The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.
Throughout history there have always been people who scandalize society either to make a point or, more commonly, to self-promote. Unfortunately, in this modern social mediaworld of clicks where people aspire to be celebrities or influencers rather than astronauts, doctors or engineers, the trend to get noticed has exploded.
One current trend is for women to expose their baby bumps. To be sure, there is nothing wrong or to be ashamed of being pregnant. Indeed, it is something to be celebrated, but it is becoming tawdry with every A-lister and wannabe feeling the need to do it. Not content to just walk around thus, they even have photoshoots, like Rihanna, to provide material for their fans. The baby bump is actually just the middle act of the three-act play of conception: the act itself, the bump and finally the birth. The first and last are intensely private affairs, but somehow they feel the need to perform the middle act in public. Women who would never walk around with a crop top in public suddenly feel the need to do so in specially tailored outfits.
To put a humorous slant to this phenomenon, SMAC has juxtaposed two current pictures of publicly paraded bumps, Anne Hathaway and Vogue Williams, with one featuring the actor, Jamie Foxx who recently displayed a gorgeous one at the age of 58 which shows that baby bumps are not constrained by age or sex in this transgender age. (No, Foxx is not trans, but the bump could be a phantom pregnancy as his girlfriend is expecting.)
Being a Settler in an undeveloped land with unfriendly neighbours to their east, non-existent infrastructure and a paucity of work opportunities apart from farming their land, would they not only survive but thrive? Ultimately not being unscrupulous opportunists but the opposite, hard working entrepreneurs, the Reed family would rise to the challenge and thrive.
Sailing to a new homeland Aboard the Chapman, the first ship in the 1820 Settler Armada to arrive at Port Elizabeth, was the Reed family. Previously known as the Sybilla, the 558 ton ship would faithfully serve the British Empire for many more years. But now it was transporting settlers from Cork to Algoa Bay as Port Elizabeth did not yet exist. Ultimately approximately 33 years later it would be lost in the North Atlantic during a voyage from Quebec in the early 1850s.
Shipboard romance It was the roving eye of the ship’s captain, John Milbank, that was attracted to the young slip of a female, Sara Eliza Reed, the sister to James and Samuel Reed. With the Reed boys being too young at the time, with James being only 7 as he was born in 1813, neither boy would in all likelihood have been aware of the budding romance. Over a voyage of 92 days there was plenty of time for Milbank to woo the 20 year old albeit surreptitiously. The romance must have blossomed during the voyage and so, upon arrival in Cape Town, John Milbank proclaimed that the couple would be married within several days. Sarah never disembarked from the ship. Instead she returned with her husband to England.
[LB15]
Whether dared or on their own volition, two young boys would vie to be the first person ashore. One was a 13 year old boy by the name of James Samuel Reed [SC1] and the other was William Collen [SC2]. Whether they were even aware of the others plot to be first ashore, is unknown but two boys would claim this distinction. In the case of the latter, the family claims that William absconded with the ship’s bell. Passed down from generation to generation this assertion and the bell were ultimately passed down the family until today when Mr. JAS Collen is in possession of the bell. Based upon its inconsequential size, the title of Ship’s Bell is probably too grandiose. Downgrading it to galley bell would probably appease skeptics and naysayers. [SC3] As contestants in the game Chinese Whispers can attest, by the fourth retelling of a fact, the accuracy of the detail no longer bears any resemblance to the original message. All facts are subject to distortion.
An example based upon my family history will emphasise the fact. My maternal great great grandfather was George Dix-Peek. At the apex of his career as an architect, he designed the Standard Bank building in Main Street, Port Elizabeth. The remainder of his drawings were of lessor import, originality and importance. Yet despite that fact, one of my cousins claimed that he designed buildings such as the Union Buildings!
Creating a career as hotelier Nothing is officially known of either of the brothers’ activities for many years except that James’ initial occupation was that of a blacksmith [3]. Next the trail wends its merry way to being hoteliers.
In January 1840 James Samuel Reed opened the Pier Hotel [SC4] in a house located in Jetty Street which later became the Palmerston and ultimately the Campanile Hotel. There was an hotel on this site for 150 years with the original house being considerably extended over the years and becoming known as the “Palmerston”. To cater for the influx of settlers, visitors and businessmen this hotel could no longer be extended. The solution was to demolish the existing hotel and to replace it with a far larger hotel, the “Campanile” which was built in 1934/5.
