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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have been asked by the Author of this Volume to write “something” relative to the recruitment of the Cape Corps. Search our Cape Corps records.

It may be said at once that there are two gentlemen who could have under-taken this task with greater credit. I refer to Colonel Sir Walter Stanford, Chairman of the Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee, and to Colonel T. J. J. Inglesby, one of its valued members. Both were associated with the movement from its commencement, both keenly interested in the possibility of the Coloured man as a fighter able to share with the white man the privilege of taking part in the Great War, and both particularly well qualified to lead such a movement.

The Machine Gun Company at Sidi Bishr

There were times when, as we all know, the Mother Country was almost pathetically calling to her sons to come forward voluntarily in the cause of humanity and Empire. Men were stirred as they never were before, and perhaps never will be again.

The appeal got hold of the Coloured man and gripped him, and with the help of his many friends strong representations were made to the Union Government to give him his chance.

But it was only on General Botha’s return from the German South-West African Campaign that those earnest representations were seriously considered.

The acceptance of the principle that the Coloured man should be allowed to become a soldier took concrete form in the month of September, 1915, when the Imperial Army Council accepted the offer of the Union Government to raise an Infantry Battalion of Cape Coloured men for Service overseas.

A telegraphic despatch was received in Cape Town from the Director of War Recruiting at Pretoria (Sir Charles Crewe) asking Senator Colonel the Hon. Walter Stanford, Sir John Graham, Dr. A. Abdurahman, the Mayor of Cape Town (Mr. Harry Hands), Colonel T. J. J. Inglesby and Mr. Eames-Perkins (Hon. Secretary of the Cape Town War Recruiting Committee), to meet him to discuss the formation of a Cape Coloured Regiment.

The formation of such a Unit was entirely in the nature of an experiment. A section of the people of the Cape Province resented the idea of raising such a force for employment in the fighting line. On the other hand there were many who resented the exclusion of such an organised force from the German South-West Campaign, and saw no valid reason now why the Coloured man should not be given an opportunity to serve his King and Country and follow in the footsteps of the white men and coloured races throughout the Empire then flocking from all its corners to take part in the great struggle for human freedom.

The Empire was calling for men, more men. The Cape Coloured man asked for and was given his chance and a new chapter in the history of the Coloured people of the Cape opened.

Prudence demanded that a very high standard should be aimed at, and it was decided that only men of exceptionally good character, between the age of 20 and 30, minimum height 5 ft. 3 in., chest measurement 33% in., unmarried and without dependents of any description, should be accepted for service in this unit.

On enrolment the Coloured man became an Imperial soldier, under the Army Act, for the period of the War and six months afterwards, or until legally discharged, with Imperial rates of pay, viz. :

and with Pensions and Gratuities as for the British West Indian Imperial Service Contingent.

The foregoing details and instructions having been determined, the Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee was formed, with Headquarters at Cape Town, for the purpose of enrolling Coloured men for active service with the Battalion of the Cape Corps.

Colonel Grey (Commissioner of Police), Major G. A. Morris of the Natal Carbineer’s (Special Service Squadron), Captain J. C. Berrange, and Captain H. G. Wilmot were mentioned in connection with the Command.

The mantle fell upon Major George A. Morris, son of Mr. J. W. Morris, a former Transkeian Magistrate.

Major Morris was duly gazetted as Lieut.-Colonel and Officer Commanding the Cape Corps on October 5th, 1915.

The following gentlemen accepted the responsibility of a seat on the Cape Corps Recruiting Committee, viz. :

Senator Colonel Walter Stanford, C.B., C.M.G., Chairman ; Major G. B. Van Zyl, M.L.A., Vice-Chairman ; Mr. A. Eames-Perkins, Hon. Secretary. Colonel T. J. J. Inglesby, V.D.; Lieut.-Colonel John Hewat, M.L.A.; Lieut.-Colonel F. W. Divine ; Captain W. D. Hare ; Sir John Graham, h.C.M.G.; Sir Frederick W. Smith, Kt., J.P.; Rev. Canon Lavis ; Rev. George Robson ; Advocate Morris Alexander, M.L.A.; Mr. J. W. Jagger, M.L.A.; with the following leaders of the Cape Coloured community, viz. : Dr. Abdurahman, M.P.C.; Mr. H. Hartog ; Mr. P. Ryan ; Mr. M. J. Fredericks ; Mr. J. Currey. NOTE.-Several other gentlemen joined this Committee later and Sir Harry Hands, P.B.E. (Mayor of Cape Town) became Chairman of the Committee-vice Colonel Stanford who went to Pretoria to become Director of War Recruiting-and Canon S. W. Lavis, Vice-Chairman. (Vide Illustration, page 17.)

Lieut-Colonel Morris C.M.G. and Captain H. Edwards with the Regimental Band taken at Mustapha Camp, Alexandra, Egypt in June 1919

The Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee had the good fortune to secure the services of Sergeant-Major Samuel Hanley Reynard as a member of the Staff. No choice could have been better. His cheerfulness and conscientious performance of his work throughout the Recruiting Campaign won the esteem and respect of all who came in contact with him. Though a veteran he never flinched in carrying out of his very arduous duties.

During especially busy times the assistance of the Boy Scouts was asked for, and they never failed to answer the call made on them. Valuable assistance was willingly given, and the boys who were detailed to the Recruiting Committee by the Secretary of the Boy Scouts’ Association well earned the War Certificate that the performance of their duties at the City Hall entitled them to.

A large crowd of Coloured men and women gathered outside the Recruiting Station at the City Hall, Cape Town, in the early morning of 25th October, 1915, aroused into action by announcements in the Press that the Coloured man’s opportunity was now open to him. The crowd surged into the Vestibule when the doors opened at 10 o’clock, and it became necessary to erect barriers and to provide a squad of Police before the men could be handled. To witness the inauguration of this circumstance of significance many prominent personages, Civil and Military, visited the Recruiting Station, including the General Officer Commanding in South Africa (Major-General C. W. Thompson) and his Staff.

Captains W. R. Cowell and C. G. Durham, Officers of the 1st Cape Corps, with Colonel T. J. J. Inglesby and Lieut.-Colonel Divine, members of the Recruiting Committee, had charge of the proceedings. By noon well over a hundred recruits had passed through the hands of the Military Medical Officers, but only a small percentage succeeded in passing the very strenuous test imposed. As a result of the first day’s recruiting twenty-two men were entrained at Cape Town for Simonstown, where the Mobilisation Camp for the reception of the enlisted men had been established, there to receive their first instruction from competent instructors and to have instilled into them habits of discipline, etc., as well as to meet their future comrades who were journeying from such places as Stellenbosch, Worcester, Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, and the Mission Stations of Saron and Mamre, etc.

Considering the strenuous conditions of enlistment laid down the first day’s result was not unsatisfactory, but there were some who had got their “tails up.” “The pay was insufficient “”There was no separation allowance “! To ventilate those views a meeting of Coloured men was held on the Grand Parade, and no blame could be attached to the women who kept a strict watch on the actions of the men who supported them. Though, as a matter of fact no men were accepted for service in cases where there were dependents, and the Officers of the Cape Corps and the members of the Recruiting Committee zealously guarded instructions to that effect from Headquarters. And no wonder! They were not out to pauperise women and children.

There could be no burking the fact that at Cape Town the class of man required was holding back, and this reluctance to come forward was due solely to the question of no separation allowances and the insistence that there should be no dependents. Reports from other recruiting centres for the Cape Corps in this connection were illuminating; for example: -Worcester was asked to supply 6o men; that number was obtained in one day. Port Elizabeth provided 31 men out of 45 required. Johannesburg was only asked to supply 30 recruits, and those left for Simonstown on the clay recruiting for Coloured men opened. Kimberley’s quota was 50 men, and they were secured also in one day and were entrained for Simonstown.

In addition, other country places intimated that they could supply a certain number of men, while districts which had already furnished their quota expressed willingness to add to the number already secured, and the Mission Stations at Saron and Mamre each volunteered to furnish a company.

The Mother City of Cape Town found itself in this peculiar position that while she had taken the lead in expressing the desire for Coloured men to serve in the War, it seemed that the Coloured residents of the Peninsula would be ill represented in the first coloured fighting force to be established, whilst places other than Cape Town collared the honour. One loop hole in this peculiar situation presented itself, viz.:-the Governor-General’s Fund. But all hopes in that regard was quickly dispelled by the definite instructions of the Director of War Recruiting that no man with dependents would be accepted. Indeed, it was hardly a fair request to make that the Governor-General’s Fund should provide for dependents.

The very real grievance 9c pay and allowances was immediately tackled by the Recruiting Committee, and in November, I915, Colonel Inglesby and Mr. Brydone were deputed to go to Pretoria to endeavour to obtain better conditions, whilst Colonel Stanford, the Chairman, and the members of the Recruiting Committee in force waited upon General Smuts in Cape Town in the sane pressing connection. Meanwhile a slight concession was made by the Governor-General’s Fund, viz.: that they would give assistance in special cases, when brought to their notice.

It was about this time that the Cape Corps Gifts and Comforts Committee came into being. Later this committee became affiliated to the South African Gifts and Comforts Committee and did splendid work in supplying comforts for the men of the regiment.

“I have been informed,” said Lord Buxton at the Recruiting Conference held at Pretoria on November 14th, 1915, “that the successful operations in German South-West Africa have had a great moral effect in the European sphere of operations and caused great depression in enemy circles. The successful subjugation of German East Africa will bring about even greater moral effect to the advantage of our side all the world over.”

To take part in that subjugation of the enemy’s outposts Lieut.-Colonel Morris was now busy training his men at the camp at Simonstown, which, notwithstanding the many difficulties encountered, was steadily swelling its population.

” They are as keen as mustard,” said their Commanding Officer, ” and in their spare time are drilling on their own,” so that when His Excellency the Governor-General, accompanied by Major-General Thompson, inspected the Cape Corps at Simonstown on the 3oth November, 1915, they were complimented by him on their smart and soldierly appearance and workmanlike bearing.

That outside forces were in fullest sympathy with the men of the Cape Corps was shown by many thoughtful incidents. Two may be given.

“Tango” was enrolled. He was a smart Airedale terrier presented by Master Jack Ashley of Bellville as a mascot to the 1st Cape Corps. In the proverbial canine fashion he wagged himself into the affections of officers and men alike during his short stay at the camp at Simonstown, and Lieut.-Colonel Morris, in expressing his thanks to the juvenile donor, wrote: “I am sure that he will bring us luck.” “Tango,” when the Battalion embarked for East Africa, was called upon to show the stuff he was made of, for the Commander of the “Armadale Castle” was compelled to refuse to allow him to embark. With the persistence of his kind, however, “Tango” found another way of circumventing official opposition. A flying leap from the quay landed him on deck among his pals and the ship’s Commander had no heart to eject him.

The following letter speaks for itself: -

Wellington. “Dear Sir,

I am a coloured woman. It is a very little money that I send this is the money for the Cape Corps fund which I buy flowers from my own money and sell out again. I think it is very little but it will help too, my husband is gone to the front.”

(Signed)             (Mrs.) D.S.

A postal order for fifteen shillings was enclosed.

During the months of October, November, and December, 1915, very strenuous work was done by the Recruiting Committee to enable the full complement of men (about one thousand and twenty) to be secured. The methods employed varied. Bands, Street Parades, Meetings in outlying Suburban Districts, Speeches at Bioscopes, Stirring Posters, Press Notices (the value of which cannot be overestimated) all had their turn. Ours was, of course, the job to induce those who were hanging back for various reasons to come to the recruiting stations. Once there the conditions were fully explained to the men, and the presence on duty of officers and non-coms in the smart uniform of the Cape Corps swept away all hesitation, if there were any, and made them all long to emulate those who had already joined as soldiers of the King. Having made up their minds they were then invited to interview the selection officers appointed by Lieut.-Colonel Morris.

These had their tables in the vestibule of the City Hall, Cape Town, and with drafts continually arriving from other centres, were kept pretty busy.

The officers in charge were Major Durham (a strict disciplinarian) and Captain Cowell (a kindly and just officer and beloved by his men, who later made the great sacrifice). They accepted or rejected the men. The accepted men were then passed on to the inner room (Reception Hall) for medical examination.

