Interesting Articles

This page contains articles of interest to South African genealogists, taken from the pages of various publications, including Familia.

Index

• 1850 British Settlers to the Cape - EM Dixie (Familia XXIII/1986 No.. 3)
• Military Records as a Genealogical Source in South Africa - IJ van der Waag (Familia XXIX/1992 No. 3&4)
• Military Settlers 1860 - Esme Bull (Familia XXVI/1989 No. 3)
• Germans in South Africa - Linda Zöllner (Familia 35/1998 No. 4)

1850 British Settlers to the Cape

A number of books have been written about the 1820 Settlers, giving the names of the ships and the manner in which they travelled, but very little has been written or is generally known about other groups of British citizens who came as settlers in subsequent years.

On 5 September 1850 the ship ‘Zenobia’ arrived in Table Bay with a party of about 230 persons from London and Plymouth who had taken advantage of the assisted passage and opportunity of a new life in South Africa.

They appear to have been mostly artisans and members of the working class, although the term 'labourer' in those days could also apply to a clerical worker.

It is interesting to note that the names of the married men were together with the number of children each possessed, but there is no mention whatever of the wives who presumably accompanied them.

Details of this party are given in the following extract from the Cape Town Government Gazette & Trade List dated 12 September 1850:

ALDRIDGE,Geo.	2 children,	agricultural labourer;
BINKS, HeNoy	1 child,	gardener;
BROWN, John	1 child
BURCHELL, Dan.		smith;
BURCHELL, Geo.	2 children,	bricklayer;
CHAPMAN, John	1 child,	gardener, etc;
COATES, Robt.	1 child;
DAY, Rich.		agricultural labourer;
DUBERLY, Sam.	3 children,	waiter;
GODFREY,John	3 children,	bricklayer;
GRAFTON,Wm.		carpenter;
GREEN, Rich.	1 child,	labourer;
HEATH, Alex.	1 child,	carpenter;
HEATH, Jos.	1 child,	carpenter;
KIMPTON,John		bricklayer;
MASSEY, Wm.		labourer;
MARSHALL, John	3 children	labourer;
RAYNER, J.		labourer;
ROBB, Geo.	2 children	carpenter;
SHARP, John		labourer;
VUGLER, William		labourer, etc;
WALTERS, H.	3 children	labourer, etc;
WATERS, Wm.	1 child	labourer, etc;
WATERS, Job.	5 children	labourer, etc;
WESTLEY,John	5 children,	labourer, etc;
WILLOWS, Thos.	3 children,	shepherd and butcher;
WOOD, Thos.	1 child,	labourer;
YATES, John	3 children,	labourer;
CURRY, J.		baker;
DURICK, Law.	2 children,	labourer;
GRIFFIN, Wm.	1 child,	labourer;
GOLDRICK,J.	1 child,	labourer;
GRANT, Jas.	2 children,	labourer;
HARPER, J.	3 children,	labourer;
KILKELEY,M.	1 child,	labourer;
MALONEY, Thos.	2 children,	labourer;
ROBERTS, A.	2 children,	labourer;
SHERRY, Jas.	1 child,	bricklayer;
SMART, Sam.	5 children,	labourer;
FIELD, Thos.		labourer;
DOYLE, J.		labourer;
YOUNG, George		labourer;
OULD,E.		labourer;
STREEDY,John		labourer;
WILLOUGHBY,R.		labourer;

The last-mentioned married man - Samuel Smart - appears to have boarded the Zenobia at Plymouth. He was born at Calne, Wiltshire on 31.12.1811 and died in Cape Town on 28.7.1894. A builder by trade, he was involved in the erection of many Victorian buildings in the City and suburbs, including the Round Church at Sea Point (demolished in the 1920s).

Mr & Mrs Sam. Smart were staunch members of St Mark's Church, Cape Town and lived in the vicinity known as District 6. Their only son and the youngest of the five children who came in the Zenobia, George Smart, was later also to become associated with the building trade and in 1894/95 was installed as Mayor of Cape Town.

