In its day Cradock Place ranked in beauty with the most beautiful of the old Dutch houses in the Western Cape. Senior officials and other dignitaries were treated to banquets and walks in the splendid gardens. Now it is a merely series of foundations, forgotten and unknown by the current generation. Of all the historical buildings that Port Elizabeth has unconscionably lost, this one perhaps rates as the most significant. On the threshold of the arrival of the 1820 Settlers, a Dutch immigrant by the name of Frederick Korsten, had made his mark prior to the establishment of Port Elizabeth. Perhaps for this reason alone, aside from any architectural merits of the buildings, these deserved to have been preserved for posterity. 

This blog comprises two sections. Firstly, it briefly mentions its initial founder, Thomas Ignatius Ferreira and then it sketches the journey undertaken by Korsten to arrive at Algoa Bay and what he did whilst in Port Elizabeth. In the second section, it provides an account by the final tenant of this property. He gives an insight into the treasures that were hidden therein. Finally, the real reason for its reprehensible destruction is revealed.

Main picture: Cradock Place

First “property owner”
One cannot classify the Khoisan as tenants let alone owners for their peripatetic nomadic lifestyle precludes this classification, notwithstanding that in the rare exception they probably would have camped on this property for a lengthy period. Certainly, middens close to the seashore reveal their presence here in the past but not as farmers or tillers of the soil. They would camp in an area until it had been denuded of plant and animal life. No attempt at replanting or regeneration was considered

The first Ferreiras
By 1776, a family which would loom large in Port Elizabeth’s history, would settle in the area known as Papenkuilsfontein, “gelegen over de Gamtoos rivier aan de Zwartkopsrivier.” Thomas Ignatius Ferreira was of Portuguese extraction and had been in the service of the Dutch East India Company in the Western Cape. He settled on the south side of the Zwartkops River in order to commence farming; his days as a Trekboer being over – perhaps only temporarily. It was at his “hut” which Ferreira had erected on his premises, colloquially called Ferreira’s Place, that some uninvited guests made an appearance in November 1782. Apart from the first Ferreira in Port Elizabeth, none made an impression. The statement “loom large” does not referred to their achieving greatness in whatever form but rather their fecundity as a large swath of the local population of Port Elizabeth bears the surname Ferreira.

Primitive hut not fit for nobility
The tenancy of the Ferreira clan had only been established at Papenkuilsfontein farm in April 1776 when the first dignitaries and nobility made their appearance in November of that year. At that stage the accommodation while salubrious could not be classified as little more than huts. This dignitary was Hendrik Swellengrebel, whose father had been the Governor of the Cape from 1739 to 1749. Hendrik had journeyed by means of a northern route as far as Bruintjieshoogte and was then returning to the Cape by the southern route.

The Grosvenor’s survivors
During November 1782 a dishevelled bunch of six men with clothes in rags and suffering from starvation arrived at Ferreira’s ramshackle home. They were the erstwhile crew of the “Grosvenor” wrecked on the Wild Coast in the previous August. She was on her way from Ceylon to England but was wrecked between Port St Johns and Port Edward. The survivors attempted to walk to Cape Town instead of Delagoa Bay which was closer, but only some of the sailors lived to reach it.

A Dutchman of Scottish descent
In 1778, two years after Ferreira’s arrival at Papenkuilsfontein, a Dutchman of Scottish descent, by the name of Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon hunted duck in the adjoining salt marshes at the mouth of the Papenkuils River. As the officer commanding the Cape garrison, Gordon made various exploratory trips which included one to the Eastern Cape between November 1785 and March 1786. He committed suicide after the first British occupation of the Cape in 1795.

To improve control of the Eastern part of the Colony and because of possible French interference in the area, perhaps in support of the rebellious inhabitants of the Graaff-Reinet district, the British Government landed troops in the Bay from HMS Star and HMS Hope on the 2nd March 1799, whereas Brig-Gen Thomas Pakenham Vandeleur came overland with more troops arriving on the 12th March. Ferreira’s farm, Papenkuilsfontein, was selected by Vandeleur as the site of an extemporised redoubt. This has been referred to as the “Star Fort”, but this name is not once used during the time it was occupied and official letters were being sent from it. This fort was located 4.5kms from the sea but close to the main farmhouse.