Above: The Palmerston Hotel which was the successor to the Pier Hotel
On the birth of his eldest son William James Reed, Samuel Reed was the manager of the Pier Hotel. Samuel worked at this trade for 10 years. Combined with the butchering trade, his partners were his brothers George and James William.
Above: This is the earliest extant sketch of the Pier Hotel in 1842
It was originally the home of Alexander William Tennant before James Samuel Reed converted it into a hotel. It was not Tennant who would hit the jackpot, but James Samuel. In January 1840, he placed an advertisement that he had taken over Tennant’s house near the proposed new jetty envisaged by the Port Elizabeth Jetty Company. In anticipation of this jetty’s construction literally on his doorstep, he had christened his inn and boarding house, “The Pier Hotel”. In fact, at that stage, even the foundation stone had not been laid yet. Even though the jetty was only finally completed in 1842, using the wreck of the ship Feejee as a base, the expected goldmine had barely commenced production when misfortune befell the jetty. Within five months after officially coming into operation, on Saturday night, 26th August 1843, Port Elizabeth experienced a violent gale, the worst south-easter since 1835. In a matter of hours, three ships broke their anchors smashing into the jetty and utterly destroying it.
James Reed arrived as an 1820 Settler on the Chapman aged seven. In 1846 Tennant was declared insolvent and at the same time Reed announced that he had returned to his earlier trade as a blacksmith.
Together with chartering vessels taking stock, horses and bullocks to Mauritius in exchange for their products principally being sugar, they did very well financially. Samuel’s brother, George, was the buyer of livestock and William was the bookkeeper. That meant that when the chartered boat was loaded, Samuel had to remove his apron and sail to Mauritius. As part of this job was an extremely difficult portion. This entailed catching wild oxen and loading them on board the ship using slings.
In 1849 James William was listed as cabinet makers in Queens Street.
Trying their hand at auctioneering The family dissolved the partnership, and Samuel started auctioneering. By 1861 he had sold all what were called the Hospital Lands. These properties lay between Bird and Pearson Streets and in the western portion encompassed the first substantial hospital in the town. These lands had been granted by Sir George Grey in 1858 to the town with the intention of selling them to provide funds for the erection of the hospital on Richmond Hill.
Above: Market Square in 1896
The Reed family operates a pont Prior to the opening of the Mackay Bridge on the Sunday’s River in 1895, passengers and vehicles were taken across the river by means of a pont. J.S. Reed held the lease from 1859 to 1869. James Reed then purchased The Sunday’s River Punt property from Capper for £4750 and Thornhill for £3500. [There are two Thornhills; the farm settled by Christopher near Bathurst in 1820 and the village of Thornhill just beyond the Van Staden’s Pass, named after Christhopher, son of Christopher] After occupying the Punt Property for 10 years, the Uitenhage Council sued Samuel Reed to deliver up the right of way and remove his Punt. He duly refused to relinquish what he had legally acquired from Thomas Capper (b 1811) son of Thomas Capper senior, of George Smith’s party. The case was heard in the Supreme Court. When Reed lost the case, Capper was already dead, and he had no redress which caused him to surrender the property. His son William J Reed then made an offer with the principal creditor W R Metelerkamp through Mr. J S Kirkwood. [James Somers Kirkwood (d.1888) had arrived in Port Elizabeth in 1855 and was a well-known auctioneer and was elected as Town Councillor in 1860 and M.L.A. from 1876 to 1880] had to pay an amount and Reed’s estate was released from Insolvency.
To settle the debt, their property across the Baakens River bridge was sold and realized £600 which was ample to pay the debt. ·
Property magnet Besides being extremely successful in his occupations as farmer, butcher and auctioneer, James Reed also amassed a great deal of property including farms. [SC5] By 1849, J.S. Reed had acquired half of the farm Nooitgedacht on which Frame’s Drift is located. He eventually played a role in the political management of the town by being elected as Councillor onto the first Town Council and later he was also appointed onto the board of the Divisional Council.
Over the years James Reed was involved in numerous successful and unsuccessful business ventures and amassed a great deal of property.
Fox hunting [LB 14] One of the British customs which our stubbornly traditional forefathers attempted to import into Port Elizabeth was fox hunting. They had the horses, the hounds, the “pink” which implies or signifies perfect health and happiness. The Eastern Cape offered splendid hunting country but no foxes! As an alternative they resorted to “running duikers or oribi to earth.”