I remember one particularly strenuous morning. The vestibule was a busy hive with the hum of many voices, and, a not particularly savoury odour of old clothes-clothes that reeked with the sweat of hot and honest daily toil. The folding doors from the Reception Hall opened and a waft of sweet music floated through. The City Orchestra in the Main Hall was rehearsing. Instinctively drawn to breathe the music’s divine message, I was met by the Military Medical Officer, stethoscope in hand. He came to invite me to witness between sixty and seventy coloured men stripped for examination. These men had just previously been handed over to him. Then I realised that the clothing makes (or mars) the man. Now, lined up and smiling, naked to the world, they were fine specimens of strong brawny manhood. So splendidly developed were many of them that it might have been a parade of prize fighters, and, ugly in physiognomy as many of them undoubtedly were, their smiles revealed dentures that many a woman would have sacrificed a good deal to call her own. It is perhaps needless to say that every one of those men passed as medically fit for active service. They were attested and sent to the camp right away.

Early in December, 1815, the Cape Corps was nearing its full complement, and recruiting definitely closed on 12th December, 1915.

At that date the Nett result of the recruitment for the Cape Corps was one thousand and sixteen men. Considering the difficulties in regard to pay and allowances, which all the efforts of the Recruiting Committee had so far failed to get altered, it did vast credit to the young coloured man without encumbrances and showed quite clearly the spirit that was in him to assist his country in time of need.

On the world’s day of rejoicing, Christmas Day (1915), the Camp at Simons-town was thrown open to relatives and friends of the men of the Cape Corps, and full advantage was taken of the concession.

Amongst the old time customs, plum puddings and music and bands were provided and dancing and joviality took place as though no red war existed and in spite of the gloomy news that trickled through over the cables. It was just for the day, the work with all its seriousness and earnestness, was for the morrow.

Mr. Harry Hands (the Mayor) in his message to the citizens of Cape Town clearly gave the key note in reference to the position as it was at that time.

“We are on the eve of Christmas,” he said, ” and at the end of another year, a year of war, and, for many hundreds and thousands of human beings, of suffering and sadness, a year in which death has taken a heavy toll of the Empire’s manhood. From many a home in the Peninsula loved ones who have gone forth at the call of duty will be absent this Christmas. There must there-fore, be a note of sadness in our greetings, but we can still find comfort in the old, old message. Seventeen months of war have not shaken our confidence and our conviction that right must prevail, and though we may be sore let and hindered we shall endure to the end, and the end will be victory.”

In January, 1916, with the full complement of recruits secured, courtesies were exchanged between the Senior Officers of the Cape Corps and the members of the Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee in the form of simple luncheons at the Camp at Simonstown and at the Civil Service Club at Cape Town. The main reason for those proceedings was to wish ” God Speed ” and ” Good luck ” on the eve of departure on the one hand, and on the other the expression of thanks (none of course were needed) to the Recruiting Committee for what they had accomplished.

When the Cape Corps’ embarkation date arrived, very naturally the South African Military Command did not take any chances. A smoke-screen was thrown over the movement of all troops. That notwithstanding, a great crowd assembled at the docks at Cape Town, and all the approaches thereto, to witness the departure of the Battalion for East Africa on 9th February, 1916.

It was a true South African summer’s afternoon. Three train loads of men steamed into the Docks, direct from Simonstown to the ship’s side.

H.M.T. “Armadale Castle” was waiting to receive the Officers and men of the Cape Corps. The embarkation was speedily and smartly accomplished. Many a mother strained with tears of pride in her eyes to get a glimpse of her son; many a young Coloured woman, who had a very particular interest in her newly–made soldier friend, moved in the crowd in the hope of a last farewell.

With the Band playing martial airs and the men leaning over the great ship’s side anxious for a last good-bye, and the sun shining upon a sea of helmets and dark skinned faces and flashing upon the trappings of the uniforms, it was difficult to believe that these were the same men, who only a few months before had come to enlist at the City Hall, many- ill-clad and anything but smart.

The transformation was so complete. Straight, and smart and smiling, with boots, buttons, and equipment polished to a turn, they were a fine workmanlike body of healthy men, and for cheerfulness, dignity of hearing, and soldierly appearance the Officers in Charge would not have been easy to beat in any regiment.

Then, God Save the King, every one stood to attention, and the great Troopship steamed majestically away (I fancy “Tango” barked). As evening came she dwindled to a speck on the sea, and finally vanished from sight.

The Cape Corps had gone on the great adventure, taking with them the hearts and the hopes of thousands of their kinsfolk in the Union. The reputation of the Coloured community of South Africa was in their hands.

The Recruiting Committee could rest on its oars until casualties and disease thinned the ranks of the departed warriors and a new recruiting Campaign was ordered to fill the gaps.

C. Ruiters

It became evident soon after the departure of the “Armadale Castle” that a number of the men of the Cape Corps had left women and children dependents unprovided for, notwithstanding the care that had been exercised by the Selection Officers and the Recruiting Committee. It was unthinkable that these should be left to suffer. The situation was taken in hand at once by the Recruiting Committee, and a list of married men with dependents prepared. Commercial establishments who had employed such men before enlistment were approached, and guarantees obtained in most cases that half civil pay would be given to proved dependents, until Military separation allowances were secured.

The New Year (1916) was scarcely one month past w hen General Smuts took charge of the East African Campaign. From that time calls for reinforcements for the Cape Corps were frequent, with the authorisation that married men could be accepted for Service, and that Separation Allowances would be paid upon the following basis, viz.:-is. 1s. per diem to wives, and 2d. per diem for each child under the age of 16, or in cases of widowless and motherless children, 4d. per diem. Proved Dependents of unmarried men were placed on the same scale, always provided that the soldier allotted to the dependent half his pay. This placed recruitment for the Cape Corps upon a better footing, more especially as grants from the Governor-General’s Fund were left entirely in the hands of the local Committees of that Organisation.

The foregoing may, it is hoped, convey some idea of the activities of the Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee in the earlier stages of the Recruiting Campaign as well as of the feeling held by that body relative to the care of the families of the enlisted men, during their period of active service.

Frequent calls came later from the Director of War Recruiting, Pretoria, for men, more men, who, by dint of hard work and the beating up of Suburban and outlying districts, never failed to materialise. For instance, during the period 27th February to 27th April, 1917, 1,457 Coloured men were attested for the Cape Corps, whilst a large number were turned down as unfit for Active Service.

In all, during the Recruiting Campaign, 6,000 men were enrolled for the 1st Cape Corps, and 2,000 for the 2nd Cape Corps.

Other Coloured units were formed, of a different character to the Cape Corps it is true, but all useful in their different spheres, and all dovetailing and harmonising into the great fighting machine of the Empire. For instance, the Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee were requested to find one thousand men for the Cape Coloured Labour Battalion, with reinforcements as required, whilst they were interested in and consulted with reference to the formation of the South African Native Labour Contingent, in which ten thousand men were enrolled.

In addition, the Recruiting Committee were called upon to supply Coloured men to the S.A. Artillery (Drivers and Leaders) and for the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport Companies, etc., etc.

The exact total figures of Coloured men obtained by the Cape Corps Recruiting Committee are not before me at the present time, but it is certain that they were in the neighbourhood of twenty-five thousand, over rather than under. It is in my opinion a fair calculation to make that 4 to 1 of the men who presented themselves for enrolment were turned down as medically unfit, and if this basis is correct, it shows the handling of one hundred thousand Coloured men.

Amongst the rejected there was genuine disappointment and not a little grumbling. Many such men, especially the younger ones, hung about the recruiting station for weeks hoping by hook or by crook to be allowed to go, while the spectacle of their “pals” in the smart uniform of the Cape Corps heightened their misery at being left behind.

Every post brought letters from men in the country districts, bitterly complaining that the medical officer either did not know his job, or that he had mistaken their case.

Covering some ten closely written pages, smatterings of English and Dutch, a Coloured boy at Clanwilliam, 19 years of age, bemoaned his fate because he was two inches under the regulation height to enable him to join the Cape Corps. He begged to be allowed to join as a bugler; he knew that he could get one cheap if the money was sent to buy it, and, he added, “God would bless the Recruiting Committee.”

Besides the actual recruiting of Coloured men, the Recruiting Committee took upon its shoulders other matters closely connected with the men enrolled. For instance

• The obtaining of maternity grants relative to children born after the soldier’s enlistment.
• The question of free Education for Coloured children during the soldier’s period of active service.
• The remission of the fee for the Marriage Certificate-it being a regulation that this must be produced before Separation Allowance could be claimed or assessed.

Medicine and Comforts for Sick wives and children of soldiers.

The witnessing of the Signature on Military Cheques for monthly allowances in order to satisfy Banking requirements, etc., etc.

A batch of from thirty-five to forty coloured women, some with babies at the breast, others leading ragged and bare-footed children by the hand-little things that the soldier of the Cape Corps had left behind him to be cared for by the country whose freedom he was helping to keep intact-came to the recruiting station one slack morning. Sergeant-Major Reynard was pounced upon in the vestibule of the City Hall. He stood their fury and anger like the good old soldier that he is until explanations were possible.

When order was restored out of the chaos, they were invited to appoint one of their numbers to interview the writer in an inner room.

It was not hard to enter into the feelings of these women. Their separation allowances as has been stated were very small, just enough to provide food to keep them and their children alive and with no hope of putting anything by to meet an unforeseen emergency. However, they were content to suffer the hardships that white and coloured alike were called upon to bear at that time.

But the least delay in the payment of the allowances due created more difficulties than they were prepared to endure. A delay of some days had already taken place in the arrival from the Paymaster of the usual monthly draft, and the children were without food. They had already applied to the Paymaster of the Cape Corps, but he was powerless to assist them in their trouble, and had to explain that there would be a further delay of three or four days-due entirely to the change of office from one centre to another. The Cape Corps Gifts and Comforts Committee found the matter was one that did not come within their scope, and no tangible result accrued as the result of an application to the local Secretary to the Governor-General’s Fund. Finally the Cape Corps War Recruiting Committee was approached as described.

The writer’s own application to the then Secretary of the Governor-General’s Fund shared the same fate as the women’s appeal, and it became necessary to bring the full force of the Recruiting Committee into action. The result was entirely successful, and each family or individual went away with a sufficiency to tide over the awkward period. The women were satisfied and even grateful and dispersed to their various homes in outlying parts of the Cape Peninsula. The same method was adopted in cases where difficulties arose with landlords, who either wished to eject dependents of soldiers on account of the men being on active service, or to increase the rent on threat of ejectment if they did not agree to pay.

In fact there was no genuine grievance connected with the dependents of the enlisted men, which the Recruiting Committee was not compelled to redress.

There were, of course, some strange incidents connected with the recruiting of the coloured units. The following may be cited:

Private John Jacobs of the 1st Cape Corps had, by good fortune-or otherwise-obtained leave of absence from his Regiment during a lull in its activities, and found himself in the Cape Peninsula. Resultant upon his good-or evil-fortune he took it upon himself to form fresh attachments and responsibilities in domestic life.

The sequel to this visit was revealed in a letter, businesslike in its brevity and very much to the point, to the Hon. Secretary Recruiting Committee, as follows : -

“Hon. Sir,

I married John Jacobs a week ago. He has gone back. We have ten Children. Please let me know how I stand.

Yours truly,……..”

On a tour of the Eastern Province of the Cape quite recently the writer had the good luck to have as a companion on the journey an ex-officer of the Cape Corps who had served in the East African campaign and in Palestine. During the journey opportunity was afforded of hearing something of the doings of the Cape Corps in the actual fighting line, some of which no doubt will be set down in this volume. That officer’s praise of his men, of their manly courage and pluck, of their discipline and cheerful endurance in times of hard-ship and difficulties, served to confirm the reports one had heard of the splendid work and behaviour of the men in camp, on the march, or under fire.

At most of the stations at which the train halted, coloured men stepped out from somewhere, and, in their working clothes, stood to attention and saluted-they were so obviously glad to see their old officer, and to have the opportunity to refresh in a few words their memories of the time when they had served under him in the Great War.

It was the same in many of the places we visited during the tour. There was generally some coloured man who halted in his work to salute the officer, notwithstanding that both wore civilian clothes. Indeed, on the train by which we travelled, an ex-member of the Cape Corps brought us our nightly bedding, and the chef’s coloured assistant in the dining-car tendered his respectful greetings and was recognised.

On some of the farms visited at which ex-officers of the Cape Corps had entered into possession, the servants, the farm hands, and those employed in other capacities were all, wherever possible, returned soldiers of the Cape Corps. In some of the town’s ex-officers of the Cape Corps who had embarked upon new ventures since release from service employ men in their offices who have seen service in the Battalion. This continued association in civil life of European officers and Coloured ex-soldiers who served under them during the Great War is of course only natural and may in course of time evaporate and become only a memory. But what seems to be forced upon one is that this sympathetic understanding and respect between the white officer and the coloured man who served with and under him, if fostered in some way, should prove of inestimable value to the State.

