Public Affairs
In this sphere also the Albany settlers played an important part, commencing in 1824 with the struggle for the formal recognition of the freedom of the press, led by their champion, Thomas Pringle. Thereafter over half a century they energetically supported each successive step in the gradual constitutional development of the Colony from rule by an autocratic governor to full responsible government. Settlers figured very prominently in the various legislatures as representatives of the Eastern Province; several sons of settlers served as ministers of the Crown, and one of them, Sir Thomas Scanlen, became Prime Minister. In the civil service also many original settlers rose to high office, four being subse­quently knighted for long and meritorious service: Gen. Sir John Jarvis Bisset and Comdt. Sir Walter Currie as soldiers, Sir Theophilus Shepstone and Sir Richard Southey as colonial administrators. Of these, Bisset and Southey were at one time lieutenant-governors

Celebrations and Memorials
In 1840 the first twenty years’ residence in the Colony was celebrated only at Port Elizabeth, but the beginning of the 25th year in 1844 witnessed festivities at Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Bathurst and Salem; and in April 1845 there were further celebrations at Bathurst and at Grahamstown, where the foundation-stone of the present Commemoration Church was laid. A full and varied week’s programme in Grahamstown marked the jubilee year, 1870, when the Memorial Tower (a prominent feature of the present City Hall) was commenced. Certain circumstances prevented any large-scale celebrations in the centenary year, 1920, but minor festivities took place at Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Bathurst and Cape Town.

The occasion was also marked by the foundation of the 1820 Memorial Settlers’ Association, whose primary object is now the active encouragement of immigration to Southern Africa. The centenary was, however, observed throughout the country in 1921 on a scale befitting its historical importance, more particularly at Grahamstown, where steps were taken to establish the Settlers’ Hospital and the Memorial in the High Street; at Port Elizabeth, where the foundation stone of the imposing Memorial Campanile was laid at the spot where the original settlers had landed; and at Bandhurst, where the present Memorial Hall was begun.

All the celebrations mentioned were always held on or as near as possible to io April, traditionally recognised as Settlers’ Day, as on that particular date in 1820 the first settlers from the Chapman had come ashore in Algoa Bay; but since 1952 the first Monday in September of each year has been designated officially as Settlers’ Day, a statutory public holiday, and annual festivities are now usually arranged for that day.

The incident mentioned above, when representatives of the Settlers presented a Bible to a party of Voortrekkers, is commemorated in the Bible Monu­ment at Grahamstown. On a much bigger scale is the projected National Settlers ‘ Monument on Gunfire Hill near Grahamstown, of which the foundation-stones were laid in 1968 by the Prime Minister and his wife (Mr. and Mrs. BJ Vorster). Other memorials worth noting are: simple monoliths to the memory of the settlers generally at Port Alfred, at Highlands and at Kaffir Drift on the Fish River; the commemorative chapel to the Scottish party at Eildon in the Baviaans River valley; the equestrian statue at Durban in memory of the set­tler Dick King ‘ s famous 600 mile ride to Grahams-town through hostile territory; the statue of Sir Theophilus Shepstone in Pietermaritzburg, comme­morating his many services to Natal; the memorial at East London to John Bailie, founder of that city; another at Hartley in Rhodesia, to Henry Hartley, pioneer, hunter and prospector in that area; and another monolith at Salem to Richard Gush, the courageous but unarmed saviour of that village during the Sixth Frontier War.

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

Adversity
Now followed five years of bitter struggle and disappointment under the most primitive pioneering conditions, resulting in the almost complete collapse of the infant settlement. As habitations the people first used the tents loaned by the Government until reed-huts could be constructed, these being replaced gradually by thatched mud-cottages, followed later by more commodious farmhouses of stone or brick. Although vegetable gardens thrived wonderfully, the wheat crop failed utterly during the first four seasons; locusts and wild animals wrought considerable havoc, and depredations by the Xhosas from across the border quickly reduced the limited and rapidly dwindling resources of the settlers. Several also lost their lives in these almost continuous raids upon their property.

