – 1911) delivering the main speech.

During the Anglo-Boer war, the monument was vandalised by British soldiers who took parts of it to King William’s Town where they buried it. After the war, Lord Alfred MILNER had the rest of the statue removed from Burgersdorp. After much protesting, the British eventually provided Burgersdorp with a replica in 1907. This one was unveiled at ceremonies on the 24th and 25th May 1907 when former President M.T. STYEN and the author D.F. MALHERBE addressed the crowd. The original monument was found in 1939 and returned to Burgersdorp. In 1957 the damaged original monument was placed next to the replica.

In 1883 knowledge of Dutch was compulsory for some government positions. In 1884, it was permitted in the High Courts and in 1887 it became a compulsory subject for civil service candidates. Afrikaans only gained equal status with Dutch and English as an official language in South Africa via Act 8 of 1925. Dutch remained an official language until the 1961 Constitution stipulated the two official languages in South Africa to be Afrikaans and English.

Goosen and Stellaland republics

In 1882 a group of Boers established the short-lived republics of Stellaland and Het Land Goosen (aka Goshen ) to the north of Griqualand West, in contravention of the Pretoria and London conventions by which the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek had regained its independence.

On the 1st April the republic of Het Land Goosen was declared. The terms of the Pretoria Convention of August 1881 had cut away part of the Transvaal. This led to problems as local Chiefs disputed the boundaries. Britain did not help matters by acknowledging Mankoroane as Chief of the Batlapin and Montsioa as Chief of the Barolong, both beyond their traditional territories. Supporters of Moshete, under the leadership of Nicolaas Claudius GEY VAN PITTIUS (1837 – 1893), established Het Land Goosen. One of the co-founders was Hermanus Richard (Manie) LEMMER, who later became a General in the Anglo-Boer War. Het Land Goosen later merged with the Stellaland republic to form the United States of Stellaland.

Stellaland was also a short-lived republic established in 1882 by David MASSOUW and about 400 followers, who invaded a Bechuana area west of the Transvaal. They founded the town of Vryburg, making it their capital. The republic was formally created on the 26th July 1882, under the leadership of Gerrit Jacobus VAN NIEKERK (1849 – 1896). In 1885 the British sent in troops under Sir Charles WARREN, abolished the republic, and incorporated it in British Bechuanaland.

Shipping accidents

Shipping accidents (wrecks, groundings, etc…) were common along the South African coast. In 1882 there were quite a few:

January – James Gaddarn, a barque, off Durban

February – Johanna, a barque, off East London

March – Poonah, off Blaauwberg

March – Queen of Ceylon, a barque, off Durban

April – Gleam, a barque, off Port Nolloth

April – Roxburg, off East London

April – Seafield, a barque, off East London

May – Francesca, a barque, off East London

May – Louisa Dorothea, a schooner, ran aground at Mossel Bay

May – Clansman, a schooner, off East London

May 28 – two ships, the Agnes (Capt. NEEDHAM) and the Christin a (Capt. G. LOVE), run ashore at Plettenberg Bay

June – Bridgetown, a barque, off Durban

June – Louisa Schiller, a barque, off Cape Hangklip

June – Ludwig, a schooner, off Algoa Bay

June – Gloria Deo, a barque, off Quoin Point

July – Elvira, a barque, off Durban

July – Erwood, off Durban

December – Adonis, a steamer, off Portst Johns

December – Zambezi, a schooner, off Durban

Smallpox

A smallpox epidemic broke out in District Six in 1882. This led to the closure of inner city cemeteries, and the construction of drains and wash-houses in the city. These improvements didn’t go as planned. The cemetery closures led to riots in 1886. The cemeteries along Somerset Road were not in a good condition, so Maitland cemetery was built. As the Muslim community carried their dead for burial, Maitland was too far for them, and along with the Dutch, they protested against Maitland for two years. Once the inner city cemeteries closed, the Dutch compromised but the Muslim community did not. They buried a child in the Tanu Baru (first Muslim cemetery) in protest. About 3 000 Muslims followed the funeral procession, as police watched. After someone threw stones at the police, a riot started and volunteer regiments were called out. One of the Muslim leaders, Abdol BURNS, a cab driver, was arrested. In the end, neither the Dutch nor the Muslims used Maitland. They found a piece of ground next tost Peter’s cemetery in Mowbray and used it as their cemetery.

The smallpox threat was felt further afield. It was believed that smallpox could be beaten by whitewashing the walls of homes, and for this reason lime and carbolic acid was distributed free to residents in Beaufort West. At Modder River, about 35 km from Kimberley, the settlement was used as a quarantine station to keep smallpox away from Kimberley. Travellers enroute to Kimberley had to produce a valid vaccination certificate or be vaccinated at the station.

Zulu King in London

Cetshwayo reigned as King of the Zulus from 1873 to 1884. He made an alliance with the British in order to keep his long standing enemies, the Boers, away. The alliance collapsed when the British annexed the Transvaal and supported Boer land claims in the border dispute with Zululand. This led to the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War where the British suffered defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana and Zulus at the Battle of Ulundi. Cetshwayo was captured and taken to the Cape. In 1882 he travelled to London where he met Queen Victoria on the 14th August. On his return he was reinstated as King in a much reduced territory and with less autonomy. He died on the 8th February 1884.

Sporting moments

Ottomans Cricket Club was founded in the Bo-Kaap in 1882. The Rovers Rugby Club was founded in Cradock on the 6th September 1882. The first rugby match in Mossel Bay was played on Saturday, 2nd September 1882. Mossel Bay Athletic Club played against George Athletic Club. The first bowling green was laid out in 1882 when a club was established atst George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. In 1882 the Jockey Club was founded by 10 horse-racing members at a meeting held in the Phoenix Hotel in Port Elizabeth. The first South African soccer club was Pietermaritzburg County. On the 17th June 1882, its delegates met at the London Restaurant in Durban ‘s West Street and the Natal Football Association was founded.

Transit of Venus

The transit of Venus was observed from stations in Durban, Touws River, Wellington, Aberdeen Road (a railway stop) and at Cape Town ‘s Royal Observatory.

Banking

District Bank was established in Stellenbosch in 1882. It paid between 5 to 6% on fixed deposits and 2% on current accounts, compared to the Standard Bank which paid an average of 3.5% on fixed deposits and no interest on current accounts. The District Bank did not charge cheque fees or ledger fees. It was later taken over by Boland Bank. The Natal Building Society (NBS) was also established in 1882, in Durban.

New brewery

The Old Cannon Brewery in Newlands was established in 1852. In 1882 it merged with Ohlsson’s Cape Breweries.

Steel industry

South Africa ‘s industrial development has heavy roots in its mining industry. With virtually no steel industry of its own, the country relied on imported steel. The first efforts to introduce steel production dates back to the creation of the South African Coal and Iron Company in 1882. The first successful production of pig iron occurred only in 1901, in Pietermaritzburg.

Mariannhill Monastery

The monastery near Pinetown was founded as a Trappist monastery by Father Francis PFANNER in 1882. It became a renowned missionary institute with schools, a hospital, an art centre and a retreat.

Boswell’s Circus

The BOSWELL family has been involved in the circus business since the 1800s in England. James BOSWELL was born in 1826 and went on to perform in various English circuses as a clown, horseman and equilibrist. He died in the circus ring of Cirque Napoleon in Paris in 1859 while performing a balancing ladder act. He had three 3 children, all of whom performed in circuses. His eldest son, James Clements, opened his own circus, Boswell’s Circus, in 1882 in Yorkshire.

Boswell’s Circus toured England and was very popular until it closed in 1898. James Clements and his five sons – Jim, Alfred, Walter, Sydney and Claude – continued performing in theatres and music halls, and eventually put their own show together called Boswell’s Stage Circus. Madame FILLIS, who owned Fillis’ Circus in South Africa, saw one of their performances and signed them up for a six-month contract. In 1911 James Clements, his sons, Walter and Jim’s wives, six ponies, a donkey and some dogs set sail for South Africa. The family and their animals were stranded when Fillis’ Circus closed down some months later. Fortunately for generations of South African children, this did not stop them and they went on to build a successful business that is still in existence.