South Africa, we are told, is a land that is merely scratched upon the ‘surface. Could not some semi-military body be formed from what is left of the Cape Corps for its greater development?

By Mr. A. Eames Perkins.

Extracted from the publication The Story of the 1^st Cape Corps 1915 – 1919 by Captain I.D. Difford

Women first played cricket in South Africa as early as 1920. In that year the Peninsula Girls’ School Cricket Union was formed. Twelve years later, in 1932, the Peninsula Ladies’ Cricket Council was formed and shortly afterwards in 1934 – they affiliated to the English Women’s Cricket Association. In those days the English Women’s Cricket Association was recognised as a world body.

In view of and thanks to the early enthusiasm for cricket in the Western Province, South Africa formed its own national body in 1953, namely the South Africa & Rhodesia Women’s Cricket Association, after a few enthusiasts had revived the game in the Transvaal and an interim committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Eric Rowan had done the spadework in forming of the national body since April 14th, 1952.

As early as 1947 Transvaal formed its own provincial association. Two Transvaal teams were sent to play against Rhodesia in 1950/1951.

The formation of the provincial associations was: 1934 – Western Province; 1947 – Southern Transvaal; 1950 – Border, Eastern Province, Natal, Northern Transvaal, Griqualand, Rhodesia and Orange Free State.

Whilst cricket had previously been played by girls in schools. It was officially introduced in the Transvaal by Shirley Carroll in the 1961/1962 season and the Schoolgirls Association was formed in that year. Natal followed suit and very recently Border and Western Province have a few staunch schools playing.

The presidents of the South African & Rhodesia Women’s Cricket Association since its formation have been:

February, 1953 to January, 1955 – Miss Jo Field
January, 1955 to January, 1957 – Miss Flo Adlard
January, 1957 to March 1967 – Miss Marjorie Robison
March, 1967 – Miss Shirley Carroll

As a starting point of women’s cricket one can almost legitimately take the fourteenth century.

From the miniatures reproduced in a Picard romance “The Romance of Alexander” the margins of which were illuminated circa 1344 by one Johan de Grise one of these illustrates the ancestress of women’s cricket to be a nun holding a ball. She is faced by a monk who brandishes a club.

Women used the round arm action first in the 1820′s. Christina Willes bowled the first round arm ball. To quote: “Christina Willes was sister to John’ Willes, Kentish squire and patron of all manly sports and now of immortal memory, since his tombstone stands engraved for all to see “He was the first to introduce round-armed bowling in cricket.” In appears that while Mr. Willes, keen cricketer that he was, was convalescing from an illness, he used to induce his sister to throw a ball at him for practice in the barn of his home at Tomford, near Canterbury. She did so – with a high-handed action that avoided entanglement in the voluminous skirts of the period.

He was so struck by her success that he forthwith adopted the style himself and devoted the remainder of his cricketing days to securing its recognition. But it was an uphill battle – the effort cost him his patience and cricket one of its most devoted adherents. In a famous match at Lord’s in 1822, playing for Kent against the M.C.C. – the story has often been told – he was no-balled by Noah Mann for bowling his newfangled stuff. He threw down the ball, jumped on his horse and rode away, out of Lord’s declaring he would never play again. Nor did he, though his sister’s invention was made law six years later.

1947 – Eileen Hurly hit the first recorded century in South Africa in her first league game at the age of thirteen.
1947 – First “unofficial” provincial games played when two Southern Transvaal teams played Rhodesia in Johannesburg.
1951 – The inaugural inter-provincial game was played between Western Province and Southern Transvaal at Liesbeek Park in Cape Town.
1952/1953 – First interprovincial tournament held in Bloemfontein.
1953 – Formation of the South Africa & Rhodesia Women’s Cricket Association.
1953/1954 – First recorded inter-provincial century by Eileen Hurley – 106 not out.
1953/1954 – First recorded hattrick (a double hat-trick) by Sheila Nefdt in Cape Town for Western Province.
1958 – The South African and Rhodesia Women’s Cricket Association president, Miss Marjorie Robison took the chair of the inaugural International Women’s Cricket Council conference in Australia, she herself becoming the president of the international body in 1963.

Back Row (left to right): Barbara Cairncross, Eleanor Lambert, Yvonne van Mentz, Lorna Ward.

Back Row (left to right): Barbara Cairncross, Eleanor Lambert, Yvonne van Mentz, Lorna Ward.
Middle Row: Jean McKenzie, Pam Hollett, Jennifer Gove
Front Row: Audrey Jackson, Sheila Nefdt, Marjory Robinson (manageress), Eileen Hurly, Jean McNaughton, Joy Irwin

1960 – First bowler recorded to take all ten wickets in a provincial tournament – Doris TenCate who took ten wickets for 26 runs and also scored 148 runs.
1960 – Selection of the first Springbok team B. Cairncross, J. Cove, P. Hollett, E. Hurley, J. Irwin, A. Jackson, E. Lambert, J. McNaughton, S. Nefdt, Y. von Mentz, L. Ward (Played in all four test matches against the touring English team)

Still playing in 1970. Further “caps” for the tour were: P. Klesser, D. Wood, B. Lang and M. Payne.
1960 – First international game in Port Elizabeth against English women’s cricket team.
1960 – First cricketing double-Springbok – Jean McNaughton (also a hockey Springbok at the time).
Jan., 1961 – First South African international century by Yvonne von Mentz – 105 not out in the fourth test against England, although Eileen Hurley in the first test ran out of partners at 96 not out. Result of the English tour – Three test matches drawn and one won by England.
1968/1969 – Dutch women’s cricket team toured South Africa when England was unable to fulfil fixtures at the last moment. The Springbok team was: S. Carroll, B. Clowes, E. Cohen, S. Edwards, J. Gove, C. Gildenhuys, E. Hurley* (Captain), S. Johnson (i), P. Lankenau, L. van der Maas (2), L. Ward*, G. Williamson. (Whilst this was a full Springbok team, only half colours were awarded in view of the brevity of the tour.) (*also members of the 1960 Springbok team), ((i) – injured in the second test and replaced by (2).

Result of the Dutch tour – All test matches won outright by South Africa.

Jennifer Grove 150 not out against Netherlands in 1969

The “Simon Trophy” was presented to Southern Transvaal Association by Tilly Mary Simon to hand over to the South African Association as soon as this was formed and to be competed for at inter-provincial cricket tournaments. This trophy is competed for annually by provincial teams, as in the men’s Currie Cup, the winners of the trophy thus far being:
1952 Western Province
1953 Western Province
1954 Western Province
1955 Southern Transvaal
1956 Natal
1957 Eastern Province
1958 Southern Transvaal
1959 Southern Transvaal
1960 Natal
1961 Not presented in view of the English tour
1962 Southern Transvaal
1963 Eastern Province
1964 Natal
1965 Natal
1966 Southern Transvaal
1967 Natal
1968 Southern Transvaal
1969 Southern Transvaal
1970 Southern Transvaal

Executive 1970

CARROLL, SHIRLEY PATRICIA

Carroll Shirley Patricia

Shirley was born in Durban, the daughter of Mr. Patrick J. Carroll. She was trained overseas in physical education, but now has her own business. She belongs to the Jesters Club and when there’s time she swims, plays tennis, rides and listens to classical music and the operas. She first attained provincial colours when she represented Southern Transvaal in 1962 and Springbok colours in the 1968/69 season when she played in all tests against Holland. She represented South Africa as delegate at the International Cricket Council in New Zealand in 1969. Shirley played county cricket in England before coming to South Africa. Within the first few months of her arrival in this country she was asked to “do something” about cricket in schools as she was the one who had pointed out how important this media was for adult cricket. She accepted this challenge and as a result her brainchild, the Southern Transvaal Schoolgirls Association, was formed in 1961; and by 1970 eleven schools were competing a league. In 1962 she was elected to the Southern Transvaal executive committee and in 1964 became chairman of the association.

The year 1967 saw her elected as president of the South Africa and Rhodesian Women’s Cricket Association and she was instrumental in bringing the Dutch Women’s Touring Team to South Africa. In 1970 she visited England for an important meeting with the English Women’s Cricket Association.

LINTON-WALLS, PAMELA RUTH

Pamela Ruth Linton Walls

Pamela is now in her third two-year term of office as the secretary of the South Africa and Rhodesia Women’s Cricket Association. Before 1967 she acted as secretary of the Southern Transvaal Women’s Cricket Association. She was born on the 3rd February, 1938 in Plumstead, Cape Town, and is the daughter of Mr. Leonard Linton-Walls. She attended the Central High School, Krugersdorp, and is at present secretary to a managing director. She is a founder member of the Jesters Women’s Cricket Club and also played hockey. She attained provincial colours when she was included in the Transvaal “B” Cricket Team. She acted as Manager/Liaison Officer during the tour of S.A. by the Dutch Women’s Cricket team in 1968. Pamela resides at 18 Paul Kruger Drive, Monument Extension, Krugersdorp.

HURLY, EILEEN MARY ANN

Eileen Mary Ann Hurly

Eileen, the daughter of James William Hurly, was born on the 6th May, 1934, at Benoni. She attended the Dominican Convent, Benoni, and is today an insurance broker. She has devoted many years to cricket. Not only has she attained 105 provincial caps and seven Springbok caps, and still playing, but served eight years on the Transvaal executive committee – five years as treasurer, two years as vice-chairman and one year as chairman. She was appointed a life member of the Southern Transvaal Association in 1968. She has devoted eight years service to the national body, the South African and Rhodesian Women’s Cricket Association first as treasurer and in 1969 she was appointed vice-chairman. Eileen captained South Africa in the 1968 series. In gratitude for her unselfish and devoted service to the game she loves and plays so well, she has also been appointed an honorary life member of the national body. She belongs to the Johannesburg Municipal Sports Club and is a top order batsman and fielder. She first attained provincial colours in 1947 when she represented Southern Transvaal. She won her Springbok colours in the 1960/61 season against England and the 1968/69 series against Holland . Her brother, Charlie, is a Springbok soccer player. Eileen resides at 16 Durham Street, Benoni.
ROBISON, MARJORY RUTH
Marjory was born on the 1st October, 1918, in Galle, Ceylon, and is the daughter of Mr. Lionel McD. Robison. She attended the Collegiate Girls’ School in Port Elizabeth and the London University where she obtained a diploma and is at present a manager/administrating assistant. She was manager of the Women’s Cricket Team in the 1960/61 season. She was also the chairman of the Southern Transvaal Women’s Cricket Association for ten years and the president of the South Africa and Rhodesia Women’s Cricket Association for the same number of years. She was the vice-president of the International Women’s Cricket Association for two years and the president of the association for two years. Her home address is 135 Harrogate, Tyrwhitt Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg.

Springboks 1968 – 1970

CLOWES, BARBARA LYNN
Barbara is an opening bat and first obtained her provincial colours when she represented Natal in the 1965/66 season. She was chosen for the South African Cricket XI in 1968. Barbara was born on the 27th August, 1942, and is the daughter of Mr. George D. Clowes. She attended the Wykeham Girls’ High School in Pietermaritzburg and is a clerk. Her hobbies include tennis, swimming, reading and knitting, and she resides at 1 Meleman Place, Blackridge, Pietermaritzburg.

