Port Elizabeth of Yore Archives - Page 41 of 71

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Liberty Ship – the Anne Hutchinson

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 3 December 2019 0 Comment

WW2 was fought across the oceans of the world. As such the seas off Port Elizabeth were not immune from the depredations of the scourge of the seas: the U-Boat. One such vessel that was sunk off the Eastern Cape coast was the Liberty Ship, the Anne Hutchinson.

The American Liberty ship Anne Hutchinson SS was torpedoed and shelled on October 26th, 1942, by German submarine U-504. Her stern portion up to No. 4 hatch was blown off. The forepart was towed into Algoa Bay on October 31st. Three lives were lost. While near the harbour, the bow portion which had survived intact, attempted to “escape” by drifting down to Plettenberg Bay.

Main picture: Anne Hutchinson after being torpedoed

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