After protracted periods of drought, the efforts of four long and arduous years were literally washed away by what was referred to as ‘The Flood’ of October 1823, and the settlement now faced financial ruin and stark starvation. So desperate became the position that remission of the original wagon hire from Algoa Bay was granted; rationing on credit had to be extended for an extra season, and the hitherto strict prohibition against departing from the locations had to be lifted, at first by allowing people to move for limited pe­riods to specified places on properly issued ‘passes’, and finally by removing entirely all restrictions on freedom of movement anywhere in the Colony. In response to a lengthy but restrained ‘Memorial’ signed by the leading settlers and dispatched to London, a commission of inquiry was sent out by the British government, which arrived in Grahamstown in February 1824 and submitted its reports and recommendations in the following year. During this stern testing period of adversity and frustration it was nevertheless found possible to establish several villages: Port Elizabeth and Port Kowie (now Port Alfred) on the coast, and others inland such as Bathurst, Salem, Sidbury, Cuylcrville, Clumber and Collingham; while Grahamstown, the military head-quarters, rapidly developed as the chief urban centre of settlerdom.

Prosperity
In spite of this unpropitious start the decade commencing with 1825 witnessed a gradual but marked improvement in the settlers’ lot, brought about by the implementation of certain recommendations of the commission of inquiry and by other important alterations in the settlement scheme which was originally founded on a purely agricultural basis. Thus extensions of the altogether too limited land grants, permission to acquire farms outside the locations, and the repeal of the hitherto total prohibition industry in particular, virtually founded by the settlers in 1826, soon became (as it has remained to this day) South Africa’s chief farming activity and the main economic prop of the Eastern Province.
After considerable agitation the Somerset Farm, hitherto a Government monopoly for supplying the military forces, was given up and the village of Somerset East founded in its place, as the centre of a rich farming area. Cottage industries such as spinning, weaving, candle-making, as also the founding of a textile mill at Bathurst and brick-, tile- and wagon-works at other places, aided materially in the general advance to prosperity.

Taking advantage of the freedom of movement accorded them, numbers of people became itinerant traders, while most of the skilled artisans moved to the recently founded villages or to the older established towns more to the west, soon settling themselves in reasonably profitable employment. Properly organised weekly fairs were also permitted at Fort Willshire in the Neutral Territory, where a lucrative barter trade was carried on with the Bantu, all under strict military control. So successful was this venture that later licences were granted to carry on itinerant trading operations by ox-wagon beyond the Colonial boundary. As explorers, hunters and traders, many settlers were soon moving as far afield as Tembuland, Pondoland. Natal and even Bechuanaland in the far north. By the end of 1834 the settlement at last found itself in a reasonably sound economic position, but the outbreak of the Sixth Frontier War shattered all hope of further progress for a time and reduced a large proportion of the populace to destitution once again; a fresh start had to be made.

Bantu Invasions
On account of the loss of life and property resulting from the constant incursions of the Xhosa cattle-rustlers from across the border, permission was sought, and readily granted, to form what became in October 1822 the Albany Levy, a volunteer force of 600 men, both yeomanry and infantry. Its very existence certainly had a restraining influence on the invaders, but it was eventually realised that struggling farmers could not adequately perform patrolling duties as well, and after three years the unit was disbanded. After nine months’ strenuous campaigning the invaders were again expelled, but after this Sixth Frontier War the Xhosas were permitted to reoccupy the Neutral Territory. Heartily disgusted at this (to them) retrogressive arrangement, many of the Afrikaner farmers decided to join what became the Great Trek to the north, and in April 1837 a Bible was ceremoniously presented to a party of these Voortrekkers outside Grahamstown by Thomas Philipps, JP, on behalf of the settlers, as a token of regard and esteem for their departing fellow-countrymen.