COHEN, EDA

Eda Cohen

Eda is an all round sportswoman who has achieved a great deal in her 22 years. She attained provincial colours for three sports and won Springbok colours for two. In 1964 and from 1966 to 1969 she played American Basketball for Southern Transvaal; from 1967 to 1969, cricket and in the years 1968 and 1969 she also represented Southern Transvaal at hockey. She was first chosen to represent South Africa at American basketball in 1967 and was included in the Springbok team in 1968 and 1969. She won her national colours at women’s cricket in 1968 and also represented her country in 1969. Apart from all these activities she still finds time to listen to music and read. Eda was born on the 28th of September, 1948, in Johannesburg, and is the daughter of Harry Cohen. She attended King David School, Linksfield, and studied at the Johannesburg College of Education where she obtained her teacher’s diploma. She is a teacher. She is a member of the Wanderers Club and resides at 306 Crestview, 42 Alexandra Street, Berea , Johannesburg.
EDWARDS, SALLY ELLEN

Sally Ellen Edwards

Sally was born in Pretoria on the 8th August, 1946, and is the daughter of Mr. Ronald A. Edwards. She was educated at the Pretoria Girls’ High School and subsequently obtained the Transvaal Teachers’ Diploma at the Johannesburg College of Education. Sally is fond of music, plays the piano and guitar and reads a great deal when she can find the time. She is a member of the Old Girls’ Hockey Club, Pretoria , and the J.C.E. Cricket Club in Johannesburg. While still at school she played in the Northern Transvaal Schools Hockey Team. In 1966, ‘67 and ‘68 she represented Southern Transvaal’s women’s cricket team and won her Springbok colours at women’s cricket in 1968 when she represented South Africa against the Netherlands. Sally inherits her love of sport from her father, who captained the North-Eastern Transvaal Cricket and Hockey teams. Her brother, Neill, plays hockey for Southern Transvaal. Sally resides at 80 Eeufees Avenue, Nigel.
GILDENHUYS, CAROLE ANNE

Carole Anne Gildenhuys

Carole was born in Port Elizabeth on the 19th November, 1943, the daughter of Mr. Frederick Gildenhuys. She attended Florida Park High School and after matriculating obtained her diploma at the Johannesburg College of Education. She is at present a lecturer in physical education – and her hobbies are reading and music. She belongs to the Wanderer Hockey Club and the Collegians Cricket Club. She attained her provincial colours when she represented Southern Transvaal at cricket in 1963 and her Springbok colours when she was included in the South African XI in 1968. She also played hockey for Southern Transvaal in 1968. Carole resides at 31 Barnard Street, Ontdekkers Park, Florida.

GOVE, JENNIFER ANNE
Jennifer is a keen sportswoman and has attained provincial colours for no less than three sports. This leaves her very little spare time, but she still finds time to swim, cook and listen to music. She was born on the 28th of July, 1940, in Durban and is the daughter of Mr. Donavan Ross. She attended Northlands Girls’ High and is at present a cash machine operator. She attained her provincial colours for hockey and cricket. representing Natal in 1959, and for squash in 1964. She won Springbok colours at cricket in 1961 and represented South Africa against the Netherlands in 1968. Jennifer’s twin sister also plays hockey and cricket. Her home address is 1 Brynderyn, Hime Road, Durban.
JOHNSON, SHIRLEY-ANNE

Shirley-Anne Johnson

Shirley was born in Port Elizabeth on the 2nd February, 1938, and is the daughter of H. A. Symonds. She attended the Girls High School in Queenstown and is at present a credit controller. Shirley is fond of music and sport. She played hockey for Natal in 1960 and in 1962 and 1965 she represented the Free State. She also dived for the Griqualand West Schools in 1954. In 1959 she played cricket for the Border, in 1960 for Natal and in 1963 for the Free State. She represented the Transvaal in 1964, 1967 and 1969 and was a member of the Springbok team that played against the Netherlands in 1968. Her address is 15 Radoma Court, Cavendish Road, Bellevue, Johannesburg.
LANKENAU, PATRICIA

Patricia Lakenau

Patricia hails from Grimsby, England. She was born on the 2nd August, 1942, and is the daughter of Mr. James Lankenau. She matriculated at the Rosebank Convent and studied at the Johannesburg Teachers’ Training College. She teaches physical education. Only months after she gained her first provincial cap for Transvaal , Patricia was selected to represent her country in 1968. Apart from cricket she also represented Souther Transvaal at netball from 1962 to 1965. She is a an all round sportswoman, who in addition to the above mentioned, plays badminton, table tennis, tennis and hockey. Her address is Redhill School, P.O. Sandown, Johannesburg.
VAN DER MAAS, LYNN LILLIAN

Lynn Lilian van der Maas

Lynn was first included in a Southern Transvaal Women’s Cricket XI in the 1963-64 season. She won her Springbok colours in January, 1969. She was born in Johannesburg on the 8th June, 1945, the daughter of Mr. J. C. D. van der Maas. She went to school at Forest High and after matriculation attended the Witwatersrand Technical College to prepare herself for a business career. She is at present a secretary. Apart from her interest in sport she likes to listen to records and reads a lot. She is a member of the Johannesburg Municipals Club and resides at 14 Minerva Avenue, Glendower, Edenvale, Transvaal.

WARD, LORNA GRACE
Lorna was born in ” Port Elizabeth on the 3rd June, 1938, and is the daughter of Mr. A. G. Ward. She is a statistical analyst and her hobbies include sculpting, gardening, and pottering around backstage at the theatre. She has represented Eastern Province, Natal, Southern Transvaal and South Africa at cricket. She is an opening bowler and first won her Springbok colours in the 1960/61 season and represented South Africa against the Netherlands in 1968. Dogs are Lorna’s favourite pets and she has a golden Labrador and a black and white Cocker Spaniel. Lorna lives at 27 22nd Street, Parkhurst, Johannesburg.

WILLIAMSON, GLORIA

Gloria Williamson

Gloria was born on the 7th December, 1938, at Roodepoort, and is the daughter of Mr. Herman “Menna” Williamson. She attended the Florida Park High School and continued her studies at the Johannesburg College of Education and is pre sently a teacher. Apart from sport she finds pleasure in black and white sketching. She attained her Transvaal colours for swimming in 1958 and her Southern Transvaal colours for gymnastics in 1959 and cricket in 1960. She became a member of the Southern Transvaal “A” cricket team in 1962. She was chosen to represent South Africa at cricket in December, 1968. Gloria hails from a sporting family. Her father played soccer for Northern Rhodesia and hockey for Witwatersrand. Her cousin, Reggie Marchant, represented Northern Transvaal at athletics, and her cousin, George Fraser, is a Western Province schools’ boxer and gymnast. Gloria resides at 44 Cahn Street, Roodepoort.
LIST OF SPRINGBOKS 1960-1970
1960 – English team that toured South Africa: Eleanor Lambert, Pat Klesser, Delcie Wood, Eileen Hurly, Yvonne von Mentz, Barbara Cairncross, Pamela Hollett, Jean McNaughton, Jennifer Gove, Joy Irwin, Lorna Ward, Maureen Payne, Audrey Jackson, Beverley Lang, Sheila Nefdt.
1968 – Springbokspan teen Nederland/Springbok team against Holland: Shirley Carroll, Barbara Clowes, Eda Cohen, Sally Edwards, Carole Gildenhuys, Jennifer Gove, Eileen Hurly, Shirley Johnson, Patricia Lankenau, Lynn van der Maas, Lorna Ward, Gloria Williamson.

Sports Personalities South Africa 1971. Published by Perskor
Die Burger

The life of the early burghers of the Cape was rough and crude in the first few decades of the settlement. In the beginning they had to concentrate on producing their own food and sufficient foodstuffs for supplying the Dutch East India Company’s ships. The early houses generally consisted of only one or two rooms, sparsely furnished with the barest necessities, and a kitchen.

Home Making

By the 1770′s larger houses with more pretensions to comfort and appearance were being built in the Western Cape. In Cape Town itself flat-roofed, double-storied houses were not uncommon. At the same time, a greater variety of furniture began to appear. Sonic furniture was still being imported, from Europe or the Orient; but to an increasing extent it was locally made, either from South African woods or from wood imported from the Far East, Mauritius or Madagascar. The work was carried out mainly by White craftsmen, by slaves, or by Malay craftsmen from the Orient. From the 1740′s onwards the burghers were more and more able to purchase porcelain, pottery, stoneware and brassware from the East and from Europe. Silver and glass, too, became more general in the later 18th century.

In the pioneer days, most of the early houses were single-storey, rectangular structures. In Cape Town, in the course of time, they were generally built on the flat-roofed U plan; elsewhere they had high-pitched thatch roofs on the T, H or other pattern. But flat-roofed houses were also found in many other parts of the country in the 19th century, including the Little and the Great Karoo and the Eastern Province. The walls would be painted or colour-washed with red or yellow clay, or whitewashed with shell-lime. From the 1830′s, wallpaper began to be used on the interior walls. Floors were covered with slate or tiles, or smeared weekly with diluted cow-dung (`misvloer’), sometimes with ox-blood thinly spread over the surface. Alternatively, peach-pips were embedded in a clay floor to form a hardwearing surface. Windows might have external half-shutters or full-length shutters, while internal wooden blinds came into general use in Victorian times. In Cape Town in the late 18th and early 19th century fanlights were elaborately carved and an oil lantern was inserted in its centre to throw light on the stoep and steps as well as into the entrance hall.

Necessities of Life

Until about the 1870s, before communications had improved, farmers had perforce to be largely self-supporting and provided most of their own food (especially meat) and clothing. They made their own soap, candles, bread, butter, jam, ham and biltong; they cured and tanned hides and skins for harness and `riems’ (thongs). Where the climate permitted, they produced dried fruits, dried peas and beans, raisins and nuts. Their shoes were homemade `velskoene’, and they often wore trousers and jackets made by their wives from soft-tanned animal skins. Farmers made a journey once or twice a year to the nearest town or village to lay in supplies of whatever they could not produce themselves (coffee, tea, sugar, salt, needles, cotton, and bales of material for making clothes).
Beverages: Tea and coffee were introduced in the late 17th century and, although at first scarce and expensive, soon came into general use. Because coffee was often difficult to obtain, all sorts of substitutes, made from various roots, from acorns or even dried figs, were resorted to in remote districts; and the Voortrekkers were perforce tea-drinkers. Spirituous beverages were of course always popular; but many wine-farmers, from the last quarter of the 19th century, refused to drink wine as they believed in abstinence. Other beverages were cordials based on syrups boiled from fruit, e.g. lemon syrup, and homemade ginger beer based on root ginger, maize meal, raisins or other substances.

Social Customs

Family occasions such as births, christenings, weddings, confirmations and funerals all called for gatherings of friends and relatives from far and near. At a birth or at the christening the father would designate a calf or sheep as a gift to the baby, to be the nucleus for a herd or flock. By the time the child was 18, this might have reached an appreciable size, so that a young man would be able to set up on his own as a farmer, or a girl have a dowry on her marriage. Weddings were celebrated with much festivity and with large and elaborate meals; while music of some kind, probably on guitars and similar instruments, was provided, usually by the servants.

Funerals

Another class of paid mourners (‘tropsluiters’) walked at the end of the funeral procession. The bearers were provided with black gloves and long crape bands, a yard or more in length, which hung from their hats. In the early days of the Cape settlement funerals were held at sundown or after dark by torchlight, while interments of the highest officials or leading burghers took place in a church.

Birthdays

Birthdays were celebrated on a generous scale, many relatives visiting the person whose birthday it was. Large meals would be provided at mid day, while all day cakes, cookies, tarts and tartlets, preserves and other delicacies, as well as tea and coffee, would be served to relatives and friends.

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day were generally given over to festivities of all kinds, while in country places picnics might be arranged in some shady spot, with games, dances and sing-songs, followed by lavish meals and much conviviality with friends and relatives who were otherwise seldom seen. The telling of tall yarns about hunting or adventures in the veld were a feature of such occasions.
Christmas was not celebrated before the 1850′s. Generally communion services (‘Nagmaal’) took place at that time, as Christmas was solely regarded as a sacred occasion.

Social Intercourse

The social intercourse of earlier generations largely consisted of exchanging regular visits with friends and relatives, varying from a few hours to several weeks. The usual social visit included offering refreshments to guests or smoking together, when pipes, tobacco and glowing coals would be offered, and possibly snuff, too. Chatting and exchanging greetings from and news about other relatives or acquaintances, as well as any general news, constituted an important element in an age when there were no newspapers or other means of communication. Hotels or wayside inns were generally unknown until about the 1830′s.

Hospitality to unexpected guests, as well as to total strangers, was a social obligation, part and parcel of colonial life. Meals, forage for horses and other animals, as well as sleeping accommodation, were provided as a matter of course: no payment of any kind was ever accepted or expected. Only after the discovery of diamonds and gold, when heterogeneous immigrants streamed across the veld and the kindly hospitality of people in the interior was on occasion abused, did the farmers begin to feel that they could no longer dispense universal hospitality.

Etiquette and manners

The mode of address for uncles and aunts (`oom’ and `tante’) was extended to all older persons. Older cousins would be addressed as `neef’ or `niggie’ (for a male or a female cousin respectively), and this was carried over in speaking to contemporaries. Courtesy and respect, too, were shown to all women and even girls. Rather formal manners and formal relations were the general rule. Elderly persons behaved with dignity, and their attitude toward the young engendered respect, which they expected to be returned. The moral code was strict and transgressions were severely frowned upon. Parents exercised a rigid discipline and protected their daughters assiduously, no girl ever being left alone with a man. In spite of that, the custom of courting at night (‘opsit’) was tolerated, a candle being provided by the parents of the girl; when it had burnt down, it was time for the man to go home.

