You are on page 1of 15

WORLDCONFERENCE an

“Rea/r(1' Pro/('L‘l1'urz in

ON RECORDS
AND GENEALOGICAL SEMINAR

Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.


5-8 August 1969

IMMIGRATION PATTERNS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND


THEIR EFFECTS ON GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH

Part II

British Administration 1806-1910

By

Dr. Cornelis Parna

GEI‘$EAL<f);3;{j,q;__ ;~,;~i,¢»-~
OF -La/\,.
T’ ‘ I " _,I:" I27?)CI--IDIQT

COPYRIGHT© I969 THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAYSAINTS, INC. E' 1 _, — b
IIvIMIGRATIoN PATTERNS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND
THEIR EFFECTS ON GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH

Part ll.

British Administration 1806-1910

By

Dr. Cornelis Pama

DUTCH PERIOD

During the eighteenth century the Dutch East India Company extended its authority
over the greater part of the East Indian Archipelago and was the only trader with Japan.
Notwithstanding this important facade, the house behind it became more and more rotten.
To keep a monopoly for almost two centuries is too much for any company, and the
Netherlands one was no exception. The rise of British power in the East made it impossible
for the Netherlands to protect sufficiently its overseas possessions and an English attack on
the Cape of Good Hope in 1781 could be prevented only with the help of French ships
under Suffren. Because of this weakness the credit of the Company collapsed and only the
interference of the State saved it from total bankruptcy_

However, this was no real remedy. In 1795 the once so famous Netherlands Republic
itself came to an end when the French revolutionary armies crossed the Rhine into Holland,
and William V. of Orange fled the country for England. The British, in his name, took over
the Cape Colony and various other possessions. it seemed that Netherlands rule in South
Africa had ended. But, as in the old dramas, before the curtain falls the hero makes a short
re—appearance,so the Dutch returned to South Africa from 1803 to 1806. This was a brief
spell in comparison with the century and a half they had ruled here before, but it was
nevertheless of great significance because it was a different government and a different type
of Hollanders altogether.

In 1795 the so called Batavian Republic was established in Holland, with the help of
the French armies and under strong French influence. The ideas of the French Revolution
had already entered the Cape during the last years of the Company's rule, a strong ‘Patriot’
movement had Come into being, and so~called republics were established by the colonists in
the districts of Swellendam and Graaff~Reinet. It is now generally accepted that what
happened was more in the nature of a revocation of the Company's authority, and a
proclamation that henceforth they belonged to a ‘free republic’, referred to as the United
Netherlands, and nothing else. They were quite willing to come to Cape Town to fight the
English.

During the first English occupation from 1795~1803 these feelings were suppressed but
under the Batavian Republic's rule a number of reforms were introduced in the Cape Colony
which greatly benefited the freedom of the individual and the well-being of the country.
The advanced ideas of the Batavian Hollanders left a much better impression of Netherlands
administration than the earlier Company's rule. 'Bataafs' or Batavian became associated in
the minds of the colonists with enlightened ideas of freedom and independence and
therefore permeated many of the ideas of the later Voortrekkers and their fathers.

BRITISH TAKE OVER

This was quite opposite to what happened in the Netherlands, where the Batavian rule
paved the way to French domination and finally annexation, and led to the great oppression
under Napoleon's heel. However, as we have already seen, the Batavian rule was short at the
Cape of Good Hope. In 1806 a British fleet appeared and after the Battle of Blaauwberg
near Cape Town, where the Netherlands troups capitulated, the Cape Colony became
English once more.

During the first occupation the British made no changes in the government of the
colony because no peace had yet been signed and they considered themselves officially as
the caretakers for the Prince of Orange. After 1806, in the beginning, there was not much
change either. The Batavian councils remained functioning as before and the governors ruled
the country in the autocratic manner which was usual at that time in British colonies. With
regard to immigration however the British soon adopted an attitude which differed
considerably from the one which had prevailed in the Netherlands period and which was
the subject of my previous lecture.

MIXED NATIONALITIES

They also introduced a completely new element into the established


Netherlands-speaking population of the Cape Colony: British settlers. The Hollanders,
Flemish, Frenchmen, Germans and Scandinavians had during the Netherlands administration
all been moulded into Netherlands-speaking and mainly Calvinist colonists. Undera British
administration it could hardly be expected that British settlers would change their language
for Netherlands. In fact the scene was set for the long and sometimes bitter struggle between
the two branches of the Teutonic race which resulted in the Great Trek, Boer Wars, and saw
the birth of an Afrikaner nationalism which dominates South Africa today.