Gloomy as the prospect appeared, and although many large public meetings of protest at the terms of peace were held and lengthy memorials were for-warded to the authorities, urging proper protection in future and compensation for past losses sustained, the settlers as a body elected to remain on the frontier, and as a consequence had to face in the following years the Seventh War (of the Axe), 1846-1847, and the Eighth War (of Umlangeni), 1850-1853. In all these three wars the great majority of the male inhabitants of Albany joined the various hastily formed volun­teer units as combatants, while others materially assisted the regular troops as guides, interpreters and scouts, or as transport, ambulance and commissariat personnel. (In Natal also, where numbers of Albany settlers had established themselves, volunteers fought in the battles against the Zulus consequent upon the massacre of Piet Retief’s party by Dingaan in February 1838, several being killed.)

Stephen William Griffin

Apart from the heavy material losses sustained, it is worth noting that in the third of a century following on their arrival at Algoa Bay, no less than one in every twenty of the original male settlers, as well as several women and children, lost their lives in these recurring wars and intervening raids and forays, on the Cape Colonial frontier and in Natal – thus amply fulfilling the real object (to them undisclosed) of the whole settlement scheme, viz. the defence of the Cape’s eastern frontier. Although most of those settlers still living were too advanced in years to take an active part in the Ninth (and last) Frontier War, 1877-1878, some original settlers were still able to do so. Many of their descendants naturally participated in this final clash of arms.

In spite of all these troubles with the Bantu extend­ing over a period of nearly sixty years following the settlers’ arrival, steady and solid progress, though frequently retarded, never actually ceased. One contemporary observer was prompted to remark that ‘apparently the British settlers could afford to be ruined every ten years’. As the Colonial boundary was moved eastwards, by successive stages, settlers and their descendants migrated in the same direction; other towns and villages were founded such as Colesberg, King William’s Town, East London, Queenstown, Burgersdorp and Aliwal North; and the Eastern Province eventually became firmly established as a settled and thriving part of the Cape Colony.

Religion, Education and Culture
Although only four ministers of religion (W. Shaw, W. Boardman, F. McClelland and S. Duxbury) had accom­panied the original settlers from Britain, the com­munity was on the whole deeply religious. It is not surprising, therefore, that many active congregations – chiefly Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational and Presbyterian – were soon formed; that within 25 years no fewer than 36 churches and chapels were built. In this younger and later group must be specially mentioned W. Miller, J. Ayliff, H. H. Dugmore and W. Shepstone. In the sphere of education, also, steps were immediately taken by the school-masters in the various parties to instruct the young. Thus within a month of its foundation Salem had its own academy, conducted by W. H. Matthews; Grahamstown soon supported several schools; while others were established in the recently founded villages throughout Albany. Some of the more affluent settlers even established private farm schools and engaged teachers to instruct the children of the surrounding countryside. Many of South Africa’s famous sons received their early education at these modest little seminaries.

Though pioneering in a wild and primitive country is hardly conducive to the maintenance or further­ance of any considerable degree of culture and enlightenment, the settler’s contribution in this sphere must be regarded as highly impressive, if one remembers that, at the time of their arrival and except in faraway Cape Town 600 miles to the west, cultural pursuits were almost non-existent. Here it is only possible to list the outstanding leaders in various fields who did so much to enrich the Colony’s cul­tural heritage: in poetry, Thomas Pringle, Mary Elizabeth Barber, William Howard and Henry Hare Dugmore; in history and reminiscences, William Shaw, John Ayliff, J. C. Chase, J. M. and B. E. Bowker and John Montgomery; in journalism, Robert Godlonton, proprietor and editor of the famous Graham’s Town Journal, in painting and the graphic arts, JF Comfield, Catherine Pigot, JE Ford, S. Turner and J. Hancock; in medicine, Doctors J. and WG Atherstone, AG Campbell, D. O’Flinn, R. Holditch and N. Morgan; in several branches of natural science, Dr. WG Atherstone, Mary Elizabeth Barber, J. H. and TH Bowker; and numerous highly skilled manual craftsmen such as goldsmiths and silversmiths, jewelers, engravers, clockmakers, marquetry workers and cabinet makers.

