Port Elizabeth of Yore: Hotel in Cape Road, Newton Park

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

A hotel, now long forgotten, operated in Newton Park on Cape Road from 1861 until July 1902 when it was burnt down. No extant photographs of the hotel survived, nor can the exact location be determined. According to Margaret Harradine, it was probably situated on the spit of land on which Pelo’s Café and Wimpy’s restaurants currently operate. Notwithstanding that, Margery Lochhead claims that it was located near St. Hugh’s Church.  

Main picture: PE Hunt Club on Willowby Farm, now Glen Hurd,  owned by George Parkin

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Loton Tipper of Amsterdam Hoek

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Loton Tipper junior will forever be associated with Amsterdam Hoek. With no bridge close to the river mouth, Amsterdam Hoek was effectively isolated from Port Elizabeth. Notwithstanding that impediment, Loton must have betted on the area becoming a weekend retreat away from the hustle and bustle of Port Elizabeth by purchasing a significant number of stands. In sporting circles, his contribution to its development in the early is recognised, ranking second only in significance after that of Howard Sherman.

What was most disconcerting, is that father and son were both called Loton Tipper, both perhaps equally well known. Unless an author identified the Loton Tipper as Junior or Senior, one is never 100% sure who is being referred to.

Thanks to Jenny Rump for providing me with all the articles and other information enabling me to write this blog.

Main picture: Weekend and holiday cottages along the Swartkops River

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Legal Status and Governance

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

By any measure, in 1804, when Uitenhage was established, its future outlook was more sanguine than that of Port Elizabeth as the scene that greeted visitors to Uitenhage was the plenitude of fresh water and verdant countryside as opposed to decrepit shacks on the coast. Being cognisant of realties, in 1804 Port Elizabeth automatically became part of the Uitenhage District.

The blog covers the status and governance of this seaside hamlet as it grew first into a town and finally into a city.

Main picture: Watercolour entitled ‘View of Port Elizabeth from upper Russell Road’ by Lester Oliver in 1854

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Howard Sherman – The Consummate All-Round Sportsman

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

For the most part, sport in the nineteenth century was an amateur activity with significant prizes not being awarded to winners. Even sixty years ago, many international sportsmen were compelled to be employed fulltime in some other profession. In other words, sport was not a paying occupation but rather performed almost as a labour of love. This was the milieu into which Howard Sherman was born yet he thrived.

Main picture: Howard Sherman 1861-1935

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Grey Institute – The Tumultuous First Three Decades

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

In tracing the arc of the development of the schooling system in Port Elizabeth, one rapidly focuses on the first school of significance: The Grey Institute on the Hill. Ultimately the precursor for the more spacious Grey High School situated in Mill Park, the Grey Institute laid the foundation for this venerable institution.

In order to fully operationalise their vision of having a central “campus” with outlying feeder schools, would take twenty tumultuous years. Finally, by placing the organisation of the school under the microscope, it reveals an educational system diametrically opposed in many ways to the present method of operation and its attendant rules and regulations.

Main picture: An early photograph of the Grey Institute in Belmont Terrace before the clock tower was added in 1875

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Woodridge School: Its Connection with the Schleswig Holstein

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

During January 1938, the pre-WW1 German ex-battleship, now training ship, paid a visit to Port Elizabeth. The young German cadets were invited to attend a party Woodridge School. In retrospect that innocent invitation ultimately became an embarrassment to the school for reasons soon to be revealed. One year and nine months later on the 1st September 1939, this self-same ship would fire the very first shots of WW2.    

Main picture: The cadets from the Schleswig Holstein display the swastika emblem over the balcony at the Woodridge school

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: John Paterson – His Earlier Years

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Of all the business colossuses that Port Elizabeth has produced, John Paterson might outrank them all except perhaps the Mosenthal Brothers.  Pamela Ffolliott correctly labels Paterson a Titan. To successfully establish two enterprises of the stature and calibre of Standard Bank and the E.P. Herald which have endured for more than a century and a half is testament to his foresight. Paterson encapsulates the vision, energy, restless spirit and other attributes of a successful businessman.

As his two most notable business accomplishments viz the establishment of the Eastern Province Herald and Standard Bank have been examined in detail elsewhere, this blog will only investigate the earlier life of this remarkable, indefatigable man as well as his civic-mindedness which drove his desire to establish a municipality in this forsaken town.

Main picture: John Paterson

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: William Fleming Senior & Junior

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 3 Comments

William Fleming (senior) played a vital role in Port Elizabeth from 1842 until his death in 1861 at the age of 65. Like many of his contemporaries, he deserves to be recognised not for his legal and business acumen but rather for the civic mindedness which he displayed in the latter period of his life.

One of his sons was also named William. In tracking the careers of both men, the confusion regarding whether it was the father or the son to whom an event or activity should be attributed takes time to untangle. In the McCleland family tree, William Fleming (Junior) is especially relevant as he married Adelaide McCleland, daughter of the Rev. Francis McCleland, making him my second great uncle.

Main picture: William Fleming as a Captain of the Prince Alfred’s Guards    

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Volunteer Military Units – The Initial Iterations

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 2 Comments

The initial impetus to establish some form of volunteer military force in Port Elizabeth arose due to the perpetual threat posed by the warring Xhosa tribes.

To augment the British forces stationed in the Cape, especially in times of crisis, the British established volunteer military units throughout the Cape Colony. In the beginning they were typically of short duration to meet a specific threat posed to the colonists but later these temporary units would be replaced with units of a more permanent nature.

This blog will cover all such volunteer forces and units until the first disbandment of Prince Alfred Guards in 1860.

Main picture: February 1835 – Arrival of Harries’ Troop from Palos Kraal with WM Harries in the centre

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: How not to build a Breakwater

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Was it a Comedy of Errors or Merely a Dose of Reality?

With the rapid growth in exports from Port Elizabeth, incessant demands arose to build a proper harbour in the form of jetties and a breakwater. The initial attempt at harbour building was the construction of a jetty using the wreck of the vessel Feegee as its base. Its usefulness was short-lived as a sudden gale drove several vessels through it, irreparably damaging it.

Various configurations of a breakwater were later proposed and the design that was adopted was constructed just south of the Baakens River. This was the start of a town’s nightmare as first the sea and then a flood were to silt the harbour up, posing a threat to the operation of the landing beaches. Instead of a crowning achievement, this episode resulted in not only the necessity of dismantling the breakwater but even more disconcerting, it caused the postponement of the construction of the breakwater and quays by 60 years.

If successful, it would have been a transformative change for a town in no small measure defined by its primitive method of discharging cargo onto flimsy lighters out on the roadstead.

Main picture: The breakwater south of the Baakens River – a fatal design flaw

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