Two of the four immigrant daughters later went to settle in New Zealand under the Waikato Emigration Scheme of 1864 (details of which were given in Familia No. 4 XX/1983). Two further sons and a daughter were born to Mr & Mrs Samuel Smart in Cape Town and today there are descendants to be found in many different parts of the world, in addition to those who live in our Republic. There must be many citizens of our country who stem from other members of this Zenobia Settler Party of 1850 but are not aware of the fact.

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Military Records as a Genealogical Source in South Africa

Introduction

Directorate Documentation Service (SADF Archives) was officially established on 14 June 1968, in terms of the Archives Act (Act 6 of 1962). The organization is the legal custodian of all archives generated by the South African Defence Force and its predecessor, the Union Defence Force.

Establishment of a Military Archives Depot

The establishment of Directorate Documentation Service can, in fact, be taken back to the formation of a General Information Bureau at Defence Headquarters on 1 October 1914. This office acted as the official channel between the troops on active service in German South West Africa and the public back at home.

After the cessation of hostilities in 1918, all archives and personnel records, generated during the First World War were transferred to the office of the Secretary for Defence, where they were received by the clerk in charge of "War Records". These were gradually added to over the following two decades until the Second World War, when all the documents which came into existence during this conflict were transferred to the War Records Office.

On the whole, military records did not receive much attention until 1948, when the then Minister of Defence, Adv F.C. Erasmus, personally took the matter to hand. For the first time, a concerted effort was made to halt the haphazard destruction of records under the Smuts government, and to preserve, protect and store military archives in an efficient and professional manner. Attention was given to the possible establishment of a separate archives depot for the South African defence community. This would prevent the transfer of military records to a civilian depot - something the military authorities, quite understandably, wished to prevent. This was finally achieved in August 1967, when the then Minister of Education, Arts and Science gave approval, in terms of the Archives Act (Act 6 of 1962), for the establishment of a separate depot for the SA Defence Force. The actual establishment of this depot took place an 14 May 1968.

A Closed Archives Depot

In terms of the Archives Act, the Archival Section of Directorate Documentation Service is a closed archives depot. That is to say, individuals and organizations do not have a free access to the archives in the custody of the organization.

Subject to the provisions of the Archives Act, any other Act of Parliament, and the conditions under which certain accessions were acquired; nobody has access to the archivalia held in the custody of the SADF Archives, except:

1. Members of the SADF who have access to archivalia, with a view to research in connection with an official project.
2. Any member of the public who is authorized by the Minister of National Education, in conjunction with the Minister of Defence, to have access.

All applications in this regard must be directed to:

The Director Documentation Service
Private Bag X289
PRETORIA
0001

All applications must include the following information:

1. fullname
2. academic qualifications
3. publications already published
4. University where registered
5. promoter
6. subject under study
7. aim of the research

All applications are dealt with separately and are considered on individual merit. The time lapse between the submission of an application to undertake research at Doc S, the actual granting/denying of access to these archives, averages 6 to 8 weeks.

In view of the fact that the Archival Section of the SADF is a closed depot, enquiries (telephonic and written) are dealt with by the staff as far as is physically and legally possible. However, here one must bear in mind that the primary task of the archivist is to store and preserve archives for official use, and hence only limited enquiries can be answered. Unfortunately, due to a shortage of staff and finances, enquiries which demand extensive research cannot be answered. Most researchers, and if I may add, particularly genealogists, do not always appreciate this.

Military records of Genealogical Interest

The scope of material relevant to any genealogist/family historian, of course depends upon the nature of his research and the parameters he has set for his study.

The genealogist, who is simply interested in drawing up a genealogy/ family tree/pedigree, is in fact limiting the knowledge he has of his ancestors to the three essential dates of birth, marriage and death. In the case of such genealogist, Directorate Documentation Service has relatively little to offer, and the information required could possibly be acquired far more easily elsewhere.

Nonetheless. here the personnel files of the members who saw service with the Union Defence Force and the SA Defence Force, as it later became known, is the most obvious source.

Personnel files are not archives (according to the definition in the Archives Act) and may, therefore, be disposed of by the originator of the files once they have served their administrative purpose. Although under no statutory obligation, the SADF preserves the personnel files it generates. These are housed at Section Personnel Information of Directorate Documentation Service.