Photograph: Stephen William Griffin (1820 Settlers) – courtesy of Natal Archives

Your Family Bible
Some families are lucky enough to have a Family Bible in which an ancestor has written the dates of births, baptisms, marriages or deaths of family members. This information should be checked from other records. In particular, you should check the date of publication of the Bible so that you know what information was written from memory and what information was likely to have been written in the Bible contemporaneously (since that is more reliable). A Family Bible could have been handed down to your cousins, rather than to your immediate family, so enquiries of all relatives are worthwhile. Most Family Bibles have unfortunately been lost or destroyed. Some can be found in secondhand bookshops, but your chances of finding a long-lost family are very small.
Using a Family Bible as a tool in your research can certainly have its advantages as well as pitfalls.

Initially you should take note of the owner of the Bible – generally the head of the household e.g. the father or even the mother. Then you should observe the date of publication of the Bible and then when the first entry was made – if the entry is made not long after the Bible was published and the first event happened shortly afterwards then one can assume the owner of the Bible wrote this in themselves. Many Bibles that have been handed down through the years generally don’t go much further than two generations and others, which were initially not filled in had names and dates added at a much later stage.

For example, if a man’s date of birth is given as 1894 in a genealogical register in a Family Bible, in his death notice, in his epitaph and by his widow, but the baptismal register states that he was born in 1893, the former sources cannot be accepted simply because they are in the majority. The Family Bible was probably the widow’s source of information and she would have been the one to supply details for the death notice and the epitaph. The baptismal register is probably more reliable because the entry was made shortly after the birth of the child. However, one must also consider the possibility of a clerical error in the register.

To obtain certainty on the exact date of birth of the person concerned, one can find out when he was baptized, how old he was at the time and when the children just before and after him were born. An attempt must also be made to determine when the information in the Family Bible was recorded.

Don’t forget to page carefully through the whole book as you will find that many times your ancestors left loose papers with notes, old photographs and sometimes even pressed flowers or leaves.

The Africana Library has in its possession a prize exhibit which is the De Mist Bible – it was sent by Commissioner J. A. de Mist in 1817 as a token of appreciation for the kindness extended by the inhabitants of Uitenhage to the officers and crew of the vessel Amsterdam which ran aground near the estuary of the Swartkops River.
The Hugeunot Museum possesses a fine collection of old Bibles, the oldest being a State Bible printed in 1636 and authorised in 1637 by the Netherlands States General. The genealogical archives form a vast source of information on descendants of the Huguenots, and in this connection special exhibitions are arranged of old portraits of different families together with their genealogies.

The Grey Collection in the South African library holds the so-called Sutton Bible dating from the 13th century, which contains many beautifully illuminated capitals, and several smaller Bibles.
1820 Settler Thomas Philipps ceremoniously present a Bible in 1837 to a Party of Voortrekkers, on behalf of the settlers, as a token of regard and esteem for their departing fellow-countrymen.
The American Zulu mission was the first body in Natal to own a printing-press, and the first to issue literature in the vernacular. The mission was also the first to translate the whole Bible into Zulu. The translation was completed under the editorship of S. C. Pixley in 1883. The translation of the Bible into Zulu was carried out by the Rev. Josiah Tyler.
Written by: Heather MacAlister

Gilmer Family Bible

One of our many and wonderful readers has sent in images of this magnificent Catholic Family Bible in its original box. We, with the help of you, would like to return it to the rightful heir or member of the direct blood line of the Gilmer Family from Ireland.

