A different view on current affairs & history
In the case of a City now 200 years old, an artefact only built 60 years ago must surely be classified as recent, but a title of Port Elizabeth of Recent Times – The McArthur Baths – does not possess the same cachet as PE of Yore. So I will stick with my accepted nomenclature.
Main picture: The McArthur Baths shortly after its construction with the original Elizabeth Hotel in the background
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By the 1850s, there was heightened concern about the lack of a hospital in Port Elizabeth. Discussions amongst the town’s folk increasingly revolved around this requirement. Whenever citizens congregated, it was a topic of discussion. Even though the population had risen by 1855 to about 3,500 and disease and sickness was increasing, Port Elizabeth still did not have a hospital. Plans for a hospital were discussed over several years.
It was not until Act 5 of 1856 established the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital that planning for a hospital could commence. As an interim measure, a house in Rodney Street was hired to serve as a hospital. This was opened on the 10th September 1856 with Dunsterville and Rubidge serving as doctors.
Main picture: Entrance to the Richmond Hill provincial hospital in 1856
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Only one SS soldier believed that what Mengele and Auschwitz represented was inhumane. That was Hans Wilhelm Münch, the only physician whose commitment to the Hippocratic Oath proved stronger than the Reichswehreid [German Army Oath] and his commitment to the SS. In terms of this Oath, obedience to the Führer, the supreme commander, was unconditional, yet Münch survived.
Main picture: Hans Wilhelm Münch
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The most widely used photographs of German troops during WW2 reflect a martial disposition from the menacing Tiger tank to steely eyed troops firing MG42 machine guns. None of the photographs used below would ever appear in official histories of the war.
Even though they might reflect the humanity of the ordinary German soldier, this blog does not in any way endorse the behaviour of the Nazi regime or the German military forces.
Main picture: German soldier sharing water with a baby
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Of all the ships which were wrecked along the Port Elizabeth and adjacent coastline, only two were noteworthy but for different reasons. Of the two, the saga of the Sacramento’s sinking on 30 June 1647 culminated in two stirring tales. One involved the dramatic 1400km trek by the survivors to the Portuguese Port at Delagoa Bay. The second and equally dramatic saga is that of the subsequent discovery and recovery of the numerous cannons by a local diver, David Allen.
Both make for compelling stories but as this is a potted history of Port Elizabeth, the focus will be squarely fixed on the latter escapade.
Main picture: David Allen-left-with Gerry van Niekerk making notes of the most perfectly presevered of the 40 guns lifted from the wreck site.
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For my research, I am always purchasing second-hand books on the internet. As reports had indicated that the service at the Post Office had improved, I took a chance. Instead of paying a courier R100 for a delivery within two days, I would save some money and pay R55 for the Post Office. I might have to wait a few extra days but that was not the end of the world.
Or so I incorrectly thought.
Main picture: Post Office International Mail
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Not many buildings in Port Elizabeth have experienced such a varied usage over their lives. If buildings could divulge their secrets, this humble unprepossessing tiny building on the corner of Belmont Terrace and Western Road, would have many tales to tell.
Main picture: The Diocesan Grammar School on the corner of Belmont Terrace and Western Road
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In 1999, Paul Selby set an audacious goal: Run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg overnight and finish just before the starting gun for the Down Comrades was fired outside the Town Hall in Pietermaritzburg. This would be the first attempt by anybody at this plucky mission.
Main picture: L-R: Tony do Couto, Paul Selby and Guy Drew
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The lack of street lighting in the pre-electricity era must have made walking outdoors at night particularly dangerous. If nothing else, this factor must have induced the Town Council to expedite the installation of street lighting as the technology enabled this feature. Furthermore commerce and industry required electricity to operate all manner of equipment, apparatuses and appliances which the use of electrical power enabled. To do so, Port Elizabeth would ultimately require its own generating equipment which in turn would
require it to import coal.
To say that the introduction of electricity would fundamentally change society was a gross understatement. It would transform society in ways which were unthinkable previously. Apart from facilitating nocturnal social intercourse, it would also facilitate the introduction of shift work in industry.
Main picture: Installing overhead electricity cables
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The renowned economist John Maynard Keynes once famously exclaimed that “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones”. Whilst that might have been true in most instances, it is doubtful whether anybody except the most curmudgeonly would have objected to this innovation. But who knows? Progress always has its naysayers. Perhaps others ignored it as being fatuous!
Main picture: Steam roller on the opening of Albany Road. The prominent building on the hill is the Erica School for Girls, designed by architect William White Cooper and opened on 4 November 1903.
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