A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF GRAHAMSTOWN, 1812 TO c1845

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

of

RHODES UNIVERSITY

by

RICHARD MARSHALL

December 2008
 ABSTRACT

This thesis examines the development of Grahamstown from its inception in 1812 to the

mid-1840s, paying particular attention to the social and cultural life of the town. It traces

the economic development of the town from a military outpost to a thriving commercial

settlement, noting the essential factor of the town‟s proximity to the Cape frontier in this

process. The economic interaction between diverse groups in the town mirrors the social

and cultural interaction which occurred between British settlers, Khoekhoe and Africans.

The result of these interactions was the creation of a new, distinctively South African

urban society and culture, despite the desire of the white settlers to reproduce a “typical”

English environment in their new home. The conflict between attempts to anglicise the

urban environment and the realities of Grahamstown‟s situation on a colonial frontier was

reflected in the architecture and layout of the town. Attempts to recreate an English social

environment also failed. New classes arose in the town in response to the economic

opportunities available on the frontier. Although some settlers prospered, many did not,

and the presence of an impoverished white working class undermines settler historians‟

picture of settler success and affluence. The poorest people in the town, though, were the

increasing numbers of Khoekhoe and Africans who migrated from the surrounding

countryside, and who were unequally incorporated into the urban community as a

colonial labouring class. In response to these unique circumstances, white settlers in

Grahamstown developed a powerful political and propaganda machine, which helped lay

the foundations of a distinct settler identity in the eastern Cape.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am indebted to my supervisor, Professor Paul Maylam, for his support, encouragement,

guidance, and painstaking revision of drafts not always as carefully prepared as they

might have been. Thank you to the staff of the History department for their advice,

constructive criticism, and friendly support. Thanks to the staff of the Cory Library,

especially Mr Zwele Vena and Ms Sally Schramm, for all their assistance and for

tolerating the build-up of books and manuscripts on my desk with patience and

forbearance. Thanks also to the staff of the National Archives in Cape Town. This thesis

was written with financial assistance from Rhodes University and the Ernest

Oppenheimer Memorial Trust for South African History, for which I am most grateful.

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 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 5

CHAPTER ONE:

“The Peculiar Genius of the Inhabitants”: The Economic and Physical Development
of a Frontier Town. 15

CHAPTER TWO:

“The Best Interests of the Human Race”: Division and Dependence in a Complex
Society. 62

CHAPTER THREE:

“An Irruption of an Entirely Different Kind”: Politics, Propaganda and History in

Colonial Grahamstown. 111

CONCLUSION 157

BIBLIOGRAPHY 162

4
 INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Cape Colony exercised only tenuous

control over its hinterland. Despite increasing economic and cultural contact in the form

of missionaries, pastoral farmers and traders, as well as a number of minor conflicts in

the late 1700s, black African polities remained outside of European control and

maintained their economic, cultural, territorial and political integrity. By mid-century a

very different situation prevailed. The eastern Cape had become an area of extensive

interaction and conflict. Grahamstown was founded in the wake of the new British

administration‟s first major war of expansion – the fourth “Frontier” war of 1812. This

conflict was different from the colonial-Xhosa wars that had preceded it. For the first

time, rather than the sporadic and limited capacities of colonial commandos, significant

resources were committed by what at the time was the world‟s most formidable military

power: the British Empire. As a result, the Xhosa suffered their first significant defeat

and loss of land. Colonel Graham, the British officer in command of the operation, drove

20 000 Xhosa from the Zuurveld across the Fish River, effectively depopulating what

was to become the district of Albany 1.

Between 1812 and the mid 1840s Grahamstown became the largest settlement in the

eastern Cape and the second city of the Cape Colony. By 1845 Grahamstown‟s

population had reached nearly five thousand; Graaff-Reinet, which had been the major

1
Maclennan, B, A Proper Degree of Terror: John Graham and the Cape’s Eastern Frontier
(Johannesburg, 1986) p 125.

5
eastern town before Grahamstown‟s establishment, had only 2 500 inhabitants in 1848 2,

and even the rising town of Port Elizabeth still only had a population of three thousand

around the same time3. Grahamstown led the way in social and economic development –

it is significant that the town was producing a newspaper from 1831, while Port Elizabeth

and Graaff-Reinet had to wait until 18454 and 18525 respectively. Grahamstown‟s

population was increasingly diverse, and the interactions between people of different

origins and cultures on its streets mirrored the complex relationships which were

developing in the broader South Africa. Grahamstown was an important town, and a

study of its development, landscape, culture and society can offer insight into the creation

of colonial society in the eastern Cape.

Studies of small towns in South Africa, especially in the nineteenth century, are rare. The

field of urban history in South Africa has tended to be dominated by the major cities, in

particular the four main industrial areas of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port

Elizabeth6. Academic urban history has also tended to be markedly afrocentric,

concentrating on “oppressive, discriminatory urban policy and on the black victims of

that policy” 7. White urban history has tended to be dominated by local historical societies

– “anecdotal, eurocentric, celebrating the monuments of colonialism”, as Maylam puts

it8. There has been very little attempt to see cities and towns as an integrated whole.

There has also been a marked focus on the twentieth century. A great deal of work has

2
Henning, C, Graaff-Reinet: A Cultural History 1786 – 1886 (Cape Town, 1974), p. 35.
3
Redgrave, J, Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days (Cape Town, 1947), p. 33.
4
Ibid.
5
Henning, Graaff-Reinet, p. 36.
6
Maylam, P, “Explaining the Apartheid City: 20 Years of South African Urban Historiography”, Journal
of Southern African Studies, 21, 1 (1995), p. 21.
7
Ibid., p. 37.
8
Ibid., p. 20.

6
been done on twentieth-century Port Elizabeth, for example, while there is very little

available on the city‟s early decades.

These limitations become even clearer if one concentrates on the urban history of the

eastern Cape. Attention has been paid to twentieth century Port Elizabeth and, to a lesser

extent, East London 9. There is little academic work available on smaller towns. C. G.

Henning produced a PhD thesis on Graaff-Reinet in 1971, subsequently published in

book form. Calling itself a “Cultural History”, this hefty tome has a number of serious

limitations. Despite claiming to place the emphasis on the “people, their lives, their

character and their reaction and adaptation to their environment” 10, Henning only has

some people in mind – one would almost suppose that there were no Africans living in

Graaff-Reinet between 1786 and 1886 from his work. Both the thesis and the book focus

on the elite and downplay divisions within the Afrikaans-speaking community, preferring

indeed to write of a unifying volkswil and a putative Afrikaner nationalism11. (On the

other hand, the arrival of English settlers and British colonialism generally is noted as a

cause of discord) 12. Richard Bouch‟s PhD study of the colonisation of the Queenstown

area and the role which the town itself played in that process is more valuable for

comparative purposes, though concerned mostly with economics 13. Grahamstown itself

has probably attracted the most academic attention. A number of theses have been

produced on various aspects of the town during the first half of the nineteenth century. H.

9
Freund, W, “Urban History in South Africa”, South African Historical Journal, 23 (2005).
10
Henning, C, “A Cultural History of Graaff-Reinet 1786 – 1886” (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of
Pretoria, 1971), p .2.
11
Henning, Graaff-Reinet, p. 11.
12
Ibid., p. 33.
13
Bouch, R, “The Colonisation of Queenstown (Eastern Cape) and its Hinterland 1852 – 1886”
(Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1990).

7
L. Watts‟s 1957 PhD thesis, “Grahamstown: A Socio-Ecological Study of a Small South

African Town” 14, examined the sociology of the town from its inception to the mid-

1950s. Concerned more with explaining the reasons of the decline of the town from the

prosperity and influence it enjoyed in the mid-nineteenth century, it devotes few pages to

the early years of the nineteenth century. P. E. Scott‟s 1987 MA thesis on urban material

culture covers a more relevant time frame and offers insight into the physical

development of the town, but has more limited aims than this study. Despite having

collected some valuable social data, it suffers from too rigid an attempt to force

Grahamstown‟s class structure into models developed in relation to English towns and

cities, whose societies were very different to that of Grahamstown 15. Perhaps the most

important thesis covering the period is K. Hunt‟s 1958 MA thesis on the development of

municipal government 16. Hunt does not cover the same period as this study, neglecting in

particular the formative years of the early 1820s. It is also not a social study, concerned

rather with the development of government structures in the town. His view of the

Grahamstown merchant elite – “the thrifty, small businessman, [combining] a high sense

of public duty with his commercial instincts” 17 – seems to take them very much at their

own valuation. As this study will show, the society of Grahamstown was far from the

picture of respectable, middle-class propriety that its elite attempted to portray. None of

these works concentrates on the society and culture of the town. They also make little

14
Watts, H. L, “Grahamstown: A Socio-Ecological Study of a South African Small Town”, (Unpublished
PhD Thesis, Rhodes University, 1957).
15
Scott, P. E, “An Approach to the Urban History of Early Victorian Grahamstown 1832 – 1853 with
Particular Reference to the Interiors and Material Culture of Domestic Dwellings” (Unpublished MA
Thesis, Rhodes University, 1987).
16
Hunt, K, “The Development of Municipal Government in the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good
Hope with Special Reference to Grahamstown 1827 – 1862” (Unpublished MA thesis, Rhodes University,
1958).
17
Ibid., p. 50.

8
attempt to offer an integrated picture of a diverse community. Hardly any attention is

paid to the divisions within the white settler community, while the town‟s African

population is either ignored or treated as a prickly problem for white government and

municipal officials.

If there is only limited academic material available on eastern Cape towns, a large and

rather motley amateur literature has been produced. A great deal of this work is

antiquarian and anecdotal: J. J. Redgrave‟s Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days offering a

typical example. Much of this literature is out of date and carries attitudes and

assumptions about South African history which have long been demolished. In the case

of Grahamstown, T. Sheffield‟s The Story of the Settlement, published in 191218, and D.

H. Thomson‟s A Short History of Grahamstown, produced in pamphlet form in 195219,

are examples of this genre. As well as being brief and non-scholarly, these works are very

much a part of the “settler” school of South African history and reflect attitudes and

prejudices which are no longer tenable or accepted. D. H. Thomson, for example, wrote

that “the mud and thatch frontier town had called a halt to the westward trek of the

Natives. Grahamstown was a guarantee of the permanence of European civilization in the

Zuurveld” 20. Sheffield wrote how the Grahamstown merchants‟ “thirst for adventure, and

their spirit of commercial enterprise” was not quenched by “hordes of treacherous

savages”21. Neither view of the nature of frontier conflict is now considered valid.

18
Sheffield, T, The Story of the Settlement (Grahamstown, 1912).
19
Thomson, D. H, A Short History of Grahamstown (Grahamstown, 1952).
20
Ibid., p. 2.
21
Sheffield, The Story of the Settlement, p. 3.

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A study of Grahamstown in the nineteenth century raises questions about the nature and

development of English colonial society in the eastern Cape. As the largest settlement in

the region, Grahamstown came to be the cultural, political and economic centre of this

community. The importance of the arrival of large numbers of British settlers in the

region has been noted by many historians, though for different reasons. Nineteenth and

early twentieth century historians such as Theal and, especially, George Cory, saw the

British settlers as the primary driving force in subduing the barbarous “natives” of South

Africa and laying the foundations of a new white nation in the British empire 22. The title

of Cory‟s multi-volume and very much eastern Cape-focussed history, The Rise of South

Africa, gives a clear indication of his understanding of the role of the settlers. These were

histories of great men and government policies – little or no attention was paid to cultural

or social issues. They were also written at a time when the power of Great Britain seemed

to be supreme in South Africa, and are self-confidently imperial. Settler literature in the

wake of the rise of Afrikaner nationalism in the twentieth century reveals shifting

concerns. The settlers came to be seen not so much in an imperial light, but as the

founders of a distinct English South African culture. This was especially noticeable in the

late 1960s and 1970s, which saw both the 150 th anniversary the arrival of the 1820

settlers as well as the final severance of ties between Britain and South Africa, and the

high noon of Afrikaner nationalism. Tom Bowker, who initiated the 1820 Settler

Monument project, did so for fear that “the English-speaker” would have no place in the

“Broederbond-dominated regime” 23. Winifred Maxwell, head of history at Rhodes

University, did much to foster this new interest. The most significant historian of the

22
Saunders, C, The Making of the South African Past (Cape Town, 1988), p. 24.
23
Neville, T, More Lasting than Bronze: A Story of the 1820 Settlers National Monument (Grahamstown,
1993), p. 1.

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settlers in the 1970s, though, was Guy Butler, a Rhodes English professor. His 1974 The

1820 Settlers underlined the new attitudes. The foundations of “English-Speaking South

Africa” are stressed and the contribution of the British settlers to culture, religion and

education is celebrated. The poet Thomas Pringle, loathed by many of his

contemporaries, is re-invented as a cultural ambassador and representative of the best in

the settlers24. After the 1970s, though, the cult of the settlers went into decline – the

public celebrations, “pilgrimages” and commemorations of the 1950s-1970s no longer

seemed appropriate in a “New South Africa”. On the other hand, the construction of

identity in colonial communities has become of renewed interest to academic historians.

Drawing on recent theoretical insights, Clifton Crais 25 and Alan Lester 26 have published

works on settler identity in the nineteenth century which avoid the pitfalls of writers such

as Butler anxious to celebrate settler heritage. They attempt to understand eastern Cape

society as an integrated whole, and stress not only political, economic and military

interactions on the frontier, but also the cultural and ideological positions which arose out

of particular eastern Cape circumstances. These are general studies, though – they do not

examine the way these interactions played out in specific communities.

This study has two primary aims. It is a work of urban history, tracing the economic and

physical development of a small but significant town on the Cape frontier. It will

examine the nature of the diverse society which arose under those conditions, and try to

understand the complex divisions which prevailed even in such a small community. To

24
Butler, G, The 1820 Settlers (Cape Town 1974), p. 339.
25
Crais, C, The Making of the Colonial Order: White Supremacy and Black Resistance in the Eastern Cape
(Johannesburg, 1992).
26
Lester, A, Imperial Networks: Creating Identities in Nineteenth Century South Africa and Britain
(London, 2001).

11
do so it is necessary to understand the essential integration of the town‟s population.

Africans, though unequally incorporated in the colonial community, were not simply

victims of colonial oppression and exploitation – they contested the role assigned to them

in the settler-dominated order and tried to create their own spaces in the town. The

economy of the town could not have functioned without them – the foundations of the

“Settler City” rested on the region‟s indigenous inhabitants. At the same time, close

attention is paid to the settlers themselves, who formed a large majority in the town, even

in mid-century. Their class and religious divisions, their cultural and leisure activities,

and their political and ideological beliefs all point to a community far more complex than

the settler myths suggest. Focusing on a specific community is of value in relation to

writers such as Lester and Crais. Grahamstown was a primary location for the creation of

a distinct settler identity. The presence of a prolific press and influential settler

propagandists meant that settler communities elsewhere often looked to Grahamstown for

cultural and political leadership. But the town had its own specific agendas which

sometimes showed up the cracks in the settler consensus. Its economic imperatives, for

example, were often at variance with those of the surrounding countryside.

A variety of primary documents from the period were available for this study. Many

settlers left behind diaries or memoirs, some of which have been published, others of

which are available in the Cory Library. These offered a valuable resource for this study.

Diaries in particular offer insight into the everyday life of the town. Memoirs, written at

one remove, often contain less specific information, but reveal something of the beliefs,

values and attitudes of the period. Many of the accounts of travellers and missionaries

12
give some description of Grahamstown, an important stop on most itineraries. Although

casual visitors lacked the intimate knowledge of the community of a resident, they were

also more immune to local prejudice, and offer perceptive if not always flattering insights

into the life of the town. From 1831 Grahamstown possessed a prolific press, in particular

the Graham’s Town Journal. The Journal is a well-mined source, relied on heavily by

many of the historians of the period. Some of the “settlerist” historians, such as George

Cory, seem to have formed their ideas on the history of the eastern Cape almost entirely

from the columns of Robert Godlonton. And as a virulently biased and, in the

phraseology of the period, “interested”, publication, the Journal needs to be treated with

extreme caution. It remains for all that an extremely valuable source of social data. If the

Journal was the mouthpiece of the mercantile elite, its correspondence columns

occasionally provide alternative viewpoints. It seems to have been widely popular, and as

such its prejudices give insight into the mind of the white community. It also reported the

proceedings of the Circuit Court in the 1830s and 1840s, thereby providing some picture

of the life of the deprived sections of the community. They have been used to find a

glimpse of life in the town beyond the official discourses of propriety and respectability.

Another important primary source were the records of the magistrate‟s court, presided

over by the Landdrost, from 1821 to 182827. A period of considerable social flux in

Grahamstown, they offer a picture of the development of a new colonial society on the

South African frontier.

Secondary material, both published and unpublished, has been vital in locating

Grahamstown in the history of the frontier. The works of Mostert, Crais, Keegan and
27
Criminal Records, Cape Archives, 1/AY 3/1/1/1/1.

13
Peires28, among others, have been drawn upon to explain the significance of broader

issues affecting the town. There are also a number of theses concerning more specific

aspects of Eastern Cape history, from agriculture 29 and trade30, to art 31 and the

environment 32. A number of articles published in journals give similar insight into

specific ideas or issues.

28
Mostert, N, Frontiers: The Epic of South Africa’s Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People (New
York, 1992); Crais, C, Making of the Colonial Order; Keegan, T, Colonial South Africa and the Origins of
the Racial Order (Cape Town, 1996); Peires, J, The House of Phalo: A History of the Xhosa People in the
Days of their Independence (Johannesburg, 1981).
29
Webb, A.C.M, “The Agricultural Development of the 1820 Settlement down to 1846” (Unpublished MA
thesis, Rhodes University, 1975).
30
R. Beck, “The Legalisation and Development of Trade on the Cape Frontier 1817 – 1830” (Unpublished
PhD thesis, Indiana University, 1987).
31
M. Crosser, “Images of a Changing Frontier: Worldview in Eastern Cape Art from Bushman Rock Art to
1875” (Unpublished MA thesis, Rhodes University, 1992).
32
J. Payne, “Re-Creating Home: British Colonialism, Culture and the Zuurveld Environment in the
Nineteenth Century” (Unpublished MA thesis, Rhodes University 1998).

14
 CHAPTER ONE

“THE PECULIAR GENIUS OF THE INHABITANTS”: THE ECONOMIC AND

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FRONTIER TOWN

The District of Albany must unquestionably be regarded more as a

trading station than as an agricultural or pastoral country. It is to
commerce alone that it is indebted for its existence at the present
day. It is to the peculiar genius of the inhabitants; their enterprise,
their courage, their perseverance and their industry in the
promotion of their intercourse with the native tribes, that the
British settlement has risen to its peculiar eminence, and that it
holds out on those promises of becoming at no very distant day,
the regenerator of a considerable portion of the African continent –
The Graham’s Town Journal, 18341.

Although it was always intended by the colonial government that Grahamstown would

develop into a civilian centre, there was initially little inducement for settlement in the

town. The presence of a military base did provide certain economic opportunities and

some contractors and merchants were able to accumulate significant wealth during the

1810s. These opportunities were necessarily limited. It was only after the rapid increase

in population after 1820 that the town‟s economy began to diversify. Initially, the scarcity

of skilled workers provided opportunities for white artisans to escape the land on which

they had been located and find employment in their original trades. Although these

became an established section of Grahamstown society, it was the development of

commerce, especially across the frontier, which provided the primary impetus for

Grahamstown‟s growth from the mid-1820s. By the 1840s Grahamstown was a

predominantly commercial town, and had also invested in the growing wool industry, for

1
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 November 1834.

15
which it provided a commercial centre. This economic development, and the increasing

social stratification which resulted, affected the physical development of the town,

although residential segregation according to wealth was not as marked as it became later

in the century. Race as well as class determined residential boundaries, with Africans and

Khoekhoe being confined to impoverished townships from as early as the 1820s. The

physical development of the town reflected various cultural and social conflicts as the

attempt of the dominant class to give their values concrete expression in the landscape of

the town competed with the reality of a cosmopolitan and chaotic settlement on the Cape

frontier.

Before 1820 little development occurred in Grahamstown. In November 1812, a few

months after the town‟s establishment, the Deputy Landdrost, Major Fraser, and the

military commander, Colonel Lyster, were instructed to establish buildings suitable for

civilian administration2. These included a prison, completed in 1814 and now the oldest

surviving building in Grahamstown, a messenger‟s house, and accommodation for the

deputy Landdrost and two African policemen. The shortage of skilled workers and

evident incompetence on the part of contractors inhibited the development of government

infrastructure in the town. A contractor from Uitenhage, Von Buchenroder, had failed to

complete the jail and the messenger‟s house as late as 1817, while the construction of

other buildings planned in 1812 had not even been commenced 3.

2
Cory, G The Rise of South Africa (1910; Reprint Cape Town, 1965), ii, p. 267.
3
Ibid., i, p. 272.

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In 1814 steps were taken to pave the way for civilian development. J. Knobel surveyed

land to be made available to civilian settlers 4. The prison, one of the few government

buildings approaching completion, was used to determine the line of High Street,

intended to be the central economic axis of the town. The shape of the irregular

“triangular square”, in which the cathedral now stands, was a result of the refusal of the

military to relocate existing structures, even though they stood at an angle to the

projected street. In May 1815 the lots thus surveyed were sold by auction, on the

condition that a house would be constructed within 18 months of purchase 5. At the same

time, the chaotic assembly of huts in the middle of the new street which had

accommodated the soldiers of the Cape Corps were cleared away, and the soldiers were

relocated to the East Barracks. The town remained embryonic - only about 30 houses had

been completed by 1820.

The economic opportunities of the town were limited, and almost entirely dependent on

the military or the small civil establishment. These included above all construction and

supplying the commissariat. Nevertheless there were evidently opportunities to

accumulate wealth. By 1820 traders and contractors such as Piet Retief and A. B. Dietz

had managed to acquire property in the town. The latter was the agent of Frederick

Korsten, based at Algoa bay, who had attained considerable prosperity supplying the

military on the frontier 6. Some of these merchants, such as Retief, took advantage of a

few residual monopolies auctioned by the government and dating from VOC times (these

privileges were extended by the British administration to the new provinces on the

4
Ibid., i, p. 269.
5
Ibid., i, p. 271
6
Chase, J. C, Old Times and Odd Corners (Port Elizabeth, 1868). P. 4.

17
frontier); the liquor monopoly, or “pacht”, was worth nearly two thousand pounds a year

for Albany before it was abolished in 1830 7. Retief managed to corner the market on

wheat in 1819, and used his advantage to sell it on to the newly arrived settlers at

exorbitant cost 8. A small number of merchants who were later to play a prominent role in

Grahamstown‟s economic and public life had established themselves. W. R. Thompson

had commenced trading and John Rafferty had established a tannery 9.

The earliest illustration of Grahamstown dates from 1820 10, eight years after the

establishment of the town. It shows only a handful of buildings, so few that the occupier

of each building is noted on the drawing. At this time, the area around Church Square

was still dominated by military buildings, including the private residences of officers and

the military chaplain, and the hospital. Most civilian houses stood in High Street, or in the

recently laid out (in 1820) New Street. The only really substantial building was the East

Barracks, built in 1815. Otherwise the town consisted of a few straggling white cottages

along muddy streets not clearly demarcated. In the next decade the town was to

experience rapid growth as its population rose in the wake of the 1820 settlement scheme,

and its economic base became considerably diversified.

The 1820 settlement was intended to be primarily agricultural, and most of the 4 000

settlers were to remain on the land. It was hoped that the settlers would practise

7
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 217.
8
Ibid., ii, p. 75.
9
Philip, P British Residents at the Cape: Biographical Residents of 4 800 Pioneers (Cape Town, 1981), pp.
335 and 421.
10
This painting, now in the Albany Museum, is reproduced in Bryer, The British Settlers of 1820 (Cape
Town, 1986) p. 13.

18
agriculture rather than the pastoralism prevalent among the trekboers, so that a much

greater density of population could be achieved. Only 100 acres were assigned to each

head of household, much less than the three to six thousand acres the boers were often

granted11. It was hoped that this would assist in the defence of the colony against the

neighbouring amaXhosa, many of whom had been expelled from the area only eight

years previously. Agriculture was intended to replicate that practised in the English

countryside: a class of gentleman farmers served by white labourers, growing such

traditional English crops as wheat. The environment of the Zuurveld, however, made

such farming impossible. Although some crops could be grown successfully, the main

staple of the British settlers, wheat, was attacked by disease, and seldom produced a

significant yield12. The climate was erratic, with drought in the early 1820s being

followed by torrential rains in 1823. Even if a crop could be produced, the lack of a

significant market was a considerable disincentive 13. This was aggravated by the fact that

the military, who could potentially have consumed the settlers‟ produce, were supplied by

the Somerset farm. This farm was run by the government and was able to employ both

military and Khoekhoe labour at low cost, giving it a considerable advantage over labour-

scarce Albany14 in the 1820s. This was a continual source of grievance to farmers until

the farm was converted to the village of Somerset East in 1825. By the mid-1820s it was

clear that the hope of a dense agricultural settlement in the Zuurveld was to be dashed,

and that the land would not be able to provide a living for most of the settlers.

11
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 18.
12
Ibid., p. 66.
13
Ibid., p. 19.
14
As the area of settlement was named in 1820.

19
The collapse of the 1820 settlement scheme resulted in a considerable spurt of growth

and development in Grahamstown. The early 1820s provided a stark contrast between the

increasing impoverishment of the countryside and the rising prosperity of the town. The

failure of agriculture left many families on the land in dire poverty; two organisations in

Cape Town were established for their relief 15. A more permanent solution was to allow a

drift into the towns of the colony, and Grahamstown was able to acquire a large

population of skilled artisans and other labourers, some of whom, though by no means

all, were quickly able to prosper. Much was made of the supposedly high wages which

could be earned by skilled craftsmen in the towns. Thomas Philipps, a settler landowner,

pointed out that “a great many tradesmen came out who could find no employment on

their land…are flocking to the Towns…₤6 a month is the common rate for carpenters and

masons. Many of them earn enough for their families, and if saving, to buy a couple of

cows every month”. This was a source of complaint for many of the original settler

gentry who feared that their economic position might be undermined by the departure of

their labour force, especially in the early 1820s when Khoekhoe and African labour was

scarce. Some, such as Philipps, argued that wages could be effectively reduced: “If wages

were reduced by half or more, and perhaps ere long they will be, it will be sufficient for

them in a country like this where beef and mutton is scarcely 2d a lb and of the finest

quality”. He was exaggerating: although artisans were able to earn a living, few became

wealthy. Jeremiah Goldswain, for example, leaving his land in 1820, initially made only

a tenuous living as a sawyer 16.

15
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 163.
16
Long, U (ed.),The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain (Cape Town, 1949), i, p. 36.

20
By the mid-1820s, builders, blacksmiths, shoemakers, wheelwrights, and even more

esoteric trades such as jewellers and bell-hangers, were operating in the town. Although

many resumed trades they had practised in Britain, evidently not all were competent, as

the difficulty in finding sufficient skilled labourers to construct public buildings in the

1820s demonstrates. There was evidently a degree of social and occupational mobility.

Many artisans tried their hands at trading or returned to farming. But many continued to

work in their trades. By the 1840s Grahamstown had a well-established artisan and

labouring class. Of the “householders” listed in the 1843 almanac 46.1% belonged to this

class, including professions such as dressmakers, wood and metal workers, builders,

leather workers and a variety of others. The almanac also included twenty-four people

whose occupation was listed as “labourer”. This is probably an underestimate of the

number of casual labourers, a group which would have included many settlers as well as

the majority of the African and Khoekhoe population of the town. The Grahamstown elite

hoped that a more significant class of white labourers would develop, and the emigration

of labourers from Britain was being encouraged by the leading merchants and farmers as

late as the 1830s. But it is unclear what kind of opportunities existed. The Journal

suggested in 1832 that employment for five hundred white labourers could be found, but

this estimate was disputed by correspondents, who suggested that this would benefit the

“storekeepers” rather than the community as a whole 17. In the end, Africans and

Khoekhoe could be employed for less and came to form the bulk of the labouring class.

If the artisan and working class were able to escape destitution on the land and achieve a

measure of stability in Grahamstown, it was commerce which was the route to substantial
17
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 April 1832.

21
wealth. The artisans were vulnerable to poverty, especially during periods of depression.

In the 1860s, for example, not only was the Khoekhoe and African township

impoverished, but so too were some of the white working-class areas established in the

1820s18. The greater potential of trade as a path to prosperity was recognised from the

early 1820s, and many artisans attempted to establish themselves as traders, especially

after the creation of the Fort Willshire fair in 1824. Those who applied for licences to

trade there included farmers, carpenters, shoemakers, painters, bricklayers, tailors,

wheelwrights, and smiths, as well as a piano tuner, a jeweller and a china painter 19. Some

were able to prosper as merchants; but many, especially after the number of trading

licences were reduced in 1826, were obliged to return to their original occupations.

Donald Moodie described the varying fortunes of the traders:

Anyone of the class of artisan or mechanic who possesses industry

or steadiness may easily raise himself to a higher situation in
society; for as soon as he has acquired a little capital he may
readily obtain credit with the merchants of Cape Town, who will
give him goods to sell for him on commission; and he soon
acquires the means of carrying on business on his own account
[however] their ambition generally leads them to live expensively
and to speculate beyond their means, and after going on for a few
years in apparent prosperity, they become bankrupt and are obliged
to return to their original employments 20.

Jeremiah Goldswain, for example, was unable to make a success of trading, and had to

return to his previous employment as a sawyer.

18
Gibbens, M, “Two Decades in the Life of a City: Grahamstown 1862 – 1882” (Unpublished MA thesis,
Rhodes University, 1982), p. 45.
19
Beck, “The Legalisation and Development of Trade”, p. 115.
20
Quoted in Le Cordeur, B, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism (Cape Town, 1981), p. 40.

22
Those who could make good as traders could become enormously wealthy. The saddler‟s

apprentice, George Wood, became a wealthy store owner in Grahamstown by the

1830s21. William Southey claimed that profits from the frontier trade ranged from 20% to

as much as 100%. Benjamin Norden, by the 1830s also a leading Grahamstown

merchant, boasted that he had earned between ₤40 000 and ₤60 000 in two decades of

trade. Trans-frontier trade became the foundation of Grahamstown‟s prosperity. The

frontier traders formed the core of a wealthy mercantile elite in the town by the 1830s.

They included, among others, Wood, the Norden brothers, P. Heugh, the Maynard

brothers, W.R. Thompson, J. Howse and W. Ogilvie. They were joined by some who had

made their fortunes trading with the military, such as the “army butchers”, William Lee

and William Cock22, and a few, such as Robert Godlonton, who had earned wealth

through professional avocations, such as journalism, medicine or the law (although the

journalist Robert Godlonton, a conspicuous figure in the town‟s elite, also operated a

retail store in Grahamstown) 23.

