Prior to the arrival of the 1820 Settlers, it would have been an exaggeration to claim that Port Elizabeth was sparsely populated as that was an overstatement of the facts. Indeed, it was mostly depopulated. Apart from a dozen farmers in the whole area from the Sunday’s River to the Gamtoos River, there was an understrength company of soldiers based at Fort Frederick and thirty-five inhabitants mainly residing along the coast at the foot the Hill.
In addition there were bands of Khoikhoi but as they were peripatetic, evidence of their existence was seldom seen.
Main picture: Port Elizabeth in 1833
At the dawn of the Settler’s Arrival
According to JJ Redgrave, in the years prior to the arrival of the 1820 Settlers, “the land was devoid of inhabitants and as new arrivals entered upon it, they had an understanding among themselves about locations and boundaries. The extent of a “farm” in those days occupied by a family varied from four to six thousand acres.
In his book The Cape Colony and the Eastern Province of Algoa Bay, John Centlivres Chase states that in 1820, “the only buildings were the fort, a small barracks, a mess-house, the Commandant’s quarters, and a few temporary huts of perishable materials [probably wattle and daub], besides the original farm house belonging to a Boer by the name of Hartman. The population was about 35 souls.
At this stage, the hamlet had nothing to commend itself and did not even possess a formal name. It was during a visit by the acting Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Rufane Donkin in 1820 whilst assisting with the planning for the location of the Settlers, that he issued two momentous instructions. At his behest a pyramidal cenotaph as a perpetual token to his recently deceased wife would be constructed and secondly that the name of the wind-swept area was proclaimed as Port Elizabeth, also in her honour.
Redgrave describes the other residences and buildings apart from those of a military nature as follows:
“There existed a mere handful of other miserable dwellings. The Residency, a squat stone building with a sundial in front of it, stood at the foot of the present White’s Road on the site of the Colonial Mutual Buildings, a cottage occupied by the Commissary of Stores, on the site of the present St. Mary’s Church. A little above Hartman Road, stood the poor farmhouse of Hartman with a few other similar farms and mud huts scattered here and there”
Apart from the military, the hamlet consisted of only 35 people. The exact details of the population were recorded by a visitor to this nondescript village in 1819. In this document, a Mr. Griffin Hawkins listed the names and occupations of the inhabitants in an unofficial census as follows:
Evatt, Francis Commandant
Henry Evatt’s son
Creig Commissary
Camm Creig’s clerk
Nicholl & Chabaud Merchants
Welsford Retailer
Benjamin Green Welford’s clerk
Hunt Retailer
Frames Merchant
McPhail Mason
Board Contractor
Fortuin (Malay) Blacksmith
Nicholas Hitje Hotel-keeper [Red Lion Tavern]
Dunn, Gambol & son Postmaster
Burchell Apothecary [Chemist]
Gambol Hartman Field Cornet
Diesel & son Masons
Thomas Griffin Shoemaker
Brown Shoemaker
Gurney Boatman & crew
Smith Boatman & crew
Hatcheloven Butcher
Younger, John Surgeon
Younger, Thomas His brother
Mollineaux, Thomas Whalefisher
Reid, James Crew
De Mell, Joe Crew
Hubbard, Joe Crew
Kane Sawyer
La Harpe Retailer
Minto, Dr. Garrison surgeon
Hawkins, Griffin A visitor
1824 Census
A census of the town in 1824 indicated that its population consisted of:
Presumably the races of the men, women, boys and girls would include the white, the coloureds and the Malays all resident in Port Elizabeth. Amongst the Khoikhoi population were the men would were classifieds as “beach workers” who ferried the ships’ passengers to the shore on their shoulders. Surprisingly 64 people were classified as slaves.
The reason why the population of Port Elizabeth had only increased marginally in four years in spite of the influx of thousands of settlers was due to the fact that the Settlers were immediately relocated to the Eastern Border. Many of those that found farming condition too arduous, lacked the requisite agricultural skills or were bankrupted by drought or pestilence, drifted back to the towns in the area.
1825 Census
For the first time, Port Elizabeth gives the impression of having a population of a functioning village rather than a temporary settlement. Within another ten years, the number of houses had risen to 100.
Description in 1831according to Rev James Laing:
In his autobiography entitled A missionary life among the amaXhosa – The Eastern Cape Journals of the Reverend James Laing 1830-1936 Laing characterises Port Elizabeth as follows: You will perhaps wish to have some idea of the village in which I am presently writing. It is a small, irregular, and stands on sand at the side of a barren country. We have good accommodation at our Inn, which is kept by English people. There may be 300 or 400 inhabitants about Algoa Bay, but the houses are so scattered that it is difficult to form a correct estimate.
