On the 24th of June the governor had a conference with Gaika, at which a formal agreement of friendship was entered into. The Fish River was declared to be the boundary between the two races, and the chief promised that none of his followers except official messengers should cross it. He gave an assurance that if the Kaffirs in the Zuurveld would return to their own country he would not molest them, but he declined positively to make overtures of peace to Ndlambe. He consented to expel the European renegades who were living with his people, but desired to make an exception in favour of Coenraad du Buis. That individual, however promised the governor that he would return to the colony, and a few months later he kept his word. As for the others, several were delivered to the Colonial authorities and were placed where they could be watched eight or ten fled to distant tribes, and one – Jan Botha – was murdered by Ndlambe’s people.From the Kat river, General Janssens proceeded to the northern border of the colony, to ascertain the condition of the white people and the Bushmen. At Plettenberg’s beacon on the Zeekoe River a messenger met him with a despatch announcing that on the 12th of May, less than three months after the restoration of the colony, war had broken out again between Great Britain and France. The Batavian Republic was so closely allied with the latter power a necessarily to share its fortunes. The governor therefore hastened back to Cape Town, without being able to do more than gather what information could be obtained in a very rapid journey.

It was now resolved to reduce the garrison of Fort Frederick to half the strength at first intended. Captain Lodewyk Alberti, who was about to take over the command from Major Von Gilten, was instructed to continue urging the Kosas in the Zuurveld to cross the Fish river without delay. In August that officer made a tour among them for this purpose, but was unsuccessful. In the following month Cungwa came to terms with Gaika, and promised Alberti to leave the colony as soon as his crops were gathered. Ndlambe’s people at this time were making gardens on the western side of the Bushman’s river, though the chief had undertaken not to do so. Parties of them were roaming about lifting cattle wherever they could find an unprotected herd. The war between them and Gaika’s clan was being carried on actively, and Kawuta had been applied to again for assistance, but declined to give it.

Soon after this another combination was formed. Cungwa and Jalusa joined Gaika, and together they attacked Ndlambe in the Zuurveld, but did not succeed in dislodging him. The belt of land along the coast east of the Bushman’s river was thus kept from being reoccupied by the farmers, but the remaining portion of the district of Graaff-Reinet was in a fair condition of tranquillity.

Upon learning of the renewal of hostilities in Europe General Janssens devoted all his attention to putting the Cape peninsula in a condition for defence, and to the increase of his military strength. But soon instructions were received from Holland that he must send his best regime the 23rd battalion of infantry, to Batavia, as the mother Country was unable to furnish more men, and troops were urgently needed in Java. In February 1804 this regiment left South Africa. The governor did what he could to make up for its loss, by increasing the Hottentot corps first to five hundred, and soon afterwards to six hundred men. But to the burghers he looked chiefly for the defence of the colony, if it should be attacked.

The English East India Company had a large amount of property in Capetown under charge of its agent, Mr. John Pringle. On the 29th of September 1803 this was declared confiscated, on account of war, and was seized for the government. There was a great quantity of salt provisions and 11,351 L. in money, which proved very serviceable, as the funds in the treasury were low. Mr. De Mist brought with him from Holland 8,333 L in money and 33,333 L in bills of Exchange, but that was nearly all expended, and, except for the maintenance of the troops, nothing could be expected from Europe after the renewal of the war. The yearly average of the colonial revenue from January 1803 to January 1806 was only three hundred and sixty-nine thousand six hundred and thirty eight rix-dollars equal at the estimated rate of exchange to 61,606 L.

On the 9th of October the commissioner-general left Cape Town for the purpose of making a tour through the Colony and becoming acquainted with the condition and wants of the people. He took with him a number of attendants and a military escort, so that the train had quite imposing appearance. Proceeding first in a northerly direction, he visited Saldanha and St. Helena bays; then turning inland, he passed through Pikenier’s Kloof, and kept onward to the Hantam, From the Hantam he made his way over the Roggeveld and the Bokkeveld to the land of Waveren – now the Tulbagh basin, where he remained some days to refresh his cattle. He then kept down the valley of the Breede River, and after passing the site of the present village of Worcester he turned to the south to visit the Moravian mission station in Baviaans’ Kloof.

