Port Elizabeth of Yore: Rishworth’s and other Livery Stables

Until the invention of motorised transport, society had the animal equivalent of the Car Rental Company which offered rental of horses, carts and wagons of a multiplicity of sizes and designs as well as the option of self-driving or chauffeur driven.  Of these Livery Companies, as they were known, the best known was the Rishworths in Jetty Street.

Main picture:  Russell Road circa 1877. On the left is William Rishworth’s livery stable, while on the right is Widdicombe & Sennitt, grocers. Converted from a gorge, Hyman’s Kloof was opened as Russell Road in August 1863 thereby creating new land on either side. The buildings in this street were mainly an admixture of houses and workshops.

Rishworth’s stables
Travellers or visitors to and from Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage invariably used hired conveyances from livery stables in the Bay, the best patronised being those of Mr. Rishworth in Jetty Street. A postcart service was also run daily between both towns as well as being used for the conveying of passengers.

Like the current convention of locating car rental companies at places of entrance or departure such as airports, a similar principle applied in the age of sailing. To ensure its visibility, the site of the popular Rishworth’s livery stables faced both Jetty and Strand Streets. The Rishworth’s stables extended to a street at the back that led down to the sea. Here, spruce riding horses and carriages were kept for hire to the public at any time that they were required. All the other space in this vicinity for many years stood vacant. The old stables were eventually demolished to make room for the spacious stores of H. M. Benjamin & Co., the produce and wool merchants.

Apart from operating a livery stable, Rishworth senior also owned a grocery store and a dairy whose cows were kept at the back of the shop. These premises were located at the south west corner of Main Street and Russell Road. This site would undergo numerous changes over the years. After Rishworth, Whitehead, the provision merchants, would demolish Rishworth’s building and construct a new one which opened during August 1891. This building was later taken over by Kolnick’s and finally it was demolished to make way for the Russell Road interchange.

Fire in Rishworth’s Queen Street property on 28 January 1904

On Thursday night a fire occurred in Queen Street when Mr. Rishworth’s premises, occupied by Singer Co, as a store were gutted. The alarm was given at the Fire Station by the police at 10:27.and the Brigade turned out promptly with their hose cart, and very soon had two branches at work. Mr. Butterworth was also soon on the scene, and took command of the operations. The back portion of the premises consisting of a wood andiron structure, burnt fiercely, and at one time grave fears were entertained that the front portion and also the store occupied by Messrs Platzky and Resenkowitz, adjoining, would be destroyed, but fortunately the brigade were able to check the onward progress of the flames. The damage is considerable, as there  was a large amount of stock in the shop.  It is understood that both property and stock was insured.      

Queen Street before 1906. The breweries with the gasworks behind. On the left is part of “Cannon House”, situated in St Patrick’s Road & owned by William Rishworth.

Prince Alfred’s visit
Tom O’Brien who lived in ‘Erinville’ in Cape Road when only five other neighbours occupied the entire area which was then considered “out of town” was one of Rishworth’s customers. He was a very keen sportsman, his favourite pastime being hunting and horse racing, and he was one of the first members of the P.E. Turf Club. Besides his own racehorses he kept some fine packs of hunting dogs and saddle horses which he was always ready to lend to his friends. It was probably that sporting prowess which sealed Tom’s invitation to a local hunt when he would accompany Prince Alfred in 1860 on a hunt across the Amsterdam Flats near Zwartkops. From which livery stables would he choose to hire a fine mount but those of Mr. Rishworth at the foot of Jetty Street.

The Gates brothers
Four brothers named John Henry, August, Michel and also possibly Johannes kept livery stables in Princes Street, 28 Upper Pier Street, 3 Skipton Cottages on Convent Hill and Western Road. Harry (sic) Gates, the brother of Johannes Gates who kept the Fairview Hotel [located on the site between the future St Heugh’s Church and Pelo’s Cafe] occupied iron buildings at the back of the Masonic Hotel for use as his livery and bait stables. It was Harry who supplied the horses to the sailors from the HMS Raleigh.

Jacobson’s Cabs
Jacobson’s livery stables were located in Queen Street. These stables were renowned for supplying the cab and horse for the opening of the Circuit Court. On this occasion the Sheriff would fetch the judge from the P.E. Club in Bird Street in an open carriage and drive him to court. The attendants were always smartly dressed in top hats and tails.