Translation: Papenkuilsfontein, alias Cradock Place, during the middle of the 19th century. The building complex in the middle, behind, is the homestead and trading house of Frederick Korsten. The self standing house in the middle right in front of Korsten’s home with its end gable towards the viewer, is apparently the original homestead of Thomas Ferreira.

Lack of clarity regarding ownership between 1802 and 1812
Due to Thomas Ignatius Ferreira’s behaviour during the interregnum, in which he assaulted a number of female Khoikhois, he was banished to the Western Cape in 1802. It is not known whether Ferreira relinquished control of the farm at this juncture. What is known is that the military used this vacant land during this period.

Tender
In the Cape Town Gazette dated the 28th December 1811 a Notice appeared in the Cape Town Gazette which notified the public of the Governor’s intention to issue a tender for the supply of 3000 barrels of salted beef. A partnership / consortium was established headed by Carel Frederik Pohl with Frederik Korsten as a partner and Jan Hoets as their agent

On receipt of the Notice about this Tender, a tender was drafted in the name of the meat firm, Pohl & Co of which Korsten was a partner and Jan Hoets an agent. On the 7th 1812, they were declared the winners of the tender. The elated Korsten family vacated Cape Town and later in 1812, settled in Port Elizabeth. Among of the first dignitaries to pay a visit to the farm Papenkuilsfontein, was the Governor, Sir John Cradock. In his honour, Korsten renamed the farm Cradock Town and subsequently it was renamed Cradock Place.

From industrialised farming to a Trading Centre
The tender might have dealt with the supply of salted beef by Pohl & Co.but by the end of 1813, they had also shipped 250 sheep and 32,129 pounds of butter while by August 1813, 2000 barrels of salted beef had also been shipped to Mauritius.

It was in the construction of trading centres which provided the greatest benefit to the local farmers. They were heartily welcomed as it was no longer necessary to transport slaughter cattle to Cape Town. as Korsten’s trading posts offered a profitable outlet for all of their products. Not only could agricultural products be disposed of here but also items normally only available at a general dealer could be purchased here. Over time Korsten opened similar stores in Algoa Bay itself, Uitenhage and Graham’s Town. As a business centre, Cradock Place did have an equal in the region. The scale on which business was transacted at the shops and working area on the estate was unbelievable. On an average day up to twenty ox wagons from the interior are outspanned on the farm. To meet their contractual commitment to produce salted beef, on a daily basis up to forty cattle had to be slaughtered per day. If one were to compare Cradock Place to Cape Town for the corresponding period when 4000 head of cattle were slaughtered, that would imply that twice as many cattle were slaughtered at Cradock Place.

Erection of a Toll
Over time the volume of traffic to and from Cradock Place had expanded to such an extent that in 1824 a toll was erected at Korsten Drift on the road to Uitenhage where it crossed Cradock Place.This toll generated a considerable income for the authorities and remained in use until 1886

Entertaining dignitaries during 1817
The first visitor on the guest list for 1817 was Lord Charles Somerset who stayed with Korsten during February 1817 en route to confer with the Ngqaika aka Gaika and Xhosa chiefs. He was accompanied by the famous Dr. James Barry and Tom Sheridan, son of the famous playwright. Unexpected guests arrived late in the year when the ship Amsterdam was wrecked at the mouth of the Swartkops River. The welcome mat was laid down for a Dutch naval officer , Marols, his wife and two children who were all rescued from the wreck. It is also claimed that Korsten provided succour to a party of shipwrecked sailors until they could be repatriated. During 1917 Korsten introduced horse racing to the district when he laid out a course on Cradock Place for the use of the officers quartered at Fort Frederick.

Xhosa prophet Makhanda
The Battle of Grahamstown culminated in the defeat of the Xhosa prophet, Makhanda. After surrendering, he was incarcerated for some time at Cradock Place after which he was taken to the Cape by ship to be imprisoned on Robben Island. His nickname was LINKS and not Lynx because being left-handed and Links being left in Dutch, it was appropriate.