The Traditional Kitchen

Until the introduction of iron stoves in the second half of the 19th century, the kitchen fireplace consisted of an open hearth. Over the fire-place there was a thick beam, while high up inside the chimney a thick iron bar was built in, from which chains hung for suspending pots, kettles and other cooking utensils over the fire. Pans were placed on trivets or on four-legged gridirons. The baking oven, if not a separate structure outside, was built on to the chimney on the outside and had a vaulted roof, being almost the size of a small room and up to a metre high or more. A large quantity of bread, 24 to 36 loaves, would be baked at one time, perhaps every other day or twice a week, since all farm labourers were fed from the farmer’s kitchen.

Utensils

In the kitchen there was generally a meal-bin of about 30 cu ft with separate compartments to hold different kinds of meal. Bread was kneaded in the dough-box. Both the meal-bin and the dough-box were usually of yellowwood, regularly scrub-bed after use until it was almost white. Unless the homestead had a separate dairy, a side table in the kitchen was used for skimming milk as well as for rolling out pastry or mixing cake-dough. A wooden churn, a sausage-making machine and a mincer (in the later 19th century) would be found in the kitchen, on shelves or in cupboards. Pride of the housewife’s heart would be copper tart-pans and cake-moulds, flat-irons, copper kettles and jugs, brass waffle-pans and the copper `komfoor’ with its brazier of glowing charcoal for keeping coffee hot through-out the day and from which the farmer and his sons could tap hot coffee whenever they came in from out-of-doors. A brass pestle and mortar would be used for pounding ginger and spices, while a partly hollowed-out wooden block would be used with a wooden pestle for pounding maize or wheat.

Jars, vats and tubs. In the burgher’s home a number of stoneware or earthenware jars or pots were generally to be found: for example, stoneware jars (or jugs) for vinegar or `moskonfyt’, jars for fat or lard, as well as earthenware jars for storing jams, often made from grapes, apricots, peaches or figs; preserves made from water-melons or green figs; or jellies made from apples or quinces. In the pantry or the kitchen a cask, with copper, brass or iron hoops and hinges, preserved meat in brine. There were also low tubs of various shapes (oblong, round or rectangular) and heights, used for salting or pickling meat and for washing the best tea-service, which would then be stacked in the tub and kept on a side table in the dining-room, covered by a white cloth. A fairly tall tub was for storing and preserving salted butter used for cooking. Wooden buckets with iron hoops were used for carrying water to keep the water-barrel filled. Water was not laid on into houses on farms or in small villages until near the end of the 19th century. A shallow tub of water was used in the dining room or kitchen by all members of the family who had been working out of doors during the day, for washing their feet before partaking of the evening meal. Coffee beans were roasted in a flat pan, then ground in a coffee mill; or in earlier days the beans were pounded in a mortar, specially used for this purpose.

Home Nursing

As there were very few medical practitioners or hospitals and practically no trained nurses before the second half of the 19th century (and then only in a few of the larger centres), the mother of the family living on a remote farm had perforce to undertake nursing at home.

She relied chiefly on home remedies, and most families purchased as an essential item a medicine chest containing homoeopathic remedies from Halle or other places in Germany. This home pharmacy (`huisapotheek’) contained a number of remedies for mostordinary ailments. The medicine-chest was supplemented by traditional home remedies (`boererate’) and medicinal herbs. Each village or neighbourhood had a midwife of sorts, completely untrained but not inexperienced.

Education

Such education as was provided was closely related to the church and was mainly concerned with learning to read, as a preparation for confirmation in church. Itinerant teachers were employed on farms for periods of six months to a year in order to teach the three R’s before moving on to another farm. Practically the only reading matter in the possession of farmers living during the 18th and 19th century in the interior was an, often illustrated, family Bible, a psalter and hymnal, possibly a volume of sermons and a Biblical commentary, or a few religious or devotional books.

Schools for young ladies in the early and mid-19th century taught little more than elegant accomplishments, rules of deportment and acceptable social behaviour. Boys’ schools of the same period aimed at turning out young Christian gentlemen who had acquired the elements of respectable behaviour, as well as some knowledge of the classics, a little arithmetic and a good handwriting. Both boys and girls were as a matter of course instructed in Biblical knowledge and religion.

Amusements and Recreation

Before the 19 th century there was little public recreation. The colonists had to depend on their own resources for amusements, which were mainly carried on in the home. But outside the home hunting wild animals, target shooting, horse riding or going for a drive in a carriage or other horse-drawn vehicle always remained popular.

During the 19th century horseracing gained in favour until even small villages had a rough, dusty racetrack of sorts. Dancing in the home was carried on from the earliest times to music provided by stringed instruments, often guitars, played by a couple of slaves or other farm or domestic workers. Public balls were generally confined to entertainments in Cape Town, provided by the Governor or by garrison regiments.

These later became also a feature of the main garrison towns such as Grahamstown, King William’s Town, Pietermaritzburg or Fort Beaufort, where regimental bands furnished the music. On farms an outbuilding was cleared and neighbours gathered from far and near. Some young women in later days came on horseback from long distances with their dresses packed in a leather or tin hatbox tied to the back of the saddle.

Outdoor games might include tip-cat (‘kennetjie’), competitions involving the throwing of horse-shoes, high cockalorum (‘bok-bok-staan-styf’) or playing with yoke-pins (‘jukskei’). Near the coast or rivers fishing was popular, or occasionally even rowing; while from the 1880′s cycling became a favourite pastime. The singing of English or Dutch folk songs was a feature of gatherings in the home, at picnics or wherever young people congregated, while even choral singing was on occasion indulged in.
From early times a favourite pastime in all parts of the country was attending auction sales of all kinds, whether in towns or villages or on farms. If on a farm, people would travel long distances to the sale, and ample meals had perforce to be provided by the farm-owner for those attending.

Mercenary troops in the Dutch East India Company’s service began from the 1780′s to produce dramatic performances or concerts. After the `African Theatre’ in Cape Town was opened in 1801, plays were staged more frequently, mainly by military or amateur groups, while concerts were, after the opening of the Commercial Exchange in 1822, frequently given there.

By the early 19th century there were various categories of drinking places, from taverns selling the cheapest types of drink for sailors and others, to more respectable inns or hotels which developed from this time. Soon after, clubs, which catered for the more dignified and affluent citizens, were established in Cape Town.

Mills

Mills to grind wheat or maize were found on many farms, particularly water-mills and horse-driven mills, which also served their neighbours. An 18th-century example of a windmill is the surviving Mostert’s Mill in Mowbray, Cape Town.

Lighting and Heating

Homemade tallow or water candles were among the earliest forms of lighting at the Cape. Each home owned a candle-mould for making 6 or 12 candles at a time from suet or lard. Candlesticks of brass or other metal were used to hold the candles. A scissors-like type of wick-trimmer was used, while snuffers for extinguishing candles were in general use. Both articles might be of pewter or brass, or later even of silver.

From the end of the 18th century whale oil was used for lighting and thenceforward oil lamps were introduced into more and more homes. In 1809 sonic oil lamps were erected for illuminating the Heerengracht and the Keizersgracht, Cape Town’s main streets. In the early 19th century the burghers in Cape Town were enjoined to put oil lamps on the corners of houses, which faced two streets. People going out visiting or to attend a gathering at night carried a lantern containing a candle. Gas became available in Cape Town from 1847 onwards, while by 1852 some 252 street lamps were installed, but for many years there were none in the suburbs. Paraffin lamps calve into use during the early Victorian age. Electricity made its appearance only toward the end of the 19th century.

Cookery

The ways of cooking and recipes have traditionally been handed down from mother to daughter until the early 1890′s. Thereafter cookery books began to be published. Strips of dried meat (‘biltong’) were equally enjoyed by the early colonists and by the Hottentots, and carried very well on long journeys in a warm climate. Sour milk (‘maas’) or calabash milk was much used among the Bantu. The Cape’s fat-tailed sheep played a large part in early cookery, supplying fat for spreading on bread and for baking cakes or cookies, as well as for candle-making.

East and West made their respective contributions to everyday life as far as cooking was concerned. This was much influenced by the Javanese or Malay cooks (whether slaves or exiles) in most Cape households. Various traditional dishes with distinctive flavours were evolved. Although the Bantu along the east coast had since the early 17th century lived on maize, which they crushed with a large wooden pestle in a hollowed-out tree-trunk, the White settlers favoured wheat. Although Kaffir-corn (grain sorghum) and maize are the staple food of the Bantu, and maize is also much used among the Whites, yet in the main all racial groups in South Africa have been mainly meat eaters. The tribal Bantu still regard vegetables as women’s food. The flesh of practically every kind of animal, bird or fish, large and small, has been used as a food.

Information about this picture: The most elegant hotel in South Africa in the 1880′s was the International at Cape Town, which led the way by introducing that very fashionable pastime, lawn-tennis. Players of today may marvel how it was possible for anybody to play in those frilled and bustled dresses, those flowered hats and gloves. The game was not very fast, but, judging by the generally relaxed air, our ancestors enjoyed it!

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

In the early days of the settlement at the Cape people of note were buried inside church buildings. Provision for a place of worship was at once made inside the Castle. Consequently the Rev. Joan van Arckel was laid to rest at that particular spot in the unfinished Castle in Jan. 1666. Only a fortnight earlier he himself had officiated at the laying of one of the four foundation stones of the new defence structure. A few months later the wife of Commander Zacharias Wagenaer was buried in the same ground; likewise Commander Pieter Hackius, who died on 30th November 1671. By 1678 the little wooden church inside the Castle proved too small, and when a new site was selected provision was made for a cemetery immediately outside the church, but the custom of burials inside the building continued. The whole piece of ground where the Groote Kerk and its adjacent office building now stand was enclosed by a strong wall. People were buried on this site before the completion of the church building. The first to be buried there was the Rev. Petrus Hulsenaar, who died on 15th December 1677 and was laid to rest where the church was to be built. The bodies of those who were buried in the wooden church inside the Castle were reinterred here in a common grave. After that a fee equivalent to about R12 was charged for a grave inside the church, as against R1.00 for a burial-place in the churchyard.

The church building was completed in 1703, and the first governor buried inside its walls was Louis van Assenburgh, who died on Sunday, 27th December 1711. The following year ex-Governor Simon van der Stel died on 24th June and was buried inside the church; a memorial was put up behind the pulpit. He was followed by several notable persons, all buried inside the building: Governor Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes, whose death occurred on 8th September 1724; Governor Pieter Gijsbert Noodt (died 23rd April 1729); the wife of Governor Jan de la Fontaine (June 1730), Governor Adriaan van Kervel (19th September 1737) and Governor elect Pieter, Baron van Reede, who died at sea on the way out and was buried in the church on 16th April 1773. The last of the Governors to be buried in the Groote Kerk was Ryk Tulbagh. Although his death occurred on 11th August 1771, the burial was postponed 17th August to enable country folk to attend the funeral of the `Father' of the people. Some memorial tablets and escutcheons can still be seen at the Groote Kerk, but most disappeared during rebuilding operations, including that of Simon van der Stel. The escutcheon- of Baron Pieter van Reede is still to be seen on the outside wall of the enlarged building near the original steeple. Another conspicuous tablet, but of a much later date, is that of Chief Justice Sir John Truter and Lady Truter, who died in 1845 and 1849 respectively and were buried in the churchyard a few years after the reconstruction. It is believed that the first Jan Hendrik Hofineyr in South Africa, who was superintendent of De Schuur and died in 1805, lies buried in the little cemetery still preserved at Groote Schuur, but it is impossible to identify his grave.

Notable Huguenot personalities are buried in Huguenot cemeteries at French Hoek, La Motte and Dal Josafat. A historic Jewish cemetery has been preserved in Woodstock, while many notable figures lie buried in the cemeteries at Mowbray and Woltemade. The Cape Malay community at all times took a pride in the graves of their leaders who died at the Cape. Apart from the kramat at Faure where Sheik Yusuf lies buried, there are kramats on the slopes of Signal Hill, being tombs of Khordi Abdusalem, Tuan Said (Syed), Tuan Guru and Tuan Nurman. New structures were erected here in 1969.