This was of course not immeditately apparent in 1806. After the Capitulation many
soldiers belonging to the Netherlands troups asked for permission to remain and a number
of Netherlands civil servants also used the opportunity to settle permanently at the Cape.
This was an unexpected addition to immigration from the Netherlands. As soon as the
British administration had studied the population structure in the colony they had just
conquered, they of course discovered that, considering the enormous extent of the country,
the population was extremely sparce.

On top of that the farmers advancing to the East had come face to face with the Bantu
or negro—tribesadvancing to the South, and clashes had already occured. Strengthing of the
white population seemed therefore an absolute necessity to prevent the Bantu from entering
the Colony and already in 1809 Colonel Collins stressed this point after he had returned
from an inspection of the eatern districts. The British government, therefore, adopted a
policy of state-aided immigration, and in 1817 John Moodie brought 200 batchelors from
Scotland to the Cape. This small quantity was easily absorbed in the old way. Most of the
men married local girls and many founded families who spoke the language of their mother.
A quite different matter was the immigration of the so called 1820—settlers.

MORE PERMANENT SETTLERS NEEDED

The British had soon realized that if immigration on a large scale would succeed,
prospective immigrants had to be convinced that the country to which they were going was
worth making the effort and that there were real prospects of successful settlement and
prosperity. The Governor of the Cape Colony,‘ Lord Charles Somerset, therefore, wrote in
1817 to the Colonial Secretary in Longdon, Lord Bathurst, that the Zuurveld, the district
bordering on the lands of the Bantu, was ”the most beautiful and fertile part of the
settlement. I know not how to give an idea of it unless by saying that it resembles a
succession of parks from the Bushman's River to the Great Fish River in which upon the
most verdant carpet nature has planted in endless variety; the soil well adapted to
cultivation is particularly fitted for cattle and pasturage”.

‘This description may well have been true in peaceful circumstances, but left out the
continuous threat of war. In fact the main object of the immigration was to establish a
human barrier against the advancing Bantu and a gun would, therefore, be as useful as a
spade. In 1819 the Fifth Frontier War had broken out and Grahamstown, the chief military
center on the frontier, was attacked in broad daylight by 10,000 Bantu. The invaders were
only with the greatest difficulty driven across the Fish River and the Keiskama River, which
flowsparallel to it to the east. The British Government now realized the danger of the
situation, and in 1819 and early 1820 twenty—one immigrant ships set sail for the Cape
carrying nearly 4,000 British settlers. Towards the end of 1820 another six ships sailed with
further parties of immigrants.
THE 1820 SETTLERS

The Suurveld, the region to which these settlers were being sent, comprised a stretch of
country between the Sunday and Fish River, a region about 70 miles long and 50 miles
across. It was infested with wild animals, among them many beasts of prey. The climate was
healthful and mild, but droughts occured then as they do now, as rainfall was unpredictable.
The original settlers, whose farms had been destroyed by the Bantu and their cattle
slaughtered, could not be persuaded to take up land again. To quote Hocklyz ”To this
empty and untamed territory, practically untouched by the hand of man, came the first
British settlers —men, women and children who had lived all their lives in the bustling but
grimy manufacturing cities of Great Britain, or in its homely market towns, or in the fields
and villages of its peaceful, garden-like countryside.”

Tempting as it is, it is not here the place to give the full story of their heroic
beginnings. It was difficult enough to settle in the wilderness but on top of that came two
successive failures of the wheat crops which dashed the settlers’ hopes of obtaining a return
for their labour. Debts incurred to the Gernment could not be liquidated, destituation
prevailed thoroughout the settlement, and in quite a number of cases starvation was
narrowly averted by the prompt action of the local commander, Donkin, who despatched a
shipload of rice for distribtuion among the settlers.

For the next four years the settlers in Albany, as the district was now called, had to
struggle not only against the forces of nature and marauding bands of Bantu, but on top of
that against an autocratic and hostile governor. They nevertheless survived, but not in the
way originally intended. Most of the farms, which were too small anyhow, were
abandoned craftsmen flocked to the towns and took up their original occupations, others
spread themselves all over the Colony.