Pretoria

A public sale on Church Square, Pretoria, in the 1890's

Church Square was created in 1855, on the orders of M.W. PRETORIUS. The DEVEREAUX brothers, town planners, designed a square for market and church purposes. Pretoria expanded around Church Square. During its early days the square was also used as a sports field and in 1883 the long-jumper Izak PRINSLOO set the first world record by a South African. The first church on the square was completed in 1857, but burnt down in 1882. Burgers Park was established as Pretoria ‘s first park in 1882. On the 14th June 1882, the Transvaalsche Artillerie Corps was formed under the command of Cmdt. H.J.P. PRETORIUS.

Stephanus Johannes Paulus KRUGER, later President of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek, was born on the 10th October 1825. He was so respected by his people that the first Kruger Day was celebrated on the 10th October 1882. The following year it was declared a public holiday. After the Anglo-Boer war it lost official status, until it was again declared a public holiday in 1952. In 1994 the day again lost its official status.

Kimberley

On the 2nd September Kimberley became the first town in the southern hemisphere to install electric street lighting. It was an initiative of the Cape Electric Light Company. Electric lighting was also installed in Parliament in 1882, and an arc-lighting installation was commissioned in the harbour. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Christmas 1882 saw the world’s first electrically-lit Christmas tree installed in the New York house of Thomas EDISON’s associate Edward H. JOHNSON.

The Kimberley Club was founded in August 1881 and opened its doors on the 14th August 1882. Cecil John RHODES was one of the men behind the club’s establishment. Amongst the first members were Charles D. RUDD, Dr. Leander Starr JAMESON, Lionel PHILLIPS and J.B. ROBINSON.

Knysna

The farm Melkhoutkraal was laid out in 1770. In 1808 George REX, who arrived at the Cape in 1797, bought the farm. In 1825 Lord Charles SOMERSET decided to establish a town on the lagoon, to make use of the surrounding forests for ship building. George REX donated 16 ha of land for the new village, named Melville for Viscount MELVILLE, First Sea Lord from 1812 – 1827. Knysna was formally founded in 1882 when the two villages, Melville and Newhaven (founded in 1846) amalgamated.

Muizenberg

In 1882 the railway line reached Muizenberg. The area was originally a cattle outpost for the VOC before it became a military post in 1743. It was named Muijs se Berg after the commander Sergeant Willem MUIJS. Muizenberg was a staging post between Cape Town and Simon’s Town. After the railway line was extended, the area developed fast and became a popular holiday destination.

One of Muizenberg’s prominent residents was Professor James GILL. He was born in Cornwall in 1831 and came to the Cape in 1860, where he took the post of professor of Classics at Graaff-Reinet College. In 1871 he moved to Cape Town as Classics professor at the Diocesan College. He was an opininated man who did good things throughout his career but was also involved in many controversies. He was dismissed from the College in 1882. He opened a private school in Muizenberg and became the editor of the Cape Illustrated Magazine. He died in Muizenberg on the 1st February 1904.

Villiers

The town of Villiers, on the Vaal River, was established in 1882 on the farms Pearson Valley and Grootdraai. It was named after the owner, L.B. DE VILLIERS. In 1882 the Volksraad was requested to open a post office there, and this led to Villiers being proclaimed in 1891. In 1917 it acquired municipal status.

Newcastle

The first government school in Newcastle was established in 1882 as a junior primary school with 47 boys and 30 girls.

Okiep

The Cornish Pump House was built in 1882. It was used to pump water from the mine and this pump house is the only remaining one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

East London

A view of East London in the 1880's

The prison in Lock Street was built in 1880, replacing the old one on the West Bank. It was built by James TYRRELL and comprised an officers’ quarters, administration block, hospital, kitchen and two single-storey cell blocks to hold 100 prisoners. The first execution happened in 1882, for which a drop gallows was placed in the hospital yard. St.Andrew’s Lutheran Church was established by German settlers in 1872. It is the second oldest church in East London and was dedicated on the 30th November 1882.

Grahamstown

City Hall was officially opened on the 24th May 1882 by the acting Mayor Samuel CAWOOD. The foundation stone was laid on the 28th August 1877 by Sir Henry Bartle FRERE, Governor of the Cape.

Durban

Durban Girls’ High School was established in 1882. The old theatre Royale was built in 1882 and had seating for 1 000. It was closed in 1937. The Natal Herbarium was started in 1882 by John Medley WOOD, then Curator of the Durban Botanical Gardens. It was initially known as the Colonial Herbarium but changed its name in 1910 when it was donated by the Durban Botanical Society to the Union of South Africa.

Port Elizabeth

South End Cemetery in Port Elizabeth was started. The country’s oldest art school, Port Elizabeth Art School, was founded in 1882. It later became the College for Advanced Technical Education, originally situated in Russell Road, Central. In 1974 it moved to Summerstrand and became the PE Technikon in 1979.

Kaapsehoop

In 1882 gold was discovered in the Kaapsehoop valley. When a larger deposit of gold was found near the present day Barberton, most of the prospectors moved there. The first payable gold was mined at Pioneer Reef by Auguste ROBERTE (aka French Bob) in June 1883. Barber’s Reef was the next big find in 1884. Sheba ‘s Reef, the richest of all, was discovered by Edwin BRAY in May 1885.

Port Shepstone

Port Shepstone came into being when marble was discovered near the Umzimkulu River mouth in 1867. It flourished from 1879 when William BAZLEY, one of the world’s first underwater demolition experts, blasted away rock at the mouth to form the Umzimkulu breakwater. The town was named after a Mr SHEPSTONE, one of the area’s prominent residents. Before 1901 the area depended solely on a port that was developed inside the river’s mouth. Boats were often wrecked and blocked the harbour entrance, but it provided a vital transport link for the tea, coffee and sugar cane grown by farmers along the river’s banks.

Supplies were brought in on the return voyages from Durban. With the arrval in 1882 of 246 Norwegian, 175 Briton and 112 German settlers, this shipping service became more important. The Norwegians arrived on the 29th August aboard the CHMS Lapland. The new settlers were offered 100 acre lots around the town at 7 shillings and 6 pence an acre. Port Shepstone was declared a full fiscal port in 1893 and, after Durban, became the region’s second harbour. Eventually, with the ongoing ship wreckages and the arrival of the railway, the harbour was closed down.

Harding

In 1882 the first hotel was opened in Harding. The village then consisted of three trading stores and four private homes.

Dundee

Dundee was established on the farm Fort Jones belonging to Peter SMITH, who had bought it from a Voortrekker settler, Mr DEKKER. He named the town Dundee, in memory of his original home in Scotland. By 1879, as a result of the Anglo-Zulu War, a tent town had sprung up on a portion of the farm. British soldiers attracted traders, missionaries, craftsmen and hunters but after their departure the tent town ceased to exist. With his son, William Craighead; son-in-law Dugald MACPHAIL; and Charles WILSON, Peter proclaimed the town in 1882.

Dewetsdorp

The Anglican Church was inaugurated on the 17th December 1882 by the Anglican Bishop of Bloemfontein. It was named St. Bartholomew’s. Before this, Anglicans held services in the town hall. The church’s foundation stone was laid on the 18th August. It cost £395 to build and seated 60. Rev. L.A. KIRBY was the first minister. The first baptism was on the 7th January 1883, that of Arthur SKEA. The church was declared a national monument in 1996.

Fort Hare

Fort Hare was built in 1847. It was named after Lt.-Col. John HARE and remained a military post until 1882, when part was given to Lovedale and part to the town of Alice.

Kuruman

The London Missionary Society (LMS) established the Moffat Institute in Kuruman in 1882, as a memorial to Robert and Mary MOFFATT and in the hope that it would revive the mission station.

Upington

Upington’s history starts with Klaas Lukas., a Koranna chief, who asked for missionaries to teach his people to read and write. In 1871 Rev. Christiaan SCHRODER left Namaqualand for Olyvenhoudtsdrift as the Upington area was then known. He built the first church, which today houses the Kalahari-Oranje Museum. In 1879 Sir Thomas UPINGTON visited the area to establish a police post, which was later named after him.