The information we have is very limited but we do know that Alexander Gilmer was born in Northern Ireland on 5th April 1877, and his wife Jessie Mary O’Callaghan on 5th May 1887 in Queenstown, Eastern Cape.
Inside the Bible the marriage between Patrick Gilmer and his wife Elizabeth Johanna Nel is also mentioned. They lived on a farm called Aqua in Tsistikamma, Storms River, which was later renamed to Cornucopia. If you know anything about this family, then please email us here

IMAGES (From top to bottom):
Gilmer Family Bible
Gilmer Bible
Douay and Rheims Catholic Bible
Typical leather binding and gilt edged pages

Ladysmith, Natal. Principal town of the Klip River district and the third largest town in Natal, situated on the Klip River, 251 km by road and 304 km by rail north-west of Durban on the main railway and the national road to Johannesburg, and 60 km south-east of Van Reenen’s Pass in the Drakensberg. 28° 48′ S., 24° 46′ E.; altitude  1 021 metres; rainfall 787 mm. Population (1970): White 8 117; Coloured 522; Asiatic 6031; Bantu 13 884. The town was established in December 1847 and proclaimed on 20 June 1850. Originally known as Windsor after a trader, George Windsor, it was renamed after the wife of Governor Sir Harry Smith. It became important as a stopping place for transport wagons on the main route between Natal and the Transvaal. It was proclaimed a township in 1882 and a borough in 1899. When the railway reached it in 1886, it became an important forwarding centre until the line was extended in 1889. It now has one of the largest railway depots in Natal, with one of the best-equipped and largest marshalling yards in South Africa. The town was declared an industrial growth point in 1968 and has available its own industrial area and the layout of the Industrial Development Corporation for future industrial growth. The town lies near rich coal-mines and is thus favourably situated for industries. In the industrial area are textile mills, a large creamery, four clothing factories, a large brickfield, a canvas factory, a bolt and nut factory, various building concerns, and four bulk petrol depots.

 The town has a large provincial hospital, and a sanatorium on Convent Hill is run by the Order of La Verna.

Adjoining the town on the south-east is a huge urban-industrial complex, known as eZakheni.

Ladysmith is closely associated with the history of South Africa. At Danskraal, about 4 km north of the town, the Voortrekkers made their solemn covenant before the Battle of Blood River. During the Second Anglo-Boer War the siege of Ladysmith (see following article) made history. Some of the most famous battlefields of the war are in the immediate vicinity: Elandslaagte, Lombard’s Kop, Umbulwana Hill and Wagon Hill (called Platrand by the Boers). There are many monuments on the hills surrounding the town, as at Nicholson’s Nek, Wagon Hill (proclaimed a historical monument in 1938), Caesar’s Camp, Observation Hill and Cemetery Hill, where 3 000 men lie buried who perished in the defence of the town. Many of the public buildings contain relics of the war.

This book, published in Afrikaans, is a guide to a particular section of the old cemetery in Pietermaritzburg. The south western part of the old cemetery, situated on either side of Commercial Road, is known as the Voortrekker Cemetery and is part of the greater Commercial Road Cemetery. This part is the city’s oldest cemetery.

The indexed book covers about 75 graves and contains photographs of gravestones, people and buildings, with biographical and historical information. A map of the cemetery is included. The soft cover book has 80 pages on gloss paper. It is well laid out and makes a fascinating journey of discovery.

Although most of the graves are of Voortrekkers and their descendants, there are some people in the book who were not Voortrekkers but made a contribution to Afrikaans cultural life. They include Germans, Scots, Englishmen and Jews. The oldest grave is believed to be that of Hendrik VAN DEN BERG who died in September 1839. Some of the cemetery’s famous residents include Louis Gustavus TREGARDT (son of Louis TREGARDT, Voortrekker leader) and Charles KESTELL (born in Wales and father of John Daniel KESTELL who translated the Bible into Afrikaans).

