Dean McCleland, Author at The Casual Observer

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Schism in St. Mary’s creates the Holy Trinity Church

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 28 November 2016 1 Comment

St. Mary’s was the progenitor of a number of daughter churches such as St Paul’s Church. As always, like in politics, there are different views of liturgy in ecclesiastical affairs. Central to this dissident group’s disaffection, was their disapproval of the replacement clergyman (Rev. W H Fowle) at St Mary’s Church “high church” proclivities, , and they left St Mary’s in January 1854.

Therefore it came to pass that this disaffected group abandoned St Mary’s Church and formed what they initially called the Trinity Church.

Main picture: Holy Trinity Church near Havelock Square

Port Elizabeth of Yore: St Phillip’s Church on Richmond Hill

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 26 November 2016 0 Comment

St Philips Church is situated on the corner of St Philip and Callington Street. The church started as a mission church in about 1872 with families, mostly Dutch speaking, who had moved to Port Elizabeth from what is now the Western Cape.

Main picture: A recent photograph of St. Phillip’s Church

Lost Photographs of Berlin between 1939 & 1940

By Dean McCleland in Military History 26 November 2016 0 Comment

These photographs were taken between 1939 and 1940 in Berlin and were lost for over 50 years because the American photographer disappeared at the beginning of the war, along with his Roliflex camera.

Shown here are the originals (Used at that time in the production of magazines). The majority are 6″ X 9″. They were found by a nurse in a Berlin hospital, who kept them stored away during all these years.

After her death her daughter returned them to the current editors, who retain the copyrights to Life Magazine, which has not been published since the early ’70s

Another Ruddy Job in an Era of Loyalty to one’s Employer

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 25 November 2016 0 Comment

Amongst the many traits of the people half a century ago were loyalty, loyalty to one’s family and fealty to one’s employer. Because of this, one never got divorced however dysfunctional the marriage or toxic the employer.

In my father’s case, it meant spending his whole working life for bosses that he disrespected and conditions under which he felt exploited.

Spare a thought for one such employee, Harry Clifford McCleland, in this milieu.

Main picture: Main Entrance to Yard of JJ Ruddy & Sons in Lindsay Road

Port Elizabeth of Yore: St. Mary’s Cemetery

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 24 November 2016 2 Comments

This cemetery has the distinction of being the oldest cemetery in Port Elizabeth even predating the arrival of the 1820 settlers. Hence it was only when St. Mary’s church was built that it was managed by the church. It is also the burial place of Rev. Francis McCleland.

Main picture: St. Mary’s cemetery showing its current state of decay

Mosenthals: A Metaphor for the Fortunes of Port Elizabeth

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 23 November 2016 1 Comment

For more than half a century Mosenthals was the most prominent and probably the largest enterprise in Port Elizabeth. Even my family has a connection to this once dominant company. Firstly, my maternal grandfather was a wool sorter and later my mother was a typist in their employ. For me, the firm Mosenthals epitomises both the growth and subsequent decline of Port Elizabeth, but also the trajectory of South Africa’s industrial, agricultural, and commercial growth.

Let us trace the journey that Mosenthals, Port Elizabeth and South Africa took.

Main picture: The original offices of Mosenthals in Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Eponymously Named Brickmaker’s Kloof

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 22 November 2016 1 Comment

This steep Kloof which extends from the Baakens River at its foot to what is today Park Drive at the top must have obtained its moniker due to the activities of a Mr John Matthews. In 1822 he opened a brickfield at the top of what was to become Brickmaker’s Kloof to manufacture normal building bricks.

By as early as 1826, the well-known red roof tiles which are so prominent of the old houses in Port Elizabeth were also being made here. Captain Evatt even sent some samples of “his invention” to Cape Town, the purpose probably being to stimulate demand for this tile.

Main picture: View of Brickmaker’s Kloof from South End

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Enclosed Harbour Scheme in the 1930s

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 21 November 2016 0 Comment

Even though the celebration in 1933 focused on the opening of the Charl Malan Quay, this project represented more than just the construction of one quay. Instead, it represented the conversion of the port into a proper enclosed harbour.

None of the river mouths on the Algoa Bay littoral are suitable for use as a harbour. As some stage there had even been suggestions to use the Zwartkops River but these were never advanced to the planning stage.

Finally, the bull was taken by the horns and the jetties and anchorage converted into a proper modern harbour.

Main picture: An aerial view of the Charl Malan Quay under construction

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Harbour prior to the Charl Malan Quay

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 20 November 2016 3 Comments

With the expansion of industry in Port Elizabeth, the need to enlarge the port had by the 1920s become pressing and urgent. Up until then, goods and passengers had to be loaded onto lighters at sea which then conveyed them to a tiny jetty known as North Jetty. What was proposed was to convert this jetty into a quay able to accommodate large ships alongside it.

Main picture: Landing through the surf

Port Elizabeth of Yore: St. Mary’s – The Mother Church

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 18 November 2016 2 Comments

Given that there are no longer any residents who live in close proximity to the church, there are few parking facilities in the area and there are hardly any parishioners who attend regularly, what is the future prognosis of this icon of Port Elizabeth? Naturally, I am biased because my great-great-grandfather was its first pastor but is society in general not able to appreciate that this building is integral to the history of Port Elizabeth.

It will serve Port Elizabeth well to remember that it is not a church, probably in dire financial difficulties, that has to be saved, but a treasure of the city itself.

This blog is the history of this venerable institution.

Main picture: St. Mary’s after being reconstructed in 1896 but before the construction of the UBS building in Main Street

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.

Author: Dean McCleland