In 1881 SCHRODER, Abraham SEPTEMBER and Japie LUTZ helped build an irrigation canal. Abraham (Holbors) SEPTEMBER, said to be a Baster and the son of a slave from West Africa, was farming in the area in 1860. He was married to Elizabeth GOOIMAN. He devised a way to draw water from the river for irrigation purposes. In 1882 he was granted land facing the river. In 1896 Abraham and Elizabeth drew up a will, bequeathing the land to the survivor and thereafter to their three sons. Abraham died in 1898. In 1909 Elizabeth appeared before the Court in Upington on a charge that squatters where living on the land. It was here that she heard that Willem DORINGS, a smous, was claiming the land as his. This claim was to have repercussions, even in 2000 when the great-great-grandchildren of Abraham were still fighting for the land in the Land Claims Court.

Elizabeth and her sons owed Willem £326, but Willem produced documents that they sold him the land for that sum. The family were under the impression that they had a debt agreement with Willem. They refused to leave the farm and Elizabeth died there in 1918. In 1920 the family were removed from the farm by the new owners who had bought it from Willem. According to Henk WILLEMSE, Abraham’s great-great-grandson, the family started action in 1921 to get their land back. He has documents dating back all these years, which also show that Willem DORINGS was William THORN. Part of their land claim was for the land on which the Prisons Department building stands in Upington’s main road. This belonged to Abraham’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who lost it when service fees were not paid. In 1997 Nelson MANDELA unveiled a memorial plaque to Abraham.

The Waterfront

A view of East London in the 1880's

The Victorian Gothic-style Clock Tower, situated near the site of the original Bertie’s Landing restaurant in Cape Town, has always been a feature of the old harbour. It was the original Port Captain’s office and was completed in 1882. On the second floor is a decorative mirror room, which enabled the Port Captain to have a view of all activities in the harbour. On the ground floor is a tide-gauge mechanism used to check the level of the tide. Restoration of the Clock Tower was completed in 1997. The Robinson Graving Dock was also constructed in 1882, as was the Pump House. The Breakwater Convict Station was declared a military prison in 1882. This allowed military offenders from ships and shore stations to be committed for hard labour.

Sources:

Drakenstein Heemkring

Afrikanerbakens; Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge publication

Burgersdorp: http://www.burgersdorp.za.net/burgersdorp_photos.html

Maritime Casualties: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/2216/text/MARITIME.TXT

The Will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: The Struggle for Land in Gordonia, 1898-1995; by Martin Legassick; Journal of African History, Vol. 37, No. 3 (1996)

Land Claim Case: http://www.law.wits.ac.za/lcc/wp-content/uploads/jacobs2/jacobs2.pdf

Rapport newspaper, 23 Jan 2000

Boswell’s Circus: http://www.boswell.co.za/

Article researched and written by Anne Lehmkuhl, June 2007

A circular raised dais near Church Square in Bureau Street Cape Town, almost next to the slave lodge, marks the spot where imported and local slaves were auctioned under a fir tree. Perhaps as many as 100,000 human beings were sold and resold from this point. Yet unless one trips over the circular concrete marker, one is quite unaware of this spot. One has to stand above the marker to read it. Much, much more should be made of this historical site.

The old slave tree used to stand on this spot. We have one artist’s impression of this tree in 1830 from a SA boundpamplet entitled The Tourist. Peter Coates of the National Library has found excellent photographic evidence of where the tree stood. A fragment of the tree is in the Slave Lodge museum. Cannot the old slave tree be replaced with a graft from the world’s most famous freedom tree? When the Condor Legion bombed the town of Guernica in Catalonia in 1937s, one of the the only organic things left was Guernica’s famous “freedom tree”.

“The oak of Guernica”
The tree was also immortalised in Picasso’s painting of Guernica although he painted over most of it, leaving only a symbolic fragment in the middle of the painting. The present author has suggested to Richard van der Ross, when he was the former SA ambassador to Spain, that he acquire a slip of this tree to transplant on the spot of the old slave tree. The transplanting exercise would be a relatively inexpensive but poignant and symbolic way of raising the consciousness about Cape slavery. The “December the First movement” organizers have indicated they might arrange this event. Dr Ross has indicated that the townspeople of Guernica are very keen to cooperate. What follows is a description of one what must have been many human dramas which took place under the old slave tree.

The Tourist
In abridging the following description of a slave-sale, from an able article lately written on this subject by a cordial friend to our cause, it is necessary to explain that the person here designated by the name of Humanitas is a gentleman of high benevolent character and literary celebrity, who, on leaving Cape Town to visit a friend in the interior, consented to become the bearer of three thousand rix dollars to a clergyman resident at a town through which he was obliged to pass. It was in the course of this journey that he witnessed the scene which is described in the following narrative:

“A considerable number of persons had already assembled, and not a few of those whose countenances would have led the powerfully descriptive Shakespeare to have denounced them ‘villains.’ They were those whose whole contour seemed an index to their hearts, hard-formed, ill-favoured, and tanned to semi-blackness. The outragers of the laws of nature – the bold defiers of God ! bearing human forms, but in whose breasts flowed not a drop of human kindness – whose names and deeds will live in endless execration – whose calling all good men abhor, and which, by God’s providence, will, ere long, be blotted from our world as one of the foulest stains which mars the beauty of the Almighty’s moral and intellectual kingdom – they were slave dealers!

“A variety of articles were exposed for sale, over which Humanitas cast a careless eye; for, as they were composed chiefly of household requisites and implements of husbandry, there was not any thing in them calculated to engage his attention. Scarcely, however, had he finished his vacant survey of the above varieties, before his eye was arrested by another portion of property, ranged in a line with the horned cattle which flanked the enclosure, the whole of which was to be disposed of by the fall of the hammer. This was a group of unfortunate beings whose forefathers had been stolen from the land of their birth, and these their hapless progeny were, therefore, adjudged worthy to be branded by the opprobrious name, and treated with the barbarity, of slaves and beasts of burden.

“The spirit of Humanitas groaned within him, and his whole soul rose in indignation at the cruelty of his fellows, as he surveyed the sable group; for once he blushed to think he was a man, or that, as being such, he was classed with the unlawful retainers of his fellow-men in bondage. He viewed, through the medium of his own feelings, the unjust and inhuman system, a brief exhibition of which he now surveyed; and, while contemplating in his mind the fearful result which will, in all probability, at some future day, proceed from the explosion of so nefarious a system, he mentally deplored the present degraded state of society which such a scene but too powerfully witnessed.

“The deep feeling of his mind had thrown him into a state of absence so perfect as to have rendered him altogether indifferent to the things and persons by whom he was surrounded. From this abstraction he was roused by the plaintive and heart-rending moans of a female; he turned, almost mechanically, and beheld an interesting young woman of colour, standing apart from her companions in captivity, the intensity of whose grief might be better conceived of by the agony which shook her frame, then expressed by the cold language of narration. Close by her side stood another female, whose dress bespoke her of respectable connexions, but her countenance wore not the reprobatory hue (as some men seem to think a tawny skin is) possessed by the others, and yet her sorrow was not less intense than her’s whose complexion had made her a slave. In her arms she held a sweet infant, which at intervals she pressed to her bosom in convulsive agony, as she gazed with phrenzied emotion on the black for whom her tears flowed so profusely. The scene was, in all its parts, a painfully interesting and novel one. Humanitas felt it so; and, prompted by a strong desire to ascertain, if possible, the cause of so powerful a sympathy on the part of a white person, so unusual, even in the female breast, in the brutalizing regions of slavery, towards a slave, he enquired of some who were connected with the sale for a solution of the mystery.

“A few words informed the inquirer that the white person was the daughter of the late farmer, whose effects were not to be disposed of, and that the slave over whom she so affectionately wept was her foster-sister. From infancy they had been associates — in childhood they were undivided. The distinction which colour made in the eyes of some, to them was not known. The marriage of the farmer’s daughter was the first cause of separation they had every known, and even then a pain such as sisters only feel at parting was felt by each of them as they said — Farewell! She had retired with her husband to a distant part of the colony, and there received the mournful intelligence of her father’s death, and the account of the public sale of his property; included in this, she was certain, would be found the slave in question: her father’s insolvent circumstances rendered this unavoidable. With an affection which distance, fatigue, and danger could not affect, she had travelled four hundred miles, cheered by the hope of being able to purchase her freedom.

“The pleasing delusion which strengthened and encouraged her, during the fatigue and her toilsome journey, fled as she reached the spot where already her beloved foster-sister stood exposed for sale. Here she received the afflictive information that several regular traffickers in human beings were present, who were able and disposed to purchase her at a price much above what she was able to raise. Among this number was one from an adjacent town, who was fully acquainted with her worth, and who had declared his intention to possess her, although a sum should be set upon her head doubling the usual price of an ordinary slave.