The Herald [EPH 1] described “the “run” of ·the previous Saturday. The hounds were under the charge of Messrs. Ted and George Reed and they usually met at Harries Kraal at 6 a.m. twice a week. There were 5 couples of hounds and they had a particularly good run that day covering 15 to 20 miles before killing within sight of the Kragga Kamma lands.
Above: Campanile with Palmerston Hotel in the background
Sources [SC1] Social Chronicle to the end of 1945. Harradine Page 275 [SC2] Blog: https://thecasualobserver.co.za/port-elizabeth-yore-settler-ship-chapman/ [SC3] S.C. page 275. [SC4] SC page 27 [SC5] SC Page 21 [LB14] Looking Back Vol VII No. 1, March 1966 Page 14, Fox hunting] [EPH 1] E.P. Herald 24 October 1862 Fox Hunting [LB15] Looking Back Vol XVI No. 3, Sept 1976 Page 84] [LB] Looking Back Settler Memories by William & James Samuel Reed. Volume 20 No. 1 March 1980 Page 18 to 26
Name
DoB & DoD
Comment
George S. Reed
B. 1818
Youngest of W. Reed’s 5 children
William James Reed
1840-c1920
Son of James Samuel Reed, 22 Queen Street
James Samuel Reed
1811-1902
Grandson of James Samuel Reed
William Reed
1774-1827
1820 Settler, John Baillie’s party. Arrived with wife & 5 children aboard Chapman.
The chronicle of Stanley Bergman’s life transcends the abyss of Nazi Germany, apartheid South End tonwardvo Wall Street in the USA. Survival under the former circumstances depends upon lavish doses of mental fortitude supplemented by moral clarity. As Stanley was only born in Port Elizabeth, he never had to endure the intemperate bully-like behaviour of the Hitlerite regime. Being personally fascinated about people who not only survive such trauma but rise above it, I was compelled to create a blog about StanleyBergman.
To acknowledge his success in business, and to highlight the man, I was on the horns of a dilemma. Stanley did nor readily cast a light on the past but instead focused on his post Port Elizabeth experiences. As the focus of the series Port Elizabeth of Yore is on a town prior to 1960 yet still wanting to shine a light of his post apartheid life, I was compelled to create a new series Gqeberha of Today. This blog is largely an attribute to his business life using the July 2026 copy of BusinesTech as its concrete slab.
BusinessTech summarises Stanley’s accomplishments as follows: South African man leaves with R900 million after building a Fortune 500 company in the United States. That heading did not attract my attention. No mass firings of synapses occurred. But what had intrigued me were the words born in South End. Clearly an anomaly, an oddity. Questions sparked questions and speculation. What was life like? How extensive was apartheid? Synapses fired in excitation.
Life as a businessman
South African-born Stanley Bergman has been the longest-serving CEO of Henry Schein in the United States, a company that is now worth over $9.6 billion (R160.6 billion).He is credited with being the driving force behind the company’s success and has left the CEO role with over R900 million in company shares for his service.
Life in Port Elizabeth
Bergman was born in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in 1950 to Jewish parents who had fled Nazi Germany in 1936.He grew up in South End, which was a working-class neighbourhood that he later described as a “totally functional multicultural environment”. His childhood was shaped by apartheid. Although he was raised in a home where racism was openly rejected, he attended a segregated school and watched as the government declared South End a whites-only area in 1963. This forced families from different racial groups to leave before much of the suburb was demolished.
Post P.E. After school, Bergman studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1972 and a Certificate in the Theory of Accounting in 1973. After this, he and his wife, Marion, a doctor who had worked in Soweto, moved to London, then settled in New York a year later, when Bergman was 26.
His career at Henry Schein began in 1980 when he joined the New York-based dental supplier as chief financial officer. Bergman has said he was drawn to the company because of its values rather than its size. “They had a belief in aligning business with social value. They’d work shoulder to shoulder with their people, and they did a lot in philanthropy,” he said of the founding Schein family.
In 1989, Bergman became chairman and CEO of what was then a regional dental supplier generating $225 million in annual revenue. Over the next three and a half decades, he oversaw a massive period of growth. Henry Schein expanded into a global distributor of dental and medical products, technology and healthcare services.
The company now operates in 33 countries and territories, offers more than 300,000 products through its distribution network, and recorded sales of $12.7 billion in 2024.