Today their descendants may be found anywhere in South Africa, proud of their
descendance from those struggling pioneers, and feeling themselves probably a bit better
than those who came later. Many may still be found in the Eastern part of the Cape
Province and the university town of Grahamstown is their ancestral shrine. Here a great
1820—Settler Memorial is now being built, and part of the town, which is still almost
unchanged since the turbulent days in which it was established, will be restored and will
become a town very like Williamsburgh in the United States. Far from being forgotten, the
memory of the 1820 settlers in South Africa is cultivated and surrounded with a mystic all
its own.

THE GENEALOGICAL PROBLEM

From a genealogical point of view research in connection with these families meets
with the greatest difficulties. Many of the parties came out with'their own ministers of
religion: Methodists, Baptists and the like. Churches and chapels were built and
congregations established, but in the unsettled situation, the wars with their destruction,
and the reluctance of the colonial government, whatever records of births, marriages and
deaths there were, were mainly destroyed, family papers became lost, and oral tradition
often unreliable. Under these circumstances few families are able to show an unbroken and
proven genealogy. During the past year a hundred families have been brought together under
the title "Some frontier families” and it seems doubtful than another 100 could be
published this way.

However, there is also a lighter side to the picture. In 1920 a Centenary Settler
Memorial Committee came into being and one of the things it did was to appeal to
descendants for whatever material they possessed. They even distributed specially printed
forms which people could fill out. These were deposited in the Government Archives, Cape
Town, where, until last year they lay unnoticed and unused.

Then permission was given by the Director of Archives for these papers to be lodged in
the Cory Library of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, for six months while they were
classified and arranged under 1820 Settler heads of families. It took six weeks merely to do
this for there were papers dealing with 462 families. The forms did not state the relationship
between the writer and the head of the family and had other shortcomings as well.
Accordingly letters asking for information were sent to all the leading newspapers in the
Republic of South Africa and Rhodesia. There was good response and ultimately over 1,000
letters were received and answered so that files for 260 families could be opened and 165
genealogies collected for the archives of the 1820—SettlersMemorial section of the Albany
Museum, Grahamstown. A list of all this material was published in vol. V no. 3 (1968) of
"Familia”, Quarterly Journal of the Genealogical Society of South Africa.

In the meantime the newly formed 1820—SettlersMemorial Committee has published a


’’Roll of the British Settlers in South Africa”, volume I (to 1826) containing data with
regard to more than 3,000 1820—Settlers and 550 more detailed biographies. It seems,
therefore, that research is now well underway.

Dr. J.A. Heese, archivist at the Netherlands Reformed Church Archives in Cape Town,
had devoted a special study to the composition of the Afrikaans-speaking population up to
1887. He found data showing that before 1837 there were approximately 600 marriages
between English speaking settlers and Afrikaners, of which 310 had Afrikaans speaking
descendants. In the same period, 250 Germans married with Afrikaners and the number of
Hollanders was only slightly less. These new immigrants were, generally speaking, of a better
class than the soldiers and sailors of the period of the Netherlands East India Company's
administration. The provided teachers, ministers of religion, traders, lawyers, etc. and
thereby considerably increased the intellectual level of the Afrikaans speaking part of the
population.

L .. ‘ ‘
.».,
mt
OF LAtt2::+‘«.z»*
‘)
But ultimately the influence of the British became so great that although the
Afrikaners were able to maintain themselves, the Netherlands character of the social and
cultural life almost disappeared. An American of Netherlands descent, Prof. Barnouw, was
of the opinion that after more than a century of British rule "their outlook on life, their
conceptions of the world abroad, their methods of government and business administration,
their ideas of sportmanship, even their manners and forms of social intercourse, bear the
trade—mark‘Made in England’’’. Even Netherlands surnames were sometimes anglisized and
also given names on a larger scale, but they kept their language and religion nevertheless.

It is obvious that under British administration more and more English speaking
immigrants entered the country. Perhaps their entrance was not so spectacular as the arrival
of the 1820—Sett|ers,but in the long run their numbers must have been considerably more.
In any case there were too many to be merged into the Afrikaner community. The division
of the population in an Afrikaans and an English speaking part could not be halted. lt was in
fact almost a miracle that the Afrikaner was able to retain his separate identity and language
at all, because the British. did all they could to suppress it.