Grahamstown had long been the centre of trade on the eastern frontier, especially with

the amaXhosa. The first attempts to establish legal trade between the colony and the

amaXhosa were made there, though the twice yearly fairs established in 1817 were not

successful, and were ended following the 1819 frontier war 24. After the war, an attempt

was made to establish fairs at the clay pits, where the Xhosa would exchange ivory and

hides for the clay they were accustomed to collect free of charge, an arrangement which

21
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 69.
22
Cock, W, “Journal: Covering 1819 – 1849”, Cory Library, MS 14 262, p. 2.
23
Le Cordeur, B, “Robert Godlonton as Architect of Frontier Opinion, with Special Reference to the
Politics of Separatism, 1850-1857” (Unpublished MA Thesis, Rhodes University, 1956), p. 6.
24
Beck, “The Legalisation and Development of Trade”, p. 62.

23
was unsuccessful 25. Far more popular was illegal trading across the frontier, involving a

number of settlers. Illegal trading in Albany, in common with other areas in the colony,

favoured those settlers closest to the frontier, such as John Stubbs and Thomas Mahoney,

and was decentralised. Soldiers at frontier outposts also became involved in illegal

trading26. It was a dangerous business and a number of settlers, including John Stubbs,

lost their lives27. But it was clearly profitable and there was considerable demand for the

trade to be legalised. The creation of the first successful fair at Fort Willshire in 1824

resulted in Grahamstown‟s re-establishment as the centre of the frontier trade. One reason

for this was that settlement in the vicinity of Fort Willshire was forbidden, and as a result

the majority of traders there preferred to be based in the town, although the distance they

were required to travel, nearly one hundred kilometres, was sometimes a cause for

complaint 28. Another reason was that the traders generally sold on their goods in

Grahamstown, where they were purchased by town-based merchants and mostly

exported. Generally it was these merchants, who had often themselves earned their

fortunes at the fair, or representatives of trading concerns in Cape Town, who had

provided the traders with the necessary capital in the first place29. William Lee, for

example, advertised in the Journal offering assistance to people “trading in the

interior” 30. This pattern continued after the opening of the frontier to traders and the

decline of the Fort Willshire fair after 1830. After that date traders were allowed to range

across the frontier at will, though they usually retained bases in Grahamstown. Fort

25
Ibid., p. 74.
26
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 175.
27
Maxwell, W and McGeogh, R (eds.), The Reminiscences of Thomas Stubbs (Cape Town, 1978), p. 11.
28
Beck, “The Legalisation and Development of Trade”, pp. 100 – 103.
29
Le Cordeur, Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 39
30
Graham’s Town Journal, 1 December 1831.

24
Willshire thus lost its importance, though the “robbing and cheating [of] the natives” that

allegedly occurred there may also have been a factor 31. (The fairs were also popular for

“drinking and gambling”, which no doubt further lessened their commercial viability) 32.

The goods purchased at the fair or across the frontier and resold in Grahamstown were

bought by locally based merchants and exported through Algoa bay. These merchants in

return purchased goods imported from Britain and sold them as retailers in the town. The

distinction between “merchants”, mostly Grahamstown-based and often wealthy, and

“traders” moving back and forth across the frontier was becoming clearer by the 1830s.

The 1843 almanac lists them as clearly separate occupations 33. There is also a distinction

made between “merchants”, presumably involved in the export trade, and “storekeepers”,

who were exclusively retailers. But many of the exporters had their own stores too. The

quantity and variety of goods sold by these retailers was immense. B. Norden and J.

Jarvis, for example, placed the following advertisement in the Journal in 1833, a standard

practice amongst retailers:

Received per Diana and Maria a few investments, comprising

ironmongery, consisting of Hatchets, Drawing knives, Saws, Scales and
Dutch Weights, Weighing machines, Plastering trowels, Brass Kettles and
Stands, Saucepans, Tea Kettles, Snuflers [sic] and Trays, Screws, Stew
Pans, Files, Flat Brass Candle Sticks, Japaned [sic] Snuff Boxes, B.Y.
Sickles, Table Knives and Forks, Pocket and Pen Knives, Camp Ovens,
Frying Pans, Copper Tea Kettles and Stew Pans, Britannia Metal Teapots,
Sugar Basins and Cream Jugs, Cups and Ewers and Basins, Fire Irons,
Brass sieves, Powder Flasks, Knife Sharpeners, Dress and Side Combs
etc.etc.

31
Le Cordeur, B (ed.), The Journal of Charles Lennox Stretch (Cape Town, 1988), p. 9.
32
Collett, J, A Time to Plant: A Biography of James Lydford Collett (Katkop, 1990), p. 22.
33
Chase, J, The Cape of Good Hope and Algoa Bay (London, 1843), pp. 287 – 294.

25
 Also two very super Beams, Chains and Scale Board, calculated to weigh
two tons.

Hosiery – viz. worsted and cotton Stockings and Socks, worsted Cuff and
Comforters, worsted and cotton Drawers, short and long Angola socks,
and Berlin Gloves. Also Cloths, Prints, Shawls, Veils, Caps, Bobbin Nett,
Habits, Mantles, Quilling, Lace, Footing, Tatting, Crimp, Collars,
Velveteen and Patent Velvet and a few Superfine Cloth Coats and
Trousers etc.etc.

A Great Variety of China Goods, consisting of Trays and Waiters, Tea

Caddies, Card Boxes, Silver Watch Guards, Work Boxes, Sewing Silk,
Table Mats, Paper Cutters, Waste Ribands [sic], Decanter Stands,
Crimson and White Kerchiefs, Black Silk Neckerchiefs, Nankeen,
Sweetmeats, and a Variety of Silks” 34

The flood of whites into the region after 1820 was accompanied by a flood of European

manufactured goods. The consignments were often sold at auction, and some individuals,

such as Benjamin Norden, were able to prosper as professional auctioneers. The auctions

were popular events, although, as one correspondent to the Journal confessed, the urge to

acquire a bargain could become almost bankrupting 35.

The romance as well as the profitability of the so-called trans-frontier captivated

Grahamstonians. The Journal described the market in glowing terms:

The Public Market at Graham‟s Town, which is held on every day

except Sundays, exhibits a very lively and amusing scene. There is
to be met the farmer from the most distant extremities of the
colony, with his wagon laden with curiosities, such as the skins of
wild animals, ostrich feathers, ivory and the rude but deadly
weapons of the Bushmen and Betchuanas. Here also is to be seen
the enterprising setter just returned from a six months trading
journey in the interior, with a cargo of hides or ivory, together with

34
Graham’s Town Journal, 15 August 1833.
35
Graham’s Town Journal, 17 January 1833.

26
 the rich fur dresses or cloaks of the natives of distant regions
visited by him in the course of his peregrinations36.

In another edition, it claimed that Grahamstown‟s “traffic with the tribes in the interior is

boundless in extent, and promised to afford ample employment, to an increased

population and an enlarged capital” 37. Cowper Rose, an English army officer who

travelled through the area in the 1820s, was also struck by the exotic produce and

weapons the traders acquired 38. He mentioned the wild animals that could be had at the

market; as late as 1844 a lion was advertised for sale in the Journal (he cost ₤20)39. Cory,

one of the foremost settler historians, also stressed the importance of the frontier trade,

arguing that ivory “came to the rescue of the struggling community” 40. The appeal of this

trade is expressed in a painting of Grahamstown‟s market by Thomas Baines, done in

1850. The settlers themselves appear in familiar European attire, and the tower of the

Anglican Church dominates the skyline. But the goods for sale emphasise the exotic

African location: in addition to great piles of ivory, Baines noted on the reverse of the

painting – “Zoolu dress. Crocodiles, Pangolin, Rhinocerous horns. Vlake verk [sic], flat

pig‟s tusk, Lions and panther skin. Eland‟s horns. Elephant tail. Koodoo horns. Swartbok.

Buffalo horns. Karosses” 41.

The trade across the frontier was vitally important to the town‟s merchants, whose

mouthpiece the Grahams Town Journal was. The transfrontier goods, until the wool

36
Graham’s Town Journal, 17 January 1833.
37
Graham’s Town Journal, 1 December 1831.
38
Butler, 1820 Settlers, p. 210.
39
Graham’s Town Journal, 8 February 1844.
40
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 174.
41
Carruthers, J and Arnold, M, The Life and Work of Thomas Baines (Vlaeberg, 1995), p. 120.

27
industry took off in the 1830s, provided the bulk of the exports from Grahamstown and

the eastern Cape in general. These exports grew rapidly during the 1820s, from a value of

₤1,500 in 1821 to ₤24,438 in 183042. In 1833, the Journal published the main produce

brought to the market:

Product Total Value

Ivory ₤1, 800 7s 6d
Green Hides ₤18, 145 4s
Dry Hides ₤11, 886
Sole Leather ₤504
Horns ₤3, 000
Buck and Sheep Skins ₤2, 460
Buck and Sheep Skins (tanned) ₤100
Tallow ₤4, 820 12s
Butter ₤3, 080 10s
Soap ₤230 15s
Wool ₤407 4s
Ostrich Feathers ₤303
Salt Beef and Pork ₤3, 700
Wheat ₤95
Wheaten Meal ₤78
Candles ₤100
Aloes ₤10
Barley ₤30
Total ₤51, 290 12s
Table 1: Total Value of Produce at Grahamstown market 1833 43

Three of the most lucrative items were hides, horns and ivory, all bartered from the

amaXhosa for European goods and mostly exported. Salted meat, butter and tallow are

the only other colonial products that were exported in significant quantities before wool

became significant.

42
Graham’s Town Journal, 21 September 1843.
43
Graham’s Town Journal, 17 January 1833.

28
The frontier trade was not the only avenue for commerce in the town. Grahamstown was

also the centre of a number of other trading networks within the colony. The presence of

the military continued to provide substantial trading opportunities. One correspondent to

the Journal reckoned that trade with the military was worth about ₤20 000 a year,

although he admitted this was a rough estimate 44. Even during peacetime the

commissariat advertisements in the Journal appealed for an astonishing diversity of

goods. As well as the more obvious requirements such as food and forage, one tender

called for “screws, stone, trowels, tin, tiles, turpentine, whiting, glass, iron, lead, locks,

linseed oil, saltpetre, paint, steel, staves, brick, brushes, bags, canvas, cane, coal,

charcoal, copper sheet [and] glue” 45. A merchant could evidently sell almost anything to

the army. The military contracts provide one example of the differing economic priorities

between Grahamstown and its immediate agricultural vicinity. One prosperous farmer,

Richard Daniell, accused Grahamstown merchants supplying the commissariat of

deliberately undercutting farmers to increase their profits 46. Even the Journal admitted

that the merchant contractors were harmful to agriculture 47. The army also issued

contracts to civilians for transport, construction and other services. Jeremiah Goldswain

was the army contractor for lime in the 1830s, and was also contracted for transport

during the 1834 war 48. Some of Grahamstown‟s leading merchants, such as W. Cock and

W. Lee, the so-called “army butchers”, made their fortunes supplying the army.

Individual soldiers could make large purchases – one bought 842 rix dollars worth of

44
Graham’s Town Journal, 15 June 1832.
45
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 December 1832.
46
Graham’s Town Journal, 2 March 1832.
47
Graham’s Town Journal, 6 April 1832.
48
Long (ed.), Goldswain’s Chronicle, i, pp. 70, 85.

29
goods from the trader James Collett 49. At the same time they could also acquire debts

they could not repay. An officer had to publish an advertisement in the Journal making it

clear that the army accepted no responsibility for this 50.

If the military offered a steady source of income during peace, it was during war that

spectacular fortunes were to be made. During the war of 1834-35 in particular many

observers noted the propensity of Grahamstown merchants to make huge profits at the

expense of the army. George Wood, who emerged from the war as one of Grahamstown‟s

richest inhabitants, was a conspicuous example, particularly since he was accused of

corruption. George Lennox Stretch, an acerbic officer stationed on the frontier, noted that

From the impositions of the Graham‟s Town people during the

panic many enriched themselves at the public expense. The most
notorious was the clothing of the Provisional Colonial Infantry by
a person named „Wood‟, who reaped the sum of ₤7 000 for this
job. The articles purchased were of the most common material, a
jacket of „Caffre baize‟, imitation moleskin trousers, a common
black hat, 2 cotton shirts and a tin jug. The person soon after
purchased Mr Cock‟s house for ₤2,000, who also had not been
indolent in filling his pockets. It is not therefore surprising that
these Graham‟s Town worthies were desirous the ‘war should
proceed’. The Caffres were ‘not sufficiently punished’51.

Thomas Stubbs, son of the settler who had been killed during an illegal trading

expedition in 1823, described the uniforms supplied by Wood as consisting of “a few

yards of Caffre duffel and coarse jersey, and for boots, a pair of soles and piece of sheep

skin”. He also alleged that Wood had bribed the commissariat officer, but having become

49
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 35.
50
Graham’s Town Journal, 16 February 1832.
51
Le Cordeur (ed.), Stretch Journal, p.

30
popular with Colonel Smith he was able to draw substantial amounts of money. This

fortune was supplemented by selling horses to the cavalry at vast profit 52. Godlonton, too,

was suspected of having “his finger in the public chest” 53. William Shrewsbury, a

Methodist missionary, noted that “some are earthly minded, seeking more how to make

the most of their merchandise in a time of public distress rather than aiming at the glory

of the Lord” 54. This could occasion bitterness among the farmers in the surrounding

countryside. J. M. Bowker claimed that the merchants actually looked forward to wars

which would ruin the farmers since “Grahamstown does not suffer with the country” 55.

Grahamstown merchants tended to supply both sides during frontier conflict. David

Livingstone claimed that “the Graham‟s Town merchants who are the principal getters up

of the war sell their goods to the troops at enormous profits , and then when the war is

concluded they supply the Caffres with guns and gunpowder and call for a war again, and

that great idiot John Bull has to pay the piper. This system has gone on for years” 56. The

illegal sale of firearms and gunpowder to the amaXhosa was lucrative. Stretch claimed

that “500 barrels of powder had been sent from Graham‟s Town to the Caffre tribes”

before the 1834 war57. He claimed that “when there I saw „settler traders‟ beginning to

introduce guns among the Caffres, which became a very profitable trade between

Grahamstown and Caffraria for many years until the war of 1835 and long after” 58. In

1834 a trader named McLuckie was arrested carrying 300lb of gunpowder in his wagon.
52
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 211.
53
Quoted in Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 76.
54
Fast, H, (ed.), The Journal and Selected Letters of Rev. William J. Shrewsbury 1826 – 1835
(Johannesburg, 1994), p. 166.
55
Bowker, J. M, Speeches, Letters and Selections from Important Papers (Grahamstown, 1864), p. 241.
56
Quoted in Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 136.
57
Le Cordeur (ed.), Stretch Journal, p. 28.
58
Ibid., p. 10.

31
He subsequently implicated a number of prominent merchants, including G. Wood, W.

Ogilvie, W. Wright, and J. Howse 59. Although in this instance a few merchants received

fines, convictions for gunpowder trading were rare. In any case, the quality of armaments

sold to the amaXhosa was too poor to be a significant military threat 60.

Boer farmers were soon recognised as another promising market, just as soon as they had

been inculcated with “ideal wants” for British produce, as Philipps expressed it 61. As

early as 1822 he noted the plight of a fellow party head, Mr Greathead, who, having been

“completely ruined” on his allotment, had taken to “travelling up the country buying and

selling goods to the Boors [sic]” 62. Jeremiah Goldswain‟s first trading venture in the early

1820s was also “up country” rather than across the frontier 63. The Journal of Harry

Hastings describes the trading activities of “Robert Trumpet” amongst the boers64. John

Montgomery became another successful trader within the colony. The traders amongst

the Dutch also tended to be based in Grahamstown. James Howse “by his numerous

business transactions with the Dutch colonists directed their attention to Grahamstown as

a place of trade” 65. Grahamstown merchants often provided the capital for trading

expeditions. W. E. Crout, an employee of the wealthy merchant John Norton, described a

trading journey:

In a few weeks I am going to trade among the Dutch farmers with

all sorts of goods, about 3 months every year, for cattle and sheep
59
Graham’s Town Journal, 14 August 1834, 4 September 1834, 18 September 1834.
60
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 136.
61
Keppel-Jones, A, (ed.), Thomas Philipps, 1820 Settler (Pietermaritzburg, 1960), p. 101.
62
Ibid., p. 176.
63
Long (ed.), Goldswain Chronicle, i, p. 39.
64
Ayliff, J, The Journal of Harry Hastings (Grahamstown, Reprint 1963), p. 77.
65
Ayliff, J, “Memorials of J. Howse Esq.”, Cory Library, MS 7228, n.p.

32
 and then sell the fat cattle and sheep to the butchers. If I have good
luck I shall make about ₤80 in 3 months that I go up the country. I
shall go about 400 miles from Grahamstown. I have been up one
journey for Mr J. Norton, and have made a good profit, about a
₤100. I was only gone 3 months…Mr J. Norton is going to let me
have about ₤300 worth of goods on a good long credit. I am going
up with wagons66.

Thomas Stubbs was also financed by a Grahamstown merchant, W. R. Thompson,

although his venture to Cradock was unsuccessful, illustrating the risk involved to

creditors67.

Grahamstown came to supply imported goods to many of the older towns of the eastern

Cape, such as Graaff-Reinet68. The expanding frontiers of European colonisation

augmented trading opportunities for Grahamstown merchants. Many of the traders, such

as John Montgomery, took advantage of the opportunities created by the Great Trek 69.

This movement expanded the commercial reach of Grahamstown traders far into the

interior. When the merchant W. R. Thompson presented a bible to the departing Dirk Uys

in 1837, he was protecting a commercial relationship as well as taking leave of a friend 70.

In turn, the boer now possessed a market considerably more accessible than Cape Town,

and eagerly sold their produce in Grahamstown. The Methodist missionary John Ayliff

claimed that in 1834 2049 wagons containing ₤22 635 worth of goods arrived at the

Grahamstown market from the “Dutch districts” of the colony 71. The new settlement at

66
Quoted in Neumark, J. D, Economic Influences on the South African Frontier 1652 – 1836 (Stanford,
1957), p. 147.
67
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 100.
68
Neumark, Economic Influences, p. 142.
69
Butler, 1820 Settlers, p. 196.
70
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 35.
71
Ayliff, “Memorials of James Howse”, n.p.

33
Port Natal attracted the attention of Grahamstown traders, and some, such as James

Collett, acquired ivory from this distant settlement 72.

Grahamstown served as a trading centre for its more immediate hinterland in Albany. In

1821 Philipps reported that Khoekhoe living at the mouth of the Kowie River collected

sea shells which they sold in Grahamstown for lime73. Residents of the mission stations at

Theopolis and Bethelsdorp supplied timber and transport to the town in the 1820s 74. The

town provided a market for firewood, which was provided by both African and white

rural poor. J. M. Bowker mentioned a case of a widow, Healy, who relied on her few

cows to transport firewood to the town 75. Goldswain, in one of the periodic attempts to

expel Xhosa living in the colony without passes, was obliged to evict a family who made

their living supplying firewood to the town76. Farmers supplemented their often meagre

incomes by selling home-made goods in Grahamstown. Thomas Shone made shoes while

also farming77. John Ayliff‟s party sold shoes and straw hats in the town 78. Local farmers

“always found Grahamstown to be their most convenient resort for mercantile

transactions” 79. The rural population was dependent on Grahamstown for supplying a

profusion of imported goods, of which Albany consumed ₤160, 588 worth by 1842 80. As

well as providing a market for small manufactures and trade goods, Grahamstown was

the centre for agriculture in Albany. Despite the failure of the 1820 settlement, there were

72
Collett, A Time to Plant, p. 33.
73
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 96.
74
Ross, A, John Philip (1775 – 1851): Missions, Race and Politics in South Africa, (Aberdeen, 1986), p.
100.
75
Bowker, Speeches, p. 54.
76
Long (ed.), Goldswain’s Chronicle, ii, p. 17.
77
Silva, P (ed.), The Albany Journal of Thomas Shone (Cape Town, 1992), p. 58.
78
Ayliff, Harry Hastings, p. 81.
79
Shaw, W, The Story of My Mission in South Eastern Africa, (London, 1860), p. 75.
80
Graham’s Town Journal, 21 September 1843.

34
still upwards of 300 subsistence or small–scale farmers in the 1830s81. The diversity of

their agricultural produce is indicated by the market returns for 1830-31:

Product Total Quantity Cost per Unit

Brandy 89 legers ₤12
Wine 4 legers ₤5
Meal 4 042 muids ₤1 1s
Wheat 320 muids ₤1
Barley 1 757 muids 4s
Oats 1 115 muids 3s
Indian Corn 153 muids 6s
Salt 1 840 muids 8s
Dried Fruits 8 559 lbs 3,5d
Raisins 9 905 lbs 3,5d
Tobacco 14 944 lbs 3d
Bed Feathers 139 lbs 2s
Wool 3 243 lbs 6d
Tiger Skins 77 12s
Raw Hides 10 730 10s
Dry Hides 487 4s
Buck Skins 11 130 1s 3d
Horns 24 663 (per 100) ₤2 5s
Kid and Calf Skins 2 564 2s
Oat Hay 150 202 lbs (per 100 lbs) 3s
Oxen 100 ₤1 5s
Cows 90 ₤1
Table 2: Quantity and Average Price of Selected commodities at Grahamstown Market, October

1831 – September 1832.

The table makes clear that although frontier trade goods were the most lucrative export,

Grahamstown provided a large market for locally consumed produce. The flight from the

land into Grahamstown had been the salvation of those farmers who remained – they now

had a market where they could sell their produce 82. Cereals, fruit, vegetables and

livestock were supplied to the town. Exhibiting their prejudice in favour of British staples

local farmers persisted with wheat despite its repeated failures, but were more successful
81
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 April 1832.
82
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 57.

35
with barley, oats, maize and vegetables 83. Their success was still subject to the vagaries

of the environment, as drought, locusts and disease caused yields and prices to fluctuate

widely. This severely affected the life of a small farmer. Many farmers produced only on

a small scale. John Stubbs used to take small quantities of agricultural produce from his

allotment to Grahamstown - on one occasion two sucking pigs fixed to the horns of a

pack ox84! Despite the initial discouragement of stock farming 85, local farmers soon

acquired livestock, and produced butter, tallow, hides and other animal products for sale.

If many of the farmers in the immediate vicinity of Grahamstown remained poor, there

were nevertheless fortunes to be made. The acceleration of stratification in the

agricultural areas of South Africa, as those farmers who could acquire capital were able

to prosper while those who were not were marginalised and often forced off the land, has

been described by a number of writers 86 and can be seen clearly in the districts

immediately surrounding Grahamstown. It was hastened by the initial collapse of the

1820 agricultural scheme but took a number of decades to be completed. This process

saw the emergence of two kinds of farmers in the Albany district. Some remained small-

scale producers. Others were able to acquire large tracts of land and invest in expensive,

export-oriented activities, above all sheep farming.

83
Ibid., p. 98.
84
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 83.
85
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 29.
86
Beinart, W, Delius P, and Trapido, S (eds.) Putting a Plough to the Ground: Accumulation and
Dispossession in Rural South Africa 1850 – 1930 (Johannesburg 1986); Bundy, C, The Rise and Fall of the
South African Peasantry (London, 1988).

36
The first successful sheep farmers were those heads of parties who had invested heavily

in the 1820 land scheme and found it much harder to cut their losses than had their

indentured servants. Initially, being burdened with an apparently unproductive resource

induced some despondency, even hardship. In the mid-1820s, Thomas Philipps lamented

the fact that “mechanics are doing well and getting up in the world while we are sinking

fast” 87, and complained that “gloom and despair appear in all ranks here, but chiefly with

people like myself who derive income from our land”. John Montgomery described

reducing his former party leader, Captain Butler, to tears when he offered the indigent

Butler financial assistance88. In the long run, however, the disappearance of the settlers

from the land enabled the remaining party leaders to consolidate the large tracts required

for wool farming. Experiments with woolled sheep, in particular merinos, had already

begun in the western Cape, and the settler gentry quickly recognised the opportunities

they presented. Some, such as Major Pigot, had acquired merinos as early as 1820 89. By

the 1830s, former leaders such as Philipps, Miles Bowker, T. C. White, W. Gilfillan and

R. Daniell had already established prosperous wool farms, supporting about 10 000

woolled sheep90.

The second wave of investment, however, came primarily from the profits generated

from the frontier trade. The profits earned through trade were re-invested in land and

sheep. James Cawood, for example, arrived as an indentured servant, made his fortune in

87
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 106.
88
Quoted in Bulter, 1820 Settlers, p. 175.
89
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 118.
90
Ibid., p. 131.

37
trade and invested his profits in farming 91. James Collett was another rags-to-riches story.

He left his allotment in the mid-1820s to become a trader in Grahamstown. He had

evidently prospered by 1832 since he had been able to open another branch in the Kat

River settlement. That same year he sold both concerns to buy land and became a

prosperous sheep farmer 92. The Southeys, Bowkers, George Gilbert, Richard Painter, J.C.

Chase and others formed a wealthy agricultural elite which had close ties to the

mercantile elite of Grahamstown 93. Many Grahamstown merchants were themselves

absentee landowners. George Wood became both a town-based wool-broker and a land-

owner, possessing four farms by 184994. James Howse, a former trader and Grahamstown

butcher, owned 30 000 acres and 23 000 sheep by the end of the 1840s 95. It was claimed

that his land lay along the Grahamstown-Fort Beaufort road for a distance of twenty-five

miles96. Godlonton, too, invested in land and owned two farms near Fort Beaufort 97. Even

those Grahamstown merchants who did not invest directly in land had a close interest in

the success of the wool industry. Many, such as George Wood, became wool-brokers,

buying the clip from the farmer and then selling it on to Port Elizabeth or London. Other

prominent brokers were N. Birkenruth, the Maynards, C. Pote, J. Norden and J. C.

Wright98. They were also influential in supplying capital to the wool farmers. As early as

1833 the Grahamstown Joint Stock Company was formed to raise capital for the

importation of merino sheep. The members included not only the early sheep farmers

such as Philipps, Carlisle, White and others, but also substantial Grahamstown

91
Le Cordeur, “Robert Godlonton”, p. 15.
92
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 33.
93
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 134.
94
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 69.
95
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 134.
96
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 183.
97
Le Cordeur, “Robert Godlonton”, p. 15.
98
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 34.

38
businessmen such as Charles Maynard and Benjamin Norden, as well as the ubiquitous

Godlonton99. Among the fifty shareholders of the company at least thirty were

Grahamstown businessmen. Once banks and other financial institutions were founded in

the town they provided capital for the wool farmers.

Wool farming prospered. In 1833, Albany produced 4 500lbs of wool valued at ₤222. By

1842 the district was producing close to a million pounds and earning ₤46 453 100. Despite

the upheaval of the 1834-35 frontier war, the infusion of capital into the colony as a result

of the emancipation of slaves and the freeing up of large areas of cheap land after the

emigration of many boers from the eastern Cape 101 made the 1830s a decade of rapid

investment in the industry. The market for wool in the factories of Great Britain appeared

to be inexhaustible, which gave wool another distinct advantage over other products 102.

The success of wool excited the admiration of observers and became the boast of Albany.

William Shaw wrote that “the entire success of this pursuit has brought forth an entirely

new set of competitors, as well as given a largely increased value to land. Many men of

capital, of education, and of intelligence, are now engaged in this pursuit, and buildings

and other improvements are springing up, which indicate decisively the rapid

advancement of the colony in substantial prosperity” 103. Grahamstown, and in particular

the Grahamstown Journal, led the celebration of the sheep farmers‟ success. The Journal

published success stories, advice on husbandry, and maintained a running commentary on

other colonies, especially in Australia, which were also developing wool industries. The

99
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 133.
100
Graham’s Town Journal, 21 Septmeber 1843.
101
Webb, “Agricultural Development”, p. 182.
102
Ibid., p. 186.
103
Shaw, Story of My Mission, p. 50.

39
attraction of setting up as a wool farmer induced one advertiser in the Journal to offer his

house for sale – and to accept payment in woolled sheep104!

Grahamstown provided financial services to the frontier. As early as 1832 a savings bank

had been established, which, aside from the “moral benefit” to the “lower orders”, who

would hopefully save rather than drink their surplus cash, could provide small amounts of

capital to aspirant tradesmen 105. In 1838 the Eastern Province Bank was formed. Its board

consisted of some of the most successful merchants in the town – W. Cock, W. R.

Thompson, J. Black, C. Maynard, W. Wright, and J. Norton 106. In 1839 the Eastern

Province Fire and Life Assurance Company was created, with many of the same

merchants as its directors, such as Maynard, Black, Wright and Cock. They were joined

by J. Norden and T. Nelson, as well as Major Selwyn. Business and finance were

evidently very tightly linked in Grahamstown. This was manifested not only through

institutions. Many merchants were willing to lend money on their own account. Thomas

Shone was in debt to the storekeeper Joseph Weakly, whom he described as a “usurer”

who would “skin the devil for a farthing” 107. William Wright was also lent money

privately108.

The town provided opportunities for a small group of professional men. There were a

number of lawyers in the town, some of whom, such as George Jarvis and Henry Nourse,

evidently prospered and became influential members of the community. A handful of

104
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 August 1835.
105
Graham’s Town Journal, 27 December 1832.
106
Graham’s Town Journal, 8 November 1838.
107
Silva (ed.), Shone Journal, p. 72.
108
Gifford, A, (ed.), The Reminiscences of John Montgomery (Cape Town, 1981), p. 98.

40
doctors practised in the town, some of whom became respected citizens. The most

prominent of these were the settler John Atherstone and, after 1839, his son, William

Guybon. Both were enthusiastic amateur scientists and medical innovators – W. G.

Atherstone won fame as an early experimenter with anaesthetics in 1847 109. Medical

practice was rudimentary in the nineteenth century, however, and many eccentric

remedies were prescribed. Electricity was recommended for Mrs Shrewsbury‟s

rheumatism110, while “calomel and jallop” was prescribed for Ayliff‟s “flux” 111. Mrs

Ayliff‟s “bilious fever” required an even more unlikely remedy: a “strong dose of jalap

and calomel and after that a purgative and after that three powders of pure calomel and

then a dose of salts to carry off the medicine” 112. These were possibly better than popular

remedies. Thomas Stubbs refused to see a doctor for his fever and drank, on the

recommendation of a neighbour, a penny‟s worth of “bitter aloes” dissolved in a bottle of

gin113. The medical profession seems to have acquired some marked eccentrics who

earned notoriety in the town. Dr Peter Campbell possessed a paranoid belief that his

practice suffered from “the baneful effects of dark and secret calumny, industriously

diffused by a few interested, designing and malevolent individuals”, and felt the need to

defend himself publicly in the Journal114. Most notorious of all was Dr A. G. Campbell,

who was briefly the editor of the magazine, The Echo, and founded the Cape Frontier

Times. He claimed a vague affinity to the more liberal, “philanthropic” attitudes towards

the frontier which existed in some circles in the western Cape and in Britain, but seems

109
Mathie, N, Dr W. G. Atherstone, 1814 – 1898: Man of Many Facets – A Pseudo-autobiography
(Grahamstown, 1998), p. 239.
110
Fast (ed.), Shrewsbury Journal, p. 164.
111
Hinchliff, P (ed.), The Journal of John Ayliff (Cape Town, 1971), p. 41.
112
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 52.
113
Ibid., p. 101.
114
Metrovich, F. C, Assegai over the Hills (Cape Town, 1953), p. 20.