Louis Eksteen is the curator at Fort Amiel Museum in Newcastle, and chairman of the Natal Voortrekker Graves and Monuments Committee. The research for this book was done from 1996 to 2003 when he was a researcher at the Voortrekker Museum in Pietermaritzburg.

Publisher: Natalse Voortrekkergrafte en -Monumentekomitee, Pietermaritzburg, 2004

ISBN 0-620-31680-2

Order from: L.J. Eksteen, P.O. Box 15600, Arbor Park, Newcastle, 2954

E-mail: [email protected]

One of the consequences of the deeply felt need for preparation and strength through faith has been the appointment in the army of men able to give spiritual support. Clergymen were on board the ships of Bartholomew Dias (1488), Vasco da Gama (1497) and the Dutch merchant ships which were in operation before the formation of the Dutch East India Company, in the form of parsons and sick-comforters, that they might provide spiritual comfort and ministration to those on board and at trading posts. In 1652 Willem Barentsz Wylant ministered as the first sick-comforter at the Cape. In 1665 the Rev. Johannes van Arckel made his appearance as the first minister to be settled at the Cape, where he and his successors also ministered to members of the garrison.

With the First British Occupation (1795-1803) the first Anglican military chaplain, fleet chaplain J. E. Attwood, arrived at the Cape in 1795. He was succeeded by four army and navy chaplains who held divine service in the Castle and cared for the spiritual needs of the British military. During the Batavian period (1803-1806) the military were ministered to as part of the local parish. The spiritual needs of Roman Catholic soldiers were taken care of by three priests brought to the Cape.

During 1806-1814, under the Second British Occupation, there once again appeared at the Cape Anglican military chaplains who were responsible also for the erection of church buildings in Simonstown (1814), Wynberg (1821) and Cape Town (1834). During the Sixth Frontier War (1834-35) military chaplains accompanied the British troops. At the request of the governor, Sir Harry Smith, three military chaplains were sent to British Kaffraria (1848), Natal (1848) and King William's Town (1850). British military chaplains made their appearance in Natal in 1843, in the Orange River Sovereignty in 1848, and with the British troops in Pretoria in 1877.

Both during the war of 1880-81 as well as during the Second Anglo Boer War military chaplains of various denominations accompanied the British troops. At the time of the Second British Occupation of the Cape and for some time after that the Anglican Church and the Dutch Reformed Church were the only two officially recognised religious denominations. Lay preachers of British origin, such as the Methodist Ireland John Irwin and Sergeant Kendrick – followed later by recognised British military chaplains – gave spiritual care to members of their faith in the military forces at the Cape and later elsewhere in South Africa. In 1812 the Rev. G. Thom was appointed as the first part-time military chaplain to the Presbyterians among the British troops. During the Second Anglo-Boer War other denominations such as the Roman Catholic and Baptist Churches permitted their chaplains to take part in the campaign. The spiritual care of British troops by British military chaplains in South Africa ended with the departure of the last imperial troops from Roberts Heights, Pretoria (1915), and the British contingent from Simonstown (1957).

Among the Voortrekkers the Rev. Erasmus Smit and the Rev. Daniel Lindley also attended to the spiritual care of the armed burghers in time of war. During the Basuto War of 1865-66 the Free State government made provision for spiritual care in the field. During the Sekhukhune War (1876) the State President, the Rev. T. F. Burgers, held religious services in the field, while during the war of 1880-81 Transvaal ministers served as field and/or commando preachers. During the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) there were on the side of the Boers 156 chaplains, with whom a number of theological Students co-operated, in the field as well as in prisoner of-war and concentration camps. After the creation of the Union Defence Force (1912) followed by the participation of the Union in the First World War there were about 155 military chaplains, mostly fulltime, concerned with the spiritual care of the Union troops at the military bases in South Africa and on the various military fronts (German South-West Africa, German East Africa and Europe).