TWO GROUPS EMERGE—AFR|KANERS AND BRITISH

They would probably have succeeded if the Great Trek had not taken place, which
placed part of the Afrikaans-speaking original population outside the British jurisdication
under which they were not going to return till after the Boer Wars. But the history of the
Afrikaner people and the formation of their language out of the Netherlands language as
spoken in Holland, is not the subject of this talk and we, therefore, return to the Cape
Colony under the beginning of British rule.

We have already seen that the whole object of the 1820-Settler immigration program
was to keep the Bantu where they were, that is on the eastern border of the Great Fish
River. For this purpose the immigration had not been a success and a quarter of a century
later the secretary of state for the colonies, Earl Grey, realized that the extention of British
authority over part of the native territory was inevitable and necessary "not less for the sake
of the Kaffiers themselves than for the safety of the British subjects inhabiting the frontier
districts of the Colony”. He was reluctant to advocate outright annexation, and instead,
suggested.as a compromise some form of ”protection".

In consequence of this Sir Harry Smith, The Cape governor, annexed the territory of
"British Kaffraria”, not to The Cape, but to The Crown, as a separate dependency. The
natives who were already in the colony were to be settled in locations within the colonial
territory. Settlements of a military nature were to be established among the natives as a sort
of substitute for immigrants, for in April 1848, to curtail expenditure, aided emigration
from England was stopped by Earl Grey.
STATE AID |MMlGRATlON

This state—aided immigration scheme was introduced in 1844 when the Legislative
Council of the Colony had voted 10,000 pounds for this purpose. Shortly afterwards,
regulations for the introduction of ”mechanics, farm labourers and others" were published
in the Government Gazette. The scheme was designed to enable employers at the Cape to
bring out servants and labourers. Though the co-operation of the British Government was
anticipated, the duty of selecting emigrants and sending them from England was, or could
be, left to emigration agents. However, the scheme was not received favourably in England
and it was suggested that a thousand adults should be imported in accordance with the New
South Wales scheme.

The weakness in this system was that emigrants were not ‘screened’ in the country of
origin and hence were subject to rejection at The Cape. No full information is available, but
batches of immigrants arrived in 14 vessels between February 1846 and about August 1848.
The number per vessel varied from 153 to 242, the total for nine ships about which we have
figures, being 1,729, and the average nearly 192. We may, therefore, arrive at a grand total
of some 2,689. The majority embarked at Cape Town and about 450 at Port Elizabeth.

The immigrants had little difficulty in obtaining employment and, of course, no


"settlements” were formed and the attempt to populate the border districts was no nearer
to success. lt was this system that was stopped in 1848. This failure to obtain military
settlers was partly responsible for the resuscitation of large scale immigration to The Cape
from Britain and in the period 1858-62, 4,671 persons were landed in Cape Town, 4,666 at
Port Elizabeth and 318 brought via British Kaffrar, giving a grand total of 9,655. Altogether
an amount of 158,595 pounds was expended at an average cost of 19 pounds 3 shillings per
adult. Most of them came from England, a few were from elsewhere.

This is not the place to go into details about the various schemes here mentioned. They
may be found in E.L.G. «Schne|l’s ”For men must work" from which publication I have
taken most of this information. I should only like to add that the Afrikaner population
evidently thought that not only the British part needed strengthening, but they as well. In
the middle of 1855 a committee of prominent men ‘Was,therefore, formed at The Cape with
the purpose of introducing juveniles from Holland. This body financed the scheme and took
charge of the children at the Cape, while a subsidiary committee in the Netherlands selected
them and despatched them to The Cape. Their ages ranged from 12 to 17 and it seems that
184 boys and 39 girls were brought out. Most of them were distributed in the Western Cape.
They were very satisfactory and most of them established families we|l~known in South
Africa today.

Under the various schemes there was thus a considerable immigration between 1846
and 1861. In fact a total of about 12,000 persons entered the colony during this time. This
leaves out of account the German immigration to British Kaffraria, which led to definite
local settlements, and is, therefore, the first to compare with the 1820-Settler scheme. It
was also the only one which answered the need for military settlers in the border-districts.
Its history is briefly as follows.

SOLD|ER—ADVENTURER CLASS IS NEXT

During the Crimean War the British formed a.o. the British Foreign Legion, consisting
of Germans. The majority were adventurers of a good class. Before any men were enlisted
for this Legion, the possibility of settli.ng them when disbanded, outside Europe, had
already suggested itself to the British Government. It appears, however, that it was Lord
Panmure who first entertained the idea of settling the British German Legion at The Cape,
instead of North America. However, contrary to expectation, there was much hesitation
among the Legipnaries. Eventually only 2,000 men out of 9,000 volunteered, and
arrangements were made for their transmission to The Cape, as ”German Military Settlers”
under the command of Baron von Stutterheim, the General at the head of the British
German Legion. They were transported in six ships and landed in 1857 in East London in
the Cape Colony.