As a rule, personnel files are not accessible to researchers. However, copies of individual service records may be obtained by the next-of-kin. All applications in this regard must be addressed to the Director Documentation Service, Private Bag X289, Pretoria 0001.

Personnel files contain a limited amount of biographical information, including: birth, marriage and death dates; places of birth; names of parents/guardians; age at attestation; previous occupation; description of physical appearance; medals and decorations; and so on. The medical record, in particular, normally contains information of an extremely personal nature and will, under no condition, be divulged to anyone.

However, the family historian interested in writing a narrative family history will be interested in a far wider range of information to be found in a wide variety of groups. The chief of these are:

1. the various grave registers, rolls of honour, medal files, embarkation rolls, lists of prisoners of war, and so on. These sources provide the essential keys to the archive groups. These keys are the individual's force number, which greatly facilitates research, and the name of the unit to which the individual was attached.
2. With this information, the researcher can proceed to the war diaries of the unit/s with which the member served. These contain day to day reports on the activities of the unit/battalion, and if the member was an officer he would normally receive greater cover than other ranks. In some war diaries details regarding battle losses, deaths by accident and even marriage to local ladies, are given in some detail.

Most archival groups in the custody of Directorate Documentation Service contain information of interest to the genealogical researcher. However, it is not possible to give a full discussion of all of these groups. After all, the particulars of each case will determine where further research will be required. Somebody making a study of the socio-economic background of the family of a soldier who served in the Northern Transvaal Command area and lived in Voortrekkerhoogte, for example, will be interested in consulting the archives of Northern Transvaal Command, and the particular unit to which he was attached in the area. Even the archives of the SA Defence Force Institute (SADFI), which fulfills the function of the local supermarket, could be relevant. In this case, the consultation of the archives of Western Province Command, for example, would be quite superfluous. Thus, I will close by briefly sketching the main archival groups which are of general interest and prove a good supplement to the various lists and the war diaries, which I have already mentioned.

The archive of the Secretary for Defence (ref. DC) contains a wide variety of information on personnel, pay and many other matters. This material chiefly concentrates on policy, and hence can prove helpful when placing the actions or experiences of an ancestor into perspective. For example: why did your ancestor go and fight? Was he a volunteer or a conscript? How was he paid while on active service? Were there pay problems? Did his pay always come through on time? How did these factors influence his daily life?

The archives of the Adjudant General (ref. AG) contains vast amounts of information on Courts of Inquiry, disciplinary matters, policy regarding medals, postings and transfers between units and so on.

The archive of the Director (later Director General) Medical Services (Ref. DMS/DGMS). The archive group of this office, later renamed Surgeon General, contains a substantial number of individual personal medical files. These detail diseases which spread among the soldiers of both World Wars and the Korean War, sanitary conditions in military towns and camps, the issue of false limbs, dental care and so on. Despite the obvious value of the family biographer, most of this material is inaccessible unless permission is obtained from the next-of-kin, i.e. the immediate family.

The archives of the other Arms of Service, namely the SA Army, the SA Air Force and the SA Navy, also contain information of genealogical interest. Here one might find applications of appointment to the SADF, postings to the Citizen Force, appointments to the Auxiliary Service, nominations for service in other campaigns (such as for the Korean War) and so on.

There are also a number of personnel files held at the Archival Section. The most important of these may be found in the following archival groups:

1. Archives of the Director, General Information Bureau (ref. GIB) - contains information regarding persons missing during the First World War, lists of rebels caught, lists of Germans interned and South African causalities of the German South West campaign.
2. Archives of the Provost Marshal of the Union (ref. PM) - this office included that of the Commissioner for Enemy Subjects, and so it is not surprising that the archival group contains many files on the surveillance of German subjects in the Union (period 1914-1918) and the records of the persons involved in the rebellion of 1914-15.
3. Archives of the Officer-in-Charge of Records, Imperial Service Contingents (ref. O.C. Records) - contains personnel files of a number of members of the Union Defence Force who served in German East Africa and in Europe (period 1915-1919).
4. Archives of the South African Mounted Riflemen (ref. SAMR) - contains most of the personnel files of the members of the five regiments of the SAMR.

Summary

Both the Archival Section and Personnel Information Section of Directorate Documentation Service are nor normally accessible to the public.