In 1920 the Rev. John Neethling Murray of the Ned. Geref. Kerk and the Rev. Alfred Roberts of the Anglican Church were the only two full-time chaplains in the Union Defence Force. They were assisted by a number of part-time chaplains. During the Second World War (1939-1945) 517 White and 38 non-White chaplains, representing the Afrikaans, Anglican and Roman Catholic as well as the Free Churches and the Jewish faith, laboured among perhaps 350 000 troops on the battle fronts and the home front and in prisoner-of-war camps.

In 1946 the South African Corps of Chaplains came into existence as a unit of the Active Citizen Force, while the Rev. C. F. Miles-Cadman served as adjutant chaplain-general. From 1950 to 1953 South African military chaplains were active in Korea. In 1957 it was laid down that the military chaplains, except for administrative purposes, would no longer fall under the Adjutant-General of the Defence Force, but would come directly under the Commandant General. In 1968 the Chaplain Services of the South African Defence Force, under their Director of Chaplains, began to function as a separate entity. In 1970 the rank Director of Chaplains was changed to Chaplain-General, while during the period 1960-70 the number of spiritual workers among the South African military increased to sixty.

It was decided in 1914, in imitation of British military usage in regard to military chaplains, that the Union Defence Force chaplains should not wear specific military badges of rank and should not be addressed according to rank. During the period 1914 to 1966 the badge worn was the Maltese Cross with the motto In hoc signo. During the Second World War the chaplains in the field removed their badges of rank, while in 1968 distinctive South African class C badges of rank were introduced for military chaplains. At the same time it was laid down inter alia that all chaplains would hold tile status of colonel, that they would be addressed, by their ecclesiastical titles and that the distinguishing rank badge would be a gilded Christ monogram (insert Image) on a triangle of brass with the upper surface of the triangle of purple enamel. On the cap of.a chaplain appears the cap badge, and the cap is provided with a purple cap band. The shoulders of the chaplain's uniform bear the word `Kapelaan' -for Afrikaans-speaking chaplains and `Chaplain' for English-speaking chaplains. The Maltese Cross design remains the corps badge.

Before the Union in 1910 each volunteer unit had its own regimental chaplain, and in 1914 chaplains to the forces were appointed at Roberts Heights (now Voortrekkerhoogte) on a full-time basis in what was termed the Chaplains' Department. With the outbreak of the Second World War full-time chaplains were again appointed, and since 1946 there has been a South African Corps of Chaplains in the Defence Force, with chaplains for the Dutch Reformed, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Free Churches and the Jewish faith.

CHOLERA epidemic in 1869

DYSENTERY – this epidemic broke out shortly after Jan Van Riebeek arrived in 1652.

INFLUENZA. Epidemics of influenza or grippe occur at intervals. In South Africa extensive pandemics were experienced in 1918 and in 1957, which swept through the country within two months. The 1918 epidemic caused nearly r 40 000 deaths in the Union of South Africa, mostly among the Bantu and Coloured sections of the population, although the death-rate among Europeans was also unusually high. The 1957 pandemic was not nearly so severe: most patients had a relatively minor illness and there were very few deaths. Epidemic outbreaks occur frequently in Southern Africa, but do not present unusual features as compared with epidemics elsewhere, although the illness tends to be more severe in the Bantu than in persons of European descent, and complications involving the lungs tend to be more frequent.

South Africa experienced outbreaks of influenza in 1836, 1854, 1862, 1871, 1890 and 1895, but the death-rate had never exceeded 1 per 1000. The 1918 epidemic first manifested itself in Europe, where so many German and Austrian soldiers fell ill that a German offensive was delayed until March. It spread to Spain, where 8m people were affected. The death-roll in Europe was comparatively light however, and in Spain only 700 people died.