More people were residing at that station than at any other place in the colony except Cape Town, but it had still no distinctive name, for there were several Baviaans’ Kloofs in the country. It was only on the 1st of January 1806 that General Janssens confirmed the name Genadendal – Vale of Grace – which the missionaries at his request had just previously given to it. At the time of Mr. De Mist’s visit, there were nearly eleven hundred people attached to the mission. They occupied about two hundred wattle-and-daub cottages, small and scantily furnished, but a great advance upon Hottentot huts. Each little cottage stood in a garden, in which vegetables and fruit trees of various kinds were growing. There was an air of order and neatness over the whole place, and marks of industry were apparent on all sides. The most thriving of the residents were naturally the halfbreeds, many of whom had really comfortable homes; but even the pure Hottentots had made advances towards civilisation. Some of the men belonging to the station were away in service with farmers, but at stated intervals they returned to their families with their earnings. There were five missionaries, two – Rose and Korhammer by name – having come from Europe in 1799 to assist the three who founded the station. They were living in plain, but comfortable houses. They and their wives were all engaged during stated hours of the day in teaching industrial occupations, and in the evening the whole community assembled in a large and neat building to join in the worship of God. The missionaries, having power to expel unruly persons from the place, maintained strict discipline among the Hottentots; but it was the kind of discipline that parents enforce upon children, tempered by love and interest in their welfare. Nothing more admirable than this excellent institution could be imagined, and Mr. De Mist and the officers of his train had a difficulty in finding words to express their pleasure and satisfaction with what they saw.

From the Moravian village the commissioner-general went eastward through Swellendam to Fort Frederick at Algoa Bay. Here he was visited by the reverend Dr. Van der kemp, with whom he had been acquainted in Holland thirty five years before. Dr. Van der kemp was dressed in coat, trousers, and sandals; but was without shirt, neck-cloth, socks, or hat. In a burning sun he travelled about bareheaded and thus strangely attired. Yet his conversation was rational, and his memory was perfectly sound.. He had formed an opinion that to convert the Hottentots to Christianity it was necessary to descend in style of living nearly to their level, to be their companion as well as their teacher and being thoroughly in earnest he was putting his views into practice Mr. De Mist and his party visited the London society’s station of Bethelsdorp, where Dr. Van der kemp and the Reverend Mr. Read were residing. They found no indication of industry of any kind, no garden – though it was then the planting season, – nothing but a number of wretched huts on a bare plain, with people lying about in filth and indolence. The Hottentots having settled there so recently, it was not to be expected that the place would present the- appearance of Genadendal, and Mr. De Mist was well aware that the London missionaries were not in as favourable a position as the Moravian brethren. They had to deal with a wild people, who had been less than a quarter of a century in contact with Europeans, and to whom expulsion from the station would be no punishment The Moravians, on the other hand, were working with people who had own up among farmers who could appreciate the advantage of a fixed residence, and who were accustomed to the use of such food as could be derived from gardens and orchards. It was not therefore the absence of improvement that gave Mr De Mist and those who were with him an unfavourable impression of Bethelsdorp but the absence of any effort to induce the Hottentots to adopt industrious habits, and the profession of principles that tended to degrade one race without raising the other. The missionaries themselves were living in the same manner as the Hottentots, and were so much occupied with teaching religious truths that they entirely neglected temporal matters. Dr. Vanderkemp was loud in complaints against the colonists in the neighbourhood, because they gave nothing towards the maintenance of the station, as he held it was their duty to do, and because they often tried to induce some of the people to leave the school and enter into service. More with a view of keeping the Hottentots out of mischief than with any expectation of this institution becoming useful, the commissioner-general made a small grant of money from the colonial treasury towards the funds of the place, and added to the gift some sensible advice.

From Bethelsdorp Mr. Be Mist and his train travelled north-eastward through the Zuurveld. They found parties of Kosas wandering about the country begging and making themselves a nuisance to such colonists as had returned to the devastated farms, but not committing any open hostilities. Messengers were sent to Ndlambe, Cungwa, and Jalusa, to invite them to a conference on the Bushman’s river; but they did not appear, and it was not found possible to meet them. A messenger was also sent to Gaika, who appointed a place for an interview, but on Mr. De Mist’s arrival he was not there. One of his councillors appeared instead, and requested the commissioner-general to proceed still farther, as the chief was anxious to see the great captain of the white people. He stated that Gaika was then preparing to attack Ndlambe, and therefore could not leave his kraal. Mr. De Mist, however, did not choose to put himself to any more trouble, so from the Fish river the party turned homeward.