However, bona fide researchers may obtain special permission to undertake research in the reading rooms.

We, at Directorate Documentation Service, do not like turning people away, but must at all times operate within the rules and regulations laid by, inter alia, the Archives Act.

The genealogist interested in drawing up a skeletal family tree will be disappointed with the material held in the custody of the organization, which, however, has much to offer the narrative family historian.

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Military Settlers 1860

It was the policy of the British Goverment to encourge military pensioners to settle at the Cape by offering them grants of land. A scheme launched in 1848 had proved unsuccessful but in 1860 some 300 erven previously surveyed for German settlers were available and discharged soldiers were invited to submit applications.

In April 1840 a list of applicants was sent to the Lieutenant Governor but no grants were made until alter a revised list was sumitted on 22.7.1862. Some service information was given for a number of men but not for all.

Name	Unit	Dischaged	Enlisted	Comments
Abrahams George				"notknown" 1863
Backhouse Philip or Philemon	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	6.11.1845
Banns (Barnes)William				"not eligible has rec. grant"
Barnes George
Batchelor Herbert
Bateman James
Bender William	85th Reg.	30.9.1857	8.12.1838
Bennet Jonathan	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	9.12.1844
Bentley Thomas H.B.	91st Reg.	8.6.1853	20.5.1839	In Queenstown 1859 LG591 p.9
Blake John	85th Reg.	20.11.1957	22.2.1844	"not known"
Blakeley John	Ist Bat. Rifle Brig.	3.4.1850	1.6.1845
Bleach John	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	20.1.1845
Boole William				"died"
Boyd Robert	91st Reg.	8.6.1853	12.6.1840
Brice Robert	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	6.4.1839
Brien Martin	91st Reg.	8.5.1855	14.6.1838
Burkill John
Bushell John	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	7.12.1843	"gone to England"
Butcher Herbert
Carrick Robert
Chew William	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	1.7.1844	"died"
Clift Frederick E.
Coleman John	7th Dragoon Guards	12.3.1847	4.12.1825
Collary James	91st Reg.	18.5.1855	3.1.1839
Cook Samuel	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	18.12.1842
Cook William
Davey John
Davie James
Greenslade Robert
Heather HeNoy	45th Reg.	Sept 1857	1839
Heather William				"not known"
Holloway Richard	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	9.7.1844
Hughes Samuel/Daniel	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	3..9.1842
Jordan George	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	1.5.1845
Kingston Thomas
Lamont John	91st Reg.	8.6.1855	1840
Lee Charles
Lucas Abram	85th Reg.	20.11.1857	28.9.1845
Manning George	6th Reg.	31.7.1853	19.6.1846
Martin John	1st Bat. Rifle Brig.	3.4.1850	1832
McGregor Alexander	91st Reg.	31.3.1854	17.5.1842
Nicholson George				"Already has farm in dist."
Pratt John	9lst Reg.	24.6.1848	10.9.1840	"has already rec. grant of land"
Priest John
Ridgway John	2nd Bat. 60th Reg.	13.9.1853	14.11.1847
Ridgway William	45th Reg.	10.2.1848	18.4.1843
Ross Charles				"has been alotted erf"
Smith John
Swan James	85th Reg.	Aug. 1857	1.9.1839
Treasurer John	91st Reg.	8.6.1855	19.10.1840	"has already rec. grant"
Walker George	45th Reg.	30.9.1857	14.6.1839
Ward John	Rifle Brig.	9.8.1848	13.11.1839
White R.	Lt. R.N.
Whitehouse James	9lst Reg.	31.3.1854	10.2.1842

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Germans in South Africa

1. Germans who came to the Cape during the period 1652-1806

At least one German, Jacob Cloete, came to the Cape with Jan van Riebeeck, and according to Hoge in Personalia of the Germans at the Cape, there were about 15 000 who arrived during the period of Dutch administration at the Cape, although not all of them stayed here. Jacob Cloete, or Jacob Cloutten of Cölln, was a colorful man who died tragically when he was murdered one evening in 1693 on a street in Cape Town. The German immigrants came from all of the then German-speaking states. Most of them, however, came from the western part of Europe and the interior, the smallest group from Bavaria and Austria. This can be explained by the fact that the southern German states are predominantly Catholic, while the northern states, where most of the immigrants originated, are predominantly Protestant. The religious ties between the German border region and the Netherlands were strong. A number of ministers who came to the Cape were of German descent, e.g. the Rev's Amoldus Mauritius Meiring from Lingen. E. Arentsz from Emden, Meent Borcherds from Jemgum (eastern Friesland), H.W. Ballot from Iserlohn and Petrus Kalden from Wesel.

