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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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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Up until the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War, Port Elizabeth had never been inundated with refugees. However the ABW was another matter altogether. This situation arose due to the fact that the “Uitlanders” or foreigners were at the heart of the dispute between the Boer Republics and the British Empire. Being a British colony and as they were often English subjects, the Cape Colony was morally obliged and responsible to assist the refugees.  

Main picture: Refugees from the Boer War living in cattle stalls

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One of the requirements of the recently arrived English military in 1795, was a fort on the hilltop but just as important was a road stretching from the landing beach at the mouth of the Baakens River, to the fort.

Apart from its military significance, it would be the only road up the hill until White’s Road was constructed by Henry Fancourt White in 1850. Bookended by Baakens Street at the bottom and Belmont Terrace on the hill, this road has lost its significance when roads were cut into all the kloofs as far as Albany Road [formerly Cooper’s Kloof].

This blog covers all the significant buildings which occupied this historic street. The majority of them have already met their ultimate fate – demolition. In the case of Newspaper House, it will be “demolition by neglect”. Even the last of the historical or significant buildings will shortly be – as John Cleese would intone – ex buildings.

Main picture: 1818 Military map by Lt Wily with Military Road marked in yellow

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It took Port Elizabeth 59 years from 1858 to 1917 to establish a ragtag fire service and then convert it into a professional body. But it was worth it. Now they would have to prove their mettle. This portion of the history has mainly been obtained from an article entitled Short Historical Notes on the Port Elizabeth Fire and Emergency Services Department by D.C. Sparks

Main picture: Firemen at the Fire Station

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