The route now followed was by the way of Bruintjes Hoogte to the village of Graaff-Reinet. Here a detention of several days was made, for the purpose of arranging the affairs of the eastern part of the colony. When this was completed the party moved on, and after suffering greatly from heat on the Karoo passed again through the land of Wayeren and arrived at the castle on the 23rd of March 1804.

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

Born on the 2nd October 1910 at St David’s, Wales; died in 1978 in Kloof, Natal. Musicologist.George Jackson came to South Africa in 1913 when his parents emigrated from England to live in Johannesburg. His father instructed him in pianoforte, harmony and musical history, until he matriculated at the Jeppe High School in 1928. After a short period as a part-time student at the University of the Witwatersrand, George Jackson became a full-time student in 1931 and in 1933 he graduated with History of Music and English as his major subjects. During these years Otto Menge was his viola teacher. Jackson completed the requirements for a B.A. Hons. degree in English Literature and History of Music in 1938, did military service in the war and in 1945 entered the same university for the M.A. degree in History of Music (1945-1947).

During 1948 and 1949 he studied at Oxford University and when he returned he became a school-teacher, first in Krugersdorp and from 1950, in Durban . There he started research into the early musical life of Natal, with special reference to Durban and Pietermaritzburg, which in 1961 led to a D.Phil. at the University of the Witwatersrand. This has been Jackson’s most substantial contribution to musicological research in South Africa . He has also prepared a series of six broadcasts on the early musical life of Durban and over the years has often lectured on this subject. He was Vice-Principal of Kloof High School (1962-1971) and then became a lecturer at the Edgewood College of Education in Pinetown, where he taught English and Music Appreciation. He is a licentiate of Trinity College and teaches pianoforte and theoretical subjects privately.

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.

Jan Gysbert Hugo Bosman

Jan Gysbert Hugo BOSMAN (aka Vere Bosman di Ravelli) was born in Piketberg on the 24th February 1882. He took the pseudonym di Ravelli in 1902 in Leipzig, when he began his career as a concert pianist. His father, Izak, was from the Bottelary Bosmans, and his mother Hermina (Miena) BOONZAAIER from Winkelshoek, Piketberg, which was laid out by her grandfather Petrus Johannes BOONZAAIER in 1781. One of his sisters taught him music. After taking his final B.A. examinations at Victoria College in Stellenbosch, he left for London on the 1st October 1899 aboard the Briton. Soon after arriving there, he moved to Leipzig. He performed in public for the first time in November 1902. In 1903 he gave his first concert, in Berlin, playing Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. This was followed by a tour of Germany which launched his international career and made him the first South African international concert pianist.

In September 1905 he returned to South Africa and gave many concerts across the country. At one stage he tried to study traditional Zulu music. Amongst his friends he counted Gen. Jan SMUTS and Gustav PRELLER. He was particularly fond of old church music. He made important contributions to Die Brandwag (1910 – 1912), writing about music. There wasn’t yet enough appreciation of music in South Africa and he left for Europe on the 28th November 1910 aboard the SS Bulawayo. Travelling with him were the Afrikaans composer Charles NEL and Lionel MEIRING. They settled in Munich where he gave them piano lessons for a while. After getting his concert pianist career going again, WWI brought things to a halt. By then he was in London. When the war ended he had the Spanish flu and went to Locarno, Italy, in 1919 to recuperate. During this time he studied Arabic and Hebrew, and as a result compiled an Arabic-English glossary for the Koran. In 1921 he published a volume of English poems titled In an Italian Mirror.

He resumed his concert pianist career in 1921 in Paris, and retained Sharp’s of England as his sole agents. He made Florence his base after 1932 but lost his house there due to WWII. In February 1956 he returned to South Africa, staying with Maggie LAUBSCHER. He was made an honorary life member of the South African Academy in 1959. In 1964 he published a fable,st Theodore and the crocodile. He died on the 20th May 1967 in Somerset West.