Population in 1831 compared to Grahamstown
The general assumption regarding the size of Grahamstown’s population versus that of Port Elizabeth’s in the 1800s is that Grahamstown was a minnow. That is far from reality. In fact in 1831 it was five times the size of Port Elizabeth. According to the 1831 South African Almanac and Directory the population figures given are for the district of Port Elizabeth as distinct from the town itself but there is a reference in the 1833 Almanac to “a population of little more than 300 of whom about 80 attend church services in a building used as an Episcopal Church, now St. Mary’s Church.
Grahamstown was founded in 1812 as the British military headquarters of the Eastern Districts. In 1830 the population of Grahamstown was 1715 (417 houses) excluding the military establishment. By 1832 these figures had grown to 1800 inhabitants and 512 houses.
Prominent citizens in 1842
By 1842, it was no longer possible to list all the citizens in Port Elizabeth as Mr Hawkins had done in 1819. The best that John Centlivres could achieve in his book, is to list the names of the most prominent citizens in Port Elizabeth in 1842. Whereas the initial list in 1819 of citizens reflected mainly occupations such as artisans and merchants, with the increased wealth of the citizenry, most of the prominent people now occupied sedentary clerical, supervisory and management positions.
| Position occupied | Name | Annual salary |
| Resident Magistrate | Capt. W. Lloyd, R.N. | £ 300 |
| Clerk to Magistrate | Mr. C.H. Huntley | £ 80 |
| Acting Messenger | James Hancock | |
| Distributor of Stamps | Mr. C.H. Huntley | |
| Clerk of the Peace | F. Gie ESq | £ 100 |
| Acting Gaoler | Thomas Sterley | £ 45 |
| Police Officers | J. Gillis, J. Wade & John Crown | |
| Justices of the Peace | D.P. Francis & W. Fleming Esqs | |
| Field Cornet | Mr. J.B. Board | |
| Assistant Field Cornet | Mr. A. Baille | |
| Acting District Surgeon | R.L. Davies | £ 60 |
Custom’s House Department
| Position occupied | Name | Annual salary |
| Sub-Collector | D.P. Francis Esq | £ 300 |
| Clerk | Mr. Patrick Murray | £ 90 |
| Tidewaiter | Mr. J. Stonelake | £ 80 |
Port Office
| Position occupied | Name | Annual salary |
| Port Captain | H.G. Dunsterville Esq | £ 100 |
| Officer of Health | R.L. Davies Esq | |
| Coxswain | W. Warner | £ 36 |
| Post mistress | Mrs. Mary Biggar | £ 40 |
| Market master | Mr. Charles Gurney | |
| Pound master | Mr. N. Randall | |
| Overseer of Convicts | George Rye |
St. Mary’s Church
| Position occupied | Name | Annual salary |
| Chaplain | Rev. F. McCleland, A.B. & TCD | £ 200 |
| Churchwardens | Messrs D. Phillips & C. Andrews | |
| Clerk | Mr. Henry Shepherd | |
| Organist | Mrs. J. Rawlinson | |
| Sexton & Bell-ringer | Mr. Thomas Hunt |
School Commission
| Position occupied | Name | Annual salary |
| President | Capt. W Lloyd | |
| Members | Revs. F. McCleland, A. Robson, J.C. Chase & J.C. Welsford | |
| Teacher | Mr. J. Paterson, A.M. | £ 150 & £ 40 for house rent |
Legal
| Position occupied | Name |
| Attorney of the Supreme Court & Proctor in the Vice Admiralty Court | Charles Whitcomb, Esq |
| Attorney in the Circuit Court | Mr. F. Gie |
| Notaries | Messrs. C. Whitcomb and J.C. Chase |
Other
| Position occupied | Name |
| Private School for Boys | Mr J.B. Frames |
| Seminary for Young Ladies | Mrs Eedes |
| Medical Practitioners | J. Chalmers & R.L. Davies Esq |
| Apothecaries | Messrs. J.L. Tilbury & G. Dunsterville |
| Auctioneers | Messrs. W. Harriers, Joshua Norton, Geo. Britton & George Mitchell |
Directors of the Jetty Company
| Position occupied | Name |
| Engineer | John Thornhill |
| Managers | Pieter Heugh, J. Blackburn, Wm. Smith & J.C. Chase |
| Secretary | Mr John Bailie |
| Managing Director of the Boating Company | D. Phillips Esq |
| Clerk | Mr Thomas Yatton |
The Leper Institute of Baaken’s River
| Position occupied | Name |
| Superintending Surgeon | R.L. Davies Esq |
| Superintendent | Mr Richard Tee, Senior |
Union Chapel, London Missionary Society
| Position occupied | Name |
| Minister | Rev. A Robson |
| Elders | Messrs. G Chick & D. Lewis |
| Deacons | Messrs James Beans & J. Kitchen |
| Instructor of the Fingoes | Mr. W. Passmore |
| Teacher to the Coloured People | Mrs. Robson |
Wesleyan Missionary Society
| Position occupied | Name |
| Minister | Rev John Green |
| Committee | Messrs. Wm. Cawood, Samuel Cawood, Joseph Cawood, Thomas Hancock & Thomas Sterley |
| Chapel Stewards | Messrs T. Hancock & T. Sterley |
Roman Catholic Church
| Position occupied | Name |
| Pastor | Rev. George D. Corcoran O.S.F. |