41
also to have enjoyed ruffling his fellow citizens for the sake of it. As a result he was

frequently sued for libel. Despite his personal eccentricities, he seems to have been a

capable doctor 115.

By the mid-1840s, Grahamstown had grown from a ragged military encampment to a

thriving small town. Its rapid development was a source of considerable pride to its

inhabitants. In 1833 the Journal enumerated its advantages – 600 “good and substantial

houses, a spacious church, four chapels, two public libraries, a handsome commercial hall

in progress, a newspaper…[and] several excellent inns” 116. In 1842 J. C. Chase boasted

that it had become “the emporium of the Eastern Frontier Districts and its main streets

present a scene of incessant commercial activity whilst almost every article whether of

utility or ornament may be readily obtained as in most of the provincial towns of the

mother country. There are several good inns, where visitors may command and will

receive every reasonable comfort and attention” 117. The comparison with the “mother

country” was made by other observers. William Shrewsbury was thoroughly charmed by

his first view of the town in 1826:

At 3 p.m. arrived at Graham‟s Town, a beautiful and delightful

English town in the interior of Africa, 600 miles or more from the
Cape of Good Hope. The houses, the farm-yards, the cross-barred
gates, the inhabitants in manners, dress and appearance are
thoroughly English, and while looking at every object I met, and
the fields of oats and barley, and the gardens with abundance of
vegetables of the same kind as are met with in my native country,
it almost seemed a reverie to conclude that I was in Africa. It is
certainly pleasing than from my circuit in the heart of Caffraria I

115
Ibid., p. 20.
116
Graham’s Town Journal, 11 July 1833.
117
Chase, The Cape of Good Hope, p. 43.

42
 can at any time ride on horseback in the short space of 5 days to
Graham‟s Town and behold England in miniature 118

The civil, military and religious buildings in particular were self-consciously seen as

physical expressions of English values and institutions. Cityscapes, it was hoped by

settler communities, would reflect the “elevations of spirituality…the heights of social

justice [and] the visible accomplishments of civil society” 119. It is clear, though, that

Grahamstown was not simply a miniature version of an English country town. Rather, the

physical landscape of the town reflected its position on the frontier of an expanding

colony, fraught with tension and conflict. This conflict existed not only between the

different racial groups in the town, but also between conflicting values and priorities

within the settler community. Despite the best efforts of the settler community,

Grahamstown reflected the “creation of a new English frontier form, rather than the re-

creation of English forms the settlers had known in their motherland” 120.

Buildings for administration and justice were an important priority. Government was

never a weak presence in Grahamstown as it had been in earlier frontier settlements such

as Graaff-Reinet, and this was expressed in the imposing nature of official buildings. One

of the first buildings to be constructed in the town in 1814 had been a jail, but rapid

population growth after 1820 necessitated a more accommodating establishment. The

original jail had by 1822 as many as 20 prisoners in a single room, in which “no

distinction can be made between the nature of the crime, of the description of persons, or

118
Fast (ed.), Shrewsbury Journal, p. 27.
119
Comaroff, John L, and Jean, Of Revelation and Revolution: The Dialectics of Modernity on a South
African Frontier (Chicago, 1997), ii, p. 280.
120
Winer, M and Deetz, J, “The Transformation of British Culture in the Eastern Cape, 1820 – 1860”,
Social Dynamics, 16, 1 (1990), p. 60.

43
between the tried and untried” 121. By 1824 a new prison had been constructed, able to

accommodate 200 prisoners and one of the largest buildings in the town 122. The attempt

to construct a Drosdty was less successful. Commenced in 1822, it was only completed in

1830, and was never actually occupied by the landdrost. The building was transferred to

the army in 1835. The town did acquire an impressive court house in High Street. This

building was constructed in 1836 as a Commercial Hall, and as such was intended to

express the commercial dynamism of the community. It was such a source of pride that

the Journal used the building as its letterhead for a number of years. It was only of

limited usefulness as a hall, however, so in 1843 it became the court house. Fronted by

four columns and a portico the judges sat in an ambitious if somewhat pretentious

building among the white storefronts of High Street. But such distinction was fitting for

the dispensers of justice.

Religion played a vital role in the settler community and the construction of religious

buildings was soon undertaken. All except the Anglican Church were paid for by

donations, which seem to have been forthcoming even in difficult times. The first of these

was the Wesleyan chapel, commenced in 1822. This was an ambitious project in an as yet

underdeveloped, poor town, William Shaw, the Methodist minister, often had to use his

personal funds to cover building costs 123. Various other non-conformist denominations

erected small chapels in the 1820s. The Methodists were the largest religious group and

soon possessed a number of buildings at the lower end of High Street. By 1832 the

121
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 182.
122
Lewcock, R, Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa: A Study of the Interaction of Two
Cultures (Cape Town, 1963), p. 247.
123
Shaw, Story of my Mission, p. 107.

44
original chapel was felt to be too small, and a more impressive building was constructed,

named the Shaw Hall in honour of the enterprising minister 124. The increased prosperity

of the 1840s saw a number of even more substantial churches built – the neo-classical

Trinity Presbyterian Church in 1842, and the Gothic St Patrick‟s Catholic Church and

Methodist Commemoration Church, completed in 1844 and 1850 respectively 125. Despite

the impressive nature of these buildings, and the fact that between them they

accommodated most of Grahamstown‟s worshippers, pride of place was reserved for the

Anglican Church. Less than a fifth of Grahamstown‟s population was Anglican in the

1840s, but the physical dominance of their church was a reflection of Anglicanism‟s

official status in the colony. St George‟s Church was commenced in 1824 at the personal

instigation of the governor, Lord Somerset, and paid for by the colonial government 126.

The site selected was the peculiar “triangular square” in the centre of High Street, and as

such one of the most prominent locations in the town. Despite being described as a

“heavy, clumsy-looking building” 127 it was the tallest in the town and the most distinctive

feature on its skyline.

Despite its rapid growth into a commercial and administrative centre, the military

continued to be an important presence in the town. During the 1810s some of the earliest

houses were constructed by officers, while the men of the Cape Corps were housed in

uncomfortable and dilapidated grass huts. By 1815 this arrangement was clearly

untenable, and a new barracks was constructed a few miles from the embryonic

124
Lewcock, Early Nineteenth Century Architecture, p. 271.
125
Ibid., pp. 338-339.
126
Ibid., p. 281.
127
Van der Sandt‟s almanac quoted in Graham’s Town Journal, 3 January 1842.

45
village128. The establishment of the “East Barracks”, later renamed Fort England, marked

the beginning of the military establishment as an integral, and yet also separate, section of

the Grahamstown community. The military headquarters were always on the periphery of

the town. One attempt was made to move the troops into the centre of the town with the

construction of Scott‟s barracks on High Street in 1823. These were so badly built,

however, that they had to be abandoned almost immediately, and the troops returned to

Fort England129. Eventually the military came to occupy the space at the top end of High

Street where it developed an extensive infrastructure. During the 1834-35 war the semi-

dilapidated and never occupied Drosdty building was given to the army, which it

continued to occupy until 1870. A number of subsequent buildings were erected,

including a military prison, the provost, constructed in 1838, which would have conveyed

a sense of awe to the garrison of the town similar to that which the new gaol on Somerset

Street conveyed to civilians130. A fort was erected on a hill above the Drosdty, named

after Major Selwyn; it was a conspicuous landmark. Fort England remained in use, so the

army occupied spaces at both ends of the town.

The wealthier officers also moved from the centre of the town to its outskirts. Some built

impressive houses for themselves, in contrast to the more restrained civilian

accommodation of the 1830s. Major Selwyn constructed “Selwyn Castle”, a castellated

villa and “a rare example of an English country house…at the Cape” 131. It was considered

sufficiently genteel to become the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor, Andries

128
Lewcock, Early Nineteenth Century Architecture, p. 75.
129
Ibid., p. 75.
130
Scott, “Early Victorian Grahamstown”, i, p. 148.
131
Lewcock, Early Nineteenth Century Architecture, p. 288.

46
Stockenström, after Selwyn‟s departure in 1836132. The most extensive estate developed

by an officer was that of the Commandant of the Frontier, Colonel Henry Somerset.

Named Oatlands after an aristocratic mansion in England, the estate consisted of an

extensive tract of ground chosen for its “picturesque” qualities rather than for serious

agricultural pursuits. Somerset‟s house was for a time the largest building in the eastern

Cape133.

Despite occupying the fringes of the town, the military had a strong visual and aural

impact. Troops frequently marched through the streets, and the army bands provided

entertainment. Parades commemorated special occasions, such as the arrival of the

Governor (a fairly common occurrence) or the sovereign‟s birthday. A cannon marked

the time from Fort Selwyn, while the sound of bugles was also familiar. Above all, the

presence of numerous red coats in the street must have been, to the settlers at any rate, a

reassuring reminder of Grahamstown‟s membership of a broader empire. William Shaw

described the impact of the military, drawing attention to specific local circumstances:

The frequent appearance in the streets of the officers and soldiers

of the garrison when off duty, and the numerous occasions on
which their parades or field days bring them through the town
accompanied by their bands of music, and the crowds of
astonished or excited natives of every class who are frequently
brought together in the streets, occasion much variety of scene, and
produce a great deal more vivacity than is usually witnessed in the
smaller provincial towns of Great Britain 134.

132
Ibid., p. 289.
133
Radford, D and Martinson, W, “Oatlands Grahamstown: A Short History of the Estate” Cory Library,
MS 19 593.
134
Shaw, Story of My Mission, p. 79.

47
Grahamstown grew rapidly from a handful of houses along High Street to a relatively

substantial town of five thousand inhabitants in the 1840s. In 1820 it was estimated that

there were only about 22 houses in the town; by 1848 there were 750 135. Most of the

housing development in this period occurred down the lengths of High Street and New

Street, along Hill and Bathurst Streets towards the Market Square, and on the ground

above the Market which came to be known as Settlers‟ Hill. The architecture of the

domestic dwellings in the town reflected both a desire to reproduce English forms and the

constraints of building in an underdeveloped region. Until the 1850s, the flat, white

frontages of Georgian houses were preferred, whether for a humble two-roomed cottage

or the more substantial double-storey house of the prosperous merchant. The settlers

preferred the contiguous streetscapes of Britain and house fronts were built abutting one

another, quickly giving the townscape a more filled-in appearance136. Traditional British

designs competed with established Cape practice. One example of this was the

construction of roofs. The British settlers tended to prefer steeped roofs, but the only

material available for constructing these was thatch, which was actively discouraged as a

fire hazard. In older Cape towns flat roofs had become the common alternative.

Nevertheless, large numbers of Grahamstown houses acquired steeped thatched roofs 137.

Some South African innovations, such as the “stoep”, were more eagerly adopted 138.

135
Scott, “Early Victorian Grahamstown”, i, p. 114.
136
Ibid., i, p. 141.
137
Lewcock, Early Nineteenth Century Architecture, p. 201.
138
Ibid., p. 207.

48
Although many of the houses in Grahamstown presented similar whitewashed frontages,

there was a considerable variety of dwellings, ranging from small, single-storey cottages

to large free-standing town houses139. This reflected the disparities of wealth in the settler

population. To a limited extent, white residential areas were segregated by class. One the

most conspicuous examples of this was the development of “Settlers‟ Hill”, centred on

the crossroads known as “Artificers‟ Square”. This area had been divided up into smaller

plots than was the case in the rest of the town, thus making land available to less

prosperous residents. Goldswain described the plots as “Mechanic Hearfs” 140 [sic –

erven], and the area became associated with artisans, although not everyone who lived

there could be classed as such. William Lee, the wealthy “army butcher”, had a house in

Artificers‟ Square141. There were a number of double storey townhouses among the

smaller cottages, suggesting wealthier residents lived there. New Street was also largely

an artisanal area 142. Market Square was a wealthier area, soon surrounded by double

storey townhouses belonging to successful merchants such as J. Temlett and W. Cock 143.

The elite of Grahamstown had not yet segregated themselves into the suburbs by the

1840s – it is significant that many of the wealthier houses overlooked the market, the

source of their prosperity. The majority of merchants lived in High, Beaufort and

Bathurst Streets, either directly over their business or in very close proximity 144. Stubbs

regretted his move from Church Square to the more prestigious upper end of High Street

because it damaged his business as a tanner – his customers did not follow him. In the

139
Scott, P and Deetz, J, “Building, Furnishings and Social Change in Early Victorian Grahamstown”,
Social Dynamics, 16, 1 (1990), p. 81.
140
Long, Goldswain’s Chronicle, i, p. 50.
141
Gledhill, E, Grahamstown from Cottage to Villa (Claremont, 1974), p. 40.
142
Scott, “Early Victorian Grahamstown”, i, p. 160.
143
Ibid., ii, p. 25.
144
Ibid., i, p. 143.

49
early decades of the nineteenth century, therefore, the wealthy elite of Grahamstown

lived very much in the midst of the town‟s bustling commercial activity. They also lived

in close proximity to the poorer areas of the town. It was only as the merchant class

became more established that they were able to move to the outskirts of the town,

particularly West Hill, which is first mentioned as a suburb in 1850, when W. Cock is

listed with that address145. The extensive villas of Worcester Street, and George Wood‟s

Beaufort Street mansion “Woodville” were only commenced in the 1850s and 1860s146.

By the 1840s, therefore, the settler population had managed to create many familiar

English forms. The tower of the Anglican Church rose above a town of clustered white

houses, interspersed with trees and surrounded by rolling grasslands. Closer examination,

however, revealed the distinctively colonial and South African nature of the town. The

settlers themselves were a very heterogeneous group, and the diversity of British accents

and habits would have seemed remarkable to settlers accustomed to more homogeneous

communities at home. Indeed, it had been initially suggested that settlers from England,

Wales, Ireland and Scotland be settled widely apart so that they should not be “mixed up

with any others as speak a different language” 147. Philipps also thought that to “get a

population, collected from all parts of England, differing in customs and manners to sit

down quietly in the hive industry” would be no small achievement 148. Many of the

settlers commented on the variety of accents. “Harry Hastings” (in fact John Ayliff)

found that the language of Ford‟s party was to his “London ears so broad that [he] could

145
Ibid., i, p. 159.
146
Gledhill, Cottage to Villa, p. 98.
147
Edwards, 1820 Settlers, p. 61.
148
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 85.

50
with difficulty understand it” 149. Thomas Stubbs commented on the London accents of

his father‟s party, which he attempted to render in writing. He recounts a man from

Covent Garden trying to get oxen to pull a wagon: “Well! I‟m blowed if they‟nt off with

a vengeance, that‟s sartain” 150; and another cockney servant, Mainman, on brick making:

“Dos‟t ya think I can hug watter – and mak steins and hug „em too? Tam wain‟t work” 151.

He derived particular amusement from the Irish, and relates a story told to him by an Irish

customer to whom he had sold gunpowder:

I will jist tell ye how it was. It was this way, Ye know. The Wife
and I went to bed, and we had not been asleep long before I hears a
groan, and thin another, then ses I „Judy‟ ses I, „what‟s the matter?‟
ses I, with that she ses, „Och Lawler be getting up, will ye, and be
getting me some hot wather for I shall be ded entirely!‟ With that I
gets up, and on going to the fire place I only saw a few coals, I had
no matches and I thought of the powder. So I gets the powder in
the one hand, and the candle in the other, and jest holds the candle
about two foot from the coals, and then sprinkled some powder
onto the coals intinden to catch the fire with the candle as it wint
up the chimney; but by the God of War, the whole of the powder
caught light, and went off like a great big gun, throwing me
backwords into the other end of the room. The Wife screamed out,
„Och Lawler what have you done?‟ „Och ses I, I‟m kilt intirely. Be
gitten up and get a light.‟ The which she did and found me lying
against the wall, but the whole of front of me shirt, burnt off and
all my hair. Och, it was a fright I got. I‟ll take care to have nothing
to do with powder again, the treacherous baster… 152

The idiosyncratic spelling of Goldswain‟s Chronicle gives a strong indication of his

Buckinghamshire accent: “Wen we rived in Port Elizabeth thear was not more then 12 or

149
Ayliff, Hastings Journal, p. 93.
150
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 78.
151
Ibid., p. 80.
152
Ibid., p. 209.

51
15 houses and at this time that I ham riting it is alarge sea port Town…” 153. Thomas

Pringle recounted exchanging pleasantries with Scottish soldiers in his “brogue” 154. The

Welsh Philipps enjoying practising his Gaelic with a wrecked Breton sea captain 155.

Grahamstown was evidently a filthy town in the early nineteenth century156. Discussions

around the state of the streets reflect the divergence between the genteel, rural image of

Grahamstown that the settler community tried to cultivate, and the realities of a poor,

underdeveloped town on a colonial frontier. The streets were described as being in “a

most perilous and degraded state, some of which are entirely too hazardous to be crossed

in a dark night” – especially since the town was unlit 157. The presence of large numbers

of oxen, horses, and other livestock in the town meant that the streets were continuously

chocked with manure. There were even more obnoxious sources of refuse. In particular,

the abattoirs were a source of constant grievance and complaint. One correspondent to the

Journal alleged the slaughter houses produced “deleterious and pestilential vapours and

exhalations” 158. Another claimed to have seen “the stinking carcass of a calf lying in the

pathway, which about twenty dogs were devouring. I also saw some blood holes, which

were full of blood” 159. William Lee seems to have been one of the worst offenders, and

was accused of shooting his cattle in High Street 160. Some butchers asserted, rather

unhelpfully, that the stench was the result of drowned cats and dogs in the stream rather

153
Long, Goldswain’s Chronicle, i, p. 18.
154
Pringle, T, African Sketches (London, 1834), p. 128.
155
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 359.
156
Not that this would have been significantly different to towns in Britain, and indeed, Grahamstown was
probably healthier than large industrial cities. Newsome,D, The Victorian World Picture (London, 1997), p.
85.
157
Graham’s Town Journal, 10 April 1834.
158
Graham’s Town Journal, 1 June 1832.
159
Graham’s Town Journal, 6 March 1834.
160
Graham’s Town Journal, 15 October 1835.

52
than the abattoirs161. Whether this was true or not, stray dogs were a menace, and

occasionally people were bitten 162. The solution, however, was less than satisfactory:

“Suffering a gang of convicts to perambulate the streets a midday [sic], and then to shock

the feelings of the inhabitants by their noisy vociferations and by compelling them to

witness the merciless slaughter of every unfortunate cur which may fall in their way at

the moment” 163. The horror of the spectacle would have been accentuated by the fact that

the convicts were not, of course, issued firearms to carry out their work. The filth in the

town seems to have had negative implications for the health of the town‟s residents. The

Journal reported that the medical officers were of the “opinion that the sickness which

prevails so generally among the inhabitants is in part to be ascribed to the quantities of

filth which are allowed to accumulate in the back streets and the unoccupied erven in the

town”164. It was only in the later part of the nineteenth century that many of these

problems were solved.

The attempt to create an Anglicised environment in the town was further inhibited by the

development of a large and impoverished township at the eastern end of the town from

the 1820s. As early as 1829 land was set aside for a Khoekhoe “location” near the burial

ground165. In theory, the segregation of Khoekhoe from the rest of the town was supposed

to be to the former‟s advantage. An LMS missionary, the Reverend Munro, suggested

that “in the new village where the Hottentots reside they enjoy many privileges such as

being under their own laws and regulations, and being so near to town, can be daily

161
Graham’s Town Journal, 27 April 1832
162
Graham’s Town Journal, 3 February 1832.
163
Graham’s Town Journal, 17 April 1835.
164
Graham’s Town Journal, 9 July 1835.
165
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 37.

53
employed by the inhabitants” 166. Apart from the symbolic separation from the town‟s

white community, the disadvantages of the township tended to outweigh any advantages

it may have offered. Most Khoekhoe were very poor, and unable to invest in permanent

housing. Even Munro had to admit that the dwellings erected “in Africa may be called

comfortable…but which if not constantly looked after, and if not inhabited, soon fall to

ruin”167. The township soon developed slum conditions, and attracted the hostility of

some of the town‟s white inhabitants. One correspondent to the Journal wrote:

I have heard…a great deal said respecting the Hottentot village

which, about two years ago, was marked out by our civil
commissioner; and I once heard Doctor Philip remark in a sermon
– „That it would reflect more credit on this town than all its trade
and fine buildings put together”. I have since looked carefully for
the fulfilment of the Doctor‟s prediction, but all I can see is a
parcel of wretched rush or straw hovels, which harbour abundance
of filth, and a congregation of lazy, squalid, dissolute creatures,
most of whom are induced to work by no other motive than that
they may procure the means of rioting in drunkenness at the
canteen168.

Others were similarly critical: “It appears that several wretched hovels have been

constructed near the Cape Corps barracks, which are occupied by a number of Hottentots

– and that here without restraint they live in filth and wretchedness, and indulge

themselves in the most infamous vices” 169.

The conditions in the township were exacerbated after 1835 by the arrival of large

numbers of Mfengu, or “Fingoes”, in the town. Although they were actively discouraged

166
Ibid., p. 37.
167
Ibid., p. 37.
168
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 June 1833.
169
Graham’s Town Journal, 25 July 1833.

54
from settling in the town by the Civil Commissioner, Duncan Campbell, they were

nevertheless sought after in a town perennially short of labour. They came to occupy the

common lands on the periphery of the town, a development which the Municipal

administration watched with concern. Little attempt at managing the township was made

until the 1840s. Before that decade, the primary thrust of segregation in the Eastern Cape

was to maintain the separation of the colony from the African chiefdoms beyond its

borders. Even though many Africans had long been living in the colony and were integral

to its economy, the fiction was maintained that they were temporary residents, “Native

foreigners” in official parlance, who would some day return. By the 1840s it was clear

that Africans were to be a permanent presence in the colony, and segregation came to

signify “a much more complex pattern of interlocking spatial and labour relations” 170.

The desire to regulate the position of Africans in the colony resulted in efforts to exercise

greater control over Grahamstown‟s townships. As with the Khoekhoe, the stated motive

for the segregation of the Mfengu and other Africans was that it was for their own good.

It was argued that the establishment of an Mfengu township was “to improve their

condition and also other native foreigners within the municipality” 171. The move was

greeted approvingly by the local press. Even the relatively liberal Cape Frontier Times

wrote:

It is satisfactory to find that a beginning has at last been made to

reduce the rude and scattered fragments of uncivilised life by
which we are surrounded, into shape and order; and we trust that
the preliminary steps will soon be followed by arrangements, the
result of which will be to give to the numerous and useful classes
of natives, who have now only a temporary location in the town

170
Lester, A, “The Margins of Order: Strategies of Segregation on the Eastern Cape Frontier, 1806 – c.
1850”, Journal of Southern African Studies, 23, 4, (1997), p. 650.
171
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 140.

55
 lands, a permanent interest in the prosperity of the town, and to
raise them in the scale of social happiness 172.

The “Fingo Village”, as the new township came to be called, was finally given official

legal status in 1847, and marked the beginning of efforts to maintain closer control over

the town‟s black residents. Theoretically the locations were to be treated equally with

other parts of the municipality, and the building of square houses on right-angled streets

was intended to conform to the appearance of the rest of the town 173. The construction of

African housing in such a way as to conform to European standards was frequently seen

in the colonial context as an important step in “civilising” Africans and rendering their

difference less threatening to settlers 174. But the residents of the township seldom had

either the means or the inclination to construct their homes according to European

sensibilities, and the Municipal Commissioners were not inclined to make any serious

investment in the infrastructure of the township. The slum conditions which had begun to

develop in the 1830s continued and worsened. The physical separation of Grahamstown‟s

black inhabitants demonstrated starkly their unequal incorporation into the settler-

dominated community.

The presence of Grahamstown‟s diverse people in the streets also undermined the

settlers‟ vision of an English community. Although laden with crude colonial prejudice,

the complaints of white inhabitants of the town about the differing cultural practices of its

black residents reveal the continuing struggle over the town‟s identity, and how this was

expressed in material forms. It was asserted in the Journal that “nothing can be more

172
Cape Frontier Times, 11 September 1845.
173
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 141.
174
Comaroffs, Of Revelation and Revolution, ii, p. 227.

56
unsatisfactory than the present state of Grahamstown. It teems with coloured persons,

numbers of whom spend the day in idleness, riot and drunkenness” 175. Another

correspondent wrote that “it is impossible for any decent female to walk along the High

Street without her ears being offended by the infamous and indecent language of drunken

Hottentots and her eyes by naked Fingos” 176. Complaints about Africans walking through

the town naked were frequent, and they were eventually required to wear European

clothes in 1845177. The “disgusting” rite of circumcision amongst Africans was also

objected to178. One clerk even asked for re-assignment to avoid further dealings with

“malodorous Fingos” - the refusal of his request was accompanied by the sardonic

suggestion from Cape Town that he purchase a “smelling bottle” 179. Even so potent a

symbol of British identity as red-coated soldiers parading through the streets became a

point of cultural conflict: the spectacle was marred by “crowds of black persons, both

male and female [who are] attracted by the sound, and follow the march of the troops

through the streets, sometimes dancing and using the most extravagant and disgusting

gestures” 180.

What these settler complaints reveal, of course, is that Africans also attempted to bring

their own cultural practices to the landscape of the town. Attachment to familiar dress

and traditions such as circumcision were attempts by Africans to perpetuate in an

unfamiliar colonial context the lifestyles they had left behind. Even the huts of the

175
Graham’s Town Journal, 12 November 1835.
176
Graham’s Town Journal, 19 November 1835.
177
Hunt, “The Development of Municipal Government”, p. 140.
178
Graham’s Town Journal, 4 March 1841.
179
Graham’s Town Journal, 14 October 1841.
180
Graham’s Town Journal, 14 July 1836.

57
township, which attracted so much ire as detracting from the ordered “Englishness” of the

landscape, must have reflected architectural preference as well as the difficulty of

actually erecting the kind of buildings encouraged by the municipal administration. Even

every-day practices in such a diverse town could become contests over culture and

identity.

The conflicted settler view of Grahamstown as being both “England in miniature” and a

town “teeming” with “coloured persons” is reflected in contemporary artistic depictions.

There are no photographs of Grahamstown until the 1860s and so it is necessary to rely

on artworks to gain an idea of the appearance of the town 181. Although these can be

informative, they also need to be treated with caution, since they reflect the values and

priorities of the artist as much as the actual appearance of the town. A recent study of

Thomas Baines has cautioned that work of an artist “reveals the interactions of many

influences and in it the presentation of „truth‟ becomes a complex issue encoded in re-

presentation” 182. In general, there are two kinds of artworks of Grahamstown available:

cityscapes, which often tend to try to emphasise the “English” nature of the town, and

street scenes, which depict Grahamstown‟s diverse people in a colourful, but also

sometimes prejudiced, light. The lithograph published in the memoirs of a missionary,

Thornley Smith183, is a good example of the former:

181
Van der Riet, F, Grahamstown in Early Photographs (Cape Town, 1974), p. 11.
182
Carruthers and Arnold, Thomas Baines, p. 14.
183
Reproduced in Scott, “Early Victorian Grahamstown”, p. 140.

58
Drawn in 1842, the lithograph presents Grahamstown as an orderly and neat settlement,

dominated by its religious and civil buildings. A striking omission, however, is the

township, which was already established near the (clearly visible) burial ground.

Evidently it simply did not fit in with Thornley Smith‟s mental vision of the town 184.

Thomas Baines, one of the best-known artists of nineteenth century South Africa and one

who championed “the taming and ordering of the [African] landscape and its people,

while revelling in its beauty and uniqueness” 185, also omits the location in his cityscapes

of Grahamstown. Such “emptying” of the landscape of its original inhabitants was, as

Crais has pointed out, a common feature of colonial artwork in South Africa. As well as

184
See Scott, “Early Victorian Grahamstown”; Crosser, M, “Images of a Changing Frontier: Worldview in
Eastern Cape Art from Bushman Rock Art to 1875” (Unpublished MA Thesis, Rhodes University, 1992) .
185
Carruthers and Arnold, Thomas Baines, p. 12.

59
reflecting the desired self-image of settlers, the removal of Africans is a way of justifying

and validating the colonial project of conquest, settlement and domination 186.

Street scenes, on the other hand, tend to emphasise “uncivilised” Grahamstown. One of

the most prolific Grahamstown artists was Frederick I‟Ons, who moved there in 1834. He

quickly came to identify with the settler viewpoint in the town, joining the volunteer

forces in the Sixth Frontier War and drawing a series of cartoons attacking Andries

Stockenström, a long-standing political opponent of the settlers, in 1836. His paintings,

such as the scene at Shepperson‟s Well in High Street 187, tend to reflect settler racial

prejudices, among them the assumption that the Khoekhoe were given to drunkenness

and licentiousness:

186
Crais, C, “The Vacant Land: The Mythology of British Expansion in the Eastern Cape, South Africa”,
Journal of Social History, Vol. 25, no. 2, (1991), p. 257.
187
Reproduced in Crosser, “Images of a Changing Frontier”, p. 95.

60
He also painted a number of “canteen scenes”, where the point was more explicitly made.

Although I‟Ons may have had a jaundiced view of Grahamstown‟s African and

Khoekhoe inhabitants, his paintings do at least acknowledge their integral place in the

Grahamstown community, and demolish the idea that the town was an English “Settler

City”.

As the competing agendas for the development of the town indicate, Grahamstown had

acquired a population of considerable diversity by the mid-1840s. In many ways the town

was a microcosm of the whole frontier, with its disparate peoples at once engaged in

continual conflict and struggle, but also increasingly incorporated, if unequally, into a

single economy and society. The following chapter examines in more detail the divisions

within the community, divisions not only of race, but also of class and gender. The

differing agendas and priorities of these different groups found expression not only in

architecture and the townscape, but over a wide range of cultural practices and activities.

61
 CHAPTER TWO

“THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE HUMAN RACE”: DIVISION AND

DEPENDENCE IN A COMPLEX SOCIETY

In the aggregate the power of the British government has

been exerted to promote the best interests of the human
race – to discountenance cruelty and oppression – to spread
the knowledge of useful arts and sciences – and to establish
just and liberal institutions – The Graham’s Town Journal,
18351.

In the 1810s, the population of Grahamstown was small. Most were connected with the

military, either as soldiers or their dependants. There were a handful of white settlers

taking advantage of the commercial opportunities offered by the presence of a military

base. After 1820, however, the population of the town grew rapidly, from about one

hundred white settlers and a few hundred Khoekhoe (mostly families of soldiers in the

Cape Corps) in 1819 to over 5000 in the 1840s. This population increase was largely a

result of the immigration of large numbers of British settlers in the 1820s. These formed

the majority of Grahamstown‟s inhabitants. It was nevertheless far from being a

homogeneous community: it possessed many social divisions, not only of race, but also

of class within the white community. Attitudes towards race and class were frequently

interlinked. The town therefore experienced frequent social tensions, as different groups

attempted to establish and contest their roles in a small but divided community.

1
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 February 1835.