Comdt. Tjaart van der Walt, 'the Lion-Heart', was buried in 1802 where he fell in battle against the Xhosa tribes in the hills at Cambria, a few km from the Gamtoos valley. Dr. John Philip of the London Missionary Society, who died in 1851, is buried near Hankey railway station in the Gamtoos valley, and with him his son William Enowy, who drowned on the day when his father's water scheme was officially opened. Frederik Cornelis Bezuidenhout, whose death in 1815 was the prelude to the Slachter's Nek Rebellion, lies buried on his farm on the upper reaches of the Baviaans River, near the Bedford-Tarka road. A significant number of British settlers and sons of the 1810 Settlers were killed in battle in the Frontier Wars. At least one had the place he was buried named after him – Bailie's Grave near Keiskammahoek in the Ciskei; Charles Bailie, son of Lt. John Bailie, the founder of East London, was killed here in the Sixth Frontier War. Settler cemeteries in various parts of the Eastern Province contain the graves of many leading pioneers.

At Keiskammahoek is Gaika's grave, proclaimed a national monument. He was the founder of the Gaika tribe and died in 1829. The grave of his son and successor, Sandile, killed in the Ninth Frontier War in 1878 and buried at Stutterheim, has been provided with a bronze inscription by the Historical Monuments Commission. In Durban, the cemetery of the Old Fort has been proclaimed a national monument along with the fort itself; also the grave of Lt. King on the B1uff (James Saunders King was one of the original settlers at Port Natal). The site was also proclaimed where a few Voortrekkers fell fighting against the British at Congella station.

In Zululand is Piet Retief's grave where he was buried, next to the other victims of the massacre, in 1839 in the present Babanango district by the Commando that avenged his death. Near by, on the battlefield of Italeni, European graves have been found recently by Dr. H. C. de Wet and farmers of the neighbourhood. Two graves, some distance away from the others, may possibly be those of Comdt. Piet Uys and his son Dirkie. The graves have as yet not been opened nor identified with any degree of certainty. In the immediate vicinity of Dingaan's Kraal, where Retief lies buried, the Historical Monuments Commission's bronze plaques protect several Zulu graves: Senzangakona, founder of the Zulu nation and father of Shaka, Dingaan, Mpande and Mageba – all in the district of Babanango. When Dinuzulu died near Middelburg (Tvl.) in 1913 his last wish was granted – to be buried with his fathers. His grave, like that of Senzangakona, has an inscription in the Zulu language only. The memorial to Shaka near Stanger has been proclaimed a national monument; also Mpande's kraal and grave in the Mahlabatini district. Cetewayo's kraal, also in Mahlabatini, has the Commission's plaque. Comdt. Hans de Lange's grave at Besters station near Ladysmith has been preserved.

In the Orange Free State the grave of Moroka, chief of the Seleka branch of the Barolong tribe near Thaba Nchu, has been provided with a bronze plaque. Of the Republican presidents three lie buried in Free State soil: J. P. Hoffman at Smithfield, J. H. Brand in the Old Cemetery at Bloemfontein, and M. T. Steyn at the foot of the National Women's Monument. President J. N. Boshof's grave is in the Old Cemetery at Pietermaritzburg, that of M. W. Pretorius in Potchefstroom, and F. W. Reitz at Woltemade in Cape Town. Gen. C. R. de Wet and the Rev. J. D. Kestell rest at the foot of the National Women's Monument, where the ashes of Emily Hobhouse are also preserved. Sarel Cilliers is buried at Doornkloof near Lindley.

Much of the early history of Kimberley can be read from tombstones in three old cemeteries: the Pioneers' cemetery; Du Toitspan cemetery, where the victims of the concentration camp (1901- 02) were laid to rest; and the Gladstone cemetery which contains the graves of Lt.-Col. N. Scott-Turner of the Black Watch, of George Labram, maker of `Long Cecil', and of those who fell during the siege of Kimberley at Fourteen Streams, Dronfield and Carter's Ridge.

Interest in Pretoria centres largely round the Heroes' Acre in the Old Cemetery in Church Street West where Paul Kruger was buried, and Andries Pretorius as well as President T. F. Burgers were reinterred in 1891 and 1895 respectively. The children of A. H. Potgieter refused the reinterment of their father and so he still rests where he died, at Schoemansdal in the Zoutpansberg. Of the Prime Ministers of the Union of South Africa, two lie in the Heroes' Acre, namely J. G. Strijdom and Dr. H. F. Verwoerd, while Gen. Louis Botha was buried in the same cemetery, but before a corner of it had come to be designated Heroes' Acre. Gen. J. B. M. Hertzog is buried on his farm Waterval in the Witbank district. Gen. J. C. Smuts was cremated and his ashes scattered on a koppie on his farm near Irene. Dr. Malan was laid to rest in the cemetery outside Stellenbosch, as well as the President elect, Dr. T. E. Donges. Dr. E. G. Jansen, Governor-General, was buried in the Heroes' Acre.

Of the Prime Ministers of the Cape Colony, Dr. L. S. Jameson died in-London, W: P. Schreiner in Wales, and T. C. Scanlan in Salisbury, while Cecil John Rhodes rests at World's View in the Matopos. The first Prime Minister, Sir John Molteno, lies in Claremont cemetery, Sir Thomas Upington at Maitland, Sir Gordon Sprigg at Mowbray; and John X. Merriman, though he died at Stellenbosch, was laid to rest in Maitland cemetery. J. H. Hofmeyr (`Onze Jan'), by whose grace the Prime Ministers ruled, is buried at Somerset West. Of the Prime Ministers of Natal, Sir Henry Binns, who died at Pietermaritzburg, was buried in the military cemetery, Durban. Natal's first Prime Minister, Sir John Robinson, lies in the Church of England cemetery in Durban; Sir Frederick Moor at Estcourt, Sir George Sutton at Howick, and C. J. Smythe at Nottingham Road. Sir Albert Hime died abroad. The only Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony (1907-10), Abraham Fischer, died in Cape Town and was buried at Maitland.

Of the Boer generals among the older generation, Piet Joubert was buried on his farm Rustfontein in Wakkerstroom, in accordance with his own request; Schalk Burger on his farm Goedgedacht in Lydenburg, Piet Cronje on his farm Mahemsvlei in Klerksdorp, and J. H. de la Rey in the Western Transvaal town Lichtenburg. Of the famous South African literary figures, Olive Schreiner, initially buried at Maitland, was reinterred on the summit of Buffelskop, near Cradock; Jan Lion Cachet and Totius (J. D. du Toit) at Potchefstroom, and Jan F. E. Celliers in the Old Cemetery, Pretoria; while C. Louis Leipoldt's ashes were interred on the Pakhuisberg in Clanwilliam. The co-founder of the Kruger National Park, Piet Grobler, was buried in the New Cemetery, Pretoria, and the best-known finance minister of the Union, N. C. Havenga, at his home town Fauresmith. Public-spirited communities as well as private families all over South Africa have at numerous places gone to great trouble to preserve the graves of pioneers and public figures. At Ohrigstad the tombstones of Voortrekker graves have been brought together in a concrete but in the form of an ox-wagon, the oldest stone being that of J. J. Burger, born at Stellenbosch, over 1 600 km away, in the 18th century.

An almanac is here taken to be a book containing a full calendar as well as information on social, economic and similar topics. It becomes a directory if it contains a list of people’s names and addresses, and in its most comprehensive form it becomes a year-book. The old almanacs and their successors are of great value in research into social, economic and cultural history, because they often contain data not easily found elsewhere. A complete survey of those published in South Africa cannot possibly be given, and only those preserved in public libraries will be dealt with here.The earliest South African almanacs appeared at the Cape in 1795-1797 and were printed by J. C. Ritter. A fragment of his Almanach for 1796 is the oldest piece of South African printing that has come down to us. Cape Town was the main centre for the publication of almanacs all through the 19th century. The most important issues, or series of issues, were the following:

1801-27 (1801 is preserved only in manuscript, and 1803 is missing. Known as The African Court Calendar (De Afrikaansche Staatsalmanak), this publication was published ‘under Government approval’ and consisted principally of an account of the Colony’s government as well as the civil list, the army list and the calendar itself, which was bilingual. The 1807 issue gives a summary of the history of the Cape Colony and has a supplement, African theatricals. From 1815 onward each issue includes Governor W. A. van der Stel’s century-old gardening calendar, and from 1810 a list of the principal inhabitants of the Cape.

1828-35. The South African Almanack and Directory , issued by the well-known publisher and printer George Greig. This was a private undertaking, as were all the succeeding almanacs. From 1830 it was considerably enlarged, and contained advertisements, articles and a ground-plan of Cape Town. From 1832 it included lithographs by H.C. de Meillon of important Cape buildings.

1836-50. Continuation of the previous almanac by B. J. van de Sandt. The name varies, but from 1841 is The Cape of Good Hope Almanack and Annual Register. In 1843 it contains an etching of Table Mountain and an account of the fight of Comdt. J. I. Rademeyer near Trompetter’s Drift in the Frontier War of 1835. The issues for 1845 and 1846 are, typographically and otherwise, editions de luxe, for example in the advertisements, which give a good picture of the times.

1852-62. Continuation of the preceding by Van de Sandt’s foster-son, B. J. van de Sandt de Villiers. The almanac has now a smaller and handier format. Attention is given to new parts of South Africa : Natal , the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, to the explorations of Livingstone and others, and to local events and politics. The almanac for 1853 contains lists of edible fishes, and that for 1855 lists of indigenous trees by C. W. L. Pappe.

1863. Continuation of the preceding by a new proprietor, John Noble. There was no issue in 1864.

1865-67. Continuation by C. Goode under the title of The Cape Town Directory . There are interesting articles on the history of the Cape Colony by A. Wilmot.

1868-97. The Almanac was taken over by Saul Solomon & Co., at first under the title (sometimes slightly changed) of The General Directory and Guide Book to the Cape of Good Hope and its Dependencies. In 1888 this became The Argus Annual and Cape of Good Hope Directory , from 1889 to 1894 The Argus Annual and South African Directory, and from 1895 to 1897 The Argus Annual and South African Gazetteer. The almanac had now become a statistical year-book and directory; it is comprehensive and instructive, and crammed with information about the whole of South Africa. Other important publications were the following: 1819: The Cape of Good Hope Calendar and Agriculturists’ Guide, by Geo. Ross, published for the British Settlers of 1820.

1826: The Cape of Good Hope Almanack, by W. Bridekirk, which contains a chronological list of events at the Cape in 1824-25.

1832-54 (probably with interruptions): De Kaapsche Almanak en Naamboek, by Joseph Suasso de Lima.

1840: De Zuid-Afrikaansche Blygeestige Almanak en Naamlyst, by J. J. de Kock (Cape Town), a remarkable literary almanac.

1850-1926: Almanak voor de Ned. Geref. Kerk van (since 1885: in) Zuid-Afrika. With alterations to its title from time to time, the well-known ‘Kerkalmanak’ has appeared regularly up to the present day. Its founder and compiler – until his death in 1882 – was Dr. Philip Faure. Immediately afterwards the Cape Synod accepted responsibility for the work, which was since then undertaken by the church administration of the N.G. Kerk. After 1926 the title appears in Afrikaans as hereafter.

1927-29: Almanak vir die Nederduits(-)Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika. In 1927 the Almanak was taken over by the Raad van Kerke (Council of Churches) with the archivist of the N.G. Kerk, the Rev. A. Dreyer, mainly responsible for its compilation. He remained the central figure in the evolution of this work until his death in 1938. He changed its title.

1930-43: Jaarboek van die Ned. Geref. Kerke in SuidAfrika. In 1940 the work was entrusted to the Church archivist, Dr. J. A. S. Oberholster. He continued it until 1950, with a slight change in the title as hereafter.

1944-62: Jaarboek van die Gefedereerde Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerke. From 1950 until his death in 1964 the Rev. J. Norval Geldenhuys was the chief compiler.

1963- : Jaarboek van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerke (Mother, Mission and Bantu churches). Under its new title this work remains an indispensable source of information regarding ecclesiastical and related matters and is by far the oldest South African work of reference in this field.

1870 until today : Almanak voor de Geref. Kerk in Zuid-Afrika. The title later appears in Afrikaans.

1907 until today: Almanak voor de Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk in Zuid-Afrika (later: Afrika). From 1930 in Afrikaans, it developed greatly under Prof S. P. Engelbrecht.

1866-1908: The S.A. Agriculturists’ Almanac, by J. H. F. von Wurzburg-Schade (Wynberg).

