Port Elizabeth of Yore: New Brighton – “A Model Native Settlement”

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

Located between the Papenkuils and the Swartkops Rivers, New Brighton was established inside the Municipal Boundary of Port Elizabeth in 1901 in order to house the black residents of the inner-city locations such as Stranger’s and Gubb Locations’. The White property owners and ratepayers were pressurising the Council to relocate the Black inhabitants of the locations in the inner city area.

This blog will cover the history of New Brighton from this inflection point in the separation of residential areas.  

Main picture: Semi-detached houses erected in New Brighton in 1912

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Berry’s – Father and Sons

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Father, John James or JJ, and sons, Matthew (baptised as Matthys Jacobus) and Richard John, were both peas from the same pod, entrepreneurs to the bone ever willing to take a gamble on a new business venture. In most instances, they were vindicated but when Matthew crossed swords with the Divisional Council over the Seaview Farm, it was an ill-judged move. 

Main picture: The Zwartkops Convict station showing the overseer’s cottage and the convicts’ quarters at the rear

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