The Thirty Years' War (1618- 1648) left many of the German states in a poor economic condition. Consequently many Germans, including ex-soldiers, were drawn to the west by the wealth of the Netherlands. Political boundaries did not imply a complete division between the people living in the border regions, and from a linguistic point of view there was not much of a difference between German and Dutch. This was particularly true of the regional dialects of the eastern Netherlands and western Germany, regional dialects with a strong Saxon influence. Even today there is very little difference between the Plattdeutsch (Low German) spoken in German-Friesland and the Dutch spoken in provinces such as Groningen.

The early German immigrants were mainly soldiers in the service of the Dutch East India Company or VOC, but some took their discharge in as early as 1657 and became free-burghers. The Germans who were no longer in the service of the VOC, did not all concentrate on agriculture, as did most of the Dutch free-burghers and French Huguenots, but practiced a variety of trades and professions. Soon there were German tailors, carpenters, masons, building contractors, cobblers, ironsmiths, coppersmiths, gunsmiths, silversmiths, millers, bakers, butchers, surveyors, pharmacists, gardeners and doctors of German descent at the Cape. About half of the approximately 280 private tutors, who were registered during Dutch rule, were Germans. Various old buildings erected by the Germans still stand today, and collectors of Old Cape silver seek their silverware.

German women rarely settled at the Cape, with the result that most of the German men married Dutch and French women. German blood soon mixed with French and Dutch blood. The German language too soon made way for Dutch, especially because, as remarked before, the Low German, which the settlers spoke, was very similar to Dutch. Intermarriage between the children from these marriages accelerated the process of mixing and as a result, the German language was used even less frequently, especially since Dutch was the official language of the colony. In addition, the Germans were scattered amongst the Dutch colonists living in the interior and they had the same interests and shared the same setbacks. The Germans who came to South Africa during the 17th and 18th centuries thus soon lost their own identity, mixing with the Dutch at all levels. It is generally- accepted that the way in which the Germans and the French spoke Dutch played a major role in the development of Afrikaans. A good example was Joachim Nicolas von Dessin, secretary to the Orphan Master and book collector, from whose correspondence it is hardly evident that he was a German by birth. His book collection became, by his bequest, the first Public Library in South Africa.

Progenitors of well-known families who came to the Cape during the 17th century were: Albert Barentsz Gildenhuys from Bergen-steinfurt, Diederik Janz Putter from Zierenberg, Barend Bürger from Lübeck, Jan Wessels from Hamburg, Matthys Greef van Magdeburg, Hendrik Venter from Hameln, Jan Herbst from Bremen, Jan Oosthuysen from Werden, Boij Booysen from Barlt and Frederik CoNoadie from Marburg.

In 1742 the Germans requested the VOC that they be allowed to establish their own church. The German farmer, Martin Melck from the farm Elsenburg, had already bought a plot in Strand Street, erected a "barn" and donated it to the Lutheran Church as a church building. Although the establishment of the church was finally allowed as the first other denomination besides the Kaapse Kerk, they had to preach in Dutch! Andreas Lutgerus Kolver held the first church service in Dutch in 1780. The first church choir ever in the history of the Cape, a children's choir, sang the German Te Deum by Luther, at the inauguration of Kolver. The congregation had 441 members of which 330 were Germans, the others being Dutch and Scandinavians. A German sculptor, Anton ANoeith, (1754 - 1822) carved the beautiful wooden pulpit, still to be seen today. Germans founded the first Cape music Society, lead by C. Pabst in 1801. 1802 saw the establishment of a German music and theater group, one of the firsts of its kind in the country.