It is also ranked No. 333 on the Fortune 500 list. During Bergman’s tenure, annual revenue grew from $225 million (R3.7 billion) in 1989 to almost $13 billion (R217 billion) in 2024, while the company’s market value increased from $290 million (R4.8 billion) at its 1995 stock market listing to around $9.6 billion (R160 billion). Henry Schein said Bergman also helped transform the business from a primarily US-based mail-order dental supplier into a global giant in dental distribution, medical supplies, healthcare software and digital services.
In July 2025, the company announced that Bergman would retire as CEO at the end of the year after 45 years with the business, including more than 35 years as chief executive. “With the progress made advancing our BOLD+1 strategic plan and with strong management in place, it is the right time for me to retire at the end of the year,” Bergman said.
“Henry Schein has been my professional home for 45 years, and I will conclude this chapter of my life with enormous gratitude for the opportunity to serve as CEO and with great confidence in the company’s future.”Lead director Philip Laskawy praised Bergman’s leadership. “Under Stan’s leadership, Henry Schein has become the global leader in providing dental and medical products and solutions for healthcare providers,” he said. “We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Stan for his steadfast devotion to Henry Schein.”
Reflecting on his career, Bergman has often credited his upbringing in South Africa for shaping his leadership philosophy. “Success is all about caring about people. I learned from my late mother growing up in Port Elizabeth that if you treat people how you want to be treated, things work out,” he said. “And from my late father, I learned to always look for the good in people and be optimistic.” Although he has retired as CEO, Bergman remains chairman of Henry Schein and owns about 646,847 company shares worth more than $55 million, or roughly R906 million. He and his wife have also maintained close ties with South Africa through education, healthcare and charitable initiatives, including support for Wits University and programmes that expanded opportunities for healthcare students across Africa.
Perhaps it was because the English speakers were strangers in a new land, that their entrepreneurial talents were unleased, but whatever it was, they displayed it in their many endeavours. One little known fact was the attempt to establish its own maritime defence. In this case , the explanation could plausibly have been the naval attack on the settlement in 1799 by the French which highlighted the colony’s vulnerability.
Better known as Darby, the Whaler, David Doit only appeared on the local whaling scene in the latter half of the 19th Century after having spent time in Grahamstown after his birth circa 1838. Doit obtained employment with the P.E. Boating Company as an oarsman and later promoted as a coxswain, a position that he held for nearly 30 years. It was during his extended stint as a crewmember of James Searle’s boat that his sailing skills were finely-honed.
Competition between rival firms was keen in those days and the crews used to spend hours on the Donkin watching for a whale to ‘blow’ in the Bay. As soon as one was spotted, there was a race to the beach in order to launch their boats and the first crew to harpoon a whale were handsomely paid by the owners.
Main picture: Painting by Thomas Baines of a surfboat being launched through the breakers
According to the book Port Elizabeth:A Social Chronicle to the End of 1945, the Union Boating Company was formed in February 1865. The chairman and directors were Joseph Simpson, J.H. Clark, G.C. Smith, C.T. Jones and F.S. Fairbridge and the Superintendent was James Searle. The company purchased the stock of E.B. Wheatland and leased the building used by him, and others adjoining and being built behind, between Commerce and North Union Streets.
Like his three brothers, Fred, Milton and Harry, Redvers volunteered for military service during WW2. As the last of these volunteers has passed on, nobody can listen to first hand accounts of their experiences during the war. All that remains are the shards of their experiences as related to disinterested children. Even piecing together these pieces, it provides no more than a smidgen of those experiences.
Main picture: Redvers Percival Dix-Peek in military uniform
Like all immigrants internationally, their initial priority was to make a living. For most waves of immigration to South Africa this was the least of their concerns as they were part of an organised importation scheme; the Indians in Natal to the sugar cane fields, the Chinese to the underground gold mines on the Witwatersrand and the English Settlers to the Eastern Cape border regions. The Chinese in Port Elizabeth were an exception to that rule. Being overwhelmingly single and without a family they probably initially relied upon the settled Chinese to survive. In a strange land with little understanding of English, they resorted to the time honoured tradition in order to overcome communication barriers viz sign language
Main picture: Chinese general dealers store in Dassiekraal circa 1920
Historically South Africa has always experienced segregation except that with the accession to power of the National Party in 1948 separation in all facets of one’s life was now governed by its own separate and restrictive legislation. Amongst the avalanche of legislation in the early years of Nationalist rule was one law that mandated the separation of beaches by the local councils.
This is the story of the ascendance of beach segregation and its ultimate demise.
Main picture: Map of segregated beaches along Port Elizabeth’s coast