Shaka’s treaty of friendship
In 1828, the great Zulu king, Shaka, envisaged entering into a Treaty of Friendship with his brother King George IV. Shaka was under the mistaken impression that the King of England resided somewhere in the Cape and was indistinguishable from all the gentlemen acting as Governor. He surmised that perhaps King George was on friendly terms with tribes in the south whose dominions Shaka longed to defeat

For Shaka, such an alliance would enable the Zulu to conquer the territories down south. To effect his plan, he requested that Lieutenant James Saunders King R.N. , the white man who enjoyed Shaka’s favour, to head a mission consisting of Lieu. King, Sotobie, Jacob the interpreter, and others. Upon arrival at Algoa Bay on the 4th May 1828, Shaka sent a message to the Governor informing him of the mission. They were afforded the opportunity to take up residence at Cradock Place for three months until the beginning of August 1828. With time on their hands, members of Shaka’s Zulu entourage must surely have inspected the operation. Out of rank boredom they might have even talent a stroll down to the nascent town of Port Elizabeth. One can only speculate but Shaka must surely had to be mesmerized by the technological advancements on display.

Sotobie was an entertaining character whose antics amused his audience. Amongst them was to consume a the whole carcass of a goat and then wash it down with five gallons of beer. With the Governor unavailable, it was left to the Acting Governor, Major-General Bourke, to make the arrangements. Bourke selected Major Josias Cloete, a high-ranking officer to ascertain from the delegation what their objective was. Major Cloete was rightly suspicious of the aims, agenda and objective. After several days of fruitless and unproductive discussions, the mission returned to Natal aboard the HMS Helicon having accomplished nothing. Notwithstanding the lack of substantive progress, they did gain the impression that a Zulu incursion into Kaffria would be met with resistance of British arms. Moreover, I contend that the harsh realities of British technological progress and prowess must have been keenly felt at a subconscious level. Today scant recognition is accorded to the possibility of the Zulus not proceeding with an attack on the Xhosas being attributed to the Zulu delegation viewing British superiority close-up.

Korsten takes over
A native of Holland, from a tender age Frederick Korsten had expressed a preference for adventure. A secure but dull civil service job was not to Korsten’s liking but it was quite another matter to obtain the adventure that he craved. Almost as a rite of passage to this new life, Korsten joined the Dutch Navy. This stint was to be short-lived. It came to an abrupt end when the ship “Castor” that he was on was captured by the British in Cape Town in 1796 while they were attempting to recover the Cape from their enemy. Unfazed, Korsten ingratiated himself with the British authorities and was appointed as an administrator. For Korsten, this was merely an entrée into Cape Colonial Society for, with his insatiable curiosity, it foretold the distinct possibility that his sojourn as a pen-pusher would be brief, but also that his new occupation as a merchant would be fruitful. Both assumptions are accurate.

Coterminous with Korsten’s shift away from the civil service was the change of colonial hands of the Cape. First it was returned to the Dutch in terms of the Peace of Amiens in 1802 and then it was retaken by the British in 1806. For other mere mortals, such disarray and upheaval would not have concluded in the precipitous step of making a drastic career change. For Korsten that was precisely what he did. 

When Korsten chanced upon a contract to supply the British Military with 3000 barrels of salted beef, his entrepreneurial instincts kicked in. This was indicative of the man; ever willing to take a chance on a fortune and adventure. But that is getting ahead of ourselves.

To a Terra Nova
By 1811, the eastern districts of the colony had largely been cleared of the marauding black tribesmen. This allowed the Cape government to proclaim its intention “to found extensive settlements from Algoa Bay, the future naval mart of those quarters, to Uitenhage and Graaff-Reinet.” Perhaps it was the bold assertion in 1798 by Barrow, who foretold the possibility of business in the Algoa Bay environs in the salted-provisions business that hooked Korsten. This prediction was not based upon caprice but due to sound judgement. Combining the cheapness of cattle with the existence of extensive saltpans in the neighbourhood made this business viable.

As Korsten despised both the humdrum, the mundane and the repetitive and hence was not overawed by the isolation of the Eastern Cape from the rest of the Cape Colony and the potential for further incursions by marauding tribes. Therefore, when a tender was advertised on 28th December 1811 for the supply of salted beef destined for Mauritius and elsewhere, Korsten immediately responded positively. During March 1812, Korsten entered into a contract to supply 3,000 barrels of salted beef with the concession that the contractors and their employees were exempted from commando service. Furthermore, they were at liberty to cut wood for casks in the Government forests.