2. The 19th century

After the final British occupation of the Cape in 1806, a spokesman of the Colonial Office in London stated that the uncontrolled immigration of persons who were not subjects of the British crown would no longer be allowed. This stand was, however, soon abandoned because there were not enough British immigrants to do the essential work in the colony. In addition. from the 1830's, many valuable colonists had left the colony during the Great Trek. By far the most Germans, a total of between 30 000 and 40 000, arrived in South Africa during this period either as families or in larger groups. This differed from the immigration pattern of the previous two centuries, and therefore the Germans who came to South Africa during the 19th century retained their identity much longer before they began to merge with either of the other population groups.

2.1 German missionaries

A small, but stable influx of families were brought about by the Moravian Bretheren. The Berlin, Rhenish and Hermannsburg mission societies which, as a result of pietism and the religious revival in Germany at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, were established with the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel to the heathens. Some of the mission stations became settlements, because whites also settled there, e.g. Carnarvon and Williston that started as mission stations of the Rhenish Mission Society. The Hermannsburg Mission Society, in particular, that concentrated on agriculture, sent colonists with the missionaries who settled mainly in the Natal Midlands, in the vicinity of Piet Retief and Rustenburg. This was the beginning of small German communities, which still retain their German character today, e.g. Wartburg, Neu-Hanover, Mueden Luneburg and Kroondal. The German missionaries were always on good terms with the local Europeans in the region and assisted them in many ways.

The missionaries regularly served Boer congregations who had no ministers, e.g. Ludwig Döhne ministered the Nederduits Gereformeerde congregations in Pietermaritzburg and Weenen, and in the ZAR Alexander Merensky and Emil Beyer led Boer congregations. In cases where educational facilities were lacking, schools, such as the Rhenish Institute in Stellenbosch, Morgenzon in the Rustenburg district and Hermannsburg in Natal were established.

The German missionaries saw South Africa as a second fatherland and most remained here. Their descendants can be recognized by their well- known names: Döhne, Merensky, Endemann, Eiselen, Hoffmann, Schumann, Crosskopf, Heese, Schütte, Freyer, Schmidt, Esselen, Kolbe, Dönges, Weber, Luckhoff, Leipoldt, Gerdener and Trümpelmann.

2.2 The Bergtheil-scheme

Since the fourth decade of the 19th century the immigration of Germans was systematically promoted by the recruitment of groups of colonists for specific settlement schemes. In Natal Jonas Bergtheil, a Jewish businessman, founded the Natal Cotton Company in order to cultivate cotton in the vicinity of Durban. For this purpose he recruited immigrants in Germany who established the Neu-Deutschland (New Germany) settlement. Progenitors who came out with this group were Dinkelmann, Bosse, Böhmer, Schweggmann and Torlage.

2.3 The Germans in the Eastern Cape

The governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Grey attempted to make the Eastern Frontier more secure by settling German legionaries (who had been recruited during the Crimean War to fight against Russia under the British flag) there. A total of 2170 soldiers and non-commissioned officers, 187 officers, 2 chaplains and 9 doctors were persuaded to immigrate to South Africa under Major General Baron von Stutterheim. They arrived in East London in 1857, accompanied. by 320 women and 182 children. From there they marched to Fort Murray where they went their separate ways to places such as Woolridge, Bodiam, Hamburg, Bell, Potsdam, Stutterheim, etc. Because many of the legionnaires were not married, it was decided to bring Irish women, as well as German woman who were looking for a means of livelihood, to South Africa as potential wives. Many were married to legionnaires immediately upon their arrival in East London. Apart from the fact that these people helped to introduce an element of Western civilization to this region, they succeeded in their goal of safeguarding the colony against invasion by blacks during a critical period in history.

Sir George Grey wanted even more immigrants and so he negotiated with Wilhelm Berg, manager of a shipping company, Godefroy & Son of Hamburg, to bring more immigrants to the Cape. A total of 1 882 Germans, including 406 children under the age of 10, 713 older than 10; 355 married couples, and 55 unmarried men and women; arrived in Kaffraria between July 1858 and January 1859.

This increase in the population, the result of two organised immigration schemes, was of great importance for South Africa. Before the arrival of the German legion there had only been 130 000 whiles in the entire Cape Colony, and in British Kaffraria, where they settled, only 900. It is also interesting to note that the predominantly English-speaking inhabitants of the Eastern Cape assimilated the German immigrants of 1857, 1858 and 1859 and subsequently from 1877 to 1888, while the earlier German immigrants were mainly assimilated by the Dutch-Afrikaners. Shipping lists are available containing all the names of the Germans who came to the Eastern Cape.

