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.
South Africa entered the Korean War on the side of the United Nations issued with their WW2 era Mustangs. During January 1953, Number 2 Squadron had their Mustangs replaced by North American F86F-30 Sabres on loan from the USAF. This would be the first jet flown by the SAAF. After the war, the SAAF would acquire Sabres. It was one of these that would crash in Port Elizabeth. On the 15th July 1960, Canadair CL13B Sabre Mk6 #379 was written off near the main airport after colliding with Sabre #353. Fortunately, the pilot, Lt HJW Bothma, survived.
Most residents regard the Baakens River, apart from its lower extremity, as being a vital green lung for the expanding city. Despite this, to solve a seemingly intractable transport problem, the solution proposed by the City Engineers Department was to convert a treasure into a paved highway.Would the nascent conservation/environmental groups win the battle over the engineers’ dream project?
Main picture: Aerial view of the lower reaches of the Baakens Valley with the freeway superimposed upon it
In the mistaken belief that diamonds were scattered on the ground waiting to be picked up, the discovery of diamonds in 1870 caused an exodus to the Diamond Fieldsin search of their fortune.In many cases Port Elizabeth, being the nearest port, would be the starting point for many fortune hunters travelling north, by wagon or even on foot, covering the 420 miles to De Beers’ New Rush.Soon a dose of reality would set in and many would retrace their footsteps back to Port Elizabeth.
What is little known is that it was not a one way street. Enrepreneurs in Port Elizabeth grabbed the opportunity with both hands and organised the first South African diamond auctions in the town being yet another first for the town.
By the 1960s and after a decade of spectacular economic growth, traffic volumes had increased substantially. Burgeoning vehicle ownership had exacerbated the situation. Lest we forget, the road grid was designed to cater for the central business district and North End whereas the commercial and industrial growth was northwards. Something had to be done to arrest the traffic situation.
The proposed solution was the construction of a freeway network.
This blog covers Edgar Brocas Walton’s experiences during the Anglo Boer War. Unlike most participants he saw action not once but multiple times being also wounded numerous times but the third and last time was particularly severe causing life-long negative consequences. After being employed by E.H. Waltons, the owner of the Herald during this period, Brocas, as he was known, retired as Chairman after 50 years’ service.
This information has been extracted from Neil Orpen’s excellent book “Prince Alfred’s Guard 1856 -1966” supplemented by extracts from The History of the E.H. Walton Group 1845 to 1995”
Prior to the invention of vaccines, swaths of prior generations of children were struck down by numerous maladies with poliomyelitis being one. One forgets how disabling polio was. Usually contracted as a child, one of the most visble manifestations arose when one’s leg was “shrivelled” preventing one from walking normally. Various forms of aids were constructed to mitigate the effects, but none was a panacea. Imagine when a child was placed in an iron lung to facilitate breathing. My father was struck down as a youth in the 1920s by polio but fortunately it was a mild strain. Nevertheless, his one leg was shorter and the one foot smaller than the other.
To prevent his children from contracting this debilitating disease, in an experiment reminiscent of Edward Jenner and the small-pox vaccine, one local doctor tested the polio vaccine on his own children as guinea pigs.
Man picture: Deformed limbs of children afflicted with polio
Facility for treatment
In lune 1938 an Orthopaedic Dept was opened at the Hospital under Dr Edward Colley and in April 1940 an E.P. branch of the National Council for the Care of Cripples was convened by NCW. As the Hospital was not equipped to handle long-term patients, they were compelled to send them home too soon.
Long term treatment
In August 1942, Mrs F.H. Holland raised the question of an Orthopaedic After-Care Home Society due to the fact that patients afflicted with EB of the bone, war injuries, and also polio, created patients needing long convalescence. The Council provided land in Conyngham Road, while the Nuffield Trust gave a grant for the building and E.H. Walton and Co gave £4000 to the Care for Cripples Fund on the occasion of the centenary of the Herald.