“The voice of female sorrow is powerfully eloquent, and is ever sufficient to move the heart with pity and commiseration, excepting the hearts of villains and cowards. Humanitas felt it deeply now; but the unfeeling bands by whom he was surrounded experienced it not; no muscle of the hard evil-faced slave-dealers was moved; innumerable scenes of a similar description had calcined every vestige of humanity, and left nothing in their sordid breasts but the brutal or satanic avarice which their trade had begotten.

“While Humanitas was making his inquiries, receiving an answer, and commenting on the distressing circumstances, the sale was going on; a number of articles had been disposed of, and then a slave was brought forward. The rapacious individuals before referred to pressed round her, and, with a degree of cruelty and indelicacy which could only be displayed by such besotted and beastly-minded creatures, commenced their examination of her person, treating every bone and muscle, of a being which bore the image of the great Creator, as if a beast of burden had stood before them: she was soon disposed of; and then the slave to whom reference has been made already was brought out, and, after undergoing the same mode of scrutiny, was put up for sale.

“I will not attempt a description of the maiden glow of shame and modest indignation which passed over her fine open countenance, and lit up her large keen eye, as the treatment of the merciless dealers was forced upon her, nor the crushing agony which evidently wrung her soul, as she gazed, half-franticly, on her foster-sister, while the cruel jest and littleminded laugh curled the lips of those by whom she was surrounded. Oh ! no, no! – attempt here would indeed be idleness, if not profanity; the feeling heart can better conceive of it than the most eloquent and ready pen can find language to describe it.

“The sale proceeded with unusual spirit until it had reached the sum of two thousand rix dollars. There was evidently a strong feeling of rivalry among the dealers concerning the slave for which they were bidding. Having, however, reached the sum stated, they flagged gradually, the contest evidently subsiding; now after another ceased to bid, and, at length, two only maintained the strife. One was the agent of a clergyman’s lady, who, it was known, would treat her well; the other, the dealer, who had fully made up his mind to possess her for the purpose of letting her out as an animal of labour. Two thousand five hundred dollars was the last bid, and a pause ensued; the dealer was now the highest bidder; expectation was on the tip-toe; all eyes were turned towards the auctioneer, and “any advance?” was asked in an audible voice.

Silence continued, and the question was repeated – when the attention of the company was directed from the auction by the appearance of three figures who were seen descending the side of a mountain in the distance. It appeared as if they were hastening to the sale, and, the lot which was now up being an important one, the seller felt something like obligation to suspend the fall of the hammer until they reached the spot. The persons were soon discovered to be a gentleman on horseback, accompanied by two Hottentot servants on foot.

“A few minutes only elapsed, during which the auctioneer sipped some lemonade, to assist him the better to support his future garrulity, when the stranger rode up. A large military cloak enveloped his whole person, so as entirely to cut off all possibility of ascertaining who he might be. He almost immediately dismounted, and, giving his horse to one of his servants, surveyed the things around him with perfect indifference. The sale went on – another bidding was made by the agent – the dealer followed – the agent bid again, when, as if at once to close the protracted affair, the dealer shouted, ‘Three thousand rix dollars.’

This ended the struggle – the agent retired. ‘Once, twice,’ responded he who held the hammer – ‘is there no advance?’ He cast his eyes round the assembly with the inquisitiveness of his calling — neither wink, nod, or voice, gave answer to his question. A dead pause ensued — it was fearful, but short. The hand of the auctioneer was again raised – when the poor slave, in a tone of sublimated agony, shricked out, ‘Jesus, help me!’ and, clasping her hands wildly, fell senseless on the ground. The shriek of the unfortunate thrilled through the ear of the stranger, and entered his sour; and, while some simple measure was employed to restore her to animation, he looked round, as if seeing information concerning what he had heard and saw. His gaze caught the eye of Humanitas, who instantly recognized in him an old friend.

A brief but graphic explanation was immediately furnished; and, as the slave again returned to consciousness, the voice of the stranger was heard ‘Three thousand one hundred dollars.’ ‘One hundred more,’ shouted the dealer. ‘Another hundred,’ said the stranger. A look which would, had it been possible, have annihilated his person, was given by the dealer, as he vociferated, ‘Fifty more.’ ‘Another fifty,’ continued the stranger. ‘Fifty more,’ shouted the dealer. ‘One hundred more,’ echoed the stranger; ‘she is mine’ he added with spirited firmness, ‘at any price.’ The pulse of the mortified and enraged trafficker in human beings might have almost been heard as the unwelcome sounds saluted him. He had, however, proceeded as far as he dared, and therefore answered not the repeated call of the auction man. ‘One, two, three,’ at proper intervals, was repeated; and, at length, the hammer fell, the stranger being the purchaser at the sum of Three thousand four hundred and fifty rix dollars.

The business, although nearly terminated, was not yet closed. Payment was to be made, and immediate payment was demanded. The gentleman offered his checque on the bank at Cape Town; but the auctioneer, who experienced a degree of vexation at the disappointment which his friend (the dealer) had met with, determined to throw every possible obstacle in the way to prevent the bargain, and therefore refused the checque. The stranger looked perplexed, and argued the validity of the payment; but the hammer-man was inexorable.

“Humanitas marked the conduct of the man carefully, and, as he did so, he felt those pleasing emotions (for the existence of them he could not account), which the purchase of the slave by his friend had created, suddenly subsiding. At this moment, his thoughts rested on the sum of which he was the bearer to the clergyman, and, aware it could be replaced in a day or two, he presented the gentleman with it. Three thousand he produced from his pocket, and, in silver, they made up to the amount of fifty more between them; still the sum was not complete, and this modern Shylock demanded the whole, or its equivalent. The stranger hesitated a moment, and then drew forth a handsome gold watch and appendages, and, throwing the whole on the table, concluded the purchase.

“Still ignorant of her future fate, but as if happy to have escaped from the power of the slave-dealer, the weeping, trembling creature rushed forward, and fell at the feet of her purchaser. A scene followed which baffles all description: angels, in their messages of mercy to the sons of men, might have been arrested in their flight, to notice and applaud it; but the act received the approving smile of Him who is the God of angels. The stranger bended over the prostrate female, and, having raised her from the earth, took her hand and led her to her foster-sister, whose agony was still intense, to whom he presented her, saying, ‘Receive your friend, no longer as a slave, but as your companion; and, in your daily supplications at the throne of grace, forget not to implore a blessing on the head of Major M.’”

(The stranger was an officer in the East India Company’s service. He had come to the Cape for his health; and, while shooting on the mountains, was attracted by the crowd in the valley, and providentially arrived in time to perform the noble action, than which none is more imposing in the compass of history.)

By – Prof. Robert Shell

Groote Kerk

The history of the Churches in South Africa – especially the Dutch Reformed Church – is so closely interwoven with the general history of the Cape since the days when Johan van Riebeeck first planted the flag of the United Netherlands on the shore of Table Bay, that the two might be said to be identical in scope.

The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa began with a small congregation of servants of the East India Company, who assembled in a hall of the small fort.

When Van Riebeeck arrived here he brought no regularly ordained clergyman, but with him was one Willem Barents Wylant,” a Ziekentrooster,” which literally means a “comforter of the sick,” who conducted services on a Sunday in the great hall of the old fort.

When ships called, the chaplains conducted service during their stay, and usually administered the sacraments. The first who is recorded to have acted in this capacity was the Rev. Mr. Backerius, chaplain of the Walvisch.

In 1678, a site was granted for a new church at the lower end of the great garden, and the foundation stone was laid by Governor Van der Stel on 28th December, 1700; but it was not until 1704 that the building was finished, which is now the Adderley Street Church. The first service was held therein on the 6th of January, 1704, the Rev. Petrus Kalden being the preacher. The Church was enlarged in 1779 and again in 1836. The eastern wall and the tower still standing were portions of the original building. The Church contains a fine specimen of wood-carving by Anthon Anreith, and in the aisles are some stones bearing inscriptions relating to the early pioneers who were buried there.