1877-1918 with some interruptions: Die Afrikaanse Almanak, burgerlik en kerkelik , by the Rev. S. J. du Toit and others (Paarl). One of the principal publica ions of the First Afrikaans Language Movement.

1887: Deutscher Volkskalender , published by Hermann Michaelis at Cape Town . Continued 1912-14 as (Illustrierter ) Sud-Afrikanischer Volkskalender in Johannesburg. A rich source of knowledge about the German community and literature in South Africa.

1875: Descriptive Handbook of the Cape Colony : its condition and resources, by J. Noble.

1886: Official Handbook: History, productions, and resources of the Cape of Good Hope, by J. Noble.

1893 and 1896: Illustrated Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa, by J. Noble.

1848-72: Eastern Province Annual Directory and Almanac, continued as Eastern Province Year-book and Commercial Directory, Grahamstown, 1872-78 (?).

1872-1874-8; 1883-90; 1892-93: Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide to the Eastern Province, Port Elizabeth.

1896-1910: P.E. Year-book and Directory, Port Elizabeth.

1888-89 et sqq.: The General Directory of South Africa, etc. by Dennis Edwards. This gradually supplanted the Argus Annual (see above). From 1909/10 it bore the title United South Africa.

Outside the Cape may be mentioned:
1863-?: The Natal Almanac, Directory and Yearly Register, P. Davis & Sons (Pietermaritzburg). A comprehensive and compendious almanac, which continued at least into the 1920′s.

1876: De Oranjevrijstaatsdshe Almanak ( Bloemfontein ). A kind of almanac of public affairs, which two years later became:

1878- 1939(?): De Boerenvriend Huisalmanak (Bloemfontein). Its title was afterwards preceded by the word ‘Express’; it was eventually published in Afrikaans. Carl Borckenhagen was the principal figure in its production.

1904-32 (or after): De Boerenvriend (afterwards Die Boerevriend ) Huisalmanak ( Bloemfontein ). An imitation of the above-mentioned almanac, which in consequence added the word Express to its title.

1893-94: Vijstaatsch Jaarboek en Almanak – Free State Annual and Trades Directory, Bloemfontein.

1892-99: Staats-Almanak der (later: voor de ) Zuid Afrihaansche Republiek. This was an official publication, a complete and dependable annual review of the government institutions of the Transvaal, with a historical calendar.

1877-98(?) with interruptions: Jeppe’s Transvaal Almanac and Directory. Compiled by the well-known F. H. Jeppe, cartographer and publisher.

1893 et sqq.: De Kaap Annual (Transvaal), printed at Barberton.

Towards the end of the 19th cent. the transition from almanacs to directories is much clearer, as appears from the following list:

1891; 1893-97: Natal Directory, later Braby’s Natal Directory.

1893: 1897-98: The Dennis Edwards Cape Town Directory

1894; 1896: Longland’s Johannesburg and Districts Directory

1897: Juta’s Directory of Cape Town

1898: Juta’s Directory of Cape Town and Suburbs

1899-1927: Juta’s Directory of Cape Town, Suburbs and Simonstown. There are further changes of title to Cape Peninsula, etc.

1899: The Dennis Edwards S.A. Year-book and Directory of Cape Town. This year-book appeared until 2932.

1899: Longland’s Transvaal and Rhodesian Directory

1900-03; 1906-0: Kimberley Year-book and Directory, by Mark Henderson.

1900; 1904-05: Donaldson and Hill’s Eastern Province ( Cape Colony ) Directory

1901 : Complete Guide to Cradock – professional and trade directory, compiled by W. Taylor and published by Thomas Scanes, Cradock.

1901/2; 1905/06;1908/09; 1909/10 et sqq.: Guide to South Africa for the use of tourists, sportsmen, invalids and settlers. This continued until at least 1949, with a change of title to Guide to South and East Africa, etc.

1901; 1902-04: Longland’s Cape Town and District

Owing to the growth of communal life year-books and directories became dominant in the 20th century as information and reference books concerning social, political and commercial conditions. The contents are usually sufficiently indicated by the titles. Among the most important should be mentioned:

1902/03 ; 1903/04: The South African Year Book , by S. M. Gluckstein ( London and Cape Town ).

1905-10: Het Z.A. Jaarboek en Algemene Gids, by G. R. Hofmeyr and C. G. Murray ( Cape Town ), (later B. J. van de Sandt de Villiers), the first complete general South African year-book in Nederlands.

1910 until today: Official South African Municipal Year Book. An indispensable source of information about cities and towns.

1911-12: The South African Almanack and Reference Book, by E. Glanville, Cape Town . Excellent summaries of a diversified nature.

1914 et sqq. (?): The South African Year Book, by H. W. Hosking, London

1914 et sqq.: Laite’s Commercial Blue Book for South Africa. A good and popular work in its field. Along with the General Directory of South Africa of Dennis Edwards, it belongs to the stream of bulky South African directories published during the present century, among which those of Donaldson and Hill (afterwards Ken Donaldson and Co., or Donaldson and Braby, or Braby, etc.) are particularly important.

They are indispensable sources of social and commercial information. Mention must also be made of:

1898 et sqq.: The Transvaal and Rhodesia Directory

1901 et sqq.: The Natal Directory

1902 et sqq.: The Orange River Colony Directory

1902/03 et sqq.: The Western Province ( Cape Colony ) Directory

1907 et sqq.: The United Transvaal Directory

1912/13 et sqq.: Cape Province Directory

In due course titles change (e.g. Colony becomes Province), as do regional divisions. So there are now Cape Times Directory of Southern Africa (1964, 31 st edition), Directory of Southern Africa and Buyers’ Guide (1964, 31 st edition ), Braby’s Commercial Directory of South, East and Central Africa (1964, 40th edition), to which may be added the special Braby’s Directories for Natal , Transvaal, the O.F.S. and the Cape, and many city directories.

Since 1907 Donaldson produced an annual South African Who’s Who, with photographs; the title for a time included the words Social, Business and Farming. Since 1961 Who’s Who of Southern Africa, under this new title, has been published by Wootton & Gibson, Johannesburg. It is an indispensable work of reference about people. The following English works of this Directory nature, with photographs, may also be mentioned:

1905, 1907, 1909: Anglo-African Who’s Who and Biographical Sketch Book with photos in 1909, by W. H. Wills ( London ).

1905: Men of the Times: Pioneers of the Transvaal and glimpses of South Africa, Transvaal Publishing Company, Johannesburg

1906: Men of the Times: Old Colonists of the Cape Colony and Orange River Colony , Transvaal Publishing Company, Johannesburg. A particularly valuable work, with excellent pictures.

1910: Souvenir of the Union of South Africa, Cape Town. People of political importance in the Union and the four provinces.

1913 : Women of South Africa, Cape Town, by C. I. Lewis.

1926: Sports and Sportsmen in South Africa, Cape Town

1929: Sports and Sportsmen in South Africa and Rhodesia, Cape Town

1933-34: The Arts in South Africa, W. H. Knox. Knox Printing and Publishing Co., Durban. Photos of artists are included.

1938: The South African Woman’s Who’s Who, Biographies Ltd., Johannesburg

1958/9 and 1959/60: Who’s Who in Entertainment and Sport in South Africa, by Don Barrigo, Johannesburg

Smaller, sporadic publications were The Natal Who’s Who, 1906.

Who is Who – Wie is Wie in Pretoria, 1951.

In Afrikaans there are no regular publications of this nature. The following sporadic publications may, however, be mentioned:

1930: Die Nasionale Boek, compiled by I. M. Goodman, Johannesburg, and dealing with the history, leaders and members of the National Party.

1942: Die Afrikaner Personeregister, Johannesburg, compiled by N. Diederichs and others.

1953: Die Triomf van Nasionalisme in Suid-Afrika (1910-53), compiled by D. P. Goosen and others. A commemorative album of the National Party.

1955: Die Afrikanerfamilienaamboek en Personalia, Cape Town, by J. J. Redelinghuis.

1958 et sqq. (irregularly): Wie is Wie in Suid-Afrika, Johannesburg, compiled by D. F. Kruger. Bilingual.

There are also, mainly in English, numerous national, provincial, and municipal handbooks and guide-books, generally well illustrated. Only a few can be mentioned here. From the S.A. Railways we have Natal, 1903; Cape Colony today, by A. R. E. Burton, 190 et sqq.; Natal Province, 1911; Travel in South Africa, 1921 et sqq. The Cape Town City Council came out with a series of handbooks: The Cape of Good Hope, 1909 et sqq., and the Pretoria City Council (with the Railways) with The City of Pretoria and Districts, 1913. An excellent handbook dealing with economic and social matters, Die Afrikanergids (1942-1944/5) by J. J. Haywood, was’specifically intended for the Afrikaner.

Particularly important is the Government’s Official Year Book of the Union of South Africa -Offisiele jaarboek van die Unie van Suid-Afrika, 1910-60, though it did not actually appear every year. In 1964 it was supplemented by a Statistical Year Book – Statistiese Jaarboek. Since 1957 there has also appeared an unofficial year-book State of the Union , in 1962 renamed State of South Africa. There are also the calendars of the various universities. Another important private publication is the Year Book and Guide to Southern Africa, compiled by the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company since 1893, of which the 67th edition appeared in 1967. It was divided into two volumes in 1950, since when the Year Book and Guide to East Africa has been appearing separately each year. Both were edited by A. Gordon-Brown until 1967.

Another type of annual, of a literary nature, is represented by the many Christmas and New Year annuals appearing from time to time. Mention may be made, for example, of the Cape Times Christmas Number, 1899-1905, and Cape Times Annual, 1910-41; Ons Land Kerstmisnummer, 1906-29; Die Burger Nuwejaarsnommer (at first Kerstmis Nummer ), 1915-25; Suid-Afrika, 1938/39-40/41; the British S.A. Annual, 1915/16 et sqq.; the South African Annual , 1906 et sqq.; De (afterwards Die) Koningsbode Kerstnummer (afterwards Kersnommer), 1914 up to the present, etc. At the year’s end popular magazines such as Die Huisgenoot and Sarie Marais regularly issue bulky Christmas or holiday numbers.

Today there are also year-books for almost every industry in South Africa – for farming, mining, engineering, fisheries, textiles, footwear, finance, the hotel industry, medical services, etc.

Cc

The camera obscura, an apparatus for tracing images on paper, was in common use by the 18th century as an aid to sketching. The earliest attempts to fix the images by chemical means were made in France by the Niépce brothers in I793, and in England by Thomas Wedgwood, an amateur scientist, at about the same time. Early in the 19th century further progress toward the invention of photography was being made simultaneously in France, England, Germany and Switzerland.

Of significance to photography in South Africa are the achievements of the English astronomer and scientist Sir John Herschel, who resided at the Cape from 1834 to 1838. It is thought that his experiments in connection with the development of photography advanced considerably while he lived at Feldhausen in Claremont, near Cape Town. In March 1839, only a year after his return to England, he revealed to the Royal Society the method of taking photographic pictures on paper sensitised with carbonate of silver and fixed with hyposulphite of soda. These discoveries had been accomplished independently of W. H. Fox Talbot, whose paper negative process (calotype, later called talbotype) became the basis of modern photography, and Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, whose process (daguerreotype) resulted in a positive photographic image being produced by mercury vapour on a silvered copper plate.

It is generally acknowledged that Herschel was the first to apply the terms ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ to photographic images and to use the word ‘photography’. He was also the first to imprint photographic images on glass prepared by coating with a sensitised film. Daguerre’s invention, announced in Paris in 1839, was slow in reaching the Cape; and although apparatus was advertised for sale in 1843, there is no evidence of photographs taken before 1845. The earliest extant photograph in South Africa was taken in 1845 by a Frenchman, E. Thiesson, who had photographed Daguerre himself the year before. The first portrait studio was opened in Port Elizabeth in Oct. 1846 when Jules Leger, a French daguerreotypist, arrived there from Mauritius. He took ‘photographic likenesses (a minute’s attendance)’ in a private apartment in Ring’s library, proceeding within a month to Uitenhage and Grahamstown. Leger left the country the following year, but not before his former pupil and assistant, William Ring, had succeeded him in the new art.

19th Century posing chair

In Cape Town the first professional daguerreotype portraits were taken outdoors in December 1846 by the architect Carel Sparmann, at ‘all hours of the day and according to the latest improvements made in the art by himself’. He advised ladies to wear dark dresses in silk or satin, or Scotch plaid, the plaid being a pattern which showed itself with great exactness. Concerning gentlemen, the less there was of white in their clothing the greater the effect.