To facilitate this process, on 1st January 1812, Korsten purchased the “opstal” on the Loan Place, “Papenkuils Fontein”, later to be renamed Cradock Place in honour of the governor of the Cape, Sir John Cradock. This opstal was located about five miles from the landing place in Algoa Bay near the mouth of the Papenkuils River, resplendent in flamingos. It was here that Korsten built a huge estate at great cost. This included accommodation, cattle and slaves. This business venture can rightly be described as the first trading establishment in the Eastern Province and Korsten personally oversaw the operation of this business until 1820.

Majestic place
Cradock Place was in existence long before Main Street in Port Elizabeth was a country road yet eight years prior to the arrival of the 1820 Settlers, Frederick Korsten was to build a mansion-like residence on this farm with the grounds laid out in a lavish way. The approach to the house was a tree-lined avenue upon which lavish care was bestowed. The residence became renowned throughout the country for the hospitality that was extended to distinguished guests and gained great distinction as the most important house to call in the Eastern Cape.

Marauding Xhosa warriors
Korsten must have been aware of the risks from marauding Xhosa warriors as the area had been subject to the deprivations of previous frontier wars. Such tales did not deter Korsten and probably even steeled him for such an eventuality. According to Samuel Eusebius Hudson in his diary, In 1819, Cradock Place was put on a war footing when the Mission Station at Bethelsdorp, only half an hour’s ride away, came under attack. They responded as follows: “Our family was regularly put into watches for the whole night. Mr Korsten and myself take the first three hours’ watch, from six to nine. One sentry is stationed at each corner of the building. Potgieter takes the kraal and the tanner’s party keeps the tannery.”

The founder of Cradock Place was also the founder of Eastern Province’s commerce and trade. His body now rests in a mausoleum amid the trees not far from his once mansion-like house.

Businesses on Cradock Place
To provide some measure and idea of the extent and nature of the business, which was in effect a commercial outpost or entrepôt of the Colony, it was not unusual to find twenty wagons bearing produce on the property. Previously they would have had to travel to Cape Town in order to acquire imported and locally manufactured items. Instead of a tedious and expensive annual visit to Cape Town, these local farmers could now exchange their produce for these items at Papenkuils Fontein. The extent of the contractual business can also be gauged from the fact that frequently no fewer than forty oxen were slaughtered daily and salted, chiefly by experienced Europeans whom Korsten had employed.

In addition, the military officers and messes on the frontier were supplied with all their importable essentials, as were the civil servants of George, Uitenhage and Graaff-Reinet. In reality, the huge “supermarket” that Korsten had created at Cradock Place enjoyed a complete monopoly in the supply of most non-agricultural products in the Eastern Cape. In Korsten’s defence, it should be noted that this was a natural monopoly in that he enjoyed no exclusive privileges but rather benefited from the inertia of the local inhabitants to engage in such trade.

In addition to his salting business, Korsten established a Tannery, a Cooperage for the manufacture of barrels, a Windmill for grinding produce and a Whale Fishery at Gomery [Humewood] near current-day Hobie Beach. As part of the whaling business, Korsten had oil tanks constructed at a cost of £2,400. To construct them he was forced to employ a Mr Diesel from Cape Town. Besides the whale fishery, which in one year slaughtered twenty whales, Korsten was also in possession of a lease on the Santa Croix and Bird Islands which in one season alone, produced 14,000 seal skins. Ultimately, the whaling business became precarious when the American whalers intercepted the whales before they reached Algoa Bay to calf.

The original 6,000 acres of grazing land at Cradock Place was insufficient for Korsten’s salting business. As a result, Korsten deemed it necessary to acquire or lease three additional properties, Gomery in Summerstrand, Bushy Park and Hankey on the Gamtoos River.

Having nurtured his businesses in Port Elizabeth through their infancy, shortly after the arrival of the settlers in 1820, Korsten sold his business at Cradock Place to Samuel Eusebius Hudson and took up residence at the Fishery for several months.

Korsten’s son-in-law, John Centlivres Chase, would later occupy Cradock Place after he married Korsten’s daughter.

Visiting dignitaries
Cradock Place was noted for its parade of dignitaries being welcomed to Korsten’s humble abode not the least of which were the revolving door of British Governors. In fact, there was not a Governor of the Cape of Good Hope who did not visit Cradock Place on the their annual sight-seeing journeys since its founding. Korsten lavished hospitality on all of his guests. Papenkuilsfontein was supplanted by Cradock Place in 1821 when Sir John Cradock visited this area. Lord Charles Somerset with Dr Barry, the astute little woman who concealed her sex for forty years, Sir Rufane Donkin, Sir Lowry Cole, Colonel Wade, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, Sir H.E.F. Young; Lalande, the illustrious naturalist, stayed at Cradock Place in 1819, when he was accompanied by his pupil, Jules Verreaux. In the same year, Lynx, the Xhosa prophet, afterwards denounced as an imposter, also stayed there. Also entertained at Cradock Place included Shaka’s ambassador; Sotobie was there with Lieut. King of the Royal Navy in 1828.