Dutch Reformed Churches
Others are at:
Bree Street
Somerset Road
Leeuwen Street
Hanover Street
Buitenkant Street
Main Road, Three Anchor Bay
Arthur’s Road, Sea Point
Van Kamp Street, Camps Bay
Aberdeen Street, Woodstock
Collingwood Road, Observatory
Central Square, Pinelands
St. Andrew’s, Rondebosch
Albert Road, Wynberg
Tokai Road, Retreat
Main Road, Kalk Bay
St. George’s Street, Simonstown
Toronga Road, Lansdowne
Voortrekker Road, Maitland
Forridon Street, Brooklyn

Anglican

Window of St. Georges Cathedral

During the English occupation of the Cape from 1795 to 1803, the Dutch Reformed Church, in accordance with the terms of the capitulation to the English arms, was known as the Established Church. The only Anglican Church services were conducted in the Castle by the military chaplains, and the con-sent of the Governor, as Ordinary, was necessary to marriages and baptisms. When the Colony was handed over to the Batavian Republic in 1893, and the English officials and troops were withdrawn, certain restrictions were placed upon the exercise of religious liberty.

Though services were conducted at the Castle by the chaplains regularly from the date of the second occupation, the arrival of the Rev. D. Griffiths in 1806, as Garrison Chaplain, was followed by great activity and energy on the part of the Anglicans.

Mr. Griffiths’ successor was the Rev. Robert Jones, during whose incumbency the use of the Dutch Reformed Church was granted for the celebration of the English services. The Dutch Reformed Church continued to be used for the Anglican service till the opening of St. George’s in 1834. The first English Church erected in South Africa was St. George’s at Simonstown.

The building of St. George’s Cathedral was not the work of a few days. Several projects were adopted, and abandoned owing to lack of funds. It was not till the visit in 1827 of Bishop James of Calcutta, in whose See the Cape was situated, that the Cathedral site was consecrated. The laying of the foundation stone was, however, delayed for three years after that date, when the Governor, Sir Lowry Cole, performed the ceremony with masonic honours, all the clergy taking part in the proceedings being Freemasons.

The new Cathedral of St. George, designed by Mr. Herbert Baker, is a dignified and inspiring building of Table Mountain sandstone but is only partially completed. The memorial stone in the buttress adjoining the Government Avenue was laid by H.M. King George V., when, as the Duke of Cornwall and York, he visited Capetown in 1901.
There is the Memorial Chapel adjoining which was erected as a memorial to the officers and men of the Imperial Forces who gave their lives in the South African War. A Roll of Honour emblazoned on vellum and bearing the names of all those who gave their lives in this campaign is enshrined within this Chapel and may be inspected upon application to the Very Rev. the Dean of Cape town. Adjoining the Cathedral are the buildings of the St. George’s Grammar School where the boys of the choir are trained and educated.

A list of Anglican Churches:

St. Mark’s Church, Bamford Avenue, Athlone
Church of the Transfiguration, Coronation Av., Bellville
St. Peter’s Church, Park Avenue, Camps Bay
St. Saviour’s Church, Main. Road, Claremont
Christ Church, Constantia Nek Road, Constantia
All Saints Church, Church Street, Durbanville
St. Margaret’s Church, cr. Fifth Avenue and Kommetjie Road, Fish Hoek
St. Alban’s Church, Alice Street, Goodwood
St. Alban’s Church, Cheviot Place, Green Point
St. Peter’s Church, Main Road, Hout Bay
St. Philip’s Church, Chapel Street, Cape Town
Holy Trinity Church, Main Road, Kalk Bay
St. Aidan’s Church, St. Aidan’s Road, Lansdowne
St. Anne’s Church, cr. Suffolk Street and Coronation Road, Maitland
Church of the Good Shepherd, Main Road, Maitland
St. Oswald’s Church, Jansen Road, Milnerton
St. Nicholas’ Church, Elsies River Road, Matroosfontein
All Saints Church, Main Road, Muizenberg
St. Peter’s Church, Durban Road, Mowbray
St. Andrew’s Church, Kildare Road, Newlands
St. Michael’s Church, St. Michael’s Road, Observatory
St. Margaret’s Church, Hopkins Street, Parow
St. John’s Church, Frankfort Street, Parow
St. Stephen’s Church, Central Square, Pinelands
All Saints Church, Tiverton Road, Plumstead
St. Cyprian’s Church, Station Road, Retreat
St. Paul ‘s Church, Main Road, Rondebosch
St. Thomas Church, Camp Ground Road, Rondebosch
St. Luke’s Church, Lower Main Road, Salt River
St. James’ Church, St. James’ Road, Sea Point
Church of the Holy Redeemer, Kloof Road, Sea Point
St. Frances’ Church, Main Road, Simonstown
St. Bartholomew’s Church, Queen’s Road, Woodstock
St. Mary’s Church, Station Road, Woodstock
Church of Christ the King, Milner Road Extension, Claremont
Christ Church, Summerly Road, Kenilworth
St. John’s Church, Waterloo Green, Wynberg

Roman Catholic

The history of the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa dates back to 1486, when Bartholomew Diaz erected a cross at Angra Pequena, and later on, in the same voyage, another which gave its name to Santa Cruz in Algoa Bay. Passing over many years and many interesting incidents, one reads of a call made at the Cape in 1685 by six Jesuits who were on their way to Siam, and who were sent thither for scientific purposes by Louis XIV. On their arrival they were kindly received by Governor Van der Stel, who granted them an observatory in the shape of a pavilion in the Gardens. Here in the course of their astronomical investigations they observed an eclipse of Jupiter’s moons; but in addition to scientific pursuits they visited many of their co-religionists who were sick, though they were not permitted to say Mass. In fact, it was not till 1805 that that privilege was granted to priests by Commissioner-General De Mist.
The Roman Catholic Church passed through various vicissitudes before its members were in a position to worship in their Cathedral, which stands on an elevated situation in Roeland Street, at the top of Plein Street. It was during the Episcopate of Bishop Griffiths that the Cathedral was begun, and he lived long enough to see it completed and opened for divine worship in 1857.

Catholic Churches

The Catholic Cathedral (St. Mary’s) faces Stalplein
Holy Cross, 36, Nile Street, Cape Town
Sacred Heart, 32, Somerset Road, Cape Town
St. Mary of the Angels, Lawrence Road, Athlone, Cape Flats
St. Vincent de Paul, Weltevreden Street, Bellville
St. Ignatius, Wade Road, Claremont
St. Joseph, 30, Anderson Street, Goodwood
The Most Holy Redeemer, Heathfield
Church of Our Lady Help of Christians, Lansdowne
St. John, 202, Coronation Road, Maitland
Holy Trinity Church, Matroosfontein, Cape Flats
St. Patrick, Langton Road, Mowbray
St. Francis Xavier, Pinelands
The Holy Name, Station Road, Observatory
St. Joseph, Philippi
St. Mary, Retreat
St. Michael, Rouwkoop Road, Rondebosch
St. James, St. James
St. Francis of Assisi, Coleridge Road, Salt River
Our Lady of Good Hope, St. Andrew’s Road, Sea Point
SS. Simon and Jude, St. George’s Street, Simonstown
St. Peter, Gordon’s Bay Road, Strand
St. Agnes, Dublin Street, Woodstock
Corpus Christi, Wittebome
St. Dominic, Wynberg
St. Anthony, Hout Bay

Congregational

The history of the Congregational Church in South Africa dates back to the year 1800, when the first settlement was established in Cape Town under the Reverend Mr. Reid, of the London Missionary Society. The Rev. Dr. Philip with whose name the establishment of the Congregational Church in Cape Colony is intimately associated, arrived at the Cape in the year 1819, and the first Independent church was definitely formed under his pastorate in the year 1820, principally for the congregationalists in the English Garrison stationed in Cape Town. The first Union Chapel was erected in Church Square in 1828, which was followed by the erection of the Caledon Square Church in 1859. This church however has been recently closed owing to the removal of the congregation to the suburbs of Cape Town, and the Congregational services are now carried on in the Union Church, Kloof Street. Congregational churches are established at Sea Point, Observatory Road, Claremont and Rondebosch.