Sydney Richfield

Sydney RICHFIELD was born on the 30th September 1882 in London, England. He learnt to play the violin and piano. In 1902 he immigrated to South Africa, like an elder brother, where he composed several popular Afrikaans songs. His first composition was the Good Hope March, which became popular and was often heard in Cape Town’s bioscopes and theatres. In 1904 he moved to Potchefstroom, where he lived until 1928. He produced operettas, revitalised the town band, and started a music school. He taught the piano, violin, mandoline and music theory. When the Town Hall was opened in 1909, he put on the operetta Paul Jones by Planquette.
In 1913 he married Mary Ann Emily LUCAS (previously married to a PRETORIUS with whom she had three daughters) and shortly afterwards the family left for England. Sydney joined the Royal Flying Corps band as a conductor in 1916. He composed an Air Force march, Ad Astra, in 1917. In 1920 he was demobilized and returned to Potchefstroom, where he started teaching again and formed a town band which played at silent movies in the Lyric Bioscope. After the band broke up in 1922, Sydney took over an amateur ensemble which included the poet Totius. Through this association, he became involved with Afrikaans music. In 1925 when Potchefstroom put on an historical pageant, he composed the Afrikaans music. By now he was also winning medals in eisteddfodau and other competitions. In 1928 he moved to Pretoria and carried on teaching and composing. He led a brass band that played at the Fountains on Sunday afternoons. Amongst his popular compositions were River Mooi, Vegkop, and Die Donker Stroom. Sydney died in Pretoria on the 12th April 1967. One of his wife’s daughters, Paula, became a popular Afrikaans singer.

Eduard Christiaan Pienaar

Eduard Christiaan PIENAAR was born on the 13th December 1882 on the farm Hoëkraal in the Potchefstroom district, the youngest of the seven sons and seven daughters of Abel Jacobus PIENAAR and Sarah Susanna BOSMAN. During the Anglo-Boer War he was part of Gen. Piet CRONJE’s commando. He was taken prisoner at Paardeberg in February 1900 and sent to St. Helena. After his release, he attended Paarl Gymnasium where he matriculated in 1904. In 1907 he graduated from Victoria College in Stellenbosch with a B.A. degree. This was followed by teaching posts in Sutherland and Franschhoek. In 1909 he married Francina Carolina MARAIS from Paarl. They had four sons and three daughters.

In 1911 he became a lecturer in Dutch at Victoria College. At the beginning of 1914, with a government bursary and the support of the Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Vereeniging, he went to Holland, taking his wife and three children. He studied Dutch language and literature in Amsterdam and Utrecht, obtaining his doctorate in July 1919, with the thesis, Taal en poësie van die Tweede Afrikaanse Taalbeweging. The family returned to South Africa in 1920 and he became a Professor at Stellenbosch, lecturing in Dutch and Afrikaans.

The promotion of Afrikaans was his life’s passion. He was a founding member of the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge and served on various committees such as the Voortrekker Monument committee and the Huguenot Monument committee. It was his idea to have the symbolic ox-wagons around the Voortrekker Monument. He died in Stellenbosch on the 11th June 1949. He was returning from watching a rugby match at Coetzenburg when he had a heart attack outside his home in Die Laan.

Haji Sullaiman Shahmahomed

1882 saw the arrival of Haji Sullaiman SHAHMAHOMED from India. He was a wealthy Muslim educationalist, writer and philanthropist. He settled in Cape Town and married Rahimah, daughter of Imam SALIE, in 1888. He bought two portions of Mariendal Estate, next to the disused Muslim cemetery in Claremont, where he planned to build a mosque and academy. On the 29th June 1911 the foundation stone was laid. In terms of the trust, he appointed the Mayor of Cape Town and the Cape ‘s Civil Commissioner as co-administrators of the academy. This caused resentment among the Muslim community because the appointees were non-Muslim. The Aljamia Mosque was completed but not the academy. In August 1923 he wrote to the University of Cape Town, wanting to found a chair in Islamic Studies and Arabic, and enclosed a Union Government Stock Certificate to the value of £1 000. This trust is still active. He was very involved in the renovations of Shaykh Yusuf’s tomb at Faure in 1927, the Park Road mosque in Wynberg; and the mosque in Claremont. He died in 1927.