| Clerk | Mr James McCloughlan |
Other
| Position occupied | Name |
| Undertakers | Messrs J.B. Board & Joseph Williams |
| Hotels | Mr Nathaniel Randall |
| Phoenix Hotel | Mr. E.H. Salmond |
Military departments
| Department | Position occupied | Name |
| Commandant | Commandant of Fort Frederick | Capt. F. Evatt |
| Commissariat | Dep. Assist. Commissary | G. Horne |
| Commissariat | Assistant Clerk | Mr. James Niven |
| Commissariat | Storekeeper | Mr J. Burchell |
| Barrack department | Barrack master | Lt Edward Philpott |
| Barrack department | Barrack Serjeant | J. Dalgleisch |
Census in 1846
The census of the population of Port Elizabeth was taken on the 11th April 1846 for the purpose of ascertaining what amount of manpower could be mustered in case of a sudden attack on the town by hostile Xhosa hordes. For this purpose, the town was divided into nine wards and a few citizens were appointed to count the population, including the Hottentots and Coloureds.
The results were as follows:
PE’s population in 1875 to 1911
In the intervening period of 85 years, from a fixed population of thirty five people in 1819, Port Elizabeth now had a population of 42,809. The diamond mines in Kimberley and the gold mines on the Witwatersrand had surpassed Port Elizabeth in their growth.
Later population figures
This makes Port Elizabeth the sixth most populous metropolitan area in South Africa.
Related blogs:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Murders most Foul
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Phoenix Hotel
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Echoes of a Far off War
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Main Street in the Tram Era
Lost Artefacts of Port Elizabeth: Customs House
The Great Flood in Port Elizabeth on 1st September 1968
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Great Flood of 1st September 1968
A Sunday Drive to Schoenmakerskop in 1922
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Horse Drawn Trams
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Trinder Square
The Sad Demise of the Boet Erasmus Stadium
Interesting Old Buildings in Central Port Elizabeth:
The Shameful Destruction of Port Elizabeth’s German Club in 1915:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Shameful Torching of the German Club in 1915
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cora Terrace:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cora Terrace-Luxury Living on the Hill
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Grand Hotel:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Whaling in Algoa Bay:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Whaling-From Abundance to Near Extinction
Port Elizabeth of Yore: White’s Road:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Slipway in Humewood:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: King’s Beach:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Russell Road:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Russell Road-Formerly Burial or Hyman’s Kloof
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Sand dunes, Inhabitants and Animals:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Horse Memorial:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Target Kloof:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Road through Target 3Kloof & its Predecessors
The Parsonage House at Number 7 Castle Hill Port Elizabeth
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Parsonage House at No. 7 Castle Hill
What happened to the Shark River in Port Elizabeth?
A Pictorial History of the Campanile in Port Elizabeth
Allister Miller: A South African Air Pioneer & his Connection with Port Elizabeth
Allister Miller: A South African Air Pioneer & his Connection with Port Elizabeth
The Three Eras of the Historic Port Elizabeth Harbour
The Historical Port Elizabeth Railway Station
The Friendly City – Port Elizabeth – My Home Town
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Russell Road Methodist Church – 1872 to 1966
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Russell Road Methodist Church – 1872 to 1966
The Royal Visit to Port Elizabeth in 1947
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Main Street before the Era of Trams
Sources:
Port Elizabeth: A Social Chronicle to the end of 1945 by Margaret Harradine (2004, Historical Society of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth)
Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days by J.J. Redgrave (1947, Rustica Press)
The Cape of Good Hope & the Eastern Province of Algoa Bay by John Centlivres Chase