Congregational Churches are at:
Main and Franklin Roads, Claremont
Wrensch Road, Observatory
Belmont Road, Rondebosch
Marais Road, Sea Point
Clarence Road, Wynberg
Lot, Harrington Street

Presbyterian

Another building worthy of a visit of inspection is St. Andrew’s Church on the Somerset Road, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1827, and the first service held there on May 24th, 1829. The services on that occasion were remarkable as bearing evidence of the extreme liberality and charitable feelings of the members of the Dutch Reformed Church to the Presbyterian cause.
“A deputation from the consistory of the Dutch Reformed Church attended divine service, bringing a letter of Christian sympathy and a contribution of £75 for the building fund.”
Since then St. Andrew’s has been, as it were, the Cathedral of Presbyterianism in the Cape. The building is regarded as one of the purest specimens of architecture in the city.

Other Presbyterian Churches are at Gardens and Rosebank, as well as:
Somerset Road
Hatfield Street
Upper Orange Street
Main Road, Kenilworth
Clyde Street, Woodstock
Cor. Main and Bisset Roads, Wynberg
Albert Road, Mowbray
Central Square, Pinelands
Lower Station Road, Maitland.

Baptist Church

The Baptist Church is situated in Wale Street, between Long and Burg Streets, having been erected in 1882 at a cost of 5,000, including site. The congregation have established a Mission Hall in Jarvis Street, off Somerset Road, and have erected a Mission Station at Mpotula, near Bolotwa in Kaffraria, where three missionaries are supported by the Cape Town Church.
Baptist Churches are at:
Wale Street – 9
Dane Street, Observatory
High Level Road, Three Anchor Bay
Grove Avenue, Claremont
Maynard Road, Wynberg

Metropolitan Wesleyan

Metropolitan Wesleyan

Another ecclesiastical edifice worthy of a visit is the Metropolitan Wesleyan Church at the corner of Burg and Longmarket Streets. The foundation stone of that handsome structure was laid on May 6th, 1875, by the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly.
Services had been carried on prior to that in the old Burg Street Church, now known as the Metropolitan Hall, which served as the central church for the Methodists from 1822.
There are also Wesleyan churches at Sea Point and various parts of the Southern Suburbs.
The best-known Wesleyan Church is the Metropolitan facing Greenmarket Square.
Others are to be found at :

Sea Point
Woodstock
Observatory
Rosebank
Claremont
Wynberg
Retreat
Plumstead
Pinelands
Maitland
Parow
Fish Hoek
Simonstown
Muizenberg
Kalk Bay

Jewish Synagogues

The Jewish Synagogue in Government Avenue is also worthy the attention of visitors. It is situated near Avenue Street. It seats about 1,500 persons. Its exterior has a very bold effect towards the Avenue, with two towers and saucer dome over the centre of the main area.
The Synagogue of the New Hebrew Congregation is situated in Roeland Street, and there are other synagogues at Muizenberg, Claremont and Wynberg.
Synagogues include the Great Synagogue at Hatfield Street, (facing the Avenue), also:
Vredehoek
Sea Point
Muizenberg
Rondebosch
Wynberg – recently closed down
Jewish Reform Congregation Synagogue ( Temple Israel ), Portswood Road, Green Point.

Dutch Lutheran

Lutheran Church in Strand Street

The Lutheran Church in Strand Street enjoys a unique situation on the hill commanding a fine view of the city. It dates back to the-year 1780, and the first certified “predikant” was the Rev. Andreas Kohler, who arrived at the Cape in November, 1780. Its architectural design is both simple and severely strict.

Its pulpit is another good example of the skill of the wood carver, and the old specification and agreement with the carver Anthon Anreith, are preserved in the vestry of the Church. The organ loft is the work of the same artist. The old Dutch alms dishes of brass which stand in the vestibule are beautiful specimens of the brass-worker’s art, and the quaint Dutch silver-ware used for the communion service will be of considerable interest to lovers of early eighteenth century work.

St. Stephens Church

The clock and belfry of this Church may be seen by visitors who care to climb the curious circular staircase in one of the buttresses.
St. Stephens Strand Street, Cape Town.
German Lutheran (St. Martin’s Church), Long Street, Cape Town.
Also at : Albert Road, Wynberg – Philippi, Cape Flats.

Church of Christ, Scientist

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is in Grey’s Pass facing the S.A. College School cricket ground.

The Church of England in South Africa

This must not be confused with the Church of the Province of South Africa ) has its own places of worship, namely, at:
Holy Trinity Church, Harrington Street
Holy Trinity Hall, Vriende Street, Gardens.
St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere Road, Claremont.

Christian Science

First Church of Christ, Scientist, corner of Orange Street and Grey’s Pass, Cape Town
Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 15, Main Road, Newlands
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Muizenberg; Albertyn Road, False Bay
Reading Rooms:
Southern Life Buildings-15, Main Road, Newlands
Masonic Building, Main Road, Muizenberg.

Mormons
Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
South African Headquarters : Cumorah, Main Road, Mowbray
Meodowridge

Seventh Day Adventist Church

56, Roeland Street, Cape Town
Carr Hill, Wynberg
Grove Avenue, Claremont
York Street, Woodstock

Spiritualist

Cape Town Psychic Club, 203, Parliament Chambers, Parliament Street.

Society of Friends Meeting House (Quakers)
7, Green Street, Cape Town.

Theosophical Society

Room 816, 8th Floor, Groote Kerk Building, Adderley Street. Phone 2-9098.
Enquiries: Mrs. Mitford Barberton. Phone 4-2542.

Unitarian Church

(Free Protestant), Hout Street, Cape Town.
If you know of any other churches that may have been left out – please let us know and email us here

Image Source: National Archives Cape Town
Image Captions (from top): It was not until 1677 that land was set aside for the building of a church which was completed in 1703 and consecrated on 6th January 1704. Services were previously held in the Castle. The only remaining part of the original church is the steeple
The First Wesleyan Mission House Cape Town. Until a new church was completed in 1822 the Methodists held their services in a hayloft and later in an unoccupied wine store in Barrack Street. The church was open by Dr. Philip of the London Missionary Society. It is hidden behind the Mission House shown here.
The Lutheran Church, Sexton’s House and Pastorie in Strand Street.
St. Stephens Kerk, die eerste teatergebou in Suidelike Afrika wat in 1799 op Boerenplein (later bekend as Hottentotplein-die huidige Riebeeckplein), Kaapstad, gebou is. Die gebou is 1838 gekoop deur ds. G. E. Stegmann v.d. Lutherse Kerk wat sedert 1830 godsdiensonderrig aan slawe in een v.d. kelders gegee het. Hy het dit in ‘n kerk omgeskep en dit St. Stephens-na die eerste Christenmartelaar wat gestenig is-genoem omdat persone wat teen die opvoeding van slawe was, die gebou met klippe bestook het. Stegmann, bygestaan deur eerw. Adamson v.d. Presbiteriaanse Kerk, het dit as ‘n onafhanklike kerk bestuur tot 1857, toe die Kaapse Sinode v.d. N.G. Kerk op sy versoek dit oorgeneem het. St. Stephens is geen sendingkerk nie, maar die enigste N.G. Kerk vir Kleurlinge wat tot die Moederkerk behoort. Die gebou waaraan uitgebreide herstelwerk uitgevoer is, is in 1966 tot historiese gedenkwaardigheid verklaar.

Claremont (1) Western Cape. Select residential suburb in the municipality of Cape Town, within the magisterial district of Wynberg. It lies 6 miles (9.6 km) south of Cape Town between Newlands and Kenilworth. The former Arderne Gardens, now a public park, m acres (4 hectares) in extent, contain a fine collection of exotic trees, planted by H. M. Arderne during the 19th century. Sir John Herschel lived and made astronomical observations at Feldhausen in Claremont, which became a municipality in 1886, but was incorporated in the municipality of Cape Town in 1913.

(2) Gauteng (old Transvaal) (a) Residential suburb, inhabited by people with lower incomes, in the municipality and magisterial district of Johannesburg, 5 ½ miles (9 km) west by north-west of the city hall. As in Cape Town, the townships of Claremont and Newlands are contiguous, and some of the street names are taken from Cape Town, e.g. Shortmarket Street. (Stonewall Street is said to owe its name to a cricket match at Newlands in Cape Town.) The suburb was laid out in 1896 on a portion of the farm Waterval No. 211 by H. de V. Steytler, who divided 261 acres (106 hectares) into 1,200 stands. In 1906 the township was owned by the African Land and Investment Co., and in 1944 it was acquired by the Johannesburg city council.

