The Orphan Chamber at the Cape
Estate records and the Orphan Chamber
The Orphan Chamber (Weeskamer) was set up in 1673 to act as legal guardian to orphaned children. After the devastating effect of the smallpox epidemic of 1713, the Council of Policy empowered the Orphan Chamber to protect the transference of property of all free individuals in the colony. It was responsible for the collection and administration of the property of persons who died intestate, or left heirs who were minors (under 25 years of age) or who lived abroad. It was also responsible for estates where the will did not specifically exclude them (the OC) from acting as executors.
The Board of the Orphan Chamber consisted of a President and Vice-President drawn from Company officials and burghers, plus two Company men and two burghers. Every two years the Board would be selected by the Government from a list of nominations submitted for that purpose.
Understanding the laws governing the process of inheritance is essential to the understanding of the role of the Orphan Chamber in this process. Secretary William Bird, describing the State of the Cape of Good Hope in 1822, explained the system and process of inheritance clearly:
Under the laws of the colony the widow takes one-half, whether it be real or personal property, and the other half is divided equally between the children, whether male or female; and if no children, to the nearest relatives of both father and mother. No one by will can deprive a child of its share. But a man can leave to his widow, in addition to the half she inherits, one child’s portion. At the death of the widow unmarried, her half descends, in like manner, to the children; but if she has a second husband, and children by him, her property goes equally between such husband and the children of both beds, as does the property of the husband at her death.
If a married person dies intestate, and leaves children under age, the orphan chamber is at liberty, on the application of the surviving husband or wife, to suffer him or her to remain in possession of the whole estate, on condition that an inventory be taken, and a fair valuation be made of the same, according to which valuation, the half of the net balance is assigned to the children in equal shares, and left in the hands of the survivor, provided good security be given, that the share of each of the children will be forthcoming at their becoming of age. The principle of this regulation is, that it is in the interest of the children themselves to have their parent remaining in the undisturbed possession of his concern, in order to prevent the danger of loss, arising from a sudden disposal of the estate; and also to preserve more fully to the surviving parent, the means of educating his children.
It is always to be kept in view, that community of property among married people is the law of the colony, unless excepted or restricted by a settlement before marriage … there is no advantage from primogeniture.
The inventories of fixed properties, goods and chattels were taken within a few days of the householder’s death, sent to the Master of the Orphan Chamber, recorded by a clerk (in a standard format though original details, such as order of appraisal, are retained), numbered and filed in more or less chronological order. If an auction (vendu) of these possessions subsequently took place, the sales were also itemised in detail and filed.
After the VOC relinquished the Cape in 1795, the British and the Batavian regimes left existing legal and bureaucratic systems and personnel almost intact because of limited resources, so inventories continued to be taken and auctions organised to dispose of estates as before. Between 1824 and 1828, however, deliberate policy was established to set up an independent judiciary and an impersonal and bureaucratic civil service, and to impose the English language, so that the Cape was brought more into line with the political and economic system of the British Empire. In 1834 the role of the Orphan Chamber was taken over by private companies; the precursors to BoE and Syfrets.
Inventories in the MOOC series
As was mentioned above, the appraisal of Estates occurred shortly after death and would then be ‘copied’ into the Inventory lists that we now have. The internal ‘layout’ of the different inventories can provide us with some interesting information about different estates. For example: Smaller estates would often be represented quite straightforwardly listing the items either from the most valuable to the least or according to the appraisers access to them. Larger estates, on the other hand, would often be represented in terms of the spaces in which items lay, such as rooms, cupboards, stores, attics, outbuildings, and the farmyard. Inventories for larger estates would also occasionally contain catalogues of book titles and, very rarely, pictures.
It is also interesting to note that appraisal was not made for tax purposes (only some documents are evaluated, probably the “fair evaluation” referred to by Bird above), and individual items were often noted as being bequeathed to specific persons.
Auction lists (vendu rollen)
Despite the advantages of retaining estates in one piece after a death, property was often put up for sale by auction to enable division of the estate to take place or because it was insolvent. Other reasons for auctions included remarriage and bankruptcy. The records of sales, vendu rollen (MOOC10), list all the items sold, name of purchaser and how much was paid.
Archival location
The material is filed in the Archives of the Master of the Supreme Court (Cape of Good Hope) housed in the National Archives, Cape Repository, Roeland Street, Cape Town. It includes:
Volumes Description Dates
MOOC 7/1/1-140 Wills & Appraisals 1688-1835
MOOC 8/1-48 Inventories 1673-1834
MOOC 8/49-51 Inventories & Appraisements 1780-1834
MOOC 8/75 Inventories not bound 1673-1825
MOOC 8/76-77 Index to Inventories 1692-1834
MOOC10/1-49 Vendu Rolls 1691-1834
MOOC Master of the Orphan Chamber
7/1 or 8 or 10 volume set
/1 ff volume number
.1 ff document number
Compiled by Antonio Malan