A different view on current affairs & history
This blog shines the spotlight on one of the original teachers at Alexander Road High School. It is a transcription from an article entitled OBITUARY: MISS LAUREEN ALMA CHILCOTT 1914-2007 by Peter Chilcott, her nephew.
Miss Chilcott taught at Alex from 1955 until her retirement in 1973.
Main picture: Miss Chilcott
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Events
Periods
The name Londt does not resonate with the overwhelming majority of today’s residents of Port Elizabeth yet the word “Edworks” might do so. Unlike other entrepreneurs whose names are used as the name of the business, this never happened in this case. In short order, after a chance encounter between William Edward Londt and Frank Parker, they were instrumental in establishing a major footwear manufacturing facility in Port Elizabeth.
While none might have heard of William Edward Londt, at least some must have heard of his other legacy; the St John’s Stella Londt Retirement Centre, in Sunridge Park.
Main picture: Edworks factory
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Behind every successful company established in Port Elizabeth was an innovative entrepreneur. In the case of Mangold Engineering, it was James Christian Mangold, by training an ironworker and mechanic. James would establish Mangold Brothers in 1878 together with his brother Carl Christian which would rapidly become the largest engineering company in Port Elizabeth besides the Baakens River..
Main picture: Mangold Engineering in Horton Street in 1966
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This is a comprehensive history of Volkswagen South Africa. It is not based on research as it is direct copy off the internet. As the original source cannot be traced, I have been unable to attribute it to the authors.
Main picture: The SAMAD plant in 1950
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Today chimneys are viewed as a curse and a blight on one’s health and the environment. Unlikely as it now is seen, the filthy black smoke spewing out of these pencil-like structures was once viewed as the epitome of progress, a harbinger of wealth and prosperity.
As well-paying holiday jobs, chimney cleaning was a much-coveted job in the early 1970s when I was “recruited” to clean the chimneys of the Algorax factory at Swartkops. Even a half hour shower did not remove the fine granules from one’s skin pores!
Main picture: Henry Coleman’s steam mills with the first chimney
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Initially it was conceived that the main use of electricity would for lighting as prior to the arrival of electricity, human activity virtually ceased at sunset. Before the age of domestic appliances, there were few uses for electrical power other than for lighting. To solve this drawback, gas had been introduced but its use had never gained traction.
This blog details the various attempts at generating electricity in Port Elizabeth, initially by means of generators and then later by means of a power station. In the case of Port Elizabeth, the first power station was erected at the foot of Mount Road.
Main picture: Installing overhead electricity cables
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Growth in electricity demand in Port Elizabeth surged by greater than double digits for most of the first fifty years of supply. This was primarily as a consequence of vigorous industrial expansion. Once the Mount Road Power Station was unable to meet the power demands of the rapidly growing town, the Swartkops Power Station was constructed in the early 1950s. Both plants had an exemplary service record in being able to meet demand 24/7/365. Apart from some minor incidents and two major incidents of which I am aware of, and excluding the recent load shedding, the whole system has only been down twice for an extended period.
This blog details these two major incidents and what the implication of a system crash is.
Main picture: Eskom transmission lines
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By now, the winning technology is well known. Even though gas for lighting and many other uses was introduced a half century prior to its competitor, electricity’s versatility ensured that it would be the ultimate winner in the lighting stakes. Gas would never completely disappear as it filled certain niche markets. Even in those countries in which natural gas is abundant, it is still chiefly used to generate electricity.
Main picture: The North End Gas Works as it was in the 1900s.
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Maybe not quite as prominent as the Mosenthal family in 19th century Port Elizabeth, but the Richardson’s were a close second. Similarities abound between the two families; both were Jewish immigrants who operated in the agricultural sector and both introduced innovations into their market segment and operated locally and internationally. Even their headquarters were contiguous to one another in Market Square. Mosenthals occupied the corner premises of Jetty and North Union Street whereas Richardson’s building was next door in North Union Street.
At the risk of overstatement, these two Port Elizabeth entrepreneurs were in the top tier of those companies which were largely instrumental in Port Elizabeth’s rise as an economic force in the 19th and early 20th century.
Let me introduce the Richardson’s and some of their businesses.
Main picture: Richardson’s head office in Market Square
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