(b) Residential suburb in the municipality and magisterial district of  Tswane (Pretoria), 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Church Square. It was established on the farm Zandfontein in 1903, and probably named by the surveyor F. Muller, who came from Claremont at the Cape. Formerly part of it was inhabited by Coloured people, but it was later reserved for Whites.

 Source + Acknowledgements: Standard Encyclopaedia of South Africa -Nasou Via Afrika

 Image: Claremont main road early 1900. Source: Cape Town National Archives

The Cape Town Congregational Church started as a Church for the members of the 93rd Regiment of the Sutherland Highlanders.
With the arrival of James Read in 1800 a Calvinistic Society was formed with members pledging to help each other in Christian Life. With the arrival then of Rev. George Thom in 1813 members of the Fellowship on 6 May 1813 gave each other the hand of Christian fellowship, which constituted themselves into a church and the Rev Thom, conducted the first Free Church service ever held on South African soil. Out of 90 communicants, 63 were members of the 93rd Regiment of the Sutherland Highlanders. The following year this regiment was transferred to India leaving the membership of the church with 27 members.
On 3 April 1820 Dr. John Philip arrived in the Cape and was formally invited to the Pastorate of this Church. He accepted the offer however with the stipulation that the church should be governed by a Church Meeting – the start of the First Definite Congregational Church in South Africa came into being. They met in the Orphan Chambers in Parliament Street and moved later to a building in Church Square which later became the Cape Town Club, and was known as the Union Chapel. Later a Church was built in Caledon Square which became the headquarters of the Congregational Church in Cape Town.
This church however had a small membership. The group that met in Church Square had to vacate the premises and the Rev Pitt started the Trinity Congregational Church, quite independently from the one in Caledon Square, in the St. Martini's School room in Queen Victoria Street. The use of this building was kindly granted at a nominal rental by the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Long Street.
The first service to be held in this room by the Rev Pitt was on Sunday 11 April 1896 and three adults and 5 children were present. It was decided to buy as site for a church in the area known as Tamboerskloof. Part of the Saasveld Historical Gardens was obtained and the new Trinity Church, Kloof Street was opened on the 13 February 1898.
A Management board was also formed. On 30 January 1907 the Trinity Church, Kloof Street and the Congregational Church Caledon Square united and the Union Church in Kloof Street were formed. Early in 1916 , Rev Pitt and his Church Council started looking for a larger site for the Church. In 1919 Rev Pitt's health became poorly and a young man was appointed to assist his as the members did not want him to retire. He died in July 1919 and was succeeded by the Rev. Penalligon. In 1920 the present site was bought and a church built was officially opened by Princess Alice Countess of Athlone in April 1925. In 1917 Rev Bowen also became the minister but died in 1928.
The Stephenson Hall was added in 1935, in 1964 Louis Bosman Hall and in 1968 the Chapel.
Many ministers of the church occupy a notable place in South African History, including Dr. John Philip, Rev James Cameron, Rev T.D. Philip and the Rev John Mullineux.
But perhaps one of the most prolific people was the famed explorer Dr. Livingstone would preach at the desk which is now the communion table inside our church.
One of the other prominent members of the church was actually invited to serve as Prime Minister; the man was Saul Solomon founder of the Cape Argus.
The organ was bought from St. Mary's in Woodstock, and completely renovated after the last war in memory of Messrs Ernest Hammond, Jack Van Niekerk, Duncan Bowen, Neville Bellamy and Jack Mills who paid the supreme sacrifice during the 2nd World War.
If you look near the entrance to the Graafs Trust Building, you will see a circular blue plaque reading "Site of Union Chapel. First Congregational Church in South Africa 1921"
The following churches were also then established: Claremont Congregational Church 1840, Sea Point 1893, Observatory 1894 and Rondebosch 1903.
The church records for the Trinity Church which go back to 1821 are now housed in the Kloof Street Church. The Sea Point Church records are also available at the church as well.

A circular raised dais near Church Square in Bureau Street Cape Town, almost next to the slave lodge, marks the spot where imported and local slaves were auctioned under a fir tree. Perhaps as many as 100,000 human beings were sold and resold from this point. Yet unless one trips over the circular concrete marker, one is quite unaware of this spot. One has to stand above the marker to read it. Much, much more should be made of this historical site.

The old slave tree used to stand on this spot. We have one artist’s impression of this tree in 1830 from a SA boundpamplet entitled The Tourist. Peter Coates of the National Library has found excellent photographic evidence of where the tree stood. A fragment of the tree is in the Slave Lodge museum. Cannot the old slave tree be replaced with a graft from the world’s most famous freedom tree? When the Condor Legion bombed the town of Guernica in Catalonia in 1937s, one of the the only organic things left was Guernica’s famous “freedom tree”.

“The oak of Guernica”

The tree was also immortalised in Picasso’s painting of Guernica although he painted over most of it, leaving only a symbolic fragment in the middle of the painting. The present author has suggested to Richard van der Ross, when he was the former SA ambassador to Spain, that he acquire a slip of this tree to transplant on the spot of the old slave tree. The transplanting exercise would be a relatively inexpensive but poignant and symbolic way of raising the consciousness about Cape slavery. The “December the First movement” organizers have indicated they might arrange this event. Dr Ross has indicated that the townspeople of Guernica are very keen to cooperate. What follows is a description of one what must have been many human dramas which took place under the old slave tree.

The Tourist

In abridging the following description of a slave-sale, from an able article lately written on this subject by a cordial friend to our cause, it is necessary to explain that the person here designated by the name of Humanitas is a gentleman of high benevolent character and literary celebrity, who, on leaving Cape Town to visit a friend in the interior, consented to become the bearer of three thousand rix dollars to a clergyman resident at a town through which he was obliged to pass. It was in the course of this journey that he witnessed the scene which is described in the following narrative:

“A considerable number of persons had already assembled, and not a few of those whose countenances would have led the powerfully descriptive Shakespeare to have denounced them ‘villains.’ They were those whose whole contour seemed an index to their hearts, hard-formed, ill-favoured, and tanned to semi-blackness. The outragers of the laws of nature – the bold defiers of God ! bearing human forms, but in whose breasts flowed not a drop of human kindness – whose names and deeds will live in endless execration – whose calling all good men abhor, and which, by God’s providence, will, ere long, be blotted from our world as one of the foulest stains which mars the beauty of the Almighty’s moral and intellectual kingdom – they were slave dealers!

“A variety of articles were exposed for sale, over which Humanitas cast a careless eye; for, as they were composed chiefly of household requisites and implements of husbandry, there was not any thing in them calculated to engage his attention. Scarcely, however, had he finished his vacant survey of the above varieties, before his eye was arrested by another portion of property, ranged in a line with the horned cattle which flanked the enclosure, the whole of which was to be disposed of by the fall of the hammer. This was a group of unfortunate beings whose forefathers had been stolen from the land of their birth, and these their hapless progeny were, therefore, adjudged worthy to be branded by the opprobrious name, and treated with the barbarity, of slaves and beasts of burden.

“The spirit of Humanitas groaned within him, and his whole soul rose in indignation at the cruelty of his fellows, as he surveyed the sable group; for once he blushed to think he was a man, or that, as being such, he was classed with the unlawful retainers of his fellow-men in bondage. He viewed, through the medium of his own feelings, the unjust and inhuman system, a brief exhibition of which he now surveyed; and, while contemplating in his mind the fearful result which will, in all probability, at some future day, proceed from the explosion of so nefarious a system, he mentally deplored the present degraded state of society which such a scene but too powerfully witnessed.

“The deep feeling of his mind had thrown him into a state of absence so perfect as to have rendered him altogether indifferent to the things and persons by whom he was surrounded. From this abstraction he was roused by the plaintive and heart-rending moans of a female; he turned, almost mechanically, and beheld an interesting young woman of colour, standing apart from her companions in captivity, the intensity of whose grief might be better conceived of by the agony which shook her frame, then expressed by the cold language of narration. Close by her side stood another female, whose dress bespoke her of respectable connexions, but her countenance wore not the reprobatory hue (as some men seem to think a tawny skin is) possessed by the others, and yet her sorrow was not less intense than her’s whose complexion had made her a slave. In her arms she held a sweet infant, which at intervals she pressed to her bosom in convulsive agony, as she gazed with phrenzied emotion on the black for whom her tears flowed so profusely. The scene was, in all its parts, a painfully interesting and novel one. Humanitas felt it so; and, prompted by a strong desire to ascertain, if possible, the cause of so powerful a sympathy on the part of a white person, so unusual, even in the female breast, in the brutalizing regions of slavery, towards a slave, he enquired of some who were connected with the sale for a solution of the mystery.