From here they went first to Fort Murray and then to their stations. They were
organized into three regiments and were regarded and retained as soldiers drawing full pay,
though actually performing very few military duties. Ultimately they settled at places such
as Berlin, Stutterheim,Keiskama, Hoelcpeddie, Hamburg and elsewhere. The men who came
out were not always of the best type and had expected to lead the unsettled life to which
they had been accustomed as soldiers of fortune. They were certainly not adapted to an
agricultural life. it can thus be understood that when the mutiny broke out in India many
embraced the first opportunity of taking up again a life which appealed to them more
ardently than of settling down as farmers in South Africa.

The remainder were dispersed over the Colony. Theal, The Cape historian, is
undoubtedly correct when he says that a weeding out, similar to that which took place in
the early days of The Cape Colony was thus put into operation with them. The steady and
industrious among them - and there were many such, though they excelled rather as
mechanics and in commercial pursuits than in agriculture, remained in South Africa, where
they were of much service, while the idle and the dissipated returned to the occupation in
which they could be useful without being dangerous to society.

MORE GERMAN IMMIGRANTS

The arrival of further German immigrants during the years 1.85862 as part of Sir
George Grey's colonizing schemes, led to far more satisfactory results. They were brought
out after a tussle between the Governor and the Colonial Secretary on a definite contract
basis with a Hamburg firm, Godeffroy & Son. They came mainly from the Prussian
provinces of the Uckermark and Pomerania and were mostly agriculturists and general
labourers They were settled in the King William's Town area and the surrounding villiages
among the' remaining
. . . .
Legionaries. Some of them bought the houses that had been vacat ed
by the other Legionaries.

Dr. Schnell who has made a detailed study of this immigration scheme, emphasizes that
at least one of the objects of it —to procure agricultural settlers - was fulfilled. British
Kaffraria was peopled with sons of the soil, who through hard work and perseverance made
the district in which they settled one of the more important agricultural regions of The
Cape. John X. Merriman, Prime Minister of The Cape, in 1908, said on the occasion of the
German Jubilee that the Germans had been "the most industrious and enterprising colonists
and the best of citizens”. The German women were especially noted for their unlimited
capacity for hard work. The King William's Town Gazette reported that ”the women
flourish a pickaxe with more grace and goodwill than they would a needle".

Another group of German immigrants, mainly agriculturists settled between 1877 and
1883 on The Cape Flats, near Cape Town, where they converted a wilderness into a fruitful
garden. Others settled in various parts of the Western Province.

No account of German immigration can be complete without mentioning German


mission work in South Africa. They gave to South Africa men who accomplished much in
spheres other than those for which they originally came, and they left behind them
descendants who today are often pioneers in other fields and leaders in South African
thought and work. The oldest of them came out as Moravian Brethern or Herrnhutters,
some for the London Missionary Society, the Berlin Mission Society, the Hermannsburg and
the Hanoverian Free Church Missions or the Baptist Missionary Society.

Because it seems that Germans and men of German descent are more industrious in this
particular field than others, we know more about German immigration to South Africa than
of other nationalities. One should never forget however that obviously British immigration,
under a British Administration, continued steadily. Between 1806 and 1875 about 1,100
arrived annually, and between 1904 and 1946 about 2,000 per annum. A small group of
Scottish Presbyterian ministers should receive special mention because they came out as
ministers of the Netherlands Reformed Church and their descendants became mainly
Afrikaners.