62
Grahamstown was established as a civilian as well as a military settlement. Land was

made available to civilian settlers as early as 1814, but the non-military population of the

town remained very small until the 1820s. Most early white settlers were attracted by the

economic opportunities presented by the presence of the military. However, they

remained few in number. Typically for the period 2, they tended for the most part to be

either discharged soldiers, such as the saddler W. Ogilvie and the merchant W. R.

Thompson, or drifters and adventurers, such as Arnoldus Bernadus Dietz. The latter was

a marked eccentric, an enthusiastic violinist who considered Paganini to be a

“mountebank” and an inferior musician to himself. Any customer visiting his store while

he was practising was unlikely to be able to make a purchase. He was also exceptionally

argumentative and litigious. He ran a store on behalf of Frederick Korsten, who operated

from Algoa bay and possessed the most profitable business empire in the region 3. Piet

Retief, an erstwhile farmer who found that exploiting commercial opportunities arising

from the presence of the British army and administration was a surer career, was another

figure who attracted controversy. He was extensively involved in construction, trading

and land speculation. Despite the prominence of these individuals, and the enduring place

they retained in settler memory, it is difficult to gain a sense of Grahamstown as a

community. The military was a transient population, although the acquisition of land

gave many of the officers a certain interest in the town, and the merchants were too few

to possess any real feeling of civic identity. It was only in the 1820s that a substantial

community grew in Grahamstown with definite notions of its unique place in a broader

South Africa.

2
Freund, W, “The Cape under Transitional Governments, 1795-1814”, in Elphick and Giliomee, The
Shaping of South African Society, p. 333.
3
Ross, R, “The Cape of Good Hope and the World Economy”, in ibid., p. 268.

63
The government-sponsored white settlement scheme of 1820 had intended to locate a

large number of British settlers ostensibly to „defend‟ the frontier with Xhosaland along

the Fish River. Since such a boundary existed more in the imagination of colonial

administrators than in reality, the aim can be more accurately stated as an attempt to

stabilise the security situation within the Zuurveld and resolve the question of land

ownership and control. The second aspect of “closing” the frontier in the Zuurveld was to

establish firmer colonial control of land 4. The settlement was thus intended to be

primarily agricultural in nature, and the hope was that a dense body of sturdy British

farmers would provide a buffer against any efforts by the Xhosa to re-occupy the

Zuurveld.

The proponents of the settlement had a clear vision of the nature of the society they

hoped to create. Both the imperial and colonial government envisaged a social structure

which would be closely modelled on the English countryside, in which a wealthy landed

gentry would be served by a body of white labourers and tenants5. For this reason,

potential emigrants were formed into parties, and title to land in the Cape was to be

granted to the leaders of these parties, who in turn would distribute land to their

followers. Some of the wealthier settlers, such as Thomas Philipps, George Pigot, Miles

Bowker, Duncan Campbell, Charles Dalgairns and others, were able to pay deposits

required for all members of their parties, in return for which they expected an agreed

period of labour. They were considered to be the natural leaders of the settlement, by

4
Giliomee, “The Eastern Frontier, 1770 - 1812” in ibid., p. 459.
5
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 90.

64
virtue of their gentility and education. George Thompson, a traveller in the 1820s,

considered that “this class, (with a very few exceptions) consisted of men of education,

intelligence, and good character. There were besides a considerable number of highly

respectable families, some of whom in England moved in circles superior even to middle

life” 6. The party leaders themselves shared this vision of a leading role in the community.

For all their respectability these leaders were often escaping from economic pressures at

home, which, in the words of Miles Bowker, made it “difficult to provide for a

family…without reducing them to the lowest ranks of society, which ill accords with the

previous knowledge of being ascended from the first” 7. He and others hoped to secure or

improve their social rank in South Africa. Such hopes were evidently contagious. The

leaders of the so-called “independent” parties, where members had paid their own way

and joined together for mutual benefit, also often began to assume that they too were

entitled to certain privileges, despite their generally nominal positions as party leaders.

Thomas Wilson, for example, claimed rights as “Lord of the Manor” - hunting, fishing

and wood-cutting privileges as well as two years service from his fellow party members 8.

The pretensions of some of the party leaders could occasion disparagement: Somerset

remarked that they should not be encouraged to consider themselves “Dukes of

Bedford” 9. But he still intended they would become landed gentry, and they harboured

the same hope. Even after the arrival of the settlers, Thomas Philipps imagined the

6
Thompson, G, Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa, (Cape Town, Reprint 1968), ii, p111
7
Ibid., p. 89.
8
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 90.
9
Lester, A, Imperial Networks: Creating Identities in Nineteenth Century South Africa and Britain
(London, 2001), p. 52.

65
Zuurveld as English parkland, finding it impossible to “prevent the eye from imagining a

Mansion at the turn of every road” 10.

This vision of an idyllic replica of rural England proved impossible to realise. The

Zuurveld was not suited to dense agricultural settlement 11. A series of environmental

disasters befell the settlers, ranging from a disease known as “rust”, which destroyed the

wheat crops for three years, to floods in 1823 which ruined fields and homes alike (both

often built too close to river banks). However, there were clearly other reasons for the

failure of the settlement. Almost half of those who emigrated had urban, working or

lower middle-class backgrounds: “pale-visaged artisans and operative manufacturers”, in

Pringle‟s somewhat dismissive phrase 12, people clearly unsuited to agricultural pursuits.

Perhaps most important was the degree of social conflict that quickly came to prevail

amongst the settlers. The settler gentry failed to understand that they were not the only

ones hoping to improve their social status and economic position: that was the intention

of the majority of the settlers. It became evident that remaining on the land would leave

them just as insecure as they had been in the industrial towns they had left in Britain,

while the rapid expansion of towns such as Grahamstown could provide generous wages

for skilled artisans. Few parties survived as distinct communities on their assigned

locations. The disintegration of the original parties was often a litigious process, and one

discouraged by the authorities, but to little avail. Jeremiah Goldswain, for example, was

involved in a particularly acrimonious dispute with the leader of his party which obliged

him to travel back and forth between Uitenhage and Grahamstown and spend several

10
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 89.
11
See chapter one above.
12
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 130.

66
nights in prison before he was finally released from his indentures. Somerset even

obliged settlers to acquire passes if they wished to leave their locations: they were

probably the only white South Africans ever required to do so. But the drift away from

the land continued. By 1823, only about 600 out of the original 4 000 settlers remained

on the land13.

The 1820 settlement scheme and its subsequent collapse had enormous implications for

Grahamstown. It quickly led to a rapid increase in population. In 1820 it was estimated

that the population of the town, including the garrison, did not amount to more than 400.

Cory assumes that the 32 armed civilians who assisted in the defence of the town in 1819

probably constituted the entire male civilian population. By 1826, however, George

Thompson estimated the total population to be about 2 500, while another traveller,

Cowper Rose, gave a figure of 3 000 in 1828. By 1842, the population had reached about

5 000, of whom 4 000 were estimated to be white 14. This increase significantly altered the

social structure of the town. On the one hand, the settler gentry quickly established a

close relationship with the military and civil elite, and reproduced as far as they could the

social life they had left behind, including balls, outdoor excursions and horse racing. At

the same time the town acquired a large population of artisans who quickly took up their

old trades. The social structure of the town remained fluid. Since the 1820s were a period

of rapid economic change the society of Grahamstown was in many ways in a state of

flux, as the settlers adapted themselves to the conditions of their new environment.

13
Peires, J, “The British and the Cape 1814-1834”, in Elphick and Giliomee (eds.), The Shaping of South
African Society, p. 475.
14
Chase, Cape of Good Hope, p. 39.

67
The elite settlers quickly sought to set themselves apart from the mass of those of lower

status: they were aware of their prospective role as leaders in the community. The

arrangements on the beach at Algoa Bay in 1820 expressed their sense of difference and

superiority. Pringle describes the tents of some of the party leaders as set apart from the

rest of the tent city, and evincing “the taste of the occupants by the pleasant situations in

which they were placed, and by the neatness and order of everything about them” 15.

Pringle felt that he “could not view this class of emigrants, with their elegant

arrangements and appliances, without some melancholy misgivings as to their future fate;

for they appeared utterly unfitted by former habits, especially the females, for roughing

it…through the first trying period of the settlement”. 16 Despite the initial necessity of

“roughing it” on the allotments the settler elite were soon able to reproduce a social

environment similar to that they had enjoyed in Britain. Thomas Philipps, one of the

leading lights of this society, was described as “a gentleman whose intelligence, urbanity

and kindly spirit” added the “charm of English sociability and refinement” to the

settlement 17. The young army officers of the Grahamstown garrison came from similar

social backgrounds, and provided welcome company. Sophia Pigot, daughter of another

leading settlers, describes “meeting a number of officers going through the street” 18 as

one of the highlights of a visit to Grahamstown. The Somersets in particular, with their

aristocratic connections (Henry Somerset named his Grahamstown estate, Oatlands, after

one of the residences of Henry VIII), provided a focus for fashionable entertainment in

the town. Philipps‟ daughter described an evening at Oatlands:

15
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 12.
16
Ibid., p. 12.
17
Thompson, Travels and Adventures, i, p. 103.
18
Rainier, M, The Journals of Sophia Pigot (Cape Town, 1974), p. 64.

68
 Captain and Mrs Somerset invited Mama and Papa to come and
pass a few days, and had a party to meet them on New Year‟s Day, and
were exceedingly attentive to them. They do not see much company as
there are not many genteel families in Grahamstown. The band played on
the lawn during dinner, and the evening concluded with Music, singing
etc…Mrs Somerset plays extremely well on the Piano and Harp, we
generally had music every evening, and a great deal of singing when her
brother, Mr Heathcote, joined our party. 19

Mrs Somerset‟s musical ability was widely admired in a society where such

“accomplishments” were particularly expected of young women. Sophia Pigot spent

much of her time playing the piano in her father‟s wattle-and-daub house, as well as

sketching, needlework, copying poetry and playing whist: the approved pursuits of a

Georgian young lady in the South African veld.

The presence of the military and government establishments helped to ensure that

Grahamstown itself was the social centre for the elite, despite the fact that they mostly

continued to reside on the land. (Since they generally held the legal title to the land, they

had far more to lose by leaving it than indentured artisans). There were considerable

opportunities for advancement for the higher ranks of the military establishment.

Extensive grants of land were often granted to military officers in the colony. G. S.

Fraser, who temporarily held command of the Grahamstown garrison before 1820 had

large grants in the town 20. Not all officers were so fortunate – one Lieutenant Wade was

court-martialled after marrying the daughter of Major Armstrong on the basis of

19
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 86.
20
Thompson, Travels and Adventures, i, p. 16.

69
“expectancies” which were actually fictitious 21. But by and large officers seem to have

led a comfortable life in Grahamstown. The most conspicuous example of enrichment

was that of Colonel Henry Somerset, son of a governor in the 1820s and later

commandant of the frontier. He was able to carve out an extensive estate called

“Oatlands”. The Somersets and other senior military officers such as Colonel Scott held

balls and organised other forms of entertainment in the early 1820s. Mrs Philipps

described a ball hosted by the officers of the Cape Corps in 1826:

It went off extremely well, the rooms were large and handsome,
the building was illuminated with lamps and transparencies on the
outside, and a guard on horseback placed before it. It had an
extremely pretty effect on approaching it. The ball room was very
well lighted up with chandeliers (not of cut glass) but formed of
wood and tin entirely concealed by beautiful shrubs and flowers,
which with the numerous candles placed amongst them looked
uncommonly pretty…It was really a most splendid affair for this
part of the world and the Assemblage of really well dressed
Females, many of them elegantly so, greater than ever had been
seen here22.

There is a sense in which such obligations were expected of the military and civil elite.

One of the objections to Captain Trappes, the magistrate at Bathurst, was that he was a

“sensualist, a Scoffer of Religion, and a [great] misanthrope” 23. Similar objections were

raised against Harry Rivers (alias “pumpkin guts” and “humbug” in the words of Thomas

Stubbs24), the notoriously unpopular landdrost at Grahamstown between 1822 and 1825;

the affability of his successor, Major Dundas, helped to ensure his popularity 25. Dundas

21
Graham’s Town Journal, 23 July 1840.
22
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p.303.
23
Ibid., p. 88.
24
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 83.
25
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 88.

70
“rendered Graham‟s Town quite a different place. Instead of form and ceremony they

meet now frequently together in the most sociable way, the young people stand up to

dance, the old ones play cards and converse, and all seem happy and pleased” 26. Friction

in such a small community could have significant social implications. When Colonel

Somerset led a commando over the frontier in 1825 without informing Dundas, the

civilian authority, much effort had to be made to heal the breach. Significantly a ball

provided the occasion for reconciliation 27.

Another congenial activity for the elite in the 1820s was the establishment of horse

racing, which took place from the early 1820s at a track established just outside the town.

This was a particular passion of Lord Somerset, whose importation and sale of horses

into the colony were considered scandalous by the Western Cape elite28, and his son, who

donated a cup bearing the family name. The races reached their social apotheosis in 1825

when the governor himself attended, bedecked in a “blue coat, sash, Veil and parasol”

and reminding Philipps of “an old Lady of 70 riding in Hyde Park” 29. The settler gentry

and Somerset patched over their differences on this occasion, and the dinners, excursions

and “transparencies” arranged were considered to be a great success.

The settler gentry failed to prosper during the 1820s, and their perceived decline

occasioned much bitterness. The failure to develop successful agriculture and the flight of

labourers from the land into the towns reduced many, at least initially, to positions of

26
Ibid., p. 251.
27
Ibid., p. 303.
28
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 303.
29
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 226.

71
severe financial difficulty. “Gloom and despair appear in all ranks here,” claimed

Philipps in the mid-1820s “but chiefly with people like myself who derive income from

our land”30. However, particularly during the trying years of the 1820s, observers tended

to exaggerate the difficulties faced by the elite. In very few cases were the original gentry

reduced to levels of “absolute destitution”, as Thompson feared would be the case 31.

Many were able to make their land productive as sheep farming took off in the district. It

was this which ensured that, despite the flood of settlers into Grahamstown, the settler

gentry generally failed to become an urban elite and remained largely a rural class. Those

who did stay in the town generally sought advancement in government service. While not

nearly as lucrative as the trading opportunities which were creating a new mercantile elite

in the town, this was sufficient to maintain a reasonable level of gentility. The limited

capacity of government in the town made competition for positions intense, and there was

much jostling for interest and advantage. Initially a number of the leading settlers were

made heemraden, a position which was unpaid and failed to satisfy the more ambitious.

In 1821 Philipps was already coveting the position of Captain Trappes, the provisional

magistrate of Bathurst. He hoped Trappes would be removed and leave “the fine

government house he is now building at Bathurst for me to finish and inhabit” 32. (He was

to be disappointed in this hope). Donald Moodie, who came from an “antient [sic] and

respectable family in the north of Scotland” 33, secured a series of minor positions in and

around Grahamstown 34, as did Major Pigot, who became Protector of Slaves in 1828.

More opportunity was created with the reorganisation of government in 1828, although

30
Ibid., p. 106.
31
Thompson, Travels and Adventures, ii, p. 111.
32
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 72.
33
Crais, The Making of the Colonial Order, p. 89.
34
Rainer (ed.), Sophia Pigot Diary, p. 104.

72
positions were still limited, and some, such as Philipps, were disappointed (and

envious) 35. The greatest prize was the office of Civil Commissioner, which went to

Duncan Campbell.

While the settler gentry vied for government patronage, a new kind of society was

developing in Grahamstown. Sir Rufane Donkin, the acting governor of the early 1820s,

saw that “great and disagreeable changes must take place in regard to many of the

particles now floating in the mass of Colonists, while it [i.e. settler society] is working

and arranging itself into social strata” 36. The more modest settlers arriving in the town

soon turned their hands either to the artisan or labouring occupations they had pursued in

England, or to trade. In the 1820s, the creation of a successful and prosperous artisan

class was celebrated. Much was made of the wages that could be earned during the initial

building boom of the 1820s. Philipps lamented that “mechanics are doing well and

getting up in the world while we are sinking fast” 37. Donald Moodie, another of the

settler gentry, complained that the lower classes had become too “uppish” as result of

their newfound prosperity 38. The resilience of settlers escaping destitution on the land

found much positive comment, however, and was admired by contemporary observers:

Thompson claimed that “seven years of trials and privations have rendered them hardy

and expert colonists” 39. Rose celebrated the rising generation of settlers as “hardy, inured

to climate, bold hunters, and unsaddened by old remembrances of another land”40.

35
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 341.
36
Butler, 1820 Settlers, p. 175.
37
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 106.
38
Macmillan, W. M, The Cape Colour Question: An Historical Survey (London, 1927), p. 117.
39
Thompson, Travels and Adventures, ii, p. 115.
40
Rose, C, Four Years in Southern Africa (London, 1829), p. 118.

73
Subsequently, sympathetic historians such as Hockly claimed that the flight to the towns

was the “salvation” of “people skilled in all manner of trades and callings” 41.

While it is true that many settlers were able to prosper as artisans in Grahamstown, this

was certainly not the case for all. Many could not find permanent occupation, and formed

a class of casual labourers. They were frequently very poor. Thomas Stubbs described

some of his fellow workers at a tannery as being some of “the lowest blackguards in the

Colony”, and implied he was the only one amongst them who was literate 42. As well as

labourers, soldiers were generally considered to be the lowest class of whites in the town.

They lived much harder lives than the officers, and there was the endless conflict with the

amaXhosa and the tedium of life in the barracks and the frontier forts. Many sought

consolation in the canteens with the poorer settlers. There was a certain amount of

friction between the military and civilians. One correspondent to the Journal claimed that

“the insolence of the military on this frontier is proverbial” after an exasperated soldier

locked a drunken settler in the guardhouse 43. Many discharged soldiers chose to remain in

the town as labourers, and were described by J. W. D. Moodie as “a drunken, dissolute

and improvident set of men” 44. The white poor also experienced severe social problems -

not the picture of artisanal comfort and “respectability” depicted by historians such as

Hockly. Drunkenness was endemic. The Journal claimed that “disgusting scenes of

drunkenness … were …frequently presented in the public streets” 45. Rose described the

town as being populated by a “strange mixture of lounging officers, idle tradesmen,

41
Hockly, H, The Story of the British Settlers of 1820 in South Africa (Cape Town, 1948), p. 78.
42
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 91.
43
Graham’s Town Journal, 15 May 1834.
44
Moodie, J, Ten Years in Southern Africa (London, 1835), ii, p. 304.
45
Graham’s Town Journal, 1 December 1831.

74
(merchants, I beg their pardon,) drunken soldiers, and still more drunken settlers” 46.

Thomas Philipps also noted the evils of “vile” Cape brandy and claimed that “the

quantity drunk by soldiers, Hottentots and Settlers is very great” 47. Thomas Shone

admitted to having “had many quarrels with that good woman [his wife] while in a state

of intoxication” 48. The journals of Thomas Shone reveal the temptations of the

Grahamstown canteens for many of the settlers, especially as they became a convivial

meeting place for townsfolk, soldiers, and local farmers in the town on business (though

Mr Symond‟s coffee shop perhaps provided an alternative) 49. The Graham’s Town

Journal complained of “the lax discipline maintained in houses of public resort by the

lower classes…Surely the inhabitants are not compelled to submit to the intolerable

annoyance caused by a besotted fiddler, who is employed as a decoy in scraping upon a

wretched instrument from morning to night, for the amusement of a squalid set of

bacchanalians” 50. The Journal‟s use of terms such as “lower classes”, as distinct from

“inhabitants”, is revealing.

Discussions around drunkenness in the town reveal the intersection of attitudes towards

race, class and gender in the town. Although it was clear that alcoholism was widespread

amongst the poorer white settlers, the elite often represented the problem in racial as well

as class terms. At the founding of the Grahamstown Temperance Society in 1831, a

typically elite organisation, whose committee was composed of administrators, clergy,

and wealthy merchants, it was clear that alcoholism was considered to be very much a

46
Rose, Four Years in Southern Africa, p.
47
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 81.
48
Silva (ed.), Shone Journal, p. 55.
49
Ibid., p. 49.
50
Graham’s Town Journal, 31 March 1833.

75
“Hottentot” problem51. Khoekhoe were endlessly berated for “rioting in drunkenness” in

the town‟s newspapers52, while one correspondent found the spectacle of “near thirty of

the most disgusting females rioting near a certain canteen” especially distressing,

demonstrating intersecting attitudes towards race and gender 53.

The selling of alcohol was a lucrative business and there were vested interests at stake.

The merchants can only have had an ambiguous desire to abolish the source of substantial

profit. Despite periodic railing against the canteens over the years, they remained open,

and drinking remained a popular pastime not only for Khoehkoe and Africans but whites

as well. As one canteen owner wrote to the journal: “I have been the humble means of

dispensing more real and direct happiness in one hour, and that with plain Cape Brandy,

than all your humbug schools and societies will do in a century” 54. Another letter

suggested a temperance society for those who drank wine as well as for those who drank

brandy, suggesting that the presumptions of the elite were not always appreciated 55.

There were high levels of crime in the town. Thomas Philipps visited the prison in the

1820s and found it filled with “several Hottentots and some slaves”, Xhosa from across

the frontier, as well as a number of “Dutch and British” 56. The original prison was soon

found to be inadequate, and an imposing new prison was constructed in 1824. There was

51
Although there also seems to have been class bias: One correspondent to the Journal suggested the
necessity of a temperance society for the “higher classes, or those whose opulent position on the frontier
enabled them to be classed as such”, who could drink wine rather than the “ardent spirits” resorted to by the
poor. Graham’s Town Journal, 16 February 1832.
52
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 June 1833.
53
Graham’s Town Journal, 4 March 1841.
54
Graham’s Town Journal, 27 January 1832.
55
Graham’s Town Journal, 16 February 1832.
56
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 156.

76
a minor wave of petty crime in 1820s as the settlers, failing to succeed as agriculturalists,

turned to illegal avenues to make a living - smuggling, trading across the frontier, or

selling alcohol. The break-up of parties also resulted in many cases of breach of contract

or “insolence”. By the 1830s and 1840s, the courts were largely concerned with theft, in

particular stock-theft. There were rapes, murders and assaults. Examination of court

records from the period indicates more than criminal activity. Attitudes towards crime,

justice and punishment reveal much about the racial, gender and class attitudes prevalent

in the community.

Government authority always maintained a significant presence in Grahamstown, as the

importance of providing adequate prison space indicates. There was never any sense in

which the administration was weak or despised, as in earlier frontier towns such as

Graaff-Reinet. During the period there was much overlap of judicial and civil functions.

The landdrosts served as magistrates as well as administrators. Despite the attempt to

separate these duties after 1828, a shortage of funds meant that the roles of civil

commissioner and resident magistrate were often filled by the same individual. Two

different courts operated during the period. The landdrost, and later resident

magistrate/civil commissioner, acted as a magistrate, trying cases below a certain level of

seriousness. For more serious offences, including capital ones, a twice yearly circuit court

was established, visiting Grahamstown around March and October each year.

Grahamstown seems to have been a thoroughly litigious community. Far from resenting

the interference of judicial authority, as was the case in other frontier communities,

77
citizens frequently used the courts to resolve issues which could have been better dealt

with privately. The magistrate‟s court records from the 1820s 57 contain many cases of

“abuse” or “insolence”, for which the magistrate often passed only derisory sentences, or

recommended that the matter be resolved out of court. Even the highest personages in the

town could become embroiled in acrimonious disputes. In the late 1830s a libel case

between Duncan Campbell, the Civil Commissioner of Albany, and Andries

Stockenström, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony, became a matter of scandal in the

town. Respect for the courts went beyond the acknowledgement of their power or utility.

They were seen as a key British institution and repository of British values, and were

venerated by the English settlers. The arrival of the circuit court judges, was described by

the Journal:

Even at Graham‟s Town, which assumes to itself the airs of the

metropolis of the Eastern Province, the event is of the most
exciting description; all classes, whether civil, military, clerical or
commercial, are upon the qui vivre – the market is dull – vendues
are for the time discounted, and politics are forgotten – the grand
point of attraction is the court house, and the most advanced
phraseology, the quirks and quibbles, of the legal profession 58.

Upon the arrival of the judge, “in accordance with true English notions on such

occasions, an excellent dinner was provided by the inhabitants, of which his honour was

invited to partake”. The dignitaries at the dinner proposed toasts to the king and the rest

of the royal family, the army and navy, Governor D‟Urban, various colonial officials and

the “ladies” of the Colony 59. The courts were held in serious regard. In another issue the

57
Criminal Records, Cape Archives, 1/AY 3/1/1/1/1
58
Graham’s Town Journal, 26 September 1833.
59
Graham’s Town Journal, 25 October 1834.

78
Journal opined that “the semi-annual circuits of our judges are events of great importance

to the well being of our colony, exhibiting as they do to all, the operation of the law – that

great safeguard of life, of liberty, and of property – they are eminently calculated to

inspire confidence, and to command the respect of all who can appreciate the invaluable

blessing of equitable government” 60. The editorial also claimed that the courts were based

on “true English notions” and were seen to provide equal justice for all, including African

or Khoekhoe residents of the town. This was seldom the case.

Matters of crime and justice became a locus for colonial racial and class prejudice.

Criminality came to be more and more explicitly linked with race. The Journal frequently

emphasised the proportion of prisoners awaiting trial who were Khoekhoe or black. In

October 1838, for example, the editor wrote: “There are 49 cases, nearly all the persons

being persons of colour – a fact which is at once proof of the demoralisation which is

caused amongst this class of persons by the present lax regulations respecting them, as

well as an irresistible argument for the adoption of a more vigorous and, as a

consequence, more humane policy” 61. In practice, the courts were seldom lacking in

vigour: the extent to which they were humane is more doubtful. The unequal workings of

colonial justice were not necessarily that different from England, where the law had

become from the beginning of the eighteenth century very much in the service of

protecting propertied interests62. The difference was that, in the colonial context, race as

60
Graham’s Town Journal, 10 April 1843.
61
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 September 1838.
62
Hay, D, “Crime and Justice in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century England” Crime and Justice, 2,
(1980), p. 51.

79
well as class became one of the factors influencing the nature of the “justice” that an

individual would receive at the hands of the court.

Two sets of court records reveal the extent to which sentencing and punishment were

influenced by race, as well as by class and gender - the magistrate‟s court records

between 1821 and 1828, and the circuit court records, extracted from the Graham’s Town

Journal, 1836 - 1845. Between 1821 and 1827, 688 defendants appeared before the

magistrate‟s court, of whom 552 (80.2%) were white. The remaining 136 (19.8%)

defendants were Khoekhoe or “coloured” 63. The high level of white crime was a

consequence of the break-up of the 1820 settler parties and the rise of illegal trading, pass

violations, and breaches of contract. There were also a number of cases of “insolence” or

“abuse”. The majority of cases involving Khoekhoe were for petty theft. The court was

unable to try more serious crimes, such as murder or rape.

The magistrate‟s court was able to sentence people to be flogged, and did so in 125

instances. Thomas Stubbs describes the scourging of a man in the 1820s:

A pole was fastened across the gallows – the hands fastened in

such a way as to bring the body against the pole and cause the back
to slope forward. The executioner then commenced to scourge with
a bunch of quince cuttings that had been drawn through the fire
and mixed with a lot of split cane. A bunch in each hand, he stood
behind the prisoner, and did not flog across the back as with the
cats, but along the straight down the back, and cut the flesh off in
strips. Then a quantity of coarse salt was rubbed in – that was what
they called scourging under the gallows 64.

63
The term “coloured” was coming into increasing use during the period.
64
Maxwell and McGeogh (eds.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 70.

80
In this case, the offender was a discharged soldier named Jones. However, despite the

fact that the vast majority of defendants were white, 76% of those sentenced to corporal

punishment were Khoekhoe. To put it another way, only 5.4% of whites who appeared

before the magistrate were sentenced to flogging, while 69.8% of Khoekhoe were.

Sentencing also differed for the 48 women who appeared before the court, 31 of whom

were Khoekhoe and 17 white. Only 5 women were flogged: it was already considered to

be an inappropriate punishment for women and was made illegal in 1824 65 (although one

judge in 1832 regretted that this was the case 66). All five of the women flogged were

either Khoekhoe or slaves. By 1828 the Khoekhoe population of the town had risen

considerably, and by that year they formed a majority of defendants – 100 out of 123. In

that year there were 38 floggings, all inflicted on Khoekhoe.

Between 1836 and 1845 452 defendants appeared before the circuit judges. 79 (17%)

were African, 274 Khoekhoe or “coloured” (60%) and 99 white (23%). Only 25 of the

defendants were women, of whom 24 were Khoekhoe and one white. The circuit court

was also empowered to sentence people to corporal punishment, which it did in 107

cases. Of these, 28 were black (26%), 75 Khoekhoe (70%) and 4 white (4%). Women

were not flogged. For more serious offences they were sent to the “house of correction”

in Cape Town, or incarcerated in Grahamstown itself. If the magistrates were reluctant to

flog women, however, they were less restrained with male minors. D. Mitchley, 14 years

old, was sentenced to be “flogged by a chosen relative” for his involvement in an assault

case, while G. Jantjies was given 14 lashes and a month in jail for stock theft. He was ten

65
Theal, History of South Africa since 1795, i, p. 433.
66
Graham’s Town Journal, 3 February 1832.

81
years old. The Circuit judges were also able to pass death sentences, which they did in 21

cases (2 white, 1 black, 18 Khoekhoe), mostly for murder but also occasionally for ra pe.

There is evidence that a 15-year-old youth, Robert Wicks, was hanged in Grahamstown

in 1831. The case is mentioned in a letter to the Journal, but the correspondent did not

feel it necessary to state Wicks‟s crime 67. Death sentences were public affairs, with

leading clergy such as Shaw or Heavyside attending to the spiritual welfare of the

unfortunate criminal, while the Grahamstown citizens watched the “melancholy

spectacle” with feelings “less of loathing than of satisfaction” 68.

Even punishments short of the death sentence were draconian. This was in keeping with

punishments in Britain, where flogging, hanging and transportation remained the most

common sentences until the 1840s69. Here again, though, class, race and gender

influenced the ferocity of the punishment. Stock theft was a matter of particular concern.

As one judge argued, “from the prevalence of cattle and sheep stealing in this district, the

same punishment awarded in other places for such offences would be altogether

inadequate for the suppression of the crime” 70. He went on to say that “the end of all

punishment was not the gratification of vindictive feeling, but the prevention of crime

and until this was done, or at least until crime here was reduced to a par with that usually

met in the other division of the colony, the punishment inflicted would be proportionally

severe”. And so punishment was severe: seven years hard labour and 75 lashes was a

usual punishment for stock theft. If theft had been particularly high, especially harsh

67
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 January 1832.
68
Sheffield, Story of the Settlement, p. 177.
69
Hay, “Crime and Justice”, p. 55.
70
Graham’s Town Journal, October 1843.