“A few words informed the inquirer that the white person was the daughter of the late farmer, whose effects were not to be disposed of, and that the slave over whom she so affectionately wept was her foster-sister. From infancy they had been associates — in childhood they were undivided. The distinction which colour made in the eyes of some, to them was not known. The marriage of the farmer’s daughter was the first cause of separation they had every known, and even then a pain such as sisters only feel at parting was felt by each of them as they said — Farewell! She had retired with her husband to a distant part of the colony, and there received the mournful intelligence of her father’s death, and the account of the public sale of his property; included in this, she was certain, would be found the slave in question: her father’s insolvent circumstances rendered this unavoidable. With an affection which distance, fatigue, and danger could not affect, she had travelled four hundred miles, cheered by the hope of being able to purchase her freedom.

“The pleasing delusion which strengthened and encouraged her, during the fatigue and her toilsome journey, fled as she reached the spot where already her beloved foster-sister stood exposed for sale. Here she received the afflictive information that several regular traffickers in human beings were present, who were able and disposed to purchase her at a price much above what she was able to raise. Among this number was one from an adjacent town, who was fully acquainted with her worth, and who had declared his intention to possess her, although a sum should be set upon her head doubling the usual price of an ordinary slave.

“The voice of female sorrow is powerfully eloquent, and is ever sufficient to move the heart with pity and commiseration, excepting the hearts of villains and cowards. Humanitas felt it deeply now; but the unfeeling bands by whom he was surrounded experienced it not; no muscle of the hard evil-faced slave-dealers was moved; innumerable scenes of a similar description had calcined every vestige of humanity, and left nothing in their sordid breasts but the brutal or satanic avarice which their trade had begotten.

“While Humanitas was making his inquiries, receiving an answer, and commenting on the distressing circumstances, the sale was going on; a number of articles had been disposed of, and then a slave was brought forward. The rapacious individuals before referred to pressed round her, and, with a degree of cruelty and indelicacy which could only be displayed by such besotted and beastly-minded creatures, commenced their examination of her person, treating every bone and muscle, of a being which bore the image of the great Creator, as if a beast of burden had stood before them: she was soon disposed of; and then the slave to whom reference has been made already was brought out, and, after undergoing the same mode of scrutiny, was put up for sale.

“I will not attempt a description of the maiden glow of shame and modest indignation which passed over her fine open countenance, and lit up her large keen eye, as the treatment of the merciless dealers was forced upon her, nor the crushing agony which evidently wrung her soul, as she gazed, half-franticly, on her foster-sister, while the cruel jest and littleminded laugh curled the lips of those by whom she was surrounded. Oh ! no, no! – attempt here would indeed be idleness, if not profanity; the feeling heart can better conceive of it than the most eloquent and ready pen can find language to describe it.

“The sale proceeded with unusual spirit until it had reached the sum of two thousand rix dollars. There was evidently a strong feeling of rivalry among the dealers concerning the slave for which they were bidding. Having, however, reached the sum stated, they flagged gradually, the contest evidently subsiding; now after another ceased to bid, and, at length, two only maintained the strife. One was the agent of a clergyman’s lady, who, it was known, would treat her well; the other, the dealer, who had fully made up his mind to possess her for the purpose of letting her out as an animal of labour. Two thousand five hundred dollars was the last bid, and a pause ensued; the dealer was now the highest bidder; expectation was on the tip-toe; all eyes were turned towards the auctioneer, and “any advance?” was asked in an audible voice.

Silence continued, and the question was repeated – when the attention of the company was directed from the auction by the appearance of three figures who were seen descending the side of a mountain in the distance. It appeared as if they were hastening to the sale, and, the lot which was now up being an important one, the seller felt something like obligation to suspend the fall of the hammer until they reached the spot. The persons were soon discovered to be a gentleman on horseback, accompanied by two Hottentot servants on foot.

“A few minutes only elapsed, during which the auctioneer sipped some lemonade, to assist him the better to support his future garrulity, when the stranger rode up. A large military cloak enveloped his whole person, so as entirely to cut off all possibility of ascertaining who he might be. He almost immediately dismounted, and, giving his horse to one of his servants, surveyed the things around him with perfect indifference. The sale went on – another bidding was made by the agent – the dealer followed – the agent bid again, when, as if at once to close the protracted affair, the dealer shouted, ‘Three thousand rix dollars.’

This ended the struggle – the agent retired. ‘Once, twice,’ responded he who held the hammer – ‘is there no advance?’ He cast his eyes round the assembly with the inquisitiveness of his calling — neither wink, nod, or voice, gave answer to his question. A dead pause ensued — it was fearful, but short. The hand of the auctioneer was again raised – when the poor slave, in a tone of sublimated agony, shricked out, ‘Jesus, help me!’ and, clasping her hands wildly, fell senseless on the ground. The shriek of the unfortunate thrilled through the ear of the stranger, and entered his sour; and, while some simple measure was employed to restore her to animation, he looked round, as if seeing information concerning what he had heard and saw. His gaze caught the eye of Humanitas, who instantly recognized in him an old friend.

A brief but graphic explanation was immediately furnished; and, as the slave again returned to consciousness, the voice of the stranger was heard ‘Three thousand one hundred dollars.’ ‘One hundred more,’ shouted the dealer. ‘Another hundred,’ said the stranger. A look which would, had it been possible, have annihilated his person, was given by the dealer, as he vociferated, ‘Fifty more.’ ‘Another fifty,’ continued the stranger. ‘Fifty more,’ shouted the dealer. ‘One hundred more,’ echoed the stranger; ‘she is mine’ he added with spirited firmness, ‘at any price.’ The pulse of the mortified and enraged trafficker in human beings might have almost been heard as the unwelcome sounds saluted him. He had, however, proceeded as far as he dared, and therefore answered not the repeated call of the auction man. ‘One, two, three,’ at proper intervals, was repeated; and, at length, the hammer fell, the stranger being the purchaser at the sum of Three thousand four hundred and fifty rix dollars.

The business, although nearly terminated, was not yet closed. Payment was to be made, and immediate payment was demanded. The gentleman offered his checque on the bank at Cape Town; but the auctioneer, who experienced a degree of vexation at the disappointment which his friend (the dealer) had met with, determined to throw every possible obstacle in the way to prevent the bargain, and therefore refused the checque. The stranger looked perplexed, and argued the validity of the payment; but the hammer-man was inexorable.

“Humanitas marked the conduct of the man carefully, and, as he did so, he felt those pleasing emotions (for the existence of them he could not account), which the purchase of the slave by his friend had created, suddenly subsiding. At this moment, his thoughts rested on the sum of which he was the bearer to the clergyman, and, aware it could be replaced in a day or two, he presented the gentleman with it. Three thousand he produced from his pocket, and, in silver, they made up to the amount of fifty more between them; still the sum was not complete, and this modern Shylock demanded the whole, or its equivalent. The stranger hesitated a moment, and then drew forth a handsome gold watch and appendages, and, throwing the whole on the table, concluded the purchase.

“Still ignorant of her future fate, but as if happy to have escaped from the power of the slave-dealer, the weeping, trembling creature rushed forward, and fell at the feet of her purchaser. A scene followed which baffles all description: angels, in their messages of mercy to the sons of men, might have been arrested in their flight, to notice and applaud it; but the act received the approving smile of Him who is the God of angels. The stranger bended over the prostrate female, and, having raised her from the earth, took her hand and led her to her foster-sister, whose agony was still intense, to whom he presented her, saying, ‘Receive your friend, no longer as a slave, but as your companion; and, in your daily supplications at the throne of grace, forget not to implore a blessing on the head of Major M.’”

(The stranger was an officer in the East India Company’s service. He had come to the Cape for his health; and, while shooting on the mountains, was attracted by the crowd in the valley, and providentially arrived in time to perform the noble action, than which none is more imposing in the compass of history.)

By – Prof. Robert Shell