A different view on current affairs & history
Blogs on Port Elizabeth
Over the past 159 years, the Herald has occupied a number of premises and has been owned by a number of shareholders. This blog attempts to record these events
Main picture: C1864. Building built 1862 by J. Paterson, later used by Herald, then Cleghorns. Burnt down in 1896.jpg
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Hammelberg was a Dutch lawyer who emigrated to South Africa in 1851 and lived here until 1871 taking a leading part in the affairs of the Orange Free State. This blog covers the 10 days during December 1861 when he visited Port Elizabeth.
Main picture:
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Recollections of the town by visitors especially in its early days, provides an indelible record of how they viewed the town but more importantly, how it operated. Some of the descriptors relate to the residents’ industriousness and the consequential hustle and bustle whereas others refer to the stark bareness of the hill especially prior to the planting of trees.
These recollections of John Campbell, a surveyor, and passenger aboard the Eastern Province who visited the town from the 25th February 1862 to the 17th March 1862, adds a fresh layer of depth to the understanding of this bustling town.
Main picture: The first breakwater around 1866
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Having unexpectantly and unwanted achieved old age, dating is not a pursuit that features greatly in my life. I prefer more leisurely diversions such as the subject of this blog – dating the oldest photograph (not something that I ever thought I would aspire to). I am also an armchair historian of popular topics and do not submerge myself in the dusty bowels of archives. My tools are limited to my inquisitive mind and interpretive skills and reviewing easily accessible books not to mention leaning on my older brother, Dean, for backup as younger siblings tend to do.
[Disclaimer: I must make absolutely clear that it is with no sense of superiority do I dismiss some of the dates given by Redgrave, Lorimer and Harradine. It is rather a case that I stand on the shoulders of giants, particularly in the case of the latter. Also in the days that their books were written, they did not have sophisticated word processors and the ability to print drafts at their desks or perform computer searches.]
What triggered this blog was rereading my brother’s blog (ref 1) on the earliest photograph and photographers. In it he presents an early morning photograph looking over Market Square and down Main Street, probably referred to as High Street in those days, and he states that it is the oldest photograph (below) and taken in c1858.
For me Willows is a special place as it has all my holiday memories wrapped up in it. The only holiday that the McCleland family took was to spend the Easter holiday at Willows. My brain is crammed full with happy almost long forgotten recollections which include activities such as catching mullets in the pool and building huge dams around the water from the spring running through the shower. Amongst my pack of memories there is only one negative experience. This happened one hot weekend when my canoe capsized and I was trapped in it, fortunately only momentarily.
Main picture: Willows in the 1950s
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South Africa’s declaration of war against Nazi Germany on the 6th September 1939 would have a profound impact on South Africa. Among the vortex of events would be the establishment of a Royal Navy training base at Seaview being the only Royal Navy training base outside the United Kingdom.
Main picture: The interesting thing about this picture is that it is pre-1934. They started construction on the hotel in 1934 from the right of the hotel as you looked at it with the ocean behind you. The giant Norfolk pines are not yet even visible, the two structures that are visible are on what would become hotel land.
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The Technical Editor of this series of blogs can be categorised as possessing a heightened sense of curiosity which is conflated with the instincts of a pitbull. Whilst also having an inveterate inquisitive nature it leads to his relishing the challenge to explain the unusual and the incongruous.
So it was in the case of an hydraulic crane with extended legs hiding in plain view on the North Jetty. That explains why I never noticed it whereas Blaine has for years cogitated its existence and purpose. Whereas I classified it as another boring hydraulic crane at the harbour, Blaine was mystified. What purpose did it serve? Why was it relocated? What was its significance?
This blog unmasks the object and provides a possible explanation for the crane’s existence and ultimate usage when it vanished from North Jetty.
Main picture: Unusual crane on North Jetty
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William Alcock was a prominent resident of Port Elizabeth and Walmer in the later 19th century and early 20th century. With eclectic interests such as photography, civic affairs and motor vehicles he was widely known in these circles.
From a professional point of view, what is known about William Alcock, is that he was tinsmith who operated initially at No. 44 Queen Street but later relocated to better premises in Main Street close to Russell Road. This was just the job for the sleuthing skills of the Technical Editor, my brother Blaine, to track down the exact location of these buildings.
Main picture: William & Edwin Building built in 1890 in Main Street. Demolished for VSN Centre
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The professional photographers such as Bruton and Ring have already been covered in two blogs viz one on James Bruton and another generically on the Early Photographers. This does not imply that the quality of the premier amateur photographers was in any way not on a par with the professional photographers. The epithet amateur merely implies that the profession of the amateurs was not photography.
This fact is borne out by William Alcock, a tinsmith, who excelled at stretching the boundaries of the art of the possible.
Main picture: William & Edwin Building built in 1860 at 100 Main Street by William Alcock, a prodigious amateur photographer. This building was demolished to make way for the VSN Centre
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During the 19th century and early 20th century, Mosenthals was the largest company in Port Elizabeth. The erection of its elegant head office and stores on the corner of Jetty Street and North Union Street was emblematic of their exalted status.
Much of this information for this blog has been provided by the Technical Editor, Blaine McCleland as well as the books of Margaret Harradine.
Main picture: Initial building of Mosenthals probably close to the landing beaches
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