Visits by dignitaries to Port Elizabeth were always an occasion for celebration and revelry. So, it was with the whistle-stop visit to Port Elizabeth on the 21st October 1858 when the whole town was invited to attend a welcoming parade.
Many of the issues raised during this visit are still of interest today either due their being topical or their casting a light on distant practices. But at the risk of overstatement, the original verbatim reports are somewhat jarring for the reader today, as the level of sycophancy displayed when the residents address the Governor, is cringeworthy.
Main picture: Painting of Sir George Grey by Daniel Louis Mundy in the 1860s
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