MANY BRITISH BECOME AFRIKANERS

It is obvious that many other British immigrants also became Afrikaners in the long
run. Unmarried Englishmen and Scotsmen who got jobs as masons, carpenters, shoemakers
etc. in Afrikaans villages, usually married Afrikaans speaking girls and their descendants
were absorbed into the Afrikaner community. There was another reason too. Because of the
Great Trek in 1836, many villages in the eastern part of the colony, especially in the
districts of Colesberg, Graaf—Reinet,Cradock, Jansenville, Somerset-East, etc. lost many of
their inhabitants, and deserted farms could be had at bargain prices. This led to an influx of
the sons of 1820—Settlersinto these districts who again married Afrikaans-speaking girls and
to a great extent became Afrikaners. ’

Sometimes one finds that at his marriage in the Reformed Church the bridegroom gives
his Christian name in the English form, but at the baptism of the children he had already
adopted the Netherlands form: Jan for John, Willem for William, etc. Dr. Heese found that
in that way between 1838 and 1857 no less than 1,272 Englishmen or women merged into
the Afrikaner community. This is also one of the reasons that the old established Afrikaner
community was not ”p|oughed under" by the new immigrants. They were able to absorb
part of the newcomers and in that way enriched themselves with enriched themselves with
some highly necessary new blood.

Another phenomenon which enriched the Afrikaner community was the arrival
between 1838 and 1867 of some 2,000 immigrants from Holland. We have already
mentioned the children immigration, but many more came. At that time there were religious
troubles in the Netherlands between the strict Calvinists who separated themselves from the
State Church and others. Many of these strict separatist Calvinists emigrated to North
America where they settled in Michigan. Others went to South Africa.

The Netherlands Government became so alarmed by the exodus to America that they
ordered the provincial authorities to keep a record. Although this was meant for those who
went to America, the others were recorded as well, and in that way we are quite well
informed about those who emigrated to South Africa. In Transvaal Netherlanders were very
welcome as teachers, civil servants, Lawyers and other intellectual occupations because the
official language was still Netherlands. Later the Hollanders established the Transvaal
railways which was almost exclusively staffed with immigrants from Holland. In fact
Netherlands emigration to South Africa during the British administration and in the Boer
Republics was far greater than it had every been under the Netherlands administration of
the country. Their descendants in the second and third generations play an important part
in African life today.

A JEWISH ELEMENT ENTERS

A few words should also be said about Jewish immigration. Between 1806 and 1831 at
least eleven came from the island of St. Helena and among the 1820—Settlersthere were also
some Jews, probably five. Others came as merchants and in other occupations. In 1841 17

10
residents of Cape Town met for divine service as the first Jewish congregation in South
Africa, and in 1849 the first synagogue was consecrated. Ten years later there were small
Jewish communities at Graaf-Reinet, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, though none as yet
had built a synagogue.

The number and the constitution of South African Jewry were profoundly affected by
the discovery of the diamond and gold mines. The trade in precious minerals has always
been favoured by the Jews and when adventurers flocked to the diamond-bearing districts
there were many Jews among them. Ultimately the Jews on the Rand, that is Johannesburg
and environs, formed a not inconsiderable portion of the immigrant population.
Unfortunately I have no figures at my disposal but it is generally accepted that then and
later many of them came from Eastern Europe, especially from Lithuania.

It is not my intention to go much further than the end of the nineteenth century as
later immigration is too recent. In 1910 the Union of South Africa was established, and this
meant, in a way, the end of British rule in South Africa. in a lecture such as this I have only
been able to give a general view of the immigration trends during this period. It will be
evident, however that-again generally speaking-a better class immigrant was always attracted
to South Africa. The character of the various schemes was such that unsuitable types could
be sifted out. In fact there was such an aversion against undesirables that when in 1848 the
British Government determined to settle convicts at The Cape, the colonists bitterly
resented the attempt to turn their land into a penal settlement, and for over a year a state of
grave dissatisfaction with the government, amounting for a time to open defiance, prevailed.

in the end the colonists were successful and the ships intended for The Cape had to sail
to Australia instead. This does not mean to say, however, that South Africa always got the
pick of immigrants. Especially. after the opening of the diamond and gold mines many
people rushed to South Africa who were not of the most desirable type. But there were
nevertheless fewer of them than elsewhere.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

Genealogically speaking the period of immigration under the British rule is still very
much a closed book. Only among the first to arrive, the 1820-Settlers, is there at present a
noticeable movement to know more about their ancestors. The remainder of the
descendants are still too busy with the present to care much about the past. Perhaps a
century is too short a time for such an awakening of interest. The sources are there,
although much less complete than under the Netherlands administration. Instead of one
Church, where all baptisms, marriages etc. were registered, there were now a multitude of
Christian denominations: Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and others. Records
were not always well kept and sometimes disappeared. Many immigrants did not belong to
any church or were Jewish. Passenger lists of the ships with which they came are also far
from complete, and if they exist at all, they sometimes only listed the first-class passengers

11
and took little notice of the others. Efficient government registration of immigrants was a
thing still to come. We are, therefore, often groping in the dark.