82
sentences were given, explicitly as “deterrents”. In 1845 Umpane and Male, two Xhosa

men, were sentenced to life with hard labour for stealing 3 horses. Transportation to

Robben Island was also considered to have deterrence value, one judge informing a

Xhosa man who was unfamiliar with the place that the island was “a small place in the

midst of the sea, and which would be the only object he would have to look at”. It is

difficult to tell whether such harsh sentences actually operated as deterrents. There is no

evidence that they did. In any case, stock theft was unlikely to abate in the intense

competition for land and resources on the frontier. One defendant, on receiving a

sentence of eighteen months hard labour and sixty lashes, argued that “his children were

starving and he had stolen the horse to exchange for cattle”. Severe sentences could be

readily imposed on blacks, Khoekhoe, and whites, such as soldiers or labourers, who

occupied low positions in colonial society. The courts had to tread more carefully when

more respected citizens were tried. One of the most scandalous cases was that of the

Reverend George Aveline in 1845. Aveline, a Baptist minister and school-teacher, was

one of the leading intellectual lights in Grahamstown society. At the library committee

meeting in 1845 he discoursed for an hour and a half on “The Rise and Progress of

Science and Literature in Great Britain”, a talk which, the Journal assured its readers,

was listened to with “unflagging attention” by those present 71. Later that year Aveline

was accused of committing “a crime which is not only too revolting to name, but the bare

idea of which cannot enter the mind without pollution” – he abused one of the boys at his

school 72. Both rape and sodomy were capital offences in the Cape, but evidently, despite

the disgust felt by the community, hanging a formerly respected citizen in front of the jail

71
Graham’s Town Journal, 25 May 1845.
72
Graham’s Town Journal, 15 June 1845.

83
would have been too traumatic. At the circuit court, the “wretched criminal was allowed

to plead guilty to the minor charge [assault], and was addressed briefly but most

impressively by the court”. He was sentenced to two years on Robben Island and eternal

banishment from the colony. At the same session two Xhosa were sentenced to ten years

in Cape Town and 75 lashes for stealing a horse and foal.

The racial fears surrounding crime reflected more general anxiety amongst the settlers as

the town acquired a large Khoekhoe and African underclass. By the 1840s, this class

constituted a fifth of the town‟s inhabitants. The Khoekhoe and African population of the

town experienced severe social problems. The numbers who were hauled before the

courts for “lying drunk in the streets” and “exposing their persons” suggests that

alcoholism was a chronic problem in the community. There were even occasions when

alcoholism could lead to death, often through exposure 73. What was not recognised by the

editors or correspondents in Grahamstown newspapers was that these were not

expressions of character, or a so-called “love of indolence” in the case of the Khoekhoe

or in “the thieving tendencies” of the amaXhosa, but were symptoms both of attempted

resistance and despair in a community being incorporated in a subordinate position in the

town. As Crais has argued, “alongside the more obvious examples of resistance amongst

the unfree were the less apparent ones: flight, theft, the destruction of private property,

„go-slows‟”74. The court records for the period show a high incidence of theft,

drunkenness, vandalism, desertion and “insolence”, suggesting that Khoekhoe and

73
Graham’s Town Journal, 29 May 1845.
74
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 64.

84
Africans contested their incorporation into a subservient and impoverished underclass in

the colonial community.

Grahamstown had a significant Khoekhoe population from its inception, although most

initially were connected with the Cape Corps. A school for the children of these soldiers

had as many as 200 pupils in 1819 75. William Shaw estimated that, including soldiers, the

Khoekhoe population of the town was about 800 in 1820 76. The arrival of the settlers

increased the demand for labour, on the farms and in the towns. This, despite the stated

preference for European servants, was generally met by Khoekhoe. The complaints about

shortages of labour were loud in the early 1820s. Philipps lamented that he could “hardly

get a Hottentot if we wished it” 77, while Somerset claimed that labour was “a want that

should be supplied as soon as possible” because otherwise no development “whether

agricultural or of any other nature” could occur 78. There was, though, a steady stream of

Khoekhoe into the town, especially after Ordinance 50 in 1828 when many left service on

the farms to seek better conditions in the towns 79. Ordinance 50 released Khoekhoe from

the necessity of having to carry passes, which had the effect of binding them indefinitely

to colonial farmers. Many hoped to find greater opportunities on the mission stations or

in towns. The movement of Khoekhoe, and other Africans, was not always simply a

matter of compulsion by the colonial state to meet the settlers‟ voracious appetite for

labour; many genuinely hoped to find opportunities for advancement in the town. By the

late 1820s, Khoekhoe were employed as butchers, wheelwrights, storekeepers, canteen

75
Cory, Rise of South Africa, i, p. 388.
76
Hammond-Tooke, W. D, (ed.), The Journal of William Shaw (Cape Town, 1972), p. 43.
77
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 78.
78
Edwards, 1820 Settlers, p. 124.
79
Crais, Making of Colonial Order, p. 73.

85
keepers, shoemakers, gunsmiths, blacksmiths, saddlers, jewellers, and in various other

jobs. The town generally failed to fulfil their hopes. Few, if any, attained prosperity, and

they were never considered to be social equals by the town‟s white elite. The division of

race and class could not be bridged.

Although slavery existed in Grahamstown, it was never as significant as in the western

Cape. In 1828 there were 49 male and 47 female slaves in Albany 80, a figure which,

according to the Journal remained roughly the same until 183481. Technically, the new

English arrivals were forbidden to own slaves. However, older Dutch settlers in the town,

such as A. B. Dietz, Piet Retief and Johan Bertram82, held slaves, and there are

intimations that English settlers occasionally purchased them, despite the ban. J. Mandy,

a successful trader, apparently owned a slave 83, as did John Norton 84, William Wright 85,

and W. Ogilvie86, all well-known figures in the community. Sometimes the plight of

slaves excited the philanthropic instincts of the townsfolk. Kidwell was moved to

purchase a slave on the Grahamstown market in order to give her her freedom. Being

without many options however, she preferred to remain with her benefactor, no doubt to

his embarrassment 87. The Methodist missionary, John Ayliff, took an interest in the

welfare of slaves, baptising the slave Abram, the property of yet another Englishman,

Pool, in front of an “unusually large congregation” of “Hottentots and slaves” 88.

80
Neumark, Economic Influences, p. 162.
81
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 February 1834.
82
Graham’s Town Journal, 10 February 1832.
83
Sheffield, Story of the Settlement, p. 184.
84
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 January 1832.
85
Criminal Records, Cape Archives, 1/AY 3/1/1/1/1
86
Graham’s Town Journal, 3 April 1834
87
Sheffield, The Story of the Settlement, p. 183.
88
Hinchliff, P, (ed.), The Journal of John Ayliff (Cape Town, 1971), p. 59.

86
Renamed Peter, his improved status was not accompanied by any improvement in his

material position: “Brother” Peter was subsequently sold (for 2 950 rixdollars) to another

inhabitant of the town.

Slavery was a dying institution by the 1820s, and the general consensus seems to have

been that it was an evil. Not only was the system considered economically inefficient in

an age of free trade, but opposition to slavery had come to be seen as a distinctively

British virtue and a key element in Britain‟s imperial enterprise 89. The Journal reflected

these differing priorities: “We are no advocates for slavery – not only because we

consider the system hateful in itself, but because we most decidedly believe the

employment of slaves to be much less profitable than the labour of freemen” 90. On the

date of the actual abolition in 1834, and again when the period of apprenticeship expired

in 1838, the inhabitants of Grahamstown trooped into their churches to give thanks and

celebrate the benevolence of the British empire. “The time has now arrived”, boasted the

Journal “when each British subject may reflect with conscious pride that although the

sun never sets on the British dominions, yet in all this vast portion of the globe not a

slave is to be found; and the banner of Britain waves over freemen, and freemen only” 91.

There was, nevertheless, strong concern that the “labour of freemen” should not be

withheld. Although eager that freedom should be conferred on slaves, they were expected

to exercise that freedom in ways that conformed to the prescriptions of colonial society 92.

The Journal hoped that the “gratitude” that emancipated slaves ought to feel for the

89
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 25.
90
Graham’s Town Journal, 1 August 1833.
91
Graham’s Town Journal, 4 December 1834.
92
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 13.

87
“unspeakable gift” of their freedom would ensure continued loyalty to their masters 93.

Such gratitude and loyalty, though, was not guaranteed, and there was widespread

employer support for a vagrancy law during the years 1834-35, which would have

compelled Khoekhoe and other labourers in the colony to continue to work for whites 94.

Although unsuccessful at the time, the agitation for the law demonstrated that there was

still the expectation that Khoekhoe, ex-slaves and blacks should retain their subordinate

position in colonial society. In the words of Crais and Worden, “emancipation saw less

the creation of free labour than the forging of new systems of coercion and

exploitation” 95.

There was little inducement (or encouragement) for amaXhosa to cross the boundary of

the colony to work as labourers in Grahamstown before the 1820s. As Andries

Stockenström remarked in 1827, few amaXhosa would seek work in the colony “as long

as the interior is in a state of peace and space aplenty” 96. From the 1810s Xhosa chiefs

occasionally visited Grahamstown, as did a few traders and labourers, but most only on a

temporary basis97. The first chief to visit after 1819 was clearly alarmed by the rapid

growth of the town – perhaps he recognised the dangers that the bustling colonial

settlement represented 98. In the 1840s a visit from a chief, “making his entry on the back

of an ox or a horse…and accompanied by a retinue of half a dozen wives, and several

93
Graham’s Town Journal, 20 November 1834.
94
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 85.
95
Worden, N and Crais, C (eds), Breaking the Chains: Slavery and its Legacy in the Nineteenth Century
Cape Colony (Johannesburg, 1994), p. 5.
96
Quoted in Newton-King, S “The Labour Market in the Cape Colony”, in Marks and Atmore (eds.),
Economy and Society in Pre-Industrial South Africa (London, 1980), p. 194.
97
Peires, House of Phalo, p. 43.
98
Kay, S, Travels in Kaffraria (London, 1833), p. 56.

88
counsellors or amapakati [sic]” was still a notable occasion 99. Makhanda, who led the

amaXhosa attack on the town in 1819, is also supposed to have resided there a short time,

apparently learning Christian ideas from the military chaplain, Van der Lingen 100. The

black population of the town grew gradually as various groups, often refugees, entering

the colony were distributed as labourers on the farms and in the towns along the frontier.

Slaves captured and released from Portuguese ships, often referred to as “Prize Negroes”,

were distributed as indentured servants in Grahamstown, where they formed “an

interesting part” of one of William Shaw‟s “native congregations” 101. Free blacks also

appear in the Court Records of the 1820s, although their origins are unclear. Most black

Africans entering the town in the 1820s were refugees from various wars beyond the

colonial boundary. The first significant group were the so-called “Mantatees”, a vague

designation but mostly referring to Tlokwa from the Highveld 102. “The distribution of

some hundreds of the refugee Mantatees among the most respectable families, as servants

and herdsmen, has also been of great advantage”, claimed Thompson 103. Philipps was

also enthusiastic when some of these “Mantatees” were brought to Grahamstown and “all

who wanted Servants and had not Slaves were allowed to have a family, taking care not

to divide them from each other, for fear of making them discontented and unhappy” 104.

As late as 1833, a correspondent to the Journal wrote that “it is well known that on the

Northern and Eastern boundary of this colony, the country is swarming with destitute

natives from the interior – who would, if proper encouragement were afforded, gladly

99
Smith, T, South Africa Delineated (London, 1850), p. 45.
100
Kay, Travels and Researches, p. 69.
101
Shaw, The Story of My Mission, p. 117.
102
See Etherington, N, The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa 1815 – 1854 (Harlow,
2001).
103
Thompson, Travels and Adventures, ii, p. 115.
104
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 252.

89
enter into the service of the colonists” 105. And proper encouragement was forthcoming:

the Landdrost of Graaff-Reinet regularly forwarded groups of refugees to Albany 106.

Further refugees were distributed after the Mbolompo campaign in 1828, and were

referred to as “Fetcani”, a similarly vague term. Ordinance 49 of 1828 attempted to

regularise the position of these refugees, insisting on their carrying passes and giving

them the dubious title of “Native Foreigner”. Although intended for the refugees, many

Xhosa also took advantage of Ordinance 49, though how many moved to Grahamstown

itself is not clear 107.

The largest and best-known group of refugees to arrive were the so-called “Mfengu”.

Much controversy surrounds the origins of these people. The traditional view, first

formulated by the missionary Ayliff and subsequently disseminated by “settler”

historians, was that the “Mfengu” were refugees from the ferocity of Shaka, who,

appealing to the hospitality of the Gcaleka Xhosa were reduced to conditions of “abject

slavery”. They were rescued from this plight by the colonial forces in the war of 1834-35,

after which they swore loyalty to Britain in a ceremony contrived by Colonel Harry

Smith. Both Ayliff and the colonial government were interested parties. Ayliff found the

“Mfengu” more willing converts to Christianity than the Xhosa, and Governor D‟Urban

hoped that leading an anti-slavery crusade would make his expensive and unauthorised

annexations on the frontier more palatable to the metropolitan government 108. The most

radical challenge to this version of events is presented by Julian Cobbing and Alan

105
Graham’s Town Journal, 16 May 1833.
106
Newton-King, “The Labour Market”, p. 192.
107
Peires, House of Phalo, p. 61.
108
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 147.

90
Webster, who argue that “Mfengu” identity and history were simply invented as a cover

for captured Xhosa labourers109. Although this interpretation is right in dismissing the

notion that the “Mfengu” were slaves of the Xhosa and in emphasising the diversity of

the people who came to be known as “Fingos”, it is probably inaccurate to claim that they

became slaves of the British. As Lester points out, the mid-1830s were the high water

mark of the philanthropist movement in the Cape, and it is unlikely that 17 000 people

could be enslaved and held in “military camps” (a logistically formidable undertaking)

without attracting the attention of Dr Philip and his allies 110. The position of the

“Mfengu” in Grahamstown tends to support the idea, put forward by Moyer and others,

that those people who came to constitute the “Fingos” genuinely felt that transferring

their allegiance from the Gcaleka to the colony would be in their best interests. After all,

the devastating defeat of the amaXhosa in the war would have dramatically illustrated the

price of resistance. As a group which had already experienced exile, they would have had

less to lose than the amaXhosa by moving to the colony. They were not to know that

servitude to the British would offer even less scope for advantage than clientship to the

Gcaleka.

The experience of the Mfengu is illustrative of the limitations and restrictions placed on

Africans in the colonial order in the town. Despite discouragement from the authorities in

Grahamstown (Duncan Campbell stopped the issue of rations to compel as many as

possible to leave), many Mfengu settled in the town. By the time of the first census of the

109
Cobbing, “The Mfecane as Aftermath: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo”, Journal of African
History, 29, (1988); Webster, A, “Land Expropriation and Labour Extraction under Cape Colonial Rule:
The War of 1835 and the „Emancipation‟ of the Fingo” (Unpublished MA Thesis, Rhodes University,
1991).
110
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 90.

91
“Fingo Village” in 1847 it was estimated that there were as many as 1 700, a significant

number in a small town 111. In common with some of the Khoekhoe after Ordinance 50,

many Mfengu harboured hopes of finding opportunity in the Cape Colony. Many

professed a willingness to adopt colonial values and institutions, sending their children to

school, converting to Christianity, and acquiring the “individualistic and acquisitive

tendencies” of the European colonists 112. Furthermore, unlike Xhosa labourers who were

also beginning to arrive in greater numbers during the 1830s, they had “no wish to leave,

for they should not know where to go” 113. Although white Grahamstown was happy to

acquire a new labour source, it was were reluctant to accept the Mfengu as equals.

Indeed, despite their economic enterprise the large number of the Mfengu mitigated

against their success. For once there was a surplus of labour in Grahamstown which

ensured that only low wages and menial work was available. A protest to the magistrate

in 1840, asking that wages in the town be raised, was unsuccessful 114. Meanwhile, ever

more Xhosa crossed into the colony in search of work in the wake of Ordinance 49 in

1828 and the intensification of military conflict and land loss in the 1830s. Mfengu,

Xhosa and Khoekhoe formed a large and economically vital section of Grahamstown‟s

population in the 1840s, but they remained marginalised, poor and subordinate.

While the black and Khoekhoe population of the town became increasingly impoverished

a wealthy new white elite was developing in Grahamstown. The failure of Albany to

become a prosperous agricultural district and the changing economic opportunities of the

111
Moyer, R, “A History of the Mfengu of the Eastern Cape 1815 – 1865” (Unpublished PhD Thesis,
University of London, 1976), p. 313.
112
Ibid., p. 264.
113
Ibid., p. 308.
114
Ibid., p. 307.

92
1820s resulted in the rise of a mercantile elite. Many of the new elite of the 1830s had

had humble beginnings and had prospered only after arrival in the colony. William Lee, a

successful butcher and wholesaler by the 1830s, had been a “broken tradesman” before

1820, afraid of imprisonment for debt 115. Robert Godlonton, who became a vocal

advocate of settler interests and a wealthy land speculator, emigrated as a printer 116 and

occupied a number of minor clerical positions in the landdrost‟s office in the 1820s. H.

Halse, who became a wealthy auctioneer, began his career as a court messenger. James

Howse was another who arrived in South Africa with nothing. He eventually made a

fortune in trade, and combined considerable business acumen with strong religious

feeling – he was reputed to sing hymns in his wagon after a day‟s trading with the

boers117. The career of George Wood, who rose to become one of the richest merchants in

the town, indicates a degree of ruthlessness was required. Evidently unhappy in Britain,

he had indentured himself to a carpenter in order to gain a passage to the Cape. As the

carpenter decided to eschew the Cape and continue to India, the young Wood was

obliged to abscond from the ship in Algoa Bay and turn his hand to saddling118. He was

evidently not afraid of hard work: an anecdote depicts him working in the galley of the

transport ship to acquire additional food for his ailing mistress 119, and he was seen

leading wagons through the street barefoot. He soon realised that he preferred to be self-

employed and took to trading across the frontier in the 1820s. He was, as were many

115
Edwards, 1820 Settlers, p. 57.
116
Not the same profession as a journalist, despite the assumption in much settler literature that one
occupation led naturally to the other.
117
Ayliff, “Howse Memorial”, n.p.
118
The irreverent Thomas Stubbs, writing after Wood has risen to eminence, wrote that as an apprentice he
“was so confoundedly stupid that it was thought he was not able to learn the trade”. Stubbs also alleged that
“he was so filthy in his habits that old Thackwray [his master] would not allow him into the house but
made him get his food in the kitchen”. Maxwell, Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 211.
119
Bell, M, They Came from a Far Land (Cape Town, 1963), p. 21.

93
Grahamstown merchants, prone to sharp practice – his fortune was really made as a result

of his dubious business dealings during the Sixth Frontier War. Godlonton, who was later

nicknamed “Moral Bob” and came to be one of the most respected members of the

Grahamstown community, had been considered, by Donald Moodie at any rate, as a

“worthless blackguard” in the 1820s120. These merchants, together with the leading

civilian officials and a much expanded and profoundly influential clergy, comprised the

elite of the town in the 1830s and 1840s.

In an age of limited government responsibility, and a plethora of voluntary organisations,

a few personalities came to appear dominant in the community, especially in a population

of only 4 000 whites. In an Eastern Province almanac, published in 1843, Chase provides

a list of various organisations, as well as the membership of their executive committees,

This gives an indication of the tight-knit group who dominated the public life of the town.

Some of these organisations were governmental or commercial, such as the Justices of

the Peace, the Municipal Commissioners, and the directors of the Eastern Province Bank.

Some were of more general cultural or economic benefit, such as the Albany Library

Committee and the Cape of Good Hope Emigration Association. The majority were

religious or educational: the School Commission, the Episcopalian Church, the Albany

Colonial Church Association, the Sunday and Day Schools, the Society for the Promotion

of Christian Knowledge, the Baptist Church, the Union Chapel, the Wesleyan Chapel, the

Wesleyan Auxiliary Missionary Society, the Wesleyan School of Industry for Girls, the

Wesleyan Sunday School, the Grahamstown Auxiliary Bible Society and the LMS

Auxiliary Missionary Society. The committees of these organisations, covering a wide

120
Quoted in Le Cordeur, Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 12.

94
spectrum of everyday life in the town, had a potential total membership of 195; in fact,

the positions were filled by only 109 individuals. Charles Maynard, a wealthy merchant,

held the record, being a member of seven of the committees of the listed bodies. The

Anglican chaplain, George Heavyside, sat on six, as did the leading Methodist minister,

William Shaw. Robert Godlonton, extending his already considerable influence in the

town, sat on four committees, as did the merchant P. W. Lucas, while J. Black, W.

Ogilvie, T. Nelson, J. Howse and J. Maskell, all successful businessmen, each held three

positions. The dominance of these men was perhaps resented by some; a letter to the

Journal described them as a “self-constituted aristocratic body” 121. The Cape Frontier

Times, established in 1840 and a somewhat more liberal alternative to the Journal,

offered a more gentle parody of the self-importance and stuffiness of these organisations,

describing the exploits of the Graham‟s Town Fudge Society (G.T.F.S) in its columns.

But the fact remained that wealth brought with it influence in the town.

The changing composition of the elite began to affect the social tone of the town.

Although the pursuits described by Philipps continued, the Wesleyan church in particular

exercised an increasingly powerful and conservative influence. Before 1820, religion had

played a very small role in Grahamstown life; there was no chaplain of any sort in that

year, and the town was described as “sunk very low in drunkenness, lewdness, and other

deadly sins”122, though some of the garrison held informal services in the barracks. The

official establishment was, and tended to remain, nominally Anglican. So too were many

of the original settler gentry, reflecting their class origins in England. They seem,

121
Graham’s Town Journal, 19 June 1834.
122
Hammond-Tooke (ed.), Shaw Journal, p. 43.

95
however, to have taken a fairly relaxed view of religion. A prayer meeting described by

Philipps seemed to possess more social than spiritual significance, with music, singing,

and yarns about military life forming the main activities123. This was in marked contrast

to the fervent expressions of spirituality which were a feature of non-conformist

meetings. Despite their limited spiritual enthusiasm, the Anglican authorities often took a

dim view of the various non-conformist denominations during the 1820s. John Ayliff was

refused permission to visit the prison by Landdrost Dundas because he was Methodist,

while Ayliff‟s attempt to get the Anglican chaplain, Thomas Ireland, to intervene on his

behalf, was met with only grudging support 124. Ayliff perhaps was not favoured by his

somewhat tactless approach: on being refused permission to visit prisoners, he told the

landdrost that should any of them die having been denied the teaching of the truth of

Christ, the blood would be on Dundas‟ hands. Dundas threw him out of his office. Many

officers of the garrison remained Anglicans, and there was a core group of Anglican

merchants, such as W. R. Thompson, C. Maynard, J. Black and G. Jarvis, with whom

they often intermarried 125.

Anglicanism generally failed to appeal to the majority of Grahamstown‟s settler

inhabitants: non-conformism, and more particularly Methodism, came to be the most

popular denomination during the period. The rise of the commercial gentry added to its

respectability as many of the wealthiest and most influential members of the community

were Methodists. The success of Methodism in Grahamstown was due to a number of

factors. One was the origin of the settlers, many of whom came from the industrial towns

123
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 140.
124
Hinchliff, Ayliff Journal, p. 53.
125
Scott and Deetz, “Building, Furnishings and Social Change”, p. 79.

96
of Britain where Wesley‟s teachings had had such enormous success. A contributing

factor, however, was the scarcity and poor quality of Anglican clergy in the town, which

tended to leave the field open to the proselytising efforts of the other churches. Only two

Anglican priests accompanied the settlers, neither of whom worked in Grahamstown 126.

The first Anglican chaplain, William Geary, was appointed by Lord Somerset himself on

the basis of recommendations from his aristocratic connections. Somerset hoped that

Geary would be able to “assist in stemming the torrent that is rushing in from all quarters

to trample down the established church here” 127. Geary was unable to raise the prestige of

the established church, however, becoming embroiled in a number of controversies. His

hostility to non-conformists alienated the predominantly Methodist population of the

town128. He also succeeded in angering even the Anglican establishment, by coming into

conflict with the landdrost and, most injudiciously, by reading to friends a letter from the

mother of Lord Somerset in which she appealed to him to pray for the governor, since she

had doubts about his godliness. The scandal descended to a level of pettiness which so

often characterised the small, claustrophobic world of the 1820s establishment. Colonel

Somerset snubbed Geary by marching the troops to Church and then immediately

ordering them back to barracks. Geary‟s response was a sufficiently immoderate letter to

justify his dismissal 129. Geary‟s successor, Thomas Ireland, was equally unpopular, again

largely because of his prejudices towards the non-conformist churches. He invoked the

legal privileges of the Anglican Church in serious matters, such as the ability of

126
F. McClelland became the long-standing chaplain of Port Elizabeth, while W. Boardman took up
residence at Bathurst, where he served more as “a warning beacon rather than an ensample [sic] of the
godly life”. Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 97.
127
Quoted in ibid., ii, p. 193.
128
In 1843 it was estimated that only 850 out of the 4000 whites in Grahamstown were Anglicans.
Graham’s Town Journal, 16 March 1843.
129
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 200.

97
Methodist ministers to carry out marriages and baptisms, and raised some seemingly

trivial issues, such as whether it was legal for any church other than the Anglicans to ring

a bell on Sundays130. It was only after 1825 that the Anglicans possessed any clergyman

able to command respect in the town.

The Methodists, in contrast, possessed both superior organisation and personnel. This

enabled them to become the dominant religion in the region, and indeed, to form a

distinct religious tradition in the Cape, centred in Grahamstown, and in marked

contradistinction to the more liberal missionaries of the London Missionary society and

their associates. At the centre of the Methodist mission was the figure of William Shaw,

described by one biographer as being looked upon by the settlers with “a veneration that

bordered almost on worship” 131. Cory claims that “of all the honoured names of the 1820

settlers it is doubtful whether there is one which is worthy of being held in greater

veneration than that of the Rev. William Shaw” 132. Shaw was responsible for initiating

the construction of the first church in the town, which for a number of years was used

alternately by other denominations 133. Shaw was also always willing to preach to any

believers, claiming that Methodism was “anti-sectarian and of a Catholic spirit” 134. In this

way the Methodists were able to gain converts amongst those who had had no particular

religious leanings in England, people such as Jeremiah Goldswain135. Even the alcoholic

Thomas Shone could feel that his “heart” was “desperately wicked and self-righteous”

130
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 202.
131
Everleigh, W, The Settlers and Methodism 1820 – 1920 (Cape Town, 1920), p. 28.
132
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 98.
133
Shaw, The Story of my Mission, p. 106.
134
Ibid., p. 89.
135
Although Shaw claims some periods were more fruitful than others, pointing to three “revivals” in
Grahamstown and its vicinity in 1822, 1830-31, and 1837-38. Ibid., p. 186.

98
after hearing a sermon 136. He was also critical of the Methodists‟ piety, claiming that they

were

full of very ignorant people, not given to drunkenness, for they

were too selfish even to buy themselves the necessaries of life.
These people were backbiters, slanderers, covetous, continually
quarrelling among themselves, and picking holes in other people‟s
coats, and so self-righteous that they did not allow any other sect to
be entitled to go to heaven but themselves. All these defects Satan
laid before me, to see people professing to serve God, and at the
same time faithful servents [sic] to the devil 137.

The Methodists also had a system of lay-preachers. This lessened the pressure on

ordained clergy and encouraged a number of settlers to enter the priesthood. These lay

preachers were of variable stature and ability. Once again Shone offers a more irreverent

perspective, describing one of Shaw‟s colleagues as looking “more like a thief than a

preacher”, while another was “according to his own statement…a common

blackguard…with very little mercy for „the people of the world‟, as he is pleased to call

all others of a different persuasion” 138. Others, such as John Ayliff, H. H. Dugmore and

John Shepstone, evidently possessed greater abilities and rose to enjoy a considerable

respect in the colonial community.

The Methodists did not lack missionary zeal, and did concern themselves with the

spiritual welfare of Grahamstown‟s black population. Shaw wrote to the Wesleyan

Missionary society that they would “have been delighted to see the tears run down their

[Shaw‟s Khoekhoe congregation] cheeks, and to hear them speak their experiences, and

136
Silva (ed.), Shone Journal, p. 52.
137
Ibid., p. 53.
138
Ibid., p. 79.

99
express their thankfulness for the good word of God”. He always took care to emphasise

that the Methodists‟ Sunday schools were not segregated. These missionaries‟ close links

with the settlers, however, meant that their attitudes towards the frontier and race

relations were very different to the “negrophilist” missionaries of the London Missionary

Society. Shaw, at least initially, regarded the European settlers as his first priority,

claiming that unless he “made great efforts to extend the benefits of the Wesleyan

Mission to the white population – at that time the most neglected people in the colony –

there was no hope that their case would receive speedy attention from any other

quarter” 139. Even after the development of missions in Xhosaland the Methodists tended

to take the settlers‟ part. One of the more fanatical Methodist missionaries, who worked

both in Grahamstown itself as well as across the frontier with the Gcaleka, was William

Shrewsbury. He developed a thorough dislike of the amaXhosa. His threat to “most

heartily” thrash a traditional healer if the latter were to lose a bet to heal Shrewsbury‟s

wife reflected the attitudes of frontier farmers (whom he considered to be “hearty friends

of Africa”) rather than a liberal missionary 140. He also became imbued with the racial

bitterness that followed the 1834-35 war, and was recalled as a result of proposing brutal

methods for subduing the amaXhosa to the military commander, Colonel Harry Smith.

This was too embarrassing even for the largely pro-colonial Wesleyan Missionary

Society. Even the more moderate ministers, such as Shaw himself, closely identified with

the settlers and sought to represent their interests. Shaw was one of the pro-settler

witnesses to the Aborigines Committee, which sought to investigate the causes of the

Sixth Frontier War and the state of the colony. Writing to Lord Aberdeen, he attributed

139
Shaw, Story of My Mission, p. 96.
140
Fast (ed.), Shrewsbury Journal, p. 138.

100
the war “not to any cruelties perpetrated by the British settlers upon the Kaffirs…but to

the moral state and predatory habits of the Kaffirs” 141.

Although Anglicanism and Methodism were the most prominent, there were a number of

other denominations in the town. Both the Baptists and Presbyterians had established

congregations in the 1820s; they required new buildings in 1842 after the original chapels

had become too small to accommodate their growing membership. The Catholics had a

presence in the town, largely amongst the military, many of whom were Irish. Perhaps it

was the necessity of providing private soldiers with spiritual guidance which mitigated

Protestant hostility against Catholicism, which was considerable during the early 19 th

century. The opening of the new Catholic Church in 1844, constructed by soldiers of the

27th regiment, was attended by the Commander of the Frontier, at that time Colonel Hare,

and the Civil Commissioner, Martin West. Despite approving the erection of the church,

the Journal still felt the need to make “an avowal of uncompromising Protestantism” 142,

illustrating the extent to which denominational rivalry was still alive in the community. A

small number of Jews had been among the settlers. Although the Jewish congregation of

Grahamstown was initially tiny, it included some of the town‟s most successful and

prominent businessmen, such as John Norton, Benjamin and Joshua Norden, and later

Nathan Birkenruth143. By 1846 the community was large enough to warrant the

construction of a Synagogue144.