Daguerreotypes, usually about 5 x 8 cm in size, were bound up with a gilt mat and cover-glass to protect their fragile surfaces before being placed in velvet-lined case. The image was clearly defined, but the silver plate was costly and early Cape daguerreotypists often went bankrupt. Nevertheless they persevered in their portraiture and, to a much lesser extent, in taking views of buildings and street scenes, which were not generally for public sale until the 1800′s. Landscapes, pictorial subjects, and the early ‘news’ types of photography were at first more often the province of enthusiastic amateurs. The artisan-missionary James Cameron was experimenting with the calotype process for outdoor work before 1848, the paper negative being characterised by broad effects of light and shade. His photographs of the Anti-Convict Agitation meetings (1849) in Cape Town are the earliest known outdoor events in the Cape recorded by the camera and served as a basis for engravings made by the artist-photographer William Syme. Other early amateurs were William Groom, whose hand-coloured photograph of Wale Street, Cape Town (1852) is the earliest outdoor photograph extant in South Africa; Michael Crowly, who recorded the large number of wrecks in Table Bay (1857); and William Millard, who took the first panoramic view of Cape Town from Signal Hill (1859).

"oldest camera" in South Africa, brought to the Cape by Otto Mehliss of the German Legion (Photographic Museum, Johannesburg)

Scott Archer’s collodion process, introduced in the Cape in 1854, enabled prints to be made on sensitised paper from a collodion glass negative, resulting in a clearer rendering of half-tones. In field work the technique was particularly cumbersome as the plates had to be prepared on the spot and processed while still wet, necessitating the use of a portable dark-room such as a wagon, cart or tent. For all that, photography flourished during the collodion period, which lasted in the Cape until 1880 when James Bruton introduced the dry plate. Collodion portraits on glass (glass positives or ambrotypes) are sometimes confused with daguerreotypes, as they were made in the same sizes and fitted into similar cases. While the image of the glass positive is dull in appearance and can be seen at any angle, the daguerreotype has a shimmering, mirror-like reflecting surface which prevents the image being seen from every angle. For dating purposes professional daguerreotypy was practised in the Cape from 1846 to 1860, and glass positives were taken from 1854 until well into the 1870′s, although they were less in demand after the introduction of the carte-de-visite, a type of photograph, in 1861.

The art potential of photography was brought to public attention in 1888 at the third Fine Arts Exhibition in Cape Town. In addition to local contributions from professional and amateur photographers, there were importations from abroad. The first important use of photography for documentary purposes was achieved by William Syme and Frederick York when they published their portfolios of photographs of works of art displayed at this exhibition. No copy of either publication has as yet been traced. Earlier in the year the first general display of photographs had been held at the Grahamstown Fine Arts Exhibition, one of the organisers being the amateur photographer Dr. W. G. Atherstone, who had been present in Paris when Daguerre’s process was made public on 18 August 1839.

At the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1867 he exhibited photographs of Eastern Cape scenery, together with photographs illustrative of South African sport and travel by the explorer James Chapman, a pioneer well known for his impressive photographs of the Zambezi Expedition, which were on view at the South African Museum in 1862. An account of this expedition is given in Thomas Baines’s diary. He recounts how the photographer’s efforts were hampered in countless ways.

In the Eastern Province the majority of photographers had no fixed establishments, moving from town to town and serving a small population. Not many were as enterprising as the general dealer Henry Selby, who opened a studio in Port Elizabeth in 1854 and a branch at Uitenhage in 1855. Practising the daguerreotype, collodion and talbotype processes, he introduced stereoscopic portraits and vitrotypes (a process of producing burnt-in photographs on glass or ceramic ware), sold photographic materials and was also the first to sell views of Port Elizabeth (1856). With his partner James Hall he erected the first glass-house in the Eastern Cape (1857). This was a small wooden building with a roof consisting mainly of glass skylights and a number of panes of glass in its walls. Providing sufficient light for indoor portraiture and easily dismantled, it was especially useful to itinerant photographers. A drawback was the harsh glare of light, which irritated sitters, but more pleasing pictures were obtained by several Grahamstown photographers when they erected blue glass-houses in 1858. Arthur Green draped his with curtains.

Further progress was made in1858 with the coming of portraits on leather, card, silk, calico and oilskin. Likenesses first taken on glass and then transferred to leather won public favour immediately. They could be handled without risk of damage and could be sent overseas in a letter without additional postage charge. Documentary records of events were much in demand during Prince Alfred’s visit to South Africa in 1860. On tour he was officially accompanied by Cape Town’s leading photographer, Frederick York. The volume The progress of Prince Alfred through South Africa (Cape Town, 1861) contains seven photographs, the work of York, Joseph Kirkman and Arthur Green, whose view of Grahamstown in 1860 is the earliest known photograph of that city. These photographs were pasted in by hand. A gift of Cape views to the Prince by the Rev. W. Curtis was published in London in 1868, the Royal Edinburgh album of Cape photographs being the first major photographic work dealing exclusively with Cape scenery. Only two copies have been traced. In the 1860′s original photographs – including portraits of prominent men – were pasted in the Cape Monthly Magazine, the Eastern Province Magazine and Port Elizabeth Miscellany and the Cape Farmers’ Magazine. Several photographers, including F. York, J. Kirkman, J. E. Bruton and Arthur Green, undertook this.

Visiting Card Portrait
The introduction of the inexpensive carte-de-visite (visiting-card portrait) brought photography within reach of the masses. This new format (about 10 x 6 cm), first advertised at the Cape in 1861 at a guinea a dozen, provided the incentive for large numbers of new photographers to try their luck, often with disastrous results in smaller centres where available equipment was unsatisfactory.

Macomo and his chief wife

Macomo and his chief wife – attributed to William Moore South Africa, late nineteenth century 10.4 x 6.3 cm (including margins) inscribed on reverse with the title. With kind permission Michael Stevenson For more information contact +27 (0)21 461 2575 or fax +27 (0)21 421 2578 or email [email protected].
Other styles which made their appearance before 1870 were the alabastrine process (1861), an improvement on the quality of glass positives, the sennotype (1864), a chemical method of colouring photographs, and the wothly-type (1865), a specially prepared printing – out paper to increase the permanence of the photographic print.

Portrait of a woman, possibly a Cape Muslim

Portrait of a woman, possibly a Cape Muslim, wearing headscarf Samuel Baylis Barnard. South Africa, late nineteenth century 10 x 6.1 cm (including margins), printed below and on reverse with photographer’s details; printed label on reverse reads: ‘From Crewes & Sons, Watchmakers & Jewellers. Cape Town.

 
Great strides were made toward perfecting photography between 1870 and 1880, commencing with the recording of scenes on the diamond-fields. Panoramic views of the diggings taken in 1870 by Charles Hamilton and William Roe, as well as stereoscopic views of Colesberg Kopje and camp life taken in 1872 by H. Gros, were among many that aroused interest. R. W. Murray’s The Diamond Field keepsake for 1873, a memento of photographs and letterpress sketches, was the forerunner of several albums of South African scenery first issued for publicity purposes.

The Cape landscapes of F. Hodgson, W. H. Hermann and J. E. Bruton and the published photographs of S. B. Barnard and G. Ashley are excellent examples of the high quality attained during that decade. An outstanding contribution was made by Bruton in 1874 when he recorded the transit of the planet Venus across the disc of the sun, under the direction of E. J. Stone, Astronomer Royal at the Cape.

First – class cameras and studios of increasing dimensions also provided greater facilities for portraiture, permitting large groups to be placed with ease and individuals to pose against elaborate background objects to form a pleasant picture. Few homes were without the Victorian album especially designed to present ‘cartes’ and the larger,’but not immediately as popular, cabinet portrait (approx. 15 x 10 cm) which had made its appearance at the Cape in 1867. This style was in general use from the eighties and, like the ‘carte’, remained fashionable well into the 20th century.

Sir David Gill and Charles Piazzi Smythe, astronomers at the Royal Observatory, Cape Town, made use of photography in their scientific work, Gill being the first to make a plan for a map of the sky (1882), assisted by Allis, a Mowbray photographer; and the Cape photographic Durchmusterung was produced as a pioneering venture. Smythe left South Africa after a sojourn of eight years.

The Cape Town Photographic Club mentions in 1891 that a cart was necessary for club outings in order to transport the cameras. The first meeting of that club was held on 30 October 1890 and it is the oldest photographic society in the country that has been in continuous existence. However, the Kimberley club was older, having been founded six months earlier and so being the first in the Southern Hemisphere. Amateur photographers in Port Elizabeth held their first meeting in July 1891. These three clubs were followed by others at Grahamstown, King William’s Town and Johannesburg, while before 1900 others were established at Cradock, Pietermaritzburg, Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay, and in addition one at the South African College in Cape Town. The early pioneers of professional and commercial photography faced many difficulties and many of them were itinerant and studio photographers, of whom in the 19th century there were over 500 in the country.

In the 196os there were about 180 photographic clubs between Nairobi and the Cape, with some 5000 members, as well as tens of thousands of still and ciné photographers throughout the country.

The Second Anglo-Boer War saw the early use of X-rays, the first recorded demonstration in South Africa having been carried out by the Port Elizabeth Amateur Photographic Society in the presence of medical doctors. K. H. Gould constructed the first X-ray camera in South Africa only a year after Röntgen’s discoveries, and it was put to use when a bullet had to be extracted from Gen. Piet Cronjé’s body. Although the ciné camera was used to give an illustrated record of war scenes in the Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898, the Second Anglo-Boer War was much more extensively covered by it in the hands of special correspondents. The British Motoscope and Biograph Co. sent out their chief technician, Laurie Dickson, with an experienced staff on 14 October 1899 on the Dunuottar Castle, on which Winston Churchill and Gen. Sir Redvers Buller also travelled. Joseph Rosenthal, Edgar M. Hyman and Sidney Goldman followed on the Arundel Castle on 2 December as representatives of the Warwick Trading Co. Tens of thousands of photographs were produced during the war, many being published in magazines and books throughout the world. The Second Anglo-Boer War could be considered to be the first war thus fully covered by still, stereo and cine photography.

G. Lindsay Johnson of Durban, an ophthalmologist, was a pioneer of colour photography, writing in the early 1900s two books on the subject, Photographic optics and colour photography and Photography in natural colour. In more recent years a pioneer in the field of applied photography has been K. G. Collender of Johannesburg, who was the inventor of mass miniature radiography, for which patents were filed in Pretoria in 1926-27, Collender thus preceding over-seas workers by several years. He was the first man in the world to produce miniature negatives of X-rays of the chest, the size of a postage stamp, with the same technique as used in full-size radiography. Collender later at the Witwatetsrand Native Labour Association in Johannesburg was capable of producing 800 miniature 70-mm films per hour, and the incredible feat has been accomplished that 3400 films were completed, together with radiological reports, in the brief space of one morning. It has been said that this plant is ten years ahead of any other in the world.

The London Society of Radiographers honoured Collender in 1962 with its honorary fellowship, the first South African so honoured.
In this space age South Africans continue to pioneer in new fields. H. W. Nicholls of Cape Town was probably the first man to photograph Sputnik I as it hurtled through space; and at Olifantsfontein in March 1958 a team of men took the first photograph of the U.S.A.’s original satellite in flight and has since recorded several other notable feats. W. S. Finsen of the State Observatory made headlines for South Africa in the field of astronomy with his unique colour photographs of Mars during its close approaches to the earth in 1954 and 1956.

Various photographers who were pioneers in their respective fields built up large collections of photographs and thus left behind them a great photographic heritage to posterity. Such photographic collections are, for example, the Arthur Elliott Collection, housed in the State Archives in Cape Town; the Duggan-Cronin Collection, in the Bantu Art Gallery in Kimberley; and the David Barnett Collection in Johannesburg. Outstanding, too, are the writings and lecture tours of Dr. A. D. Bensusan of Johannesburg, and his interpretation of various compositional structures: ‘division of fifths’ and ‘arrow-head composition’ as applied in photography, which in the U.S.A. bears the name of ‘Bensusan’s flying wedge’. He was responsible for the foundation in 1954 of the Photographic Society of South Africa and for the inauguration of its associate and fellowship qualifications. He was also the founder of the Photographic Museum and Library in Johannesburg.

Bibliography: A. D. Bemsusan Source: Standard Encylopedia of South Africa (copyright Naspers)