There is no doubt, however, that an efficient genealogical organization would be able to


find many data in unexpected corners. A first step in this direction was taken some five
years ago when the Genealogical Society of South Africa was founded, which has now some
400 members and publishes a quarterly journal "Familia”. The ”Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie
vir Wetenskap en Kuns" has also interested ‘itself in the matter and did much to create a
better understanding of genealogy in Government circles which, for a variety of reasons,
were at first very much against any idea of state—aidedgenealogical research and even against
genealogical research as such.

In April of 1968 a Council for the Humanities was established by the South African
Government which will a.o. aid historical research. The intention is that this will also
embrace genealogical research and may lead in due time to the foundation of a genealogical
institute. An heraldic institute, the Bureau of Heraldry, was already established some five
years ago, but genealogical research is not its task. There is, therefore, no doubt that the
genealogical scene may change rapidly in the years ahead. I am no prophet and had better
leave it at that.

An entirely separate branch of genealogical research may also be established with


regard to the Indian population, mainly in Natal. The Indians started to arrive as indentured
labourers and merchants in the second half of the last century. They were no doubt
immigrants, and today number more than half a million. But genealogically there is little to
report and, therefore, I have not dealt with them. But their time will certainly come.

Genealogical research in South Africa is among the most interesting in the world, and if
the two lectures I have been privileged to give here today, have made this clear, l will feel
more than rewarded.

12
BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to the general handbooks on South African history already mentioned in


the first lecture mention should be made for this period of:

G.E. Cory, The rise of South Africa, 6 vols. 1910-1940, repr. Cape Town 1965.

G. Cronje (editor), Aspekte van die Suid-Afrikaanse historiografie, Pretoria 1967.

Ronald Lewcock, Early nineteenth century architecture in South Africa. A study of the
interaction of two cultures 7795-7837, Cape Town 1963.

G.S. Nienaber & P.J. Nienaber, Die geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse Beweging, Pretoria 1941.

Walker, Eric, The great Trek (various editions).

Settlers and genealogy:

J. Ayliff, Memorials of the British Settlers, Grahamstown 1845.

May Bell, They came from a far /and, Cape Town 1963.

E.H. Burrows, The Moodies of Me/setter. Cape Town, 1954.

C.T. Campbell, British South Africa 7795-1825, London 1897.

J.C.R. Colomb, ’Sett|ers and Settlements in South Africa’, in: Fortnightly Review, 1900;

l.E. Edwards, The 7820 Settlers in South Africa, London 1934.

Familia, Quarterly Journal of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. Vol. 1-6. Cape
Town 1964-69.

R.E. Gordon, Shepstone, the role of the family in the history of South Africa 7820-7900.
Cape Town 1968.

A.F. Hattersley, The Natal Settlers 7849-7857, Pietermaritzburg 1949.

J.A. Heese, Die rassesamestelling van die Afrikaanssprekende blankes 7808-7887


(unpublished).

13
L. Herrman, The History of the Jews in South Africa to 7895, Johannesburg 1935.

H.E. Hockley, The Story of the British Settlers of 7820 in South Africa, Cape Town 1948.

E. Morse Jones, The roll of British Settlers in South Africa,Cape Town 1969.

A. Kieser, Ons dokumente, Bloemfontein 1942.

A. Loxton, ”Some settler families” in: Cape Argus 1933, 1934.

D.F. du Toit Malherbe, Fami/y—registerof the South African Nation. 3rd ed., Stellenbosch
1966.

I. Mitford—Barberton & V.White, Some frontier families, Cape Town 1968.

G.F. Plant, Oversea Settlement. Migration from the United Kingdom to the Dominions,
London 1951.

E. Rosenthal, South African surname-s,Cape Town 1965.

W. Schmidt—Pretoria, Deutsche Wandering nach Sudafrika im 79 Jahrhundert, Berlin 1955.

E.L.G. Schnell, For Men must Work. An account of German immigration to the Cape with
special reference to the German Military Settlers of 7857 and the German Immigrants of
7858, Cape Town 1954.

T. Sheffield, The Story of the Settlement (last ed. 1912).

A.T. Wirgman, "The first British Settlers in South Africa", in: The Nineteenth Century,
Sept. 1901.

14

You might also like