As Samuel Hudson was declared insolvent, Korsten was compelled to take over the business in 1826. A former mill building on the farm became known as Korsten’s Tower or Fort van der Leur.

And many more.

The Final Tenant
Dr. R.E. Stevenson provides us with a glimpse into Cradock Place immediately prior to its terminal decline in 1901. Given that he was a child of barely eight years old, his recollections some 65 years later must imply that he had a certain fascination with this venerable property.

Stevenson vividly recalls that “in its day, it ranked in beauty with the most beautiful of the old Dutch houses in the Western Province. I lived there for a couple of years. I suppose that it was 1900 or 1901. It belonged to Dr. Galpin who had seen me into the world six or seven years previously. My father and the doctor were close friends… and I think [that] it was lent to my father who would guard it and its treasures in the absence of the owner.

I remember the place vividly; the garden, the haunted room and the Voorkamer, full of wonders. There was the Egyptian collection with mummies and tear jugs; the collection of coins, some featuring Roman emperors with their Roman noses, another with William the Conqueror – very ugly and with a sceptre. There were also the stamps – the best remembered being the new coloured “Magenta” issued to commemorate the battle at that place. There were suits of armour Plantagenet and Moorish chain mail – the latter said to be extremely valuable.

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Thomas Baines’s Painting of Cradock Place

A slagyster [spring-trap] on the stoep which had reputedly caught a gigantic leopard not long before, and a white wooden lady from a wrecked sailing ship, were sources of joy to a small boy.

At the end of the stoep was a small room with fascinating but terrifying tiles depicting all the most dramatic incidents of the Bible. Eve’s striptease, the serpent, the whale, the Beelzebub still live vividly in my memory. These tiles, though infinitely more interesting, were not regarded as being of great intrinsic value. The very dull frieze on the kitchen was regarded differently. Cecil Rhodes, whose visit to Cradock Place, I very well remember said, as I have been told, ‘Stevenson, I will write you a cheque for £1000 for those tiles’. They were not my father’s to sell and tragedy overtook the house before the offer was made to Dr. Galpin.

The Reverend James Buchan, father of Scottish novelist, historian and politician John Buchan, was a frequent visitor. He was from the same part of Scotland and was a kinsman of my father. He was in Port Elizabeth on exchange with the Presbyterian minister. I think John Buchan also visited us. The Martello Tower was out of bounds except in adult company and the vault would certainly have been out of bounds if adults had known about the broken door and the broken coffins full of bones in fascinating and shuddering view. 

Then tragedy came. One day an elegant military-looking gentleman with the shiniest gaiters arrived. He was, I presume, the official to arrange the taking over of Cradock Place, expropriated by the Government. We moved out soon after and a caretaker moved in. Dr. Galpin’s treasures were certainly moved out [to] make way for the tenant’s furniture.

Soon afterwards, the house and furniture went up in flames, on the very night that the caretaker and his family had decided to camp out on the front lawn.

The house has never been restored and an attempt to replace the furniture at the cost of the insurance company, resulting in a call by the police. They were too late. The owner of the furniture had hurriedly become a foremost hand on one of the many sailing ships in the Bay. He left his wife and family as cruelly derelict as Port Elizabeth has left their loveliest house.

A Case of Arson
One has to paint the destruction of Cradock Place in the starkest terms. It was undoubtedly a premeditated act of arson. While Dr. R.E. Stevenson might never have been aware of the exact details of the arson, broadly they are correct. Fortunately for posterity, the details of this grave turn of events were recorded in the local newspapers at the time. Per an article in Looking Back dated 1971, these details are as follows:

In 1909, the estate was the property of the Cape Government which apparently had the idea of using it as a depot for the Cape Mounted Police. As it transpired, the police at that time were actually billeted at Sydenham. The homestead, or “Manor House” as the report refers to it, was at that time occupied by a Mr. J.A. Hughes. At 1 am of the morning of 13^th March 1909, a Coloured man named Kock, employed by Hughes, was sleeping in the old tower which was formerly Korsten’s corn mill. He was awakened by an attack of toothache and going outside, saw that the room forming the left wing at the back of the building, used as a sewing room, was on fire. 

