Limited seating ( 20 persons maximum). For bookings,  please contact the CFRF convenor, Shamiel Gamildien at or  083 290 6005 or RSVP the CFRF PRO, Mogamat Kamedien  or 082 8276 180.

Date: Sat, 3 March 2012

Time: 10h00 – 12h00

Venue: National Archives, Roeland Street, Cape Town

Cost: R100/person

in front Cathleen Whyburd with mother Diana and father George Whyburd

Discussions of family origins were always taboo. Family secrets and myths were rife based on even the very surname of October. One version was that my great grandfather had a brother who had been intoxicated in a bar and caused serious injury or death to another man and shamed the family by his imprisonment causing them to change their name from Thompson to October. Or did the origin lie in a runaway slave picking the name of the month of his arrival in Cape Town as a new surname? Or, given that his first name was Isaac and his middle name Daniel giving rise to the possibility of a Jewish history?

The Whyburd family is another mystery begging explanation. My grandmother Kathleen was born one of four children 1895–1959 in Cape Town to Diana and George Whyburd. Little is known regards their history. Diana lived with her daughter Kathleen after her husband’s death until her own. I believe there is a family plot somewhere in Maitland Cemetery, Gate 9, Woltermade. The story is that Grandad bought 10 plots for the family there. I have been told that George came from Ramsgate, England but have not been able to verify this. I have researched the Whyburd name and found that it could possibly have been derived from Witberd.

My proud grandparents met whilst chauffeur and housemaid to the Stephenson family owners of the large flour mill in Cape Town and raised their children to be good Christians, managed to own two homes in Nelson Rd bought on their personal savings: one given as a wedding present to the eldest son Isaac.

But the apartheid system seems to have divided the family throughout its history with half the family including my mother publicly claiming white status, other siblings marrying mixed race, children forced to attend mixed race schooling and live in coloured areas. It seems events were so painful that children of my generation were brought up not to ask questions about the past.

Brought up as an English girl I could never understand how hard it would have been to grow up in this difficult era of South African history with no knowledge of one’s true family origin, only suspicions and whispered undertones. Neither black nor white, Indian or Asian, there was no sense of identity or real belonging to any group, which has followed to even today. My olive complexion, green eyes and dark curly hair still raise eyebrows when I introduce myself as English and then qualify immediately with a statement that my mother is a South African.

My mother met my British father, Vincent Wilcox on board The Dunnottar Castle en route to England in 1951 and gained British citizenship on their marriage in 1954. Their return as a married couple to Cape Town in 1956-1958 for a ‘better life’ away from post war Britain led to jealousy within the siblings as my mother could now live in a white area. The authorities investigated my parent’s papers on a anonymous tip from a relative that their cohabiting was illegal on the mixed race housing laws. I remember the horror when I said, when at school, that I loved our maid and being chastised by the teacher who ‘put me right’ about the apartheid system and that coloured people were not to be loved! The pressures of apartheid were too much and my parents and now with now two children decided to return to England to bring up their family.

I would dearly love to unravel the past origins of my South African family and would welcome any advice on how to go about it.

By Rick Aindow in Australia

This archive of information will provide you with surname, first names, institute attended, date joined and rank.

Some of the schools included are Marist Brothers Cape Town, Normal College Cape Town, Gill College, Graaff-Reinet College, Grey Institute Cadets, Heidelberg Volksschool Cadets, Jeppe Central Government School Cadets, Kroonstad Secondary School Cadets, South African College High School, St. Aidan’s College Cadets, Winburg Secondary School Cadets,  Witbank School Cadets and Wynberg Boys High School to mention a few.

Do you have any photos or stories about your family members who were cadets? We would love to hear from you and share your family’s memoires.

There is a discernible difference between the pre and post war period in that the "white" congregation appears to have become more prominent in the records. However there are surprisingly a number of Basutho’s that were married in this Diocese as well

Interesting marriage entries are Theophilus Tylden Shepstone, Widower; Civil Service of the Cape Colony of Barkly East, Cape Colony married Rachel Anna Frederica Every of Karee Poort, District Bloemfontein on 12 July 1892.

Sidney George Moore professional golfer from Kimberley who married Ellen Maria Staughton of Bloemfontein on 22 December 1908 and also John Henry Squires, professional boxer who married Annie Catrina De Beer on 07 March 1923.

Other notable people were early Portuguese and Greek Settlers Antonio Pereira, fruiterer, who married Johanna Heineker on the 01 January 1884 and Apostal Marroudas, fruiterer, who married Alexandra Kassape on 03 April 1906.
 

The Crematorium at Cambridge in East London was put into use in September 1959. In those early years it served not only the people of East London but also people from the surrounding districts such as Butterworth, Umtata, Dordrecht, Aliwal North, Queenstown, Cathcart, Stutterheim, Peddie, King William's Town, Alice, Adelaide, Fort Beaufort,Cradock, Grahamstown Port Alfred and many of the other smaller towns in areas where decendents of the early Slettlers had lived and worked. In those days many of these people came to the Frere hospital in East London to seek expert medical
attention when the need arose, the bodies of those who did not recover from their sickness were very often cremated at the crematoriun because of the cost and logistics of transporting bodies, their remains (ashes) were then taken back home for burial by the next of kin.

He has also provided us with a brief story of his Crossley family history to share with everyone

Our gallery is a splendid way of sharing and archiving your documents and family photographs that can easily be share with family and friends around the world. This platform also provides a wonderful place for other people researching the same family as you to connect and help one another.