Sources
Photos & newspaper clipping from Butterworth via David Raymer
Port Elizabeth: A Social Chronicle to the end of 1945 by Margaret Harradine (1996, E H Walton (Packaging (Pty) Ltd, Port Elizabeth, on behalf of the Historical Society of Port Elizabeth).
Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days by J.J. Redgrave (1947, Rustica Press)

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Destructive Fire at Kayser’s Villa in Park Drive

Amongst Port Elizabeth’s civic minded businessmen, there was a local merchant Charles Frederick Kayser. Like many unfortunate residents, Kayser would also suffer a huge conflagration which would consume his posh house Glen Lynden in Park Drive.

Main picture: Park Drive. Glen Lynden on 26 Dec 1906 after the devastating fire of the previous night

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Alfred Brookes-Humewood’s Benefactor

Alfred Herbert Brookes will not be remembered for his stints as Town Councillor, Mayor or parliamentarian representing Port Elizabeth and he will probably also not be remembered for his numerous bequests to various bodies but should be remembered for his bequests for the improvement of Humewood.

Even if he not remembered for his philanthropy, he will be remembered as Brookes’ Hill is named after him.

Main picture: Camping on Brookes Hill in the 1920s

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Arthur Clayton – Imbued with Civil Engineering Ethos

What all local and central government authorities suffer from in the new South Africa is not only the blatant criminality in the form of corruption and nepotism but the appointment of wholly incompetent and corruptible employees. As a direct consequence, the signs of decay and neglect are visible everywhere.

The vignette below highlights and underscores the requirement to uphold not only the laws and bylaws but the ethos imbued and distilled in them as well as their enforcement, otherwise collapse is inevitable. The fastidious nature of the previous brand of civil servant such as Arthur Clayton embodied these concepts which ensured the optimum functioning of society.   

This morning, I heard the sound of rushing water and went to investigate. I found that because of the water restrictions, a furrow had been dug from the tap into the flower beds.  The tap was gushing. Was this wrong though? A hose was not in use”. It was yet another ironic moral and legal problem for Arthur James Clayton, City Engineer of Port Elizabeth, the man who was obliged to ban, albeit temporarily, the use of garden hoses except for an hour a week. He solved it with characteristic directness. “I told my mother to turn the tap off immediately.” he said.   

This example albeit petty was the moral dilemma personified.

Main picture: Arthur Clayton

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Were Trekboere the Founding Fathers?

Being Port Elizabeth born and bred and being the descendant of prominent 1820 stock, the fact that “other people” could have inhabited this area prior to the arrival of the 1820 Settlers never crossed my mind.  Ironically, I was disabused of the notion that the original residents of the area were English speaking people from England, or Ireland in my case, when I accepted the notion that the khoikhoi predated the Whites by perhaps 10,000 years.

In due course, i.e. years later, the realisation dawned that the Afrikaner must have played a role in the creation of town even if it was not as significant as the English settlers. This epiphany arose when I asked myself a simple question, “How did the  Afrikaans place names such as Buffelsfontein, Nooitgedagt and Welbedacht arise?

The fact that the arrival of the Trekboers was in the 1770s led me to a fuller understanding of the people of this part of South Africa and the role that they played in it.

Main picture: Trekboers

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Taking the Old Fishery Road to The Fishery

During the 1800s the area known today as Hobie Beach was originally called The Fishery. As the coast south of the harbour was rocky and inland of the shore was covered with fine, soft sand dunes into which ones feet would sink much like into a soft jelly, the direct coastal route was considered impassable. Instead, a circuitous route which bypassed this sand belt, was created. It was this road that was the improvised roadway known as the old Fishery Road which vended its way inland before making a sharp left turn towards the sea.

As The Fishery was the centre of a thriving fishing and whaling operation, its lifeline to civilisation was via this non-descript road for over half a century.  It should be noted that minor adjustments were made to this route, the Mark 2 version, which did reduce  its length. However, there was never access to the Fishery along the beach, but only by the overland “Fishery Road“.

Main picture: Map of the Fishery Road

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