Professor Ritchie

William RITCHIE was born on the 12th October 1854 in Peterhead, Scotland. He came to the Cape in 1878 as a lecturer in Classics and English at the Grey Institute, Port Elizabeth. In 1882 the South African College in Cape Town appointed him to the chair of Classics, which he held until his retirement in 1930. When the College became the University of Cape Town in 1918, he became its historian. His history of the South African College appeared in two volumes in the same year. It is a valuable account of higher education in the Cape during the 19th century. He died in Nairobi on the 8th September 1931.

Baines Kloof

Thomas Charles John Bain

Thomas Charles John BAIN (1830 – 1893) completed the Homtini Pass in 1882. The pass was built largely due to the determination of the Hon. Henry BARRINGTON (1808 – 1882), a farmer and owner of the Portland estate near Knysna. Construction on the Seven Passes road from George to Knysna, ending in the Homtini Pass, started in 1867.
Thomas was the son of Andrew Geddes BAIN (1797 – 1864) and Maria Elizabeth VON BACKSTROM. His father was the only child of Alexander BAIN and Jean GEDDES. Andrew came to the Cape in 1816 from Scotland with his uncle Lt.-Col. William GEDDES of the 83rd Regiment. He went on to build eight mountain roads and passes in the Cape. Thomas was his father’s assistant during the construction of Mitchell’s Pass, and eventually built 24 mountain roads and passes. One of the very few passes not built by a BAIN in the 1800s was Montagu Pass (George to Oudtshoorn). It was built by Henry Fancourt WHITE from Australia in 1843 – 1847. Two other passes that were in construction by Thomas in 1882 were the Swartberg Pass (Oudtshoorn to Prince Albert, 1880 – 1888) and Baviaanskloof (Willowmore to Patensie, 1880 – 1890).

Henry Barrington

Portland Manor was built by Henry BARRINGTON, based on the family home Bedkett Hall in Shrivenham, England. Henry was immortalised in Daleen MATTHEE’s novel, Moerbeibos. He was the 10th son of the 5th Viscount BARRINGTON, prebendary of Durham Cathedral and rector of Sedgefield. Henry’s mother was Elizabeth ADAIR, grand-daughter of the Duke of Richmond. Henry took a law degree and was admitted to the Bar. He later joined the diplomatic service and in 1842 was sent to the Cape as legal adviser to the Chief Commissioner of British Kaffraria.

A meeting with Thomas Henry DUTHIE of Belvidere led to him buying the farm Portland from Thomas. Thomas inherited the farm from his father-in-law George REX. Henry returned to England where in 1848 he married Georgiana KNOX who was known as the Belle of Bath. They arrived at Plettenberg Bay aboard a ship laden with their family heirlooms, wedding gifts, furniture and farming equipment. They lived in a cottage while the manor house was built over 16 years. It had eight bedrooms, a library, and a large dining room. Seven children were born to them. In February 1868 the Manor was completely gutted in the forest fire that swept from Swellendam to Humansdorp. Henry rebuilt the manor using yellow wood, stinkwood and blackwood from the estate. He tried his hand, often unsuccessfully, at cattle, sheep and wheat farming in addition to bee keeping, apple and mulberry orchards. He is also credited with building the first sawmill in the area. In 1870 Henry was elected to the Cape Parliament.

He died in 1882 and the estate passed to his eldest son, John, who died unmarried in 1900. His sister Kate inherited the estate. She married Francis NEWDIGATE of Forest Hall, Plettenberg Bay, who was killed in the Anglo-Boer War. Portland Manor remained in their family until 1956, when it was bought from Miss Bunny NEWDIGATE by Seymour FROST. He started a restoration programme and eventually sold the property in 1975 to Miles PRICE-MOOR. In the 1990s the property returned to Henry’s descendants when it was owned by Jacqueline PETRIE, one of his great-grandchildren. During her ownership, Portland Manor became a guest house until it was put up for auction in 2000. It is now owned by Denis and Debbie CORNE who have restored Portland Manor once again.
Sources:
South African Music Encyclopaedia, Vol. 1 & 3; edited by J.P. Malan
Dictionary of South African Biography, Vol. II
Honey, silk and cider; by Katherine Newdigate, from Henry’s letters and journals
Timber and tides: the story of Knysna and Plettenberg Bay; by Winifred Tapson
Portland Manor: http://www.portlandmanor.com