141
Shaw, The Story of My Mission, p. 153.
142
Graham’s Town Journal, 25 July 1844
143
Hermann, L, A History of the Jews of South Africa: From the Earliest Times to 1895 (Johannesburg,
1935), p. 205.
144
Ibid., p. 120.

101
The church was a powerful conservative force in Grahamstown society. By 1839 it was

proudly asserted in the Journal that “there is no part of the United Kingdom where the

outward observances of religion are more decorously attended to than in this colony. In

Grahamstown business of every kind is suspended on this day [i.e. Sunday]” 145. The

Wesleyans in particular had austere ideas about recreation and morality, and dedicated

less time to the pursuit of pleasure than the settler gentry. William Shrewsbury, who lived

in Grahamstown in the 1830s, published a pamphlet in 1833 entitled A Discourse Against

Worldly Pleasure. In this he claimed that

The whole round of fashionable and worldly amusements,

as cards, games of chance, dances, balls, masquerades,
races and such like vanities, are so contrary to the nature of
Christianity, as laid down in the New Testament, that men
of all ranks in life, who delight in them, and attend them,
give evidence thereby that they are not Christians146.

Robert Godlonton evidently had a similarly low opinion of balls, observing at one held

during the Circuit Court that “Sir John Wilde was among the dancers, quite as gay as the

most juvenile person, and there were many other „grave and venerable seigniors‟

employed the same way, that I could not help thinking might have been much better

employed” 147. The Journal described races and balls as “the frivolities of life”. James

Howse, too, pitied the “poor souls in distress” who in their “noisy balls” danced the night

away, rather than enjoy the benefit of church going 148. Possibly the ball-goers did not feel

their “distress” as keenly as Howse supposed. One correspondent objected to the

145
Graham’s Town Journal, 19 December 1839.
146
Fast (ed.), Shrewsbury Journal,
147
Le Cordeur, “Robert Godlonton”, p. 16.
148
Ayliff, “Howse Memorial”, n.p.

102
increasing popularity of amateur theatricals during the 1830s, claiming that they were

“most detrimental to public morality and in direct opposition to those precepts which are

given in the Bible as a rule of life” 149. Jeremiah Goldswain recorded feeling the pressures

of social conservatism. Accompanying Reverend Stephen Kay, a relatively liberal

Methodist, on a ride he suggested that the plain they were travelling would be a good

place for racing; Kay expressed his disapproval by silence, and Goldswain was left

feeling guilty150. Shortly afterwards he joined the church after feeling guilt over his

“swareing” 151.

Despite the growing conservatism, drinking and other anti-social pursuits were continued,

especially by the youth of the town. The Grahamstown Journal, very much an organ of

the Methodist elite, reported on disturbances. One correspondent complained that

certain „lewd fellows of the baser sort‟ (Acts 17:5) have for some
time past sought amusement for themselves by INSULTING
FEMALES when passing in and out of the Wesleyan chapel, in
this town, and have also indulged in the habit of lounging on the
steps of the portico, occasionally smoking segars [sic], and
enjoying the boisterous mirth of fools, to the great annoyance of
the congregation152.

Other youths occasionally entertained themselves by pulling women‟s bonnets as they

left church, and breaking windows153. The presence of a “maniac Fingo” in the town

149
Graham’s Town Journal, 5 September 1839.
150
Long (ed.),Goldswain’s Chronicle, p. 48.
151
Ibid., p. 52.
152
Graham’s Town Journal, 8 November 1833.
153
Graham’s Town Journal, 22 August 1844.

103
attracted a mob of “dirty urchins” who harassed the unfortunate man 154. The various

groups of “juvenile vagrants”, whose immigration to the Cape had been sponsored by the

British government at the instigation of the settlers, proved particularly intractable, and

were continually before the courts on charges of absconding, vandalism, and assault. The

iron water pipes, imported from Birmingham and one of the Grahamstown municipality‟s

proudest innovations, were also vandalised by a group of youngsters 155.

There was evidently not always a great deal for young people to do in the town. Many

worked, being apprenticed in their early teens. Education, however, seems to have been

variable in quality and duration, particularly in the 1820s. As late as 1832 the Journal

claimed that there were as many as one hundred “uneducated” boys roaming the town 156.

Throughout the period there seems to have been a variety of schools, including many

private institutions catering for only a handful of pupils. One of these schools in the early

1820s, headed by one Mr Grubb, apparently taught children to write in sand-boxes and

liberally applied the cane157. C. Hyman, J. Hancock, and W. Howard also opened private

schools early on158. Eventually the private schools seem to have improved in quality,

catering for the mercantile elite and aiming to instil a degree of gentility probably lacking

in the pupils‟ parents. Mrs Blackburn‟s “Academy for Ladies”, one of a number of such

establishments, offered all “the usual branches of education; and also the Harp, Piano-

forte and Guitar [as well as] English, Italian and French singing, Dancing, Drawing

154
Graham’s Town Journal, 14 December 1843. The incident is typical of the nineteenth-century toleration
of cruelty in a supposedly devout Christian environment.
155
Graham’s Town Journal, 24 January 1846.
156
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 July 1832.
157
Sheffield, The Story of the Settlement, p.176.
158
Hockly, The British Settlers of 1820, p. 192.

104
etc” 159 – an indication of what was considered an appropriate education for middle-class

women at the time. George Aveline‟s school, catering for four boarders and four day

scholars, boasted that each boarder would have his own bed, which raises questions about

the facilities available at other schools160. A number of “Grammar Schools” were also

opened, by the Anglican and Methodist churches among others. The Reverend Heavyside

opened the Anglican St George‟s School in 1843, which was to be a “superior school for

young gentlemen which will afford all the advantages of an English Grammar School”. It

offered Latin, Greek, French and German in addition to “all the various branches of a

sound ENGLISH education”. A teacher from King‟s College London was imported to

undertake this task 161.

Public schooling was also available in the town: a government teacher was appointed

from 1822. Until the late 1830s, however, these schoolmasters seem to have been of

dubious quality. They were also generally poorly paid 162, and one at least supplemented

his income by offering private tuition, which generated some resentment among those

unable to afford this privilege 163. The Grahamstown community did become involved in

the government schools, forming committees and raising funds. Examinations at the

government school were a public event, well attended and accompanied by a fair amount

of self-congratulation. Despite the limitations of this school, the top class was examined

in Euclid, Latin, geography, the history of Rome, Greece and England, and English

159
Graham’s Town Journal, 16 October 1834.
160
Graham’s Town Journal, 14 February 1839.
161
Graham’s Town Journal, 6 July 1843.
162
The minimum salary for a school-teacher in the 1830s was ₤40, which could rise to, but not exceed, ₤80.
Malherbe, Education in South Africa 1652 – 1922, (Cape Town, 1925), p. 66. Heavyside claimed in 1836
that the teacher‟s salary was little better than a “mechanic”. Graham’s Town Journal, 27 October 1836.
163
Graham’s Town Journal, 19 December 1833.

105
Grammar 164, subjects which suggest that relocation to the Cape was not regarded as

sufficient reason to deviate from English syllabi. Schools in the colony were reformed in

1839 with the establishment of an Education Department and the appointment of a

Superintendent, who supervised the quality of teachers, syllabi, and raised salaries so as

to attract a higher calibre of teachers 165. Mr Tudhope, a teacher who arrived after the

1839 reforms, became a leading intellectual light in the town. A government infant

school was founded in 1831, its affairs largely directed by a local committee. It held

public examinations, and attempted not only to instil knowledge into the minds of its

young pupils but also the value of “cleanliness, punctuality, order and subordination” 166.

Sunday schools, founded by the Methodists in the early 1820s and emulated by the other

churches, played a similar role. Instilling values as well as knowledge was regarded as

one of the most important benefits of education. The Journal argued that “what we are

anxious the people be taught is – the difference between right and wrong – virtue and

vice …Whilst knavery passes current for talent, cunning for capacity, impudence for

address, ruffianism for courage, falsehood for truth and ribaldry for wit, it is not possible

that people can be either comfortable or prosperous” 167.

Educational and cultural opportunities for adults in the town were also diversified,

particularly towards the end of the 1830s and into the 1840s. The educational level of the

settlers had been fairly varied. Although the wealthier settlers had a fairly high standard

of education, a large number were also clearly either illiterate or semi-literate. Philipps

164
Graham’s Town Journal, 27 December 1832.
165
Malherbe, Education in South Africa, p. 71.
166
Graham’s Town Journal, 6 January 1832.
167
Graham’s Town Journal, 23 June 1836.

106
boasted in the 1820s that “I have never felt the benefits of education with such force as I

have done since I have been in Africa, nor ever had so much deference paid to it”. This

was a result of the “market in S. Africa [sic]” not being “over stocked with this

article” 168. The new mercantile elite, with their humbler backgrounds, were often less

well educated than the original settler gentry. Even as late as 1860 Shaw could claim that

“the inhabitants are, perhaps, too much immersed in the pursuits of business to afford

sufficient time for mental occupation, and they cannot be regarded as a very intellectual

race” 169.

That is somewhat unfair; intellectual improvement was considered a moral imperative

and conscious efforts were made to develop the intellectual life of the town. Indeed, the

acquisition of education was seen as an important marker of “respectability”, that key

Victorian ideal, in a community of mixed social origins. A circulating library was opened

in 1834, and was succeeded by a municipal library in 1842, an event celebrated with a

fete and to the accompaniment of the band of the 91st regiment170. The bookseller Caffyn

was a regular promoter of literary pursuits, for reasons which seem not to have been

entirely mercenary. Books and magazines were regularly available for sale for those who

could afford them171. Public lectures were also a popular pastime, for which early

168
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 215.
169
Shaw, The Story of My Mission, p. 80.
170
Graham’s Town Journal, 25 April 1842.
171
A brief examination of the titles available reveals much about the tastes of the community. A great many
of the books were of a religious nature. Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Cowper and Goldsmith were
popular poets, not all of whose popularity has endured, while more contemporary writers such as
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley or Keats were seldom if ever advertised. Evidently the Romantics
were not popular in Grahamstown. The exception was Sir Walter Scott, whose works were often
advertised. But then the town seems to have been more up to date with novels: The Pickwick Papers and
Nicolas Nicklelby were available almost as soon as they were published. Magazines such as the Tattler,
Spectator, Edinburgh Review, Guardian, and Westminster Review, as well as the Army and Navy Lists,

107
Victorians, both in Britain and in the colonies, had an insatiable appetite 172. One popular

speaker on the lecture circuit was Dr McCartney, “the Cape‟s most racist phrenological

propagandist” 173, who arrived in the town in 1835. Phrenology, which formed the subject

of his first lecture, purported to assess the character of individuals on the basis of the

shape of their skulls. Although controversial, and subsequently discredited, it was

nevertheless reckoned to be within the ambit of respectable science at the time 174. It was

originally intended to be applied to differences between individuals, but also came to be

regarded as explaining racial differences. As such, it found an enthusiastic audience in

the racially embittered atmosphere of Grahamstown in the immediate aftermath of the

Sixth Frontier War. McCartney illustrated his lectures by displaying “various casts of

celebrated characters and models of the skulls of different nations” 175, as well as a

number of Xhosa skulls made available in the recent war 176. Objections to the lectures

came not from liberals, but from the town‟s religious community, since some

Grahamstown residents believed the subject (and a subsequent course of lectures on

geology) undermined Christianity and encouraged “materialism” and “infidelity” 177.

McCartney, who became a frequent speaker, was more careful in a later lecture on

astronomy, another potentially controversial topic, to emphasize that the spectacle of a

comet filled “the mind with the most profound conceptions of the surpassing grandeur

would have kept Grahamstonians in touch with the political and cultural landscape in Britain, while the
South African Commercial Advertiser and the Zuid Afrikaan would have supplementated the Journal for
local news.
172
Newsome, Victorian World Picture, p. 144.
173
Bank, “Of „Native Skulls‟ and „Noble Caucasians‟: Phrenology in Colonial South Africa”, Journal of
Southern African Studies, 22, 3 (1996), p. 396.
174
Ibid., p. 389.
175
Graham’s Town Journal, 12 November 1835.
176
Bank, “Native Skulls and Noble Caucasians”, p. 398.
177
Graham’s Town Journal, 26 November 1835.

108
and glory, as well as the infinite power and perfection of THE GREAT CREATOR” 178.

McCartney also offered an ambitious series of lectures which covered “heat, air, sound,

light and electricity”179. Tudhope offered lectures on amateur science, encompassing such

novelties as electricity. He had a flair for the dramatic, illustrating one lecture with the

aid of a magic lantern 180, while another on “The Effects and Communication of Heat”

was illuminated by the new technology of gas lighting 181.

For lighter entertainment the “Graham‟s Town Theatrical Amateur Company” was

formed in 1837. Its tastes ranged from comedy, such as Sheridan‟s The Rival, which

seems to have been the company‟s first performance 182, to the Gothic, such as “Monk”

Lewis‟s The Castle Spectre, or, the Ghost of Evelina183. These performances were often

accompanied by comic songs and burlesques. Music concerts were performed, and music,

drawing and dancing lessons were available. Occasionally a Mechanical Theatre made an

appearance. 184 By and large though, the acquisition of culture was seen more as a moral

imperative than merely a source of entertainment. This is well illustrated by the formation

in 1845 of the Graham‟s Town Mental Improvement Association, whose first lecture

concerned “The advantages arising from the study of Science on Christian principles” 185.

By mid-century, the population of Grahamstown, although small, was diverse. Class, race

and gender divided the small community, and created conflict and competition. At the

178
Graham’s Town Journal, 27 July 1843.
179
Graham’s Town Journal, 31 December 1840.
180
Graham’s Town Journal, 9 March 1843.
181
Graham’s Town Journal, 21 April 1842.
182
Graham’s Town Journal, 16 November 1837.
183
Graham’s Town Journal, 8 March 1838.
184
Graham’s Town Journal, 21 August 1845.
185
Graham’s Town Journal, 19 June 1845.

109
same time, the elite of the town were becoming a vocal and influential community in the

Cape. As the primary urban settlement in the eastern districts, Grahamstown became

something of an unofficial capital of the east. The town was the obvious location for

mobilising political support for various eastern concerns. The next chapter discusses the

creation of the Grahamstown political and propaganda machine, centred on newspapers

such as the Graham’s Town Journal. As the self-appointed settler spokespersons

attempted to formulate a cohesive eastern interest and identity, they attempted to paper

over the cracks in settler society. The conflict and diversity of colonial communities went

increasingly unacknowledged.

110
 CHAPTER THREE

“AN IRRUPTION OF AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT KIND”: POLITICS,

PROPAGANDA AND HISTORY IN COLONIAL GRAHAMSTOWN.

Theirs [the British settlers] has been an irruption of an entirely

different kind. It has been the opposition of benevolence to savage
cruelty, of light to darkness, of the blessings of Christianity to
heathenish superstition and wretchedness – The Graham’s Town
Journal, 1845.

The Cape Colony underwent enormous change in the first decades of the 19 th century.

During the 1820s, the legal, administrative and political structures were largely

remodelled on English lines. The labour market was reformed, and slavery was

ameliorated and eventually abolished in the 1830s. Many of the monopolistic practices of

the Dutch East India Company (VOC) were swept away in line with the prevailing

ideology of free trade1. Meanwhile, the arrival of large numbers of British settlers,

especially in the Eastern Cape, formed a community with a far more aggressive economic

ideology of accumulation than the older European settlers. These settlers became “intent

on initiating processes of dispossession and subjugation against indigenous peoples”, and

were an extremely destabilising factor on the eastern frontier 2. Settlers soon found that

there were other competing agendas in the new British establishment. Both the colonial

and imperial governments were reluctant to incur the costs of dispossession on the

frontier, where fierce resistance from the amaXhosa was often encountered. However

profitable the frontier wars may have been to the settler elites, they seldom brought any
1
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 44.
2
Ibid.

111
benefit to the British government. Furthermore, the evangelical revival of the late

eighteenth century had created an interest in certain religious circles in England in the

fate of the indigenous inhabitants of South Africa, and of slaves. The desire of these

evangelicals to “better” the lot of Africans and slaves was seen to be at variance with the

settler desire to control labour and acquire land, and as a result was met with hostility. In

the face of these pressures and in reaction to the insecurity of life and property on the

frontier, settlers in the eastern Cape began to formulate a distinct colonial identity,

differing from that of the western districts. As the major town in the east during the early

19th century, Grahamstown played a key role in this process. Not only did Grahamstown

provide many of the major propagandists for the settler agenda, such as Robert

Godlonton, but it provided a convenient centre for meetings and petitions. The

intellectual elite of the town came self-consciously to consider themselves to be the

representatives of the eastern province generally (although they were never actually as

dominant as they supposed). The propagandists claimed that the settlers were maligned

and misunderstood, especially in the wake of such formative experiences as the Sixth

Frontier War and the controversy surrounding its outcome, and so fought a bitter and

protracted campaign against their enemies, real and perceived. The settler elite in

Grahamstown also struggled to gain control of the local state, above all through the

separatist movement. They enjoyed only limited success during the early decades of the

nineteenth century. However, the Grahamstown propagandists came to cast a long

shadow on South African historiography. The “settler” historians of the late nineteenth

and early twentieth centuries came to adopt the “Grahamstown line” in their discussions

of early nineteenth century debates. So views that were strongly contested in the 1830s

112
came to receive the sanction of subsequent historians. It was only in the twentieth century

that these views were again decisively challenged.

Grahamstown‟s rise to prominence in the 1820s occurred during a period of extensive

political, legal and administrative reform in the Cape Colony. The Cape had been seized

for reasons of strategy in 1806, and its unclear status before 1815 made British authorities

reluctant to institute many changes in the colony 3. Little alteration was made to the

structures of government inherited from the Dutch East India Company, and a succession

of governors had been happy to rule in accordance with established practice. In general

the colonial government was characterised by considerable corruption and inefficiency 4.

By the 1820s, however, movements towards colonial reform in Britain began to have an

impact in the Cape. In particular, a Commission of Eastern Inquiry was appointed in 1822

to make a wide-ranging investigation of conditions in the Cape, Ceylon and Mauritius

and make suggestions “for the purpose of prospective regulation and improvement” 5.

Although it did not finally submit its report until 1831, many of its suggestions were

adopted, and its mere presence offered impetus to others interested in reform, not least in

Grahamstown6. Richard Bourke, acting governor between 1826 and 1828 and himself a

reformer, described the outcome of the commissioners‟ investigations as “a kind of

revolution” 7. The judiciary was restructured, including, in the districts of the colony, the

replacement of the boards of Heemraden, local notables who with the landdrost exercised

3
Ibid., p. 43.
4
Peires, “The British and the Cape”, in Elphick and Giliomee (eds.), Shaping of South African Society, p.
491.
5
Quoted in ibid., p. 494.
6
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 96.
7
Dooling, Slavery, Emancipation and Colonial Rule, p. 92.

113
minor judicial functions, with resident magistrates appointed from Britain 8. Some effort

was also made to separate the executive and judicial functions which had been performed

by landdrosts by appointing civil commissioners, although financial constraints often

resulted in the two offices being held by the same individual. In Grahamstown, Duncan

Campbell came to be both magistrate and commissioner between August 1828 and 1831,

after the demise of the magistrate Lawson, who had fallen “victim to intemperance” 9, and

then again after 1834. English was established as the language of the judiciary, a further

move towards Anglicisation 10. Simultaneously, many of the VOC restrictions on trade,

such as monopolies on various goods, were abolished 11. Port Elizabeth was established as

a free port in 1826 in line with the metropolitan impetus towards free trade 12.

The desire to remove archaic economic restrictions also had a profound impact on the

labour market. Slavery was approaching its demise in the 1820s, reflected in various

attempts to “ameliorate” the conditions of slaves in the 1820s. This was unpopular among

white colonists and the final emancipation of slaves in 1834 was the result of a directive

from London. More immediate attention was given to the improvement of conditions for

the ostensibly free Khoekhoe labouring class. In particular, Ordinance 50 of 1828

removed many of the legal restrictions which had been placed on the Khoekhoe under the

so-called Caledon Codes of 1809 and 1812, including the carrying of passes. The

ordinance was a product of reforming and evangelical influences both at the Cape and in

Britain, and attracted a great deal of controversy, both at the time and in subsequent

8
Ibid., p. 92.
9
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 341.
10
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 101.
11
Ibid., p. 101.
12
Ibid.

114
historiography. It certainly seems to have been widely unpopular among white colonists,

who feared that it would deprive them of their labour force 13. This view came to be

accepted by historians sympathetic to the settlers‟ point of view, such as Cory, who

suggested that removing legal restrictions on the Khoekhoe amounted to “abandoning

them to the worst enemy they had, namely, themselves” 14. In contrast, later historians

such as W. M. Macmillan came to see the ordinance as a victory over settler racism and

illiberalism and a foundation stone of a distinctive Cape “liberal tradition”. More recently

the significance of the Ordinance has been played down. Newton-King has argued that it

was an effort to regularise the labour market in favour of the colonists15, while Keegan

argues that the weakness of the colonial state severely limited the effectiveness of the

measures16.

The rapid and far-reaching changes in the colony in the 1820s did not go uncontested.

Governor Somerset (1814-1826) was far more comfortable with the old order and only

reluctantly accepted reforms, to which he eventually fell a victim. Somerset is a figure

who has attracted a great deal of controversy in South African historiography. He has

acquired some staunch supporters, whose works verge on hagiography 17. Millar, for

example, argues that “his high sense of duty and his genuine and unsparing efforts to

promote the welfare of the colony were not unworthy in some degree of the great services

rendered to England by the Plantagenet line of sovereigns of which he was a direct

13
Ibid., p. 105.
14
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 372.
15
Newton-King, “The Labour Market” in Marks and Atmore (eds.), Economy and Society, p. 200.
16
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 104.
17
See Key, G, “A Critical Study of the Administration of Lord Charles Somerset during the Period 1821 to
1826”, (Unpublished MA Thesis, Rhodes University, 1935); Millar, A. K, Plantagenet at the Cape: Lord
Charles Somerset (Cape Town, 1965); Rivett-Carnac, D, Hawk’s Eye (Cape Town, 1966).

115
descendant” 18. Nevertheless, the antipathy in which he was held by many of the settler

elite in the Eastern Cape strongly influenced historians sympathetic to the latter‟s cause.

Cory claimed that he possessed a “despotic disposition” and that the later years of his

tenure were characterised by “dissensions, turmoil and arbitrary measures opposed by

independence of thought and fearlessness of action” 19. Hockly, too, suggests he was

“autocratic, headstrong and hostile” and that his policy after 1820 was characterised by

“petulance” 20. His opposition to the establishment of a free press in the 1820s, as well as

a series of court cases which loom large in Theal and Cory but are described by

Macmillan as “almost meaningless wrangles”21, are seen as especially invidious

examples of his authoritarian tendencies. Leaving aside questions of personality, it seems

clear that Somerset‟s background in the eighteenth-century world of aristocratic wealth

and privilege did not make him the ideal candidate to oversee extensive liberal reforms in

an underdeveloped and semi-bankrupt colony. Peires perhaps is closest to the mark when

he argues that it was Somerset‟s “misfortune to govern the Cape at a time when the new

social forces generated in a rapidly industrialising Great Britain engulfed the colony,

sweeping aside not only Somerset but the entrenched power of the local oligarchy and the

established rhythms of the local economy” 22.

The British settlers, newly arrived at the eastern extremity of the colony, thus found

themselves in the midst of considerable change and conflict. Their responses and

reactions to these currents, as well as the exact role they played in the reforms that

18
Millar, Plantagenet at the Cape, p. 2.
19
Cory, Rise of South Africa, p. 123.
20
Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 89.
21
Macmillan, Cape Colour Question, p. 66.
22
Peires, “The British and the Cape”, p. 472.

116
occurred, are a matter of debate. Settler historians have seen the arrival of the

“democratically minded settlers” as a key impetus for the reforms of the 1820s 23. Hockly

claims that Somerset‟s polices “roused the opposition and indignation of the settlers to

such heights that after four years the British government had to bow to the storm of

protest and recall him”, implying that the agitations of the settler elite were a direct cause

of Somerset‟s recall 24. Guy Butler argues that even the “humblest settlers” were “imbued

with a sturdy independence of spirit”, and suggests that “some at least did not find the

independent spirit of the Yankees abhorrent” 25. (He does, however, acknowledge that the

settlers‟ role in political change has been “somewhat exaggerated” 26). The settlers‟

objection, outlined in a memorial to the British government in 1823 (described by Butler

as “a sober and impressive document, cool and rational in tone” 27), to having their “whole

interests and prospects committed to the unlimited control of one individual”, is regarded

as an assertion of democratic rights28. The struggle for the freedom of the press in the

1820s, although only peripherally connected with the settlers 29, is seen as an outcome of

the demand of free Englishmen for freedom of expression.

Many at the time also considered the settlers to constitute a force for change, and one

possibly imbued with democratic ideals. Somerset himself described the settlers as

“Radical” and claimed that their “chief object is to oppose and render odious all

authority, to magnify all difficulties and to promote and sow the seeds of discontent

23
Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 82.
24
Ibid., p. 90.
25
Butler, 1820 Settlers, p. 157.
26
Ibid., p. 233.
27
Ibid., p. 160.
28
Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 101.
29
One of the main protagonists in this struggle, Thomas Pringle, was an erstwhile settler leader, though he
clearly had no ambitions in this direction and spent only a couple of years on his lands.

117
wherever their baneful influence can extend” 30. John Philip, initially an ally of the

governor but soon to become a champion of the settlers, used similar language:

The Radicals soon began to murmur at their new situation. With no

end to their claims and arrogance, they had their lands assigned to
them and were left to ruminate on visionary schemes, and to talk of
Cobbett and Hunt and Radicalism in English to the Boers and
Hottentots who understand nothing but Dutch31.

Of course the wealthy settler gentry who led the protests against Somerset were not

“radical” at all; in fact, they were strongly conservative. Nevertheless, many seem to have

relished the conflict, and gloried in their new-found role as advocates for freedom.

Thomas Philipps boasted that he was regarded as a “leader of the opposition” in the

settlement. Duncan Campbell, another settler leader, claimed that the Commissioners

were cautious in receiving “communications respecting the highest power” and that

“there is no one but P…t [sic] 32 and myself who will make a direct charge against him

[Somerset] 33”. Despite his courage, Campbell came to exhibit a certain degree of

paranoia, asserting that Somerset‟s regime was a “reign of terror” and requesting that

Pringle direct his correspondence to him through a third party 34. The settler elite showed

some aptitude for political organising, enthusiastically arranging public meetings,

petitions and memorials. Although there were considerable restraints on public meetings,

the settler elite eventually were able to send a memorial to Britain in 1823 outlining their

30
Quoted in Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 97.
31
Macmillan, Cape Colour Question, p. 111.
32
i.e. Major Pigot.
33
Macmillan, Cape Colour Question, p. 116.
34
Ibid., p. 117.

118
grievances35. The memorial has been seen as an early assertion of a distinct settler agenda

and an adumbration of many of the issues around which settler identity would be

constructed in coming decades36. After reaching England it was handed to the already-

appointed Commissioners of Enquiry, whose departure for the Cape aroused considerable

excitement and expectation.

The arrival of the Commissioners of Enquiry in Grahamstown in February 1824, resulted

in the so-called “Grahamstown Riot”, the somewhat farcical high-water mark of the

settler elite‟s agitation against Somerset. Although the incipient settlement of Bathurst

was briefly a rival, Grahamstown had retained its position as the administrative capital of

the area, and became the most convenient centre for political activities. It was thus in

Grahamstown that the commissioners investigating the state of the colony were to be

based. On the day they were expected to arrive, Philipps “immediately went to

Grahamstown and with a few friends had to enjoy the speculations of the good folk as to

the movements [of the commissioners]” 37. When the commissioners eventually did arrive

that evening, the town was “illuminated” (a few candles were placed in windows), and

shots were fired in celebration – a common practice in the Cape. The echoing of this

gunfire alarmed the military, some of whom claimed it was reminiscent of the war of

181938. Soldiers were turned out of the barracks and apprehended a few residents on the

assumption that they were a rioting mob. A report after the event suggested that the

confusion gave opportunity for Philipps to berate the unpopular Landdrost, H. Rivers,

35
Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 101.
36
Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 10.
37
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 208.
38
Proceedings of Landdrost and Heemraden, Cape Archives, 1/AY 1/1.

119
calling him a “big-headed fellow”39. He claimed in his correspondence, however, that he

had done no such thing 40. The trouble was not serious, and the military clearly

overreacted. They compounded the error by reporting to Cape Town that the disturbance

was a “tumult of a most dangerous character”, a report which earned the army much

contempt 41.

Philipps considered that the riot was a good thing, as it had exposed the “mean underhand

arts” and the “despotic measures” which the colonial government resorted to 42. He, as

well as Campbell and Pigot, attempted to impress the commissioners with their

grievances. But the settler gentry had interested motives. Although the apparently

unrestrained despotism of the colonial government does seem to have genuinely shocked

some of them, the extent to which any of them were actually interested in liberal politics

should not be exaggerated: few of them would have been voters in the pre-reform

parliament, and the vaunted freedoms of expression and assembly were under pressure in

Britain itself in the wake of post-war repression43. Their protests were “obviously moved

by personal interests and grievances rather than questions of principle, or concern for the

general good” 44. In particular, it was the sensitivity of local officials to settler interests

rather than concern at the powers they wielded that influenced attitudes towards them.

The popularity of the acting governor at the time of the settlers‟ arrival, Sir Rufane

Donkin, was due in large measure to his willingness to dish out extra land grants to the

39
Ibid.
40
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 209.
41
Cory, Rise of South Africa, ii, p. 198.
42
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 209.
43
Macmillan, Cape Colour Question, p. 4.
44
Ibid., p. 66.

120
settler elite45. He also obligingly appointed some of the settler gentry, such as Philipps,

Pigot and Campbell, as Heemraden, a gratifying acknowledgement of their feelings of

importance in the community. Similarly, the amiable and accommodating landdrost

James Jones enjoyed far more popularity than irritable and irascible officials like Captain

Trappes, the temporary magistrate at Bathurst, or Jones‟ successor, Henry Rivers. Even

the Commissioners of Enquiry were able to win the esteem of the gentry through

flattery46. The whole government of Albany (and of the Cape generally) at the time was a

complex web of patronage and advantage. The letters of Thomas Philipps, who was

himself constantly on the lookout for advancement, reveal the shifting alliances of

officials and settlers.

By this stage the LMS missionary, John Philip, was a supporter of the settler gentry in

Albany, corresponding with the likes of Duncan Campbell, Thomas Philipps, J. C. Chase

and Donald Moodie. He was also involved in relief efforts for the “distressed settlers”, an

attempt to raise money for settlers who had lost capital in unsuccessful farming

endeavours. This effort had aroused the suspicion of the governor in regard to its true

motivations (he felt that the plight of the settlers was seen as a negative reflection of his

administration) 47. In a letter to Major Pigot, Philip gave a clear idea of the true agenda of

the settler gentry. He recommended the forgiveness of debts to the colonial government,

the granting of more land, the importation of Khoekhoe labour (albeit under “missionary

supervision”), the legalising of trade across the frontier, and the selection of “the local

authorities of the district from among the settlers”, all matters close to the settler gentry‟s

45
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 99.
46
Ibid., pp. 211-213.
47
Macmillan, Cape Colour Question, p. 113.

