Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Case of the Missing Game Birds

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

In the 1800s, before New Brighton was transformed into a “Model Native Settlement” by relocating blacks from the inner city locations to this area, this stretch of land between the mouth of the Papenkuils River and the Fishwater Flats abutting the Swartkops River, was known for the New Brighton Hotel and the Outspan, both owned by Matthew Berry.

The awarding of shooting rights to this flat vacant expanse of land and the mystery of the missing game birds would have to be settled in court.

Main picture: A duck hunter in 1890

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The First Inhabitants of Uitenhage

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

At the risk of stating the obvious, most residents of Port Elizabeth regard Uitenhage as a dirty unpleasant industrial town, the like of which one never needs to visit unless it is on official company business.  Yet 200 years ago, when the hamlet of Port Elizabeth was established, Uitenhage was the district administration centre with Port Elizabeth forming part of Uitenhage. Today the converse is true. In short order, Port Elizabeth surpassed Uitenhage and is now the driving force in the region.

In Port Elizabeth’s hubris, it should never dismiss Uitenhage out of hand but should rather acknowledge it as having an equally interesting history and that it now boasts the largest industrial plant in the Eastern Cape in the form of VW.

Main picture: Trekboers in the Karroo

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Account of Sherwill’s Ascent of the Cockscomb

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 4 Comments

At 1768 m, the Cockscomb is one of the highest peaks in the Eastern Cape. Apart from that, its claim to fame during the age of sail was that the mountain acted as a mariners’ landmark as it was visible from the sea. As the local burghers and khoikhoi never showed any inclination to climb it, it fell to an outsiders, usually adventurers, with time on their hands to become the first to do so. This is the account of Lieut. Walter Stanhope Sherwill who, during 1840 whilst on a visit to Port Elizabeth, would attempt to do so but would be succeed.

Main picture: The Cockscomb peak

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Star Fort – An Accidental Military Fortification

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 2 Comments

Call it what you like, but this crude fort had the distinction of being not merely the first military fortification in Algoa Bay – as Port Elizabeth was then called – but also the only fort in Port Elizabeth to experience military action. What would the future hold for this extemporised military fortification? Certainly, it should have been recognised much more than the Johnny-come-lately, Fort Frederick, which was unbloodied in war. Star Fort did not survive long which is quite understandable given the fact that it was hastily constructed earth fort which was just as hastily abandoned.

Main picture:  There are no extant sketches of this fort other than this reference to Star Fort on the map of Cradock Place on which it is situated

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Zwartkopswagendrift

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

The hallmark of the half century prior to the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820 was the steady encroachment of the Dutch farmers commonly from the west. In spite of every effort on the part of the Cape Governors to prevent the Trekboers from spreading eastwards, this ineluctable movement did not abate.

This blog covers the settling of this peripatetic people in the Zwartkops Valley and especially around the Zwartkopswagendrift which was the principal crossing point on the road east or north.

Main picture: Trekboers crossing the Karoo by Charles Davidson Bell

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Victorian School in Park Drive

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Today the elegant Victorian mansion ‘Knockfierna’ in Park Drive now masquerades as a school. It ushered in the 20th century as the home of a wealthy wool merchant and farmer, John Daverin. Much more than that he was also a Member of Parliament and philanthropist. Now largely forgotten, his legacy endures in the form of the St Georges Preparatory School.

Detailed information on the house and the three occupants who resided there prior to its conversion into a school are covered in a separate blog. This blog is merely a copy of the school’s history from its website.

Main picture: St George’s Preparatory School in Park Drive

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Unsolved Mystery of the Namacurra #Y1506

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 2 Comments

In the age of radio, it is highly unusual for a vessel to just disappear at sea without a trace. But that is precisely what happened to a Harbour Patrol Vessel, a Namacurra pennant number Y1506, based at SAS Donkin, in Port Elizabeth.  

What role did these Namacurra class patrol vessels play in the defence of the harbours but more pertinently how and why did this vessel just disappear into thin air? Was its disappearance similar to the modus operandi of flight MH370, the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 which simply vanished? On purpose.

Main picture:  Namacurra Harbour Patrol Boat    

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: A Description of the Town in 1861

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

This blog is a verbatim copy of an article of unknown origin or authorship. That begs the question of who indeed wrote it. As a best guess it was Tennyson Bodill as it came from his files.   

Notwithstanding vigorous growth during its first forty years, Port Elizabeth was still a dinky-sized town in 1861. From a scruffiness in its early years, which was unbecoming, it was the debut of the Town Hall which ushered in a whole array of elegant buildings such as the original Standard Bank building. What the town lacked then, and the city does now, was greenery. This paucity of vegetation has deprived its inhabitants of its aesthetic beauty, which would have enhanced the attractiveness of the town.

Main picture: The original St Mary’s Church before it was burnt down in 1895. Never an object of beauty, it was a plain unadorned box of a building.

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Early Days of Cycling

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

John Howard, an American cyclist, once quipped: “The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.” As an epigram, a wit could have rejoined that “2nd class cycling is better than 1st class walking.” Surprisingly in an era post the advent of bicycles but prior to the arrival of motor vehicles, photos of cyclists are rare; so rare that I only possess two.

If social cycling did not prosper, competitive cycling did with Cycling Clubs soon being formed. From curiosity value in the Penny-Farthing, bicycles evolved into more practical machines.

Main picture: Members of the P.E. Amateur Bicycle Club, which was formed in 1881 and later amalgamated with the Amateur Athletic Club, in front of the Pearson Conservatory in St. Georges Park. A penny-farthing can be seen in the centre. Some of the club’s rides were from the park to Fitch’s at Witteklip which represented a 26 mile ride.

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