2.4 Elsewhere in the Cape

After a tour of the region twenty years after the arrival of the German settlers, John Merriman was so impressed with their progress that he negotiated with Godefroy & Son to bring more immigrants from Germany to South Africa - not only for Kaffraria, but also for the Cape Flats. This brought another 1 010 adults and 458 children from Germany to South Africa, of which 651 adults and 266 children were allocated to the Western Cape. Some remained in Cape Town to practice professions and trades; some went to Worcester and Paarl where they became mainly farmers, while the remainder settled on the Cape Flats. After all previous settlers had failed; they succeeded in taming the Cape Flats and began cultivating vegetables. Their success led Merriman to bring out a further 146 adults and 245 children from Germany to South Africa by means of the shipping company mentioned previously. They all settled in the vicinity of Cape Town. The German smallholders on the Cape Flats held the first agricultural show - forerunner of the well-known Rosebank Show, now known as the Goodwood Show. Even today there is still a German speaking congregation at Phillipi on the Cape Flats.

2.5 The Germans in the Orange Free State

Various leading figures in this Boer Republic were Germans, e.g. Fichardt, Salzmann, Kellner and Krause. Friedrich Schermbrucker published the first Boer newspaper De Express in the Free State. After his appointment as military commander in Kaffraria, Carl Borckenhagen became owner of the newspaper. By 1875 a German club and a church had been established in Bloemfontein, while the Germans were particularly active in the musical life of the city. In 1889 about 350 Germans were resident in the Orange Free State.

2.6 The Germans in the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republic

German immigrants were welcome in both Boer Republics. According to a population census held in 1890, there were 2 000 Germans and 1 400 Dutch in the ZAR which had a white population of approximately 119 000. By 1899 the number of Germans had risen to 15 000. During the Second Anglo-Boer War 600 Germans fought on the side of the Boer Republics, mostly in the Deutsche Freikorps. Many remained neutral, while some fought on the side of the British.

3. The Twentieth Century

During the first half of the 20th century there was still a constant, though small, influx of German immigrants to South Africa, made more difficult by the fact that South Africa twice fought against Germany in world wars. During the second half of the century, after the change to a pro-German government in 1948, the influx of immigrants from Germany has, once again, been strong. ISCOR recruited German workers for its steel works, and 83 German war orphans came to South Africa after the Second World War.

Until the arrival of the Portuguese from the neighbouring countries, German was the language most spoken by whites, after Afrikaans and English. The South African German became a language in itself - a language full of new words and which has already been the subject of linguistic studies. Words like "sükkele" - gernanization of the Afrikaans "sukkel" and "Karre" instead of the German Auto appeared in the German by the people who are long-standing residents of South Africa. There is also a modest South African German literature with writers such as Ham Grimm, Martin Jäckel and H.A. Aschenborn. German influence is also obvious in the work of some well-known 20th century artists, all of German origin, with names like Domisites, Erich Mayer, Irma Stern, Nita Spilhaus and Elly Helm.

There has, indeed, been no period in South African history when people of German descent did not play a role.

Sources

• Hoge, J. Personalia of the Germans at the Cape 1652-1806. Archives Yearbook for South African History, 1946.
• Lantern Special Edition: The German contribution to the development of SA. Feb. 1992.
• Moritz, E. Die Deutchen Einwanderung in die niederlandishe Kapkolonie. 1652 - 1806. Ludwigsburg, 1943.
• Moritz, E. Die Deutchen am Kap unter der hallamdiche Heerschaft. 1652 - 1806. Weimar, 1938.
• Schmidt-Pretoria, W. Deutche Wanderung nach Südafrika in 19 Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1955.
• Schnell, E.L.G. For men must work. Cape Town, 1954.
• Zöllner, L. and J.A. Heese. The Berlin missionaries in South Africa and their descendants. Pretoria, 1984.
• Zöllner, L. Die nasate van die Rynse sendelinae in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria, 1991.

Linda Zöllner

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