On 15 March 1947 Lady Walton, wife of the Chairman of EH Waltons (Pty) Ltd, the owners of the E.P. Herald laid the foundation stone of the new Walton Orthopaedic Home, designed by Siemerink and Brinkman, and it was opened on 11 November 1948 by Mrs Holland as President of the National Council of Child Welfare Societies.
Above: When poliomyelitis attacked the lungs, the young children were placed in these so-called “iron lungs” which assisted with their breathing.
Selection of guinea pigs
Even though society had been clamoring for a vaccine to prevent children from contracting the virus poliomyelitis, or “infantile paralysis,” for generations, fears were nevertheless raised about the possible negative effects of the vaccine developed by Dr. Salk. The production of a defective batch of vaccine did not assist in allaying the public’s concerns.
The number of people who were stricken made everyone aware of the scourge. The Medical Officer of Health for Port Elizabeth, Dr. D.L. Ferguson, was naturally keen to obtain the vaccine in order to vaccinate the children of Port Elizabeth as widely as possible and as a soon as possible.
So that he could gain ready public acceptance of vaccination, Dr. Ferguson approached his own daughter and son-in-law to seek their co-operation in allowing themselves and their two sons, his grandchildren, to be vaccinated. He was so confident of its safety that he had no qualms in persuading them, but it was, nonetheless, for them a decision not lightly taken. After much serious thought, they agreed and were vaccinated without, of course, any ill-effects. Based upon this test, Dr. Ferguson could easily persuade people of the wisdom of his plans for mass vaccination by telling them that he had “risked” vaccinating his own grandchildren.
Later years
By 1988 there was no longer a need for the Home, and it was closed and turned into offices.
The later oral vaccine was, of course, much easier to administer and has been very widely used so that today the disease has been eradicated. Unfortunately the world has witnessed the resurgence of diseases such as small-pox due to actions of the anti-vax mobs.
This blog deals with the ill-considered decision by John Pyott to acquire a steam vessel. He might have made a success of his biscuit making business, but shipping was to be his nemesis. This story is based on the excellent biography of John Pyott by Mrs. J.S. Bennie
Buildings of this era faced several dangers, not least of which was the fact that often wood was used extensively in building construction. The shambolic state of fire fighting services was thrown into sharp relief whenever yet another prominent building was destroyed in a conflagration. Finally in 1917, 15 years after this conflagration, the Fire Brigade was professionally manned.
Main picture: The total staff and equipment complement of the PE Fire Brigade in 1904
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (Yersinia pestis): bubonic plague, septicaemic plague and pneumonic plague. The type of plague is determined by the route of the infection. In the case of bubonic plague, the bacteria enter through the skin via a flea bite and travel in the lymphatic vessels to a lymph node whereas the other two types are caused by bacteria in the blood or via the lungs. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. Without treatment, plague results in the death of 30% to 90% of those infected. In the middle ages the plague known as Black Death was in all probability bubonic plague.
This blog deals with the most serious outbreak of bubonic plague experienced by the town.
Main picture: 1902 Map of distribution of typhoid fever
At the start of Thomas Pringle’s stay in Port Elizabeth in 1820, while awaiting transport to the interior, this unremarkable hamlet, comprising no more than a dozen dwellings, was still identified on all the maps and maritime charts of the period as being Algoa Bay. Before his departure to the designated Scottish area, Sir Rufane Donkin, the acting governor of the Cape, had christened the hamlet Port Elizabeth on the 6th June. Being of independent mind and inquisitive to boot, prior to his departure he made two forays into the immediate interior, first to Bethelsdorp and later to Uitenhage.
This blog focuses on those four weeks in Port Elizabeth. Not only was he acutely observant with an eye for detail but in recording his trip, he casts his intellect not only on the minutiae but also the broad picture.
Main picture: 1820 Settlers congregating on the Beach on the corner of Russell Road and Strand Street