121
hearts48. In fact, Somerset had already co-opted other less genteel settler leaders as local

officials. Fearing to make “Dukes of Bedford” out of the likes of Philipps, he had

replaced the gentry as Heemraden with more commercially minded and pliable

individuals such as W. Cock, H. Crause, W. Currie, and C. Bisset 49. These came to be

labelled by Pringle as the “serviles” (as opposed to the “radicals”) but they too were

simply pursuing their own interests. Cock in particular was eager to develop the Kowie

River as a port to further his trading ambitions, a project Somerset regarded with

favour 50. Although poorer settlers had some grievances against Somerset, the gentry

never enjoyed general support. There were always some who found cooperation more

advantageous than opposition.

Nevertheless, the gentry did not go unrewarded, and Somerset was able to neutralise their

opposition during his visit to Grahamstown in 1825, though his career was already in

ruins. Just as the gentry had eagerly sought audience with the Commissioners of Enquiry

the previous year, so too did they rush to Grahamstown to gain the ear of Governor

Somerset. Small gestures, such as the removal of his hat to a knot of “radicals” in the

crowd in Grahamstown to greet his arrival, and invitations to dinners and interviews,

soothed the vanity of the gentry 51. Land grants were awarded and patronage dispensed.

Although disappointed in his hope of becoming magistrate of Bathurst, Philipps was

gratified by the grant of the farm “Rietfontein”, which he had long coveted 52. Moodie

became magistrate of Port Frances, newly named after the wife of Colonel Somerset, the

48
Ibid., p. 114.
49
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 52.
50
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 214.
51
Ibid., p. 225. It is notable that Philipps takes to referring to Somerset as “H.E.” in his correspondence.
52
Ibid., p. 236.

122
Governor‟s son, in a show of gratitude. Duncan Campbell, disappointed and jealous,

remarked that Moodie was “mighty timid and shy since he has become a functionary”53.

Campbell himself had to wait until 1828 to secure the prize of Landdrost of Albany. The

Governor‟s visit left the gentry satisfied, and they subsided into quiescence.

The settler gentry faded from the scene in the late 1820s, either finally making good as

farmers or becoming officials in the colonial government. The new elite, centred on the

Grahamstown mercantile community and the rising sheep farmers, possessed a very

different character and pursued different agendas. Nevertheless, the movements of the

early 1820s had both begun the process of the formulation of a distinct identity amongst

the British settlers in the Eastern Cape, and established Grahamstown as the centre for

white political agitation in the region. The Grahamstown riot in particular revealed the

manner in which the town could become a centre for political passions. As Bathurst

steadily declined in importance, Grahamstown became the main location of the stormy

public meetings of the 1830s. Grahamstown‟s political importance was also enhanced by

its status as the centre of the local administration. Governors and other government

visitors tended to base themselves in the town, attracting many seeking patronage and

advancement. After 1831 Grahamstown also possessed a prolific press, producing not

only influential newspapers such as the Graham’s Town Journal, but also numerous

pamphlets and books on political topics.

Many of the themes which were to become more pronounced in the 1830s had their

origin in the 1820s. Above all, there was the notion that the settlers in the Eastern Cape
53
Macmillan, Cape Colour Question, p. 119.

123
had different needs and priorities to the rest of the colony, and that the colonial

government in the west was persistently unsympathetic to reasonable demands. This had

had its origins in the sufferings of the white settlers in the early 1820s. Although the long

litany of drought, disease and floods which plagued the early agricultural endeavours of

the settlement were exaggerated at the time and have since been romanticised by settler

historians, it is certainly clear that the first years of the settlement were difficult times,

and the seeming lack of sympathy from a government which had placed them in such a

predicament in the first place was deeply upsetting to the settlers. In particular, the

perceived opposition and contempt of Governor Somerset before 1825 produced a mark

lack of trust in the colonial government.

To some extent the lack of sympathy was ascribed to distance: the colonial government

could not appreciate the settlers‟ grievances because it was too far from the scene to have

a true understanding of the issues. This was expressed as early as the memorial of 1823:

It has long, and from the most distressing proofs, become evident
to the settlers that the colonial government (situated at the opposite
extremity of the colony, where every particular, whether of soil
and climate, or the constitution, pursuits and interests of society, is
totally different) possesses no adequate means of ascertaining their
actual wants54.

The reiteration that Albany was remote from both the colonial and imperial seats of

government – the phrase “600 miles from Cape Town and 6 000 miles from London” was

54
Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 102.

124
the usual formulation – became a familiar trope in settler propaganda 55. Twelve years

later, for example, Robert Godlonton argued that the distance of the colonial government

from the frontier contributed to the outbreak of the 1834-35 war56. It also became a key

argument for the removal of the capital of the colony to the East, or the division of the

colony into two. This “separatist” movement was the attempt by the settlers to gain

control of the colonial state. Although it only became a powerful force after the late

1830s, it too was adumbrated in the political agitations of the 1820s.

While the lack of understanding of the western Cape and Britain could be regarded

simply as a matter of ignorance, it could also be ascribed to more sinister motives. There

was a growing belief in the 1820s, which became almost an obsession after the 1834-35

frontier war, that the whites on the frontier and the settlers in Albany were being

deliberately slandered by missionaries, philanthropists and others with similar

sympathies. The result of these efforts in the western Cape but above all in Britain was to

“blacken the reputation” of the settlers, thus making the British authorities even less

sympathetic to settler aspirations. The settlers became embroiled in a political and

ideological debate with more liberal elements in Cape Town and Britain. Grahamstown,

with its press and increasingly assertive and self-conscious elite, came to play the role of

champion of the settlers generally. The interests of the town and the countryside were not

always the same, and as we have seen, the diversity within the urban settler community

made the extent to which the Grahamstown elite could speak for everyone even in the

town itself doubtful. But a broad commonality of aims and attitudes in the east did arise,

55
E.g. Godlonton, Introductory Remarks to a Narrative of the Irruption of the KaffirHordes (Reprint Cape
Town, 1965).
56
Ibid., p. 114.

125
and the settlers often found it advantageous to bury their differences and rally around

Godlonton and other Grahamstown-based propagandists and polemicists.

The debate revolved around the treatment and status of Africans within the colony and

relations with those, in particular the amaXhosa, who were on its immediate borders. The

1820s saw the settlers drawn into ever closer relations with the Khoekhoe and the

amaXhosa. The rising prosperity of the eastern Cape in general and Grahamstown in

particular became ever more dependent on the trans-frontier trade, as well as the labour

of the Khoekhoe. The remaining settler farmers‟ turn from agriculture to pastoralism,

however, saw increasing conflict over cattle. Invariably characterised as “Kaffir

depredations” by the settlers, Xhosa raids became a source of deep grievance. The

occasional murder of a Khoekhoe herdsman or white settler added to the bitterness.

Certain incidents, such as the murder of two young boys in 1822, are frequently cited by

settler historians attempting to illustrate the dire plight of the hapless settlers 57. As Lester

points out, “the British settlers‟ collective exploitation of Khoesan labour necessarily

raised fears of rebellion and their expropriation of Xhosa land necessarily generated

anxieties about Xhosa reprisals” 58. As the settlers became ever more economically

dependent on Africans, so too did they develop a feeling that they were beleaguered by

hostile forces.

The settlers‟ hostility to the amaXhosa came to be expressed in racial terms during the

1820s, and the conflict between the two communities was ascribed by the settlers to the

inherent racial characteristics of the latter – “a kafir and a thief are synonymous” in the

57
Hockly, The Story of the British Settlers, p. 109.
58
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 46.

126
words of one frontier farmer 59. The development of racial prejudice among the British

settlers in the Eastern Cape, and indeed in European culture generally, is clearly a

complex process. Clifton Crais argues that settler racism was the outcome of “processes

first of projection and subsequently of inversion” 60. He suggests that initially the response

of the settler elite towards Africans was a positive one. Such positive feelings were not a

result, however, of any merits that Africans themselves might have possessed. Rather, the

settlers, largely ignorant of African societies, projected onto Africans what they regarded

as their own virtues – “the settler imagined himself in the African” 61. Subsequently, as

frontier conflict became more intense, the settlers came to project their vices rather than

their virtues onto Africans. In this situation, Crais argues, “what the British-settler elite

„saw‟ was all that they considered repugnant in their own culture” 62 . Crais is not the only

writer to argue that it was the experiences of the settlers after they arrived in the colony

that resulted in the development of racial prejudice. A number of writers have pinpointed

the mid-1830s, and in particular the war of 1834-35, as the primary cause of settler

racism. Butler writes that “Before the war of 1834-35…the settlers showed a willingness

to live in amity with the Xhosa, and even assist them if necessary” 63. Lester, although

tracing the roots of settler racism to the 1820s, argues that “it would take other, more

emotionally disturbing and more collective experiences [i.e the war], for a general settler

discourse of a savage Xhosa „other‟ to be created” 64. Before the 1830s, he argues, racism

was generally determined by personal experiences. The farmer who had lost cattle to

59
Graham’s Town Journal, 13 March 1834.
60
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 128.
61
Ibid., p. 128.
62
Ibid., p. 129.
63
Butler, 1820 Settlers, p. 254.
64
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 56.

127
Xhosa raids was far more virulent than the trader dependent on Xhosa customers 65. Some

of the settler writers themselves believed that racial prejudice only developed in the mid-

1830s. William Shaw claimed that “up to the period of my departure [in 1833], the

prevailing feeling was undoubtedly that of kindness and good will towards [the

amaXhosa]” 66. Even Robert Godlonton asserted that “as the emigrants entertained no

prejudices on account of colour, their sable neighbours were treated...with a degree of

kindness and attention” 67.

The 1834-35 war was unquestionably a formative experience in the development of

settler racism. It is clear, though, that a good deal of racial animosity existed long before

the war. Much of this can be ascribed to the experiences of the 1820s. Alan Lester has

argued that both the increasing economic dependence on Africans and the rising conflict

of that decade led to an increase in race consciousness. As Crais points out, it was no

coincidence that negative racial attitudes came to be centred on these very areas of

interaction: the “thievishness” of the amaXhosa on colonial property, and the “indolence”

of Khoekhoe resisting absorption into the colonial labouring class68. In this vein the

editor of the Journal could write of the amaXhosa in 1832 that “accustomed to arms from

their childhood they are taught to consider marauding enterprises as their principal

employment”69. On another occasion it was asserted that “the Caffres are a most

determined set of thieves…so long as they have more to gain by the plunder of the

colonists than by leading quiet and peaceable lives, so long will the farmers have to

65
Ibid., p. 56.
66
Shaw, The Story of My Mission, p. 159.
67
Godlonton, Introductory Remarks, p. 131.
68
Crais, Making of the Colonial Order, p. 129.
69
Graham’s Town Journal 8 November 1832.

128
complain of the plunder of their property” 70. Correspondents to the newspaper expressed

even more virulent views. One correspondent wrote of the Khoekhoe:

The disposition in the Hottentot is to idleness, is a leading feature

in his character, and the principal cause of their poverty and
distress…I am perfectly aware of the antipathy entertained against
the Hottentot, not by one only, but by all; their want of gratitude,
their indifference, their idleness, their dishonesty, all of which
operate to steel the heart against them 71.

The passage is a revealing one. One can infer from this that racial prejudice was a

widespread phenomenon. There is also the idea that the faults supposedly possessed by

the Khoekhoe are inherently part of their character – an essentialism which is inherent to

racist belief. Similar remarks can also be found regarding the amaXhosa. One

correspondent argued in March 1833 that the “character of the Caffre may be summed up

in a few words – he is cunning – dishonest – superstitious – and cruel”72.

However difficult and embittering the early years of the settlement were, it is also true

that the settlers did not arrive in the Cape with neutral attitudes about race. Racism was

by no means an unknown phenomenon in Britain. On the contrary, Maylam argues,

“racist discourse was rife in England, at least from the middle of the eighteenth

century” 73. He goes on to describe the stereotypes which had become familiar to the

English, and which were exported to the Cape along with the settlers‟ other baggage –

“Blacks were represented as being innately savage, indolent and stupid; they were

70
Graham’s Town Journal 20 June 1833.
71
Graham’s Town Journal 8 November 1832.
72
Graham’s Town Journal, 6 March 1833.
73
Maylam, P.R, South Africa’s Racial Past: The History and Historiography of Racism, Segregation, and
Apartheid (Aldershot, 2001), p. 85.

129
deemed to possess a voracious sexual appetite and the prowess to satisfy it” 74. Alongside

these prejudices, inevitably, seems to have been massive ignorance of Africa and its

peoples. The much reproduced Cruikshank cartoon, Emigration to the Cape of ‘Forlorn

Hope: All Among the Hottentots Capering Ashore, was printed in 1819 as a warning to

prospective settlers of the dangers they would face in South Africa. It depicted the settlers

being devoured by cannibalistic Khoekhoe (as well as ferocious snakes and crocodiles),

reflecting both crude assumptions of African savagery and almost total ignorance of

Khoekhoe culture. The semi-fictional Journal of Harry Hastings, written by John Ayliff,

reflects similar ignorance – Harry‟s mother seems to have believed that all children born

in Africa are necessarily black, a point “which seemed greatly to trouble her” 75. Another

settler feared that he would be “scalped by savages” at the Cape 76. Often settlers seem to

have simply lacked familiarity with people of different physical appearance. The young

Thomas Stubbs fled in alarm the first time he encountered a Khoekhoe man 77. Jeremiah

Goldswain also found the “otherness” of the Khoekhoe alarming, describing them as “the

most dispisable creatours that I ever saw: most of them ware half-nacked having nothing

more to cover them with but six or eight sheep skins” 78. Ignorance could lead to offence

even where none was intended. This was particularly noticeable in the use of names. The

colonists soon came to realise that the amaXhosa did not refer to themselves as “Caffres”.

Thomas Philipps79, Thomas Pringle80 and Dr Philip81 all noted that the word was a

European invention, and yet all continued to use it. Similar misunderstanding

74
Ibid., p. 86.
75
Ayliff, Journal of Harry Hastings, (Reprint Grahamstown, 1963), p. 33.
76
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 162.
77
Maxwell (ed.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 67.
78
Long (ed.), Goldswain’s Chronicle, p. 20.
79
Mostert, Frontiers,
80
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 412.
81
Philip, Researches, i, p. 161.

130
occasionally arose over the use of the word “Hottentot”. Harry Hastings relates a

dialogue with a Khoekhoe man in 1820:

“I say Hottentot, is this berry good for skof?”

The man looked at me very hard and I went right up to him,

showing the berry in my hand, and repeated what I had said before,
when he said, “Wat for ye call me Hottentot?”

“Well,” I said, “you are a Hottentot, ain't you?”

He replied, “Ja ik is, but me don't like to be called Hottentot.”

“What,” says I, with astonishment, “are you ashamed of your

nation?”

He then said, “What would you say if I was to call you

Englishman?”

“What would I say?” said I to him, “Why man, I glory in that

name!” 82.

Clearly “Hottentot” was already a far from neutral appellation even in the 1820s, but this

was lost on the newly arrived Hastings.

As well as ignorance of Africa and its societies, there was a widespread assumption, even

among observers basically sympathetic to Africans, of British cultural superiority. This

was often combined with a belief in the truth of Christianity and contempt for indigenous

African spirituality – as William Shrewsbury put it, the amaXhosa, “while free from

idolatry…are slaves to the most debasing fears and superstitions” 83. The Journal was

even more scathingly critical of “superstition”, which it described as “that bondage in

which this land of heathen darkness [i.e. Xhosaland] is cruelly held” 84. Admittedly

82
Ayliff, Journal of Harry Hastings, p. 48.
83
Fast (ed.), Shrewsbury Journal, p. 36.
84
Graham’s Town Journal 24 August 1833.

131
neither Shrewsbury nor the Journal can be considered liberal. But even Dr Philip spoke

of “elevating savages and barbarians to a state of civilisation, and cheering them with a

hope of the life to come” 85. Pringle spoke of his land grant on the frontier as a “dark nook

of benighted Africa” and stressed that the amaXhosa, although not “savages”, were yet

“barbarians”86. Pringle‟s assumption of European superiority was curiously reflected in

his assessments of physical beauty. He wrote of a young Tswana boy that he was “a

model of juvenile beauty” who possessed a “high broad forehead and a nose and mouth

[approaching] the European standard” 87. Similarly, he said of a Tswana woman that she

had “features of the most handsome and delicate European mould” 88. Pringle evidently

possessed a strong belief in physiology as a racial marker. He wrote of the amaXhosa that

they were “a tall, athletic and handsome race of men, with features often approaching to

the European or Asiatic model; and, excepting their woolly hair, exhibiting few of the

peculiarities of the negro race” 89. He was also not immune to the eccentric notions of

racial history current at the time:

In their [amaXhosa] customs and traditions, there seem to be

indications of their having sprung, at some remote period, from a
people of much higher civilisation than is now exhibited by any of
the tribes of Southern Africa; whilst the rite of circumcision,
universally practised among them without any vestige of Islamism,
and several other traditionary [sic] customs resembling the
Levitical rules of purification, would seem to indicate some former
connection with a people of Arabian, Hebrew, or, perhaps,
Abyssinian lineage90.

85
Philip, Researches, i, p. vii.
86
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 135.
87
Ibid., p. 304.
88
Ibid., p. 360.
89
Ibid., p. 413.
90
Ibid., p. 413.

132
Few of the liberal writers opposed imperialism in itself. On the contrary, most, including

Dr Philip, favoured the extension of British rule over Africans, provided it was exercised

for the benefit of Africans themselves. It was the nature of colonial expansion at the

Cape, with its incessant conflict and inexorable land dispossession, which excited their

disapproval.

Although liberals held many of the same cultural prejudices as the frontier settlers, they

had a radically different understanding of the nature of racial conflict on the frontier. In

response to the settler view that Africans were inherently thievish and idle, they argued

that it was the colonial environment which discouraged the Khoekhoe from labour and

forced the amaXhosa to steal. Inherent in their belief that Africans would be uplifted by

European culture and religion was an assumption that a basic equality between races

could be possible in the future. John Philip wrote that “so far as my observation extends,

it appears to me that the natural capacity of the African is nothing inferior to that of the

European”91. Kay, too, was sceptical of the settler notion of inherent racial inferiority.

“The true character of the African,” he wrote, “has been vilely and universally traduced;

sometimes from sheer ignorance, - at others from malice; but more frequently, from

absolutely mercenary motives” 92.

The belief that it was the colonial system that stymied the redemption of Africa hoped for

by the philanthropist resulted in the publication of a number of works sharply critical of

the Cape government and colonists. The most significant book describing the plight of

91
Ross, John Philip, p. 95.
92
Kay, S, Travels and Researches in Caffraria (London, 1833), p. vi.

133
the Khoekhoe was Dr Philip‟s Researches in South Africa, published in 1828. Philip

devoted little attention to the amaXhosa. Their case was more enthusiastically taken up

by Thomas Pringle and (more ambivalently) the Methodist missionary, Stephen Kay, as

well as by occasional visitors – dismissively described as “the tourists” in the Journal 93 -

such as Bruce and Saxe Bannister, who published their impressions of the country. They

were joined by John Fairbairn, editor of the South African Commercial Advertiser, a

Cape Town-based paper critical of the frontier colonists and sympathetic to Africans.

Fairbairn became a particular bête noire of the settlers. These writers listed a long series

of injustices perpetuated against the Khoekhoe and the amaXhosa by the colonists. As

Philip expressed it, “the growing colony presents on its borders an unbroken line of

crimes and blood”. 94 Frontier boers were for the most part the main targets of the liberal

writers, “ignorant, semi-savage peasants” according to Pringle 95. Nevertheless, they were

clear that injustices were being committed both by the colonial government and the

English settlers. They often assumed racial antipathy was a vice the settlers had acquired

from the Boers. Dr Philip, for example, wrote that the settlers on their arrival were

In the habit of expressing themselves in the strongest terms of

reprobation against the old colonists for all the atrocities said to
have been committed by the Dutch colonists against these
oppressed people [i.e. the Khoekhoe]. But, alas! Poor human
nature! Many of them had not been three years in Africa, when
they imbibed all the feelings of the people whom they had so
loudly condemned, and went beyond them in the worst part of their
conduct 96.

93
Graham’s Town Journal 7 July 1835
94
Philip, Researches, i, p. 2.
95
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 461.
96
Ibid., p. 271.

134
Pringle agreed: “Nor would it be just to represent those feelings towards the natives as

confined solely to the Dutch-African population. Some of the British settlers…and not

those exclusively of the lower orders, appear to have imbibed…the same inhuman

prejudices to the natives of the soil” 97.

The settlers in the eastern province felt threatened by this hostile press, and mobilised to

present their own view of frontier relations and the nature of African society. Much of the

settler discourse emanated from Grahamstown and its increasingly vociferous press. The

first Grahamstown newspaper, the Graham’s Town Journal, was established partly in

response to these pressures. Even before the 1834 war had raised political temperatures in

the east, the Journal railed continuously against the liberal writers, whom it described as

“truly contemptible but pertinacious opponents” 98. Its tone frequently verged on the

hysterical. Of a certain Mr Bruce, a visitor from the Madras civil service who had

published critical reflections on the Cape government‟s frontier policy in 1832, the editor

wrote

[his] nostrums were so spurious that they could only be palmed on

the world at the expense of veracity, and the sacrifice of every
sentiment which, in decent society, is deemed honourable 99.

Pringle, too, came in for severe criticism for his book published in mid-1834, before the

outbreak of the war:

97
Ibid., p. 456.
98
Graham’s Town Journal 3 March 1836.
99
Graham’s Town Journal 20 December 1832.

135
 We knew from his natural temperament of mind it was impossible
for him to write dispassionately…but we never could anticipate
that he would have the temerity to risk his reputation by the
publication of a production [i.e. African Sketches] as mischievous,
as partial and as unjustifiable as ever was penned for the purpose
of being palmed upon the world as a work of authority 100.

Such denunciations occurred in almost every issue of the Journal in the early 1830s,

either in editorial comment or from voluminous and bitter correspondence. Even visitors

such as Bruce occasioned virulent objections. To local critics, such as Fairbairn or Philip,

were ascribed deeply sinister motives. In the aftermath of the war the Journal developed

an almost paranoid obsession with the settlers‟ liberal opponents, asserting that “the

systematic attempt which is now in the making to bring disgrace and ruin on the

inhabitants of this frontier would not be credited, were not the proof so irresistibly

convincing, and the instances so frequent and striking” 101.

Newspapers were not the only publications churned out in defence of the settlers‟

interests and reputations. Meurant and Godlonton‟s press was soon producing books as

well as newspapers, and the Methodists in Grahamstown also established a press for the

publication of religious works in isiXhosa, as well as a wide range of missionary

memoirs and biographies102. Gordon-Brown has identified 48 books and pamphlets

published in Grahamstown between 1830 and 1850. Of these, 19 deal with the history,

politics and conflicts of the eastern province. Godlonton himself was a particularly

prolific writer, producing no less than five works before 1850, three concerning the

frontier wars. The most influential of these was the Narrative of the Irruption of the Kafir

100
Graham’s Town Journal 9 October 1834.
101
Graham’s Town Journal 11 February 1836.
102
Gordon-Brown, A, The Settlers’ Press (Cape Town, 1979), p. 57.

136
Hordes, written in 1835 in the last weeks of the war and offering a profoundly different

version of frontier conflict to that of the liberal writers. The settlers‟ “struggles to defend

their homes and their families against the continued invasions of the natives”, wrote

Godlonton, had been characterised by the liberal writers as “unjustifiable inroads upon a

quiet and comparatively inoffensive people” 103. The consequences of this were, of course,

dire in the extreme. Philip, Pringle and Kay were seen as the primary villains in creating a

false impression of the settlers‟ grievances. Godlonton argued that the misrepresentations

of the liberals were a direct cause of the war, and jeopardised the possibility of the

settlers receiving compensation for the losses. The sufferings of the settlers at the hands

of the amaXhosa, without redress and without sympathy in Cape Town or in London,

became a key theme in settler propaganda.

While highlighting the injustices and sufferings borne by the settlers, settler propaganda

also aimed to encourage immigration to the eastern districts. It offered enthusiastic

depictions of the climate, people and economic prospects of the area. Once again, Robert

Godlonton was one of the leading writers in this endeavour, both through the columns of

the Journal and in prospectuses such as Sketches of the Eastern Districts of the Cape of

Good Hope as they are in 1842104. It was asserted in a editorial in the Journal that

The customs which obtain here – the mode of life – and public
institutions all savour so strongly of the parent country that an
emigrant might be apt to forget that he was not in
His own – his native land[sic105]

103
Godlonton, Introductory Remarks, p. 6.
104
Gordon-Brown, Settlers’ Press, p. 78.
105
From a poem by Walter Scott.

137
 if he were not forcibly reminded of it by the long absence of the
tax-gatherer, as well as the train of ills which necessarily spring
from a system of poor laws, and the support of a swarm of able
bodied paupers106.

Another enthusiastic settler propagandist, though only a sometime resident of

Grahamstown, was J. C. Chase, who perhaps exceeded even Godlonton in his praises of

the eastern districts. In his 1843 prospectus, The Cape of Good Hope and Algoa Bay, he

offered a lyrical description of the province:

The scenery of this Arcadian county has called forth the

unqualified praise of every inhabitant and sojourner. Towards the
sea, well grassed and gently undulating meadows are interspersed
with park-like scenery. Natural shrubberies, variegated by flowers
of a thousand hues, everywhere arrest the attention of the delighted
beholder. These elegant prairies are covered by numerous flocks of
sleek and healthy cattle, and sprinkled with the cottages of farmers,
whose dazzling whiteness pleasingly contrasts with the freshness
and brilliancy of the bright verdure. On the north the character of
the landscape undergoes a complete and sudden change, passing at
once into sublimity. There the bold ranges of the Winterberg, Kat
River and Kaffrarian Mountains with their occasional crests of
snow and their eternal diadems of hoary frost, stand out in sharp
relief against an intensely azure sky, and give a grandeur to the
scene not surpassed in any part of the world 107.

The picture of the eastern province, both an ideal destination for potential immigrants,

and an unstable frontier unsupported in its efforts to resist the inroads of its savage

neighbours, gave much settler propaganda a somewhat schizophrenic nature. However,

increasing the settler population was seen to be closely related to security, so no

inconsistency seems to have been felt by the propagandists.

106
Graham’s Town Journal, 15 August 1833.
107
Chase, The Cape of Good Hope and Algoa Bay, p. 33.

138
Both sides in the debate made increasing recourse to history in support of their

arguments. Indeed, their contemporary disputes were inseparably tied to different

understandings of the historical development of the Cape Colony. Andrew Bank suggests

that to the “Great Debate”, which occurred between the liberal writers and their enemies,

can be traced the origins of South African historiography 108. Philip‟s Researches, he

argues, is the “first written history of the Cape Colony” 109. Although aiming to highlight

the contemporary status of the Khoekhoe, it traces the policies of various colonial

governments towards them all the way to 1652 110. This history, he argued, was

characterised by “violent dispossession”, “hopeless bondage”, and “wrongs and outrages

inflicted upon the innocent and defenceless” 111. Other liberal writers pursued similar

themes. Kay and Pringle traced the injustices committed against the amaXhosa, both

suggesting, to the chagrin of the settlers, that the frontier wars of 1812 and 1819 were

unjust and imprudent 112. The settler writers stressed the importance of the 1820

settlement, which Godlonton argued was “an important epoch in the history of the Cape

of Good Hope” 113. The settlers responded with their own versions of Cape history centred

on the creation of a distinct English community in the east. As early as the first years of

the 1820s, both Pringle114 and Philipps115 had written historical surveys of the 1820

settlement scheme, largely to draw attention to the hardships of those initial years.

Pringle‟s 1834 African Sketches offered a more detailed description of the progress of the

108
Bank, A, “The Great Debate and the Origins of South African Historiography”, The Journal of African
History, Vol. 38, No. 2 (1997), p. 262.
109
Ibid., p. 263.
110
Ibid., p. 263.
111
Quoted Ibid., p. 263.
112
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 215; Kay, Travels and Researches, p. 254.
113
Godlonton, Introductory Remarks, p. 1.
114
Pringle, African Sketches, p. 345.
115
Keppel-Jones (ed.), Philipps 1820 Settler, p. 121.

139
Albany settlement; together with Godlonton‟s Irruption it laid the foundations of the

narrative of suffering, endurance and triumph which came to characterise later settler

histories. The settler propagandists had an opposite view of frontier policy, arguing that it

was in the weakness of the colonial government, rather than its oppressiveness, that the

origins of conflict lay. “There can be little hesitation in ascribing most of those

deplorable excesses which have been committed on this frontier”, wrote Godlonton, “to a

vacillating and mistaken policy on the part of the colonial government towards the native

tribes” 116. Another leading settler propagandist, Donald Moodie, compiled a set of

official documents, published as The Record; or a series of official papers relative to the

condition and treatment of the native tribes of South Africa, in defence of the settler view

of frontier relations117. Moodie, too, worked with documents from the very earliest years

of European settlement in South Africa. These histories had a profound impact on later

works, and became greatly influential in South African historiography 118. In the 1830s,

though, Godlonton and Moodie felt they were fighting a losing battle, especially as settler

aspirations seemed to be betrayed in the wake of the war.

It is clear that the foundations of the “Great Debate” had been laid before 1834. The

settlers of the eastern province and their propagandists in Grahamstown already felt

threatened by a liberal discourse that questioned the rectitude of frontier relations and

seemed to undermine sympathy for the settlers in frontier conflict. Racial feeling was

growing in this context, and works of propaganda and history were being produced in

defence of the settlers‟ views. There is no doubt, however, that the war of 1834-35 was a

116
Godlonton, Introductory Remarks, p. 21.
117
Bank, “The Great Debate”, p. 276.
118
Ibid., p. 281.

140
profoundly traumatic experience. Grahamstown had experienced war before; indeed, it

was founded in the wake of the Xhosa expulsion from the Zuurveld in 1812 119. In 1819

the settlement was actually attacked and nearly overrun, an experience which, despite the

residents‟ apprehensions, was not repeated in 1834 120. In 1819, however, the town was

little more than a straggling military encampment. By 1835 it was the centre of a

growing, and increasingly articulate and self-conscious colonial community. Although

frontier conflict had been escalating from 1829, and, as Webster points out, the invasion

was not really an “irruption” so much as the infiltration of numerous small parties 121,

many on the frontier seem to have been taken genuinely by surprise. “It is impossible to

describe”, claimed the Journal, “the state of alarm into which Graham‟s Town and

neighbourhood has been thrown in the last week, by the audacious and menacing conduct

of the Kafirs” 122. Most military positions and smaller towns on the colonial side of the

frontier, such as Bathurst, were precipitously abandoned. Refugees poured into

Grahamstown, and the spectacle of St George‟s Church transformed into a fortress, where

“nothing was heard but the din of arms, and the bustle and noise of a guardhouse in times

of war”, was highly distressing 123. So too was the glow of burning farmhouses, visible

from the town124. Local notables, as well as senior military officers, organised a

“committee of safety” for the defence of the town 125. Inevitably, the merchant elite

acquired the commissions of the “Grahamstown Municipal Force”, a volunteer group of

town residents. In the infantry, T.C. White became a major, W. Wright, W.R. Thompson,

119
Maclennan, A Proper Degree of Terror, p. 133.
120
Ibid., p. 191.
121
Webster, “Land Expropriation and Labour Extraction”, p. 75.
122
Graham’s Town Journal 25 December 1834.
123
Godlonton, Narrative of the Irruption of the Kaffir Hordes, p. 30.
124
Ibid., p. 39.
125
Cory, Rise of South Africa, iii, p. 82.