He immediately went to warn the Hughes family, who were camping out about a quarter of a mile from the building. The police were summoned from Sydenham, but by the time they arrived at 2:45 a.m., the whole building was well ablaze. Efforts to douse the flames with water from the old underground tank which still exists there, were unsuccessful. However, they did save the outbuildings consisting of storage rooms and stables. Forage in one of the rooms had caught alight but the police dragged out the blazing bundles, Private Davis being overcome in the process. Surprisingly, the police remembered the precious old Dutch tiles which lined the bathroom, and they managed to salvage these.  

An enquiry into the fire was started under the leadership of the local magistrate and this, with its adjournments, lasted for two weeks. At the end, the magistrate decided to lay the facts before the Solicitor General as several suspicious circumstances had emerged. In December 1908, Mr. Hughes insured his furniture for a considerable sum. For some weeks previous to the fire, the family had been sleeping in tents in the grounds, for no very clear reason. On the previous day, the horses, usually kept in the stables, had been sent away. Kock, who usually slept on the premises, had been instructed that night to sleep in the tower. There had been some obscure transaction with rents that Hughes was supposed to collect. No actions by the Solicitor General can be ascertained, but apparently, Hughes very conveniently disappeared about this time.

For the sake of the theft of some items from this irreplaceable house, Hughes destroyed it by fire to cover up the unlawful act. What a shameful deed.

Extensive flood damage
Periodically Port Elizabeth would suffer severe damage due to a flood. During the flood on the 16th /17th November, 1908, the watershed of the Papenkuils River was also affected, causing damage in the Cradock Place area. The residents of Cradock’s Town faced devastating destruction as the heavy rainfall lasted for four hours almost continuously, causing immense damage to previously fertile agricultural lands. The powerful water swept away thousands of bundles of forage and wood that had been prepared over the past two weeks, as well as mature longstanding oak trees on the property were uprooted and carried a significant distance away.

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The 1908 Flood per the EP Herald

Current state
Today all that remains of the once-grand house are the foundations. As such, the buildings are long past being restored. Perhaps it would be better if even those foundations were removed as they serve no useful purpose other than to remind those with a historical predilection of this calamity.

Cemetery
Frederick Korsten is buried in the family fault at Cradock Place. More interestingly, it also contain the body of a mechanic named Gunter, who remarkably rescued from a premature burial at Cape Town. .The vehicle drawing his coffin on a rutted road when the coffin was shaken by a deep depression and immediately afterwards a noise was heard emanating from the coffin. Upon inspection, Korsten’s mechanic was found to be alive. He then entreated them to cut off his fingers when he finally died.

En passant
When the Grosvenor survivors arrived there, it was the farm of Christiaan Ferreira, known as Papenkuils Fontein. When the survivors reached Swellendam, the VOC governor sent a relief expedition to look for the wreck and possible survivors under the command of Helgaardt Muller. They mustered at Papenkuils to await the arrival of burgers from the area. They did not get to the wreck and were back at the farm in 1783.

In the PE museum there is a large sandstone block found at Cradock Place engraved with the date 1783. There is no doubt that this was left at the farm when the commando left to return to Swellendam. It was found amongst the rubble when they tried to clean up the site as a tourist attraction. No doubt the block was used in the building of Cradock Place. The block is on display in the upper gallery above the shipwreck hall. The label states that the stone was possibly left by the Grosvenor survivors who arrived at the farm, but in 1783 they were on their way back to England by then.

I have no doubt it commemorates the Muller expedition.

Sources
Old Times and Odd Corners: The Founder of Eastern Province Commerce and his Frontier Home by John Centlivres Chase. (Privately printed and published in 1868.)
Looking Back, Vol V No 3 (September 1965), pages 5 – 6, ‘Cradock Place’ by Dr R. E. Stevenson
Looking Back, Vol XI No 3 (June 1971), pages 87 – 88, ‘The end of Cradock Place‘
Looking Back, Vol VII, March 1967, Monumental Indifference.
Die Stigting en vroee geskiedenis van Port Elizabeth tot 1845 by L.R.A. Victor