Some of the entries for one day (is Oct. 1918) at the Maitland Cemetery, Cape Town, when the influenza epidemic was at its peak. The sinister spectre of Spanish influenza was spread by carriers, and it was soon contracted by British, French and American troops in France. Outbreaks were reported as far afield as Norway, Switzerland, Hawaii, China and Sierra Leone. There is little doubt that ships brought the epidemic to South Africa. At first it affected the ports and principal towns. It was reported in Durban on 14 Sept., in Kimberley on the 23rd, and in Cape Town and Johannesburg on the 25th.

Like the earlier epidemics, the 1918 `flu’ attacked men rather than women, and all races alike. There the similarity ended, for whereas previously the very young and the old were more prone to contract influenza, now adolescence and old age seemed immune, and the special incidence fell on the group between 25 and 45 years of age. The epidemic spread rapidly, following the lines of communication: the railways and roads. Hundreds of thousands of people fell ill, and the economy of the country, including the mines, was nearly brought to a standstill. Coal was no longer being produced, and factories closed their doors. Commerce almost ceased, only food-shops remained open, and transport was more precious than gold. The railways operated a skeleton service, trams ran spasmodically, and motor-cars were short of petrol. In the towns essential foodstuffs were scarce – no bread, since the bakers were ill; no milk, since the farmers were unable to bring it to town. The greatest shortage, however, was of people – hands to nurse the sick, feet to bring essentials of life when whole families lay ill. At first the death-rate was low – then suddenly it began to rise. Doctors, many of them ill themselves, could not cope with the flood of patients, emergency hospitals overflowed, the supply of coffins gave out, and people were sometimes buried in mass graves. Nor was there safety in the country, for refugees spread the epidemic far and wide. The Transkei, with practically no medical assistance available, was particularly hard hit. The authorities did their best to cope with the situation, but thousands died without ever seeing a doctor. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the epidemic ceased.

MEASLES – it has been maintained that there was an epidemic of measles (`masels’) among Voortrekkers . measles epidemic which ravaged Natal after the Cape epidemic in 1839. In 1834 and 1839 the epidemics had been measles

POLIOMYELITIS epidemics occur periodically in South Africa. The public tends to be gravely frightened of this disease because of the pitiful crippling of children that so often results. The total number of cases occurring has, however, been relatively small compared with the other diseases that occur in epidemic form. There were epidemics in 1918, 1948 and (the worst one) the summer of 1956-57. `Epidemics’ of some hundreds of cases occurred in 1960 and 1966. In epidemic years vast numbers of children became infected without showing any sign of the disease. Such children are naturally immunised, but this is a very risky method of acquiring immunity, as the paralytic form may so easily be triggered off; e.g. by violent exercise or trauma of any kind. Subsequent crops of babies will not acquire such immunity and will provide material for the next epidemic unless submitted to vaccination. POLIO – poliomyelitis first appeared in epidemic form during the First World War in 1918. Nearly a thousand cases were reported, most of them on the Witwatersrand. Only sporadic cases and one or two minor outbreaks then occurred until the Second World War,

TYPHOID – The epidemic that occurred at the beginning of this century was the direct result of inadequate sanitation during the Anglo-Boer hostilities. The number of deaths due to typhoid was vastly greater than that from military missiles. TYPHOID is a disease of insanitation, spread by contaminated human excrement. The only serious epidemic of this disease occurred in South Africa at the beginning of the century as a result of the disorganisation brought about by the Second Anglo-Boer War. The mortality among civilians and military personnel was severe. Fairly high incidence continues in primitive, unsanitated communities. Typhus epidemic of 1867

SMALLPOX – Three epidemics of smallpox (1713, 1735 and 1767) hit the small settlement very hard – a quarter of the White inhabitants died in the first epidemic, and nearly half the slaves The epidemic of 1755 caused the death of nearly a thousand Whites and more than a thousand non-Whites. Further smallpox epidemics occurred at the Cape in 1767, 1807, 1812, 1839, 1858 and 1881. That of 1881 was the most virulent and then in the 1893 smallpox epidemic in Johannesburg.