141
T. Damant and R. Godlonton became captains, and H. B. Rutherfoord, J. D. Norden, P.

W. Lucas and L. H. Meurant were lieutenants. C. Griffith, C. Maynard and E. Norton

became officers in the cavalry 126. The effectiveness of this body, however, was open to

doubt. Harry Smith described the town on his arrival in January 1835:

On reaching the barricaded streets, I had the greatest difficulty to

ride in…Consternation was depicted on every countenance I met,
on some despair, every man carrying a gun, some pistols and
swords too. It would have been ludicrous in any situation but mine,
but people desponding would not have been prepossessed in my
favour by my laughing at them, so I refrained, though very much
disposed to do so. I just took a look at the mode adopted to defend
Grahamstown. There were all sorts of works, barricades etc., some
three deep, and such was the consternation, an alarm, in the dark
especially, would have set one half of the people shooting the
other 127.

Smith was already casting himself in the role, as one biographer has put it, of “saviour of

the eastern province”128. His vigorous activity and bluster did restore confidence to the

town, and earned him an enduring popularity among the settler community. In any case,

the town was never seriously in danger, and the war soon moved into Xhosaland.

The war had highlighted the sometimes divergent aims of colonial Grahamstown and the

surrounding countryside, illustrating the limited extent to which the Grahamstown

propagandists really spoke for the community at large. J. M. Bowker, a farmer near

Bathurst, claimed that “Grahamstown does not suffer with the country” 129 in war, and

drew attention to the profiteering which many Grahamstown merchants had engaged in.

126
Graham’s Town Journal 9 January 1835.
127
Smith, H, The Autobiography of Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Smith (London, 1901), ii, p. 17.
128
Harington, A. L, Sir Harry Smith – Bungling Hero (Cape Town, 1980), p. 21.
129
Bowker, Speeches and Letters, p. 241.

142
He was also critical of the missionaries, the less liberal amongst whom were supported by

the largely Methodist Grahamstown elite. “These sentiments I know will not be palatable

in Grahamstown”, Bowker admitted. “The mission chest, with the military chest, are

what they chiefly look up to, and I vouch that the former has done much in keeping the

latter among them” 130. Stubbs, too, thought that if the war profiteers had witnessed the

“suffering and distress” of the countryside they would have been less enthusiastic about

the benefits of warfare131. Nevertheless, the rising awareness that the liberal writers held

the settlers largely responsible for the outbreak of the war, and the fear that this view

would be transmitted to London, caused both urban and rural settlers to close ranks.

Fairbairn gave an indication of the unsympathetic views of the liberals in the early days

of the war. The Journal resuscitated a remark made by Fairbairn in 1829 describing the

frontier settlers as “timid cockney pin-makers who shrink from the bold eye of a natural

man” 132. Similar remarks made in the last issue of 1834 resulted in a huge meeting in

Grahamstown where those present undertook to boycott the Commercial Advertiser for

the duration of the war 133. The “cockney pin-maker” remark was repeated endlessly by

correspondents to the Journal, demonstrating their hostility to the liberals, but Fairbairn

was unrepentant. In 1836 he described the citizens of Grahamstown as “a set of

miserable, selfish, unprincipled slanderers, who have enriched themselves by the Kaffir

war, and would like nothing better than to see them [i.e. the amaXhosa] break out

again” 134.

130
Bowker, Important Papers, p. 146.
131
Quoted in Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 71.
132
Ibid., p. 66.
133
Graham’s Town Journal 2 January 1835.
134
Graham’s Town Journal 13 October 1836.

143
Fairbairn‟s attitude was not simply aggravating. It was the potential threat to the settlers‟

interests should it become generally accepted that concerned the settlers most. In the

wake of the war, the eastern settlers craved both security from further conflict, and

possession of the fine sheep-farming territory beyond the Fish River. Even before the war

these slightly contradictory imperatives had been urged. One correspondent to the

Journal argued in 1833 that “the nearer the colonists are placed to Caffres, the fewer

would be their depredations upon us, and the better we should be able to trace and

recover stolen property”135 – thus squaring an unlikely circle. After the war hunger for

Xhosa land was unambiguous. The Journal conveniently offered its justification:

There are two methods by which a nation may extend its territorial
possessions, both of which are strictly concordant with reason and
justice. The first is by cession – the other is by conquest, arising
out of war, commenced on fair and unquestionable principles of
right, and prosecuted for the purposes of self-defence or to punish
uncalled for or wanton insult and aggression 136.

In Governor D‟Urban, the settlers found a champion in this endeavour. The extent to

which D‟Urban actually sympathised with the settlers is open to question. Tim Keegan

argues that D‟Urban became, in effect, a “rogue governor”, hijacked by settler, rather

than imperial, interests137. Alan Lester questions this view, arguing that D‟Urban‟s

attempts to extend British rule over the Rharhabe Xhosa and make some of their lands

available for white settlement was motivated primarily by security concerns, and was

135
Graham’s Town Journal 5 September 1833.
136
Graham’s Town Journal 13 February 1835.
137
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 142.

144
only coincidentally in concordance with settler plans 138. D‟Urban himself was

occasionally disparaging of the Grahamstown elite, arguing that “alarm” was an

“endemic disease” among them 139. Whatever the case, the settlers certainly saw D‟Urban

as an ally, and retained a powerful loyalty and affection for him even after his eventual

dismissal in 1838. When D‟Urban announced in 1836 that land would be made available

in the new province of “Queen Adelaide”, as the newly conquered Xhosa territories were

named, he received over 400 applicants 140. These included many Grahamstown

businessmen – Wood, Thompson, Nourse, Howse, Cawood, Jarvis, Ogilvie, Lee and

others – purely for the purposes of speculation 141. Even though the continued resistance

of the amaXhosa in the area made this impossible, he still promised that at least some

farms would be made available for his most loyal supporters.

It was not to be, however. The expense of controlling the new territories was not

sanctioned by the colonial secretary, Lord Glenelg, who ordered that the province be

abandoned142. Instead, a series of treaties were to be entered into with the various Xhosa

chiefs along the frontier, and it was these which were to secure the peace and protect

colonists from stock theft. All hope of gaining farms in Xhosaland was lost. But there

was worse to come; the fears of the settler propagandists seemed to have been realised.

The leader of the humanitarians in the British parliament, T. F. Buxton, established a

parliamentary committee, known in South African historiography as the “Aborigines‟

Committee” to investigate the conditions of indigenous peoples in various parts of the

138
Lester, Imperial Networks, p. 52.
139
Le Cordeur, Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 76.
140
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 144.
141
Le Cordeur, Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 72.
142
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 150.

145
empire. It became, in Keegan‟s words, “an inquisition into the iniquities of border policy

towards African people on and beyond the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony” 143. Many

of the leading liberals testified, including Dr Philip. So too did the former Commissioner

General of the Eastern Province, Andries Stockenström, soon to join Philip as one of the

most detested individuals in Grahamstown. The result was the settlers themselves came

to be held accountable for the war – their actions had given the amaXhosa, wrote

Glenelg, “ample justification” for their attack on the colony 144. Not only was it unlikely

that the settlers would now acquire any more land, the prospect of any kind of

compensation for their losses in the war seemed increasingly remote 145.

These developments were met with outrage in Grahamstown. The mid-1830s saw

numerous huge meetings in the town, where white citizens met and gave vent to their

grievances. Petitions were drawn up, and signed sometimes by over 700 people, a

considerable number in a small community 146. In early 1836, at “one of the most

numerous and respectable” assemblies ever seen, the white townspeople demanded an

enquiry “on the spot” into the allegations made by the Aborigines‟ Committee. This

became a repeated demand, though considered impossible to comply with by the imperial

government. A public meeting convened to send congratulations to Queen Victoria on

her accession in 1837 contained further repetition of these concerns, a grave breach of

protocol147. By then frontier settlers seem had become obsessed by the injustices done to

them. This political mobilisation gave added impetus to the separatist programme. The

143
Ibid., p. 149.
144
Ibid., p. 149.
145
Le Cordeur, Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 72.
146
Ibid., p. 73.
147
Graham’s Town Journal, 12 October 1837.

146
settlers became ever more eager for a separate authority in the eastern Cape, the better to

deal with frontier crises. This desire had already been raised in the 1820s, and had seen

partial but inadequate fulfilment in the appointment of Andries Stockenström as

Commissioner General in 1828. Stockenström had not been invested with real authority

in the eastern districts, and resigned in disgust in 1833 148. The war impressed on the

settlers the urgency of creating a separate government in the east which could better

protect their interests. In response to concerns about the cost of two governments in the

Cape, Godlonton asserted that “the expense of chastising and repelling the late irruption

will amount to a sum equal to the cost of separate government for the eastern province for

a period probably of fifty years” 149. At last the imperial government seemed to agree. A

Lieutenant-Governor was to be appointed, announced Glenelg, to be based in

Grahamstown rather than a rival town such as Uitenhage. (Separatism was another issue

that revealed cracks in the settler consensus in the east – the obvious economic and

political advantages to be derived from the presence of a new government were

covetously sought after by a number of frontier towns 150).

The announcement that the position of Lieutenant-Governor was to be given to

Stockenström, who had, in the eyes of the settlers, disgraced them before the Aborigines

Committee, came as a shock. The Journal considered Glenelg‟s decision to appoint

Stockenström, the “immaculate” as Godlonton derisively called him, an “act of

consummate folly”151. A public meeting was called to oppose his appointment, but

148
Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 50.
149
Godlonton, Introductory Remarks, p. 75.
150
Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 74.
151
Graham’s Town Journal 28 April 1836.

147
without success. The citizens of Grahamstown pointedly snubbed Stockenström when he

arrived to take up his post in the town. Only two houses were illuminated, including one

belonging to A. G. Campbell, one of Stockenström‟s few supporters in the town. The

Journal claimed that “a most ominous silence prevailed in the crowd” – by which he

seems to have meant the few white spectators, though it was “composed principally of

coloured persons, which had assembled to witness his arrival” 152. All this was in marked

contrast to the reception given Harry Smith on his arrival from the now abandoned

Province of Queen Adelaide a few weeks later. One hundred white residents of the town

rode out to meet Smith, and the streets were lined with (white) spectators to welcome his

arrival. That evening, the town was more comprehensively illuminated and a patriotic

banquet, another favourite activity in the town, was held. Smith was presented with a

silver plate in thanks for his services 153. The white inhabitants of Grahamstown did not

hesitate to show where their political allegiance lay. Having failed to prevent the

appointment of Stockenström, yet another public meeting was held to draw up a petition

demanding that he explain the evidence he had given to the Aborigines‟ Committee. This

Stockenström declined to accept 154.

The antipathy between Stockenström and the settlers was mutual. The Grahamstown

petitioners were “conscientiously mistaken” in their views, he told W. R. Thompson. He

would exercise his authority “without thirst for popularity or dread of the contrary” 155.

Stockenström‟s autobiography gives the impression that he was a man who thrived on

152
Quoted in Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 84.
153
Graham’s Town Journal, 22 Septmeber 1836.
154
Graham’s Town Journal, 8 Septemebr 1836.
155
Stockenstrom, A, Autobiography of Sir Andries Stockenstrom (London, 1887), ii, p. 52.

148
opposition156. The settlers were able, though, to harass Stockenström until his position

became untenable. As J. M. Bowker expressed it, “we upset him, bothered him from the

first, and made him down right savage and careless” 157. Godlonton took the lead in this

assault through the columns of the Journal. He was joined by Grahamstown‟s resident

artist, Frederick I‟Ons, who drew a series of cartoons highly insulting to Stockenström 158.

These were obligingly published by Godlonton. The most damaging attack was made by

the Civil Commissioner, Duncan Campbell, who precipitated one of the Cape Colony‟s

more infamous court cases. Campbell began to collect dubious evidence purporting to

show that Stockenström had killed a Xhosa youth in cold blood on a commando in 1813.

Stockenström insisted on an enquiry to clear his name, which it duly did. Not content

with this outcome, though, he also sued Campbell for libel. This application was lost.

Campbell‟s acquittal was received with jubilation in Grahamstown, some of whose

citizens lit bonfires on the surrounding hills 159. Stockenström himself claimed to have

been unaffected by this expression of hostility. He told friends that

These wretches believe themselves very clever. The plot was well
arranged, every item regularly entered, except one, which they
never thought of, and which must turn the balance against them.
They make no allowance for the existence of a God 160.

The consolation of faith was not sufficient in the end. In 1839 he left for England to

defend his reputation, and subsequently resigned. He was replaced by Colonel John Hare.

156
Whether this should be ascribed to the “inborn „chip‟ that every Afrikaner carries to this day”, as one
biographer has alleged, is perhaps debateable”. Dracopoli, J, Sir Andries Stockenstrom 1792 – 1864 (Cape
Town, 1969), p. 126.
157
Ibid., p. 128.
158
Redgrave and Bradlow, Frederick I’Ons, 72-73.
159
Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 95.
160
Stockenstrom, Autobiography, ii, p. 182.

149
Although more personally acceptable to the settlers, Hare was still an appointment from

London, and as such answerable to imperial rather than settler interests. Despite the

failure of the Grahamstown elite to gain control of the local state, they were at least

successful in gaining a substantial measure of autonomy for the town itself. The

landdrosts and civil commissioners had been appointed by the central government in

Cape Town. By the 1830s, however, the increasing complexity of local affairs, as well as

the perennial desire for economy, had prompted the colonial government to grant towns

the right to elect municipal commissioners to control local government. The ordinance

establishing Grahamstown as a municipality was passed in 1837 161. The right to vote was

restricted to those who occupied a property or paid rent of ₤10 per year; to be elected a

candidate had to possess at least ₤300 of property in the town. Inevitably the control of

the municipal government fell to the mercantile elite. Of the 48 men who held office as

municipal commissioner between 1837 and 1862, nearly half were wealthy merchants.

The first seven commissioners were all prominent businessmen in Grahamstown: W.R.

Thompson, G. Jarvis, P.W. Lucas, W. Shepherd, T. Hewson, B. Norden and G. Gilbert 162.

Securing control of the government of the town was one of a number of satisfactory

developments for the Grahamstown elite from the late 1830s. Stockenström resigned,

defeated, in 1839. One of his few supporters in the town, A. G. Campbell, attempted an

opposition paper to the Journal, soon to be known as The Cape Frontier Times. An early

161
Hunt, “The Development of Municpal Government”, p. 16.
162
Ibid., p. 53.

150
editorial tried to stake out its own ground against the “editorial despotism” 163 of the

Journal:

We…beg to caution [the editor of the Journal] against supposing

that similarity of purpose involves identity of means, or that we
shall be less than himself the staunch friend of the British settler,
or labour the less assiduously to promote the security, well-being
and improvement of all classes around us, because we may not
advocate his views, echo his statements, and deem ourselves
sufficiently honoured in being permitted to steer our course
according to the chart which he so condescendingly puts into our
hands164.

The paper‟s defence of Stockenström met with a hostile reception. In any case, much of

the content was frequently indistinguishable from the Journal despite the editor‟s

protestations. He wrote of the “continued utter barbarism of the border Kaffir tribes”, and

bemoaned that “the want of labour will continue to be felt by us, so long as the native

labouring classes continue to lead the immoral, depraved and indolent course they are

now following” 165. The paper failed to prosper, and ceased publication in 1845.

Godlonton continued to reign supreme.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the inception of the 1820 settlement scheme offered an

opportunity for communal self-congratulation. The development of a distinct settler

identity continued in the years after the war. History, propaganda, and a sense of racial

exclusiveness contributed to this development. Connected with the establishment of a

distinct history of the settlement was an environmental narrative of taming and

163
Cape Frontier Times, 5 February 1840.
164
Cape Frontier Times, 20 May 1840.
165
Cape Frontier Times, 23 April 1840.

151
familiarising the hostile African landscape 166. The interaction of these different themes in

creating the settler identity has been well documented by Alan Lester 167. One incidental

but interesting point to note is the changing connotations of the word “settler” itself, and

the way in which it, rather than any other term, came to be the preferred term of self-

description among the British immigrants in the eastern Cape. In the early 1820s, the

word was used in a disparaging sense as often as in a complimentary one. Early

memorialists noted the jokes made at the expense of “Englis setlars” [sic] by Khoekhoe

and boers168. Credit was notoriously withheld from settlers at auctions in Grahamstown in

the early 1820s. As late as 1832 the Journal reported the court case of an altercation

between a white labourer and a slave. In response to being called a “slave” in a way

intended to cause offence, the man replied “if I am a slave, you are a settler”. The insult

was apparently so provoking that the white labourer proceeded to assault the slave 169. The

nommes de plume of correspondents to the Journal offered a variety of different terms

which the immigrants used to denote themselves: “A Townsman”, “Anglo-Africanus”,

“A Colonist”, “An Inhabitant” were all used before 1834 as well as “Settler”. A series of

bitter letters in the wake of the war seems to demonstrate the increasing preference for

the latter designation: “An English Settler”, “Another English Settler”, “Also an English

Settler”, “A Plundered English Settler” and “A British Settler of 1820” all aired their

views in the Journal‟s columns. The last phrase also indicates the increasing

mythologizing of the 1820 settlers as opposed to other immigrants who arrived in a

steady trickle over the decades. In a public address in 1836, L. Norton noted that “he was

166
Lester, A, “Reformulating Identities: British Settlers in Early Nineteenth-Century South Africa”,
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 23, No. 4, (1998), p. 526.
167
Lester, Imperial Networks, pp.
168
Ayliff, Journal of Harry Hastings, pp. 52-55.
169
Graham’s Town Journal 13 January 1832.

152
not a settler, but from all he had seen of them, he should have been proud to be one”. One

of the organisers of the anniversary celebrations claimed that although not a “British

Settler in the literal acceptation of the term”, as a son of one he could still claim a role in

the celebrations170.

The anniversary celebrations marked the “self-conscious beginning of the cult of the

1820 settlers” 171. The settlers made protestations of loyalty and affection for their

“beloved Fatherland” 172, and made it clear that they still considered themselves part of a

wider British culture and society. As Godlonton put it, “the lapse of 24 years has not been

sufficient to break the link which unites him to his Fatherland” 173. But a specific identity

was also apparent, underlined by the narrative of suffering and triumph which had come

to be the popular perception of the settlement‟s history. Godlonton wrote of the

descendants of the settlers building on the “national foundation” that their forebears had

laid174. Celebrations were held in Port Elizabeth and Bathurst as well as Grahamstown,

but it was at the latter, with its self-conscious sense of being the settler capital, that the

main commemoration took place. The extent to which the city of Grahamstown had

become associated with the settlers can be seen in the suggestion of one correspondent to

the Journal for a fitting monument:

A square basement or pedestal, with a fluted column of the Ionic

order of architecture resting on it…the whole to be surmounted by
170
Quoted in Godlonton, R, Memorials of the British Settlers of South Africa (Grahamstown, 1844), p.
xxiii.
171
McGinn, M, “J. C. Chase: 1820 Settler and Servant of the Colony” (Unpublished MA Thesis, Rhodes
University, 1975), p. 56.
172
Godlonton, Memorials, p. vi.
173
Ibid., p. vii.
174
Ibid., p. xv.

153
 a handsome balustrade, capped with a full length marble or bronze
figure of Col. Graham, the founder of this town, to be enclosed by
iron pallisading, bearing say from four to six lamps, to be lighted
up every night at the expense of the corporation of Graham‟s
Town175.

Graham, of course, had had nothing to do with any of the settlers. Such a project was

evidently impractical in any case.

Shaw was given use of St George‟s Church, which was “filled to overflowing” with

people eager to hear his sermon. Shaw celebrated the success of the “great temporal

blessings bestowed upon us as a people by the good Providence of GOD” 176. After the

service the crowd moved to Somerset‟s estate at Oatlands, were five hundred children

sang “God Save the Queen”. Families and small groups then scattered settled among the

trees for a picnic, and were entertained by military bands177. For those privileged enough

to acquire a ticket, a dinner was held in the evening, presided over by the now elderly

Thomas Philipps178. Patriotic and self-congratulatory toasts were made. The evening was

marred by Thomas Stubbs, who had a somewhat jaded view of the whole proceedings –

“a lot of men that had come out as settlers with but very scanty means had somehow or

other managed to fill their coffers, [and] took it into their heads to have a rejoicing” 179.

He imagined that the celebrations understated the sufferings of the settlers. Shaw‟s

speech he estimated as being “all upon the golden side” – a surprising appraisal since

Shaw had characterised the adversities of the early 1820s as “a stroke of punitive justice

for our sins, - or perhaps [a] mercy as a measure of discipline to prepare us for better

175
Ibid., p. xxv.
176
Ibid., p. 5.
177
Ibid., p. 36.
178
Ibid., p. 38.
179
Maxwell (ed.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 137.

154
course and higher enjoyments” 180. It was Somerset‟s speech, though, claiming that the

government had done all in its power to protect the settlers in 1834 that pushed Stubbs‟s

patience to the limit. He called out to Somerset that it was a “damned lie” and threw a

glass of brandy in face of the justice of the peace who tried to restrain him. There

followed a general clamour while Stubbs outlined the grievances of the settlers, and his

supporters broke off chair legs to use in his defence 181. The organisers regretted this

pandemonium, and published “a resolution in reprehension of conduct at once so

unbecoming and ungenerous” 182. So the settlers still had their differences, inevitable in a

town never as homogeneous as its supporters liked to believe. But, as Alan Lester points

out, the significance of Stubbs‟s outburst should not be exaggerated; he too shared in the

identity generated by the settler propagandists.

The arrival of a new governor, Peregrine Maitland, provided further cause for

satisfaction. The unimaginative Napier, D‟Urban‟s successor, had not been popular.

Maitland abrogated the hated treaties with the Xhosa, allowing for a resumption of

commando raids across the frontier 183. The Journal lauded this act:

For this happy result, the inhabitants are indebted to His

Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland; and who by this act of good
policy and justice, will inspire the minds of the people of this
frontier that reliance upon the independence and integrity of his
administration, which cannot fail to have the most powerful and
beneficial effect upon the public interest 184.

180
Godlonton, Memorials, p. 12.
181
Maxwell (ed.), Stubbs’s Reminiscences, p. 138.
182
Godlonton, Memorials, p. 38.
183
Keegan, Colonial South Africa, p. 215.
184
Graham’s Town Journal 26 September 1844.

155
So popular was Maitland that he became a fashion icon – a “Maitland hat” was soon

available at the store of B. M. Shepperson 185.

The 1840s were a period of confidence and self-satisfaction for many of the

Grahamstown settlers, especially the elite. Prosperity soon returned after the 1834-35 war

and trade was booming. Not only had the devastation of the war been overcome, but the

settlers could look back at their triumph over the adversities of the 1820s. What these

experiences had achieved was the creation of a group identity among the British settlers

in Albany, which could transcend the many divisions among them in times of necessity.

This identity was fostered through newspapers, books and various celebrations and

commemorations, mostly centred in Grahamstown itself. The elite of the town had a

dominant voice in the politics of the east, and looked forward to greater influence in the

colony as a whole. The time was coming, they believed, when the eastern part of the

colony would win greater autonomy from the west, and they were well placed to take

advantage of the political and economic benefits which would result. Grahamstown

seemed destined for ever greater success.

185
Graham’s Town Journal 17 October 1844.

156
 CONCLUSION

The praise heaped upon Maitland was unmerited. The abrogation of the treaties with the

Xhosa chiefs intensified the growing tension on the frontier, and war soon followed in

1846. Despite brief periods of respite, this conflict extended into the mid-1850s. The

seventh and eighth frontier wars resulted in significant change on the eastern frontier.

British rule was again extended to the Kei, this time for good. The tremendous suffering

endured by the amaXhosa in the wars contributed to the “cattle- killing” movement of

1856-57, an event which considerably contributed to the establishment of British colonial

hegemony over the Rharhabe Xhosa 1. In the wake of these conflicts, Grahamstown

seemed initially to have reached its apotheosis. The self-confident capital of the east in

the 1850s the town saw substantial development. New schools were established, such as

St Andrew‟s College in 1855 and St Aidan‟s in 18582. The town acquired a bishop in

18533, and cultural opportunities were broadened by the establishment of a museum and

botanical gardens4. The town became the seat of the eastern districts court, enhancing its

administrative importance. The 1850s represented the high-water mark of the separatist

movement, which agitated for a division of the colony and the creation of a new capital in

the east. The elite of Grahamstown naturally hoped that their town should enjoy the

prestige, as well as the commercial benefits, which would accrue from a new

administration5.

1
Peires, J, The Dead will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856-7
(Johannesburg, 1989), p. 53.
2
Hunt, “Municipal Government”, p. 136.
3
Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 286.
4
Hunt, “Municipal Government”, p. 136.
5
Le Cordeur, The Politics of Eastern Cape Separatism, p. 286.

157
After the 1850s the town began to decline in importance. The 1860s were a period of

drought and depression for the Cape Colony, and the economy of the town stagnated. The

extension of the frontier to the east harmed Grahamstown‟s economy – new settlements

such as Queenstown and King William‟s Town became commercial rivals. The army,

that perennial source of commercial opportunity for the Grahamstown merchants, was

relocated to King William‟s Town once and for all in 18706. Meanwhile, the structure of

the Cape‟s economy was changing. The midlands around Graaff-Reinet, rather than

Albany, became the main wool-producing region, and farmers preferred to bypass the

Grahamstown wool brokers in favour of the rapidly expanding city of Port Elizabeth. The

decision to bypass Grahamstown on the railway line between Port Elizabeth and the

interior partly reflected this loss of importance. The route of the railway owed more,

however, to a much more fundamental shift in South Africa‟s economy. The development

of the diamond fields in Kimberley marked the beginning of the “Mineral Revolution”,

which shifted the economic centre of gravity northwards and left the eastern Cape an

economic backwater. Grahamstown declined from the second city of the country to a

“dorp” of little importance.

The subjugation of the amaXhosa and the decline in strategic and economic importance

of the eastern frontier was bound to impact negatively on Grahamstown. Its development,

its prosperity and its political importance were all dependent on the location of the town.

The economy of the town was heavily dependent on frontier trade – there is little reason

to believe that the spectacular growth that occurred between the 1820s and the 1840s
6
Gibbens, “Two Decades in the Life of a City”, p. 60.

158
could have been achieved in any other way. The necessity of maintaining a large military

presence on the frontier brought further economic opportunities, especially in war time,

but these disappeared as soon as the colonial conquest of the amaXhosa was complete.

There was little industrial development in the town, and it was only in education in the

twentieth century that Grahamstown found another economic mainstay.

Meanwhile a distinctive society and culture had arisen in the town. Large numbers of

British settlers arrived in the region, especially after 1820. These came to form a self-

consciously distinct portion of the white colonial population. Grahamstown was the main

urban area for these settlers, and as late as the 1840s, white settlers still constituted nearly

four-fifths of the town‟s population. These settlers attempted to recreate as nearly as

possible the environment and culture of Britain. This was reflected in the physical

landscape of the town, whose architecture was often an imitation of British forms. But

even more mundane, every-day activities reflected this desire. The settlers consumed

huge quantities of British manufactured goods, wore English clothing, read English

books and magazines, and ate English food as nearly as possible. Recreational

opportunities in the town reinforced a sense of Englishness. Attending church or public

lectures gave the settlers a sense of belonging to a wider British public. The school

curricula conceded little to the peculiarities of the settlers‟ South African situation.

Rather, they aimed to offer a “sound English education”, as Heavyside put it. The settlers

eagerly participated in rituals of loyalty to Britain, such as celebrating the sovereign‟s

birthday. As the Journal expressed it, “in devoted attachment to the land of their

159
forefathers we hesitate not to say that there are no people on earth who surpass the British

settlers of Albany” 7.

The attempt to create an “England in miniature” was a failure. Despite the dominance of

the white settlers, Grahamstown‟s population became considerably diversified, a cquiring

a significant African population by the mid-1840s. Racial tension and division were

intense in the town, and the settlers soon developed strong racial prejudices. For the white

settlers, the importance of Africans to the economy of the town conflicted with their fear

and hostility towards an urban African presence. The result was a compromise, and a

failure. Africans settled in the town, but were not granted the same rights and privileges

of citizenship that whites enjoyed. The segregation of Africans into impoverished

townships from as early as the 1820s was a powerful symbol of this unequal status. But

although Africans were incorporated as an unequal and oppressed colonial labouring

class, they should not been seen merely as passive victims. Many, such as the Khoekhoe

after 1828 and the Mfengu in 1834, genuinely believed that moving to town could offer

better opportunities in colonial society. Probably this was the case for many; dire as

conditions in the township could be, servitude to white farmers could hardly have been a

more appealing option. Africans made efforts to resist their unequal incorporation.

Sometimes this found formal expression, such as the demonstration of Mfengu labourers

demanding higher wages in 1840. More often it was manifested through go-slows,

vandalism, absconding and “insolence”, as the court records abundantly reveal. Africans

as well as white settlers attempted to recreate familiar forms and practices in the town.

This can be seen in the continuing importance of circumcision and other social rituals
7
Graham’s Town Journal, 7 April 1836.

160
among urban Africans, as well as the attempt to maintain traditional dress and

architectural forms, often in the face of settler oppostion.

The conflict within the town and across the frontier had a major impact on the mindset of

the white community. Increasingly insecure in their alien colonial context, yet also

economically dependent on the African communities they feared and despised, the

settlers in the eastern Cape came to see themselves as a distinct colonial community, with

needs and priorities differing from those of the rest of the colony. Grahamstown played a

key role in this development of a new “English settler” identity. Whether or not the

settlers came to see themselves as “English South Africans” is perhaps debateable. But

the white settlers in the east did develop a strong group identity, and this took them ever

further from their desired self-image of a typically English community.

The extensive interaction and conflict of the nineteenth-century frontier radically changed

the societies involved, white and black. Grahamstown offers a microcosm of this process.

Inhabited by people of diverse origins, the town was characterised by economic

cooperation and cultural conflict. English settlers, Khoekhoe, amaXhosa a nd other

Africans all attempted to create spaces in the town which best accorded to their beliefs,

practices and aspirations. Power was unequally distributed in Cape society, but despite

the advantages enjoyed by the white settlers, they were not able to attain the political,

cultural and economic dominance they desired. They, as much as everyone else, had to

compromise in the face of unique frontier conditions. The result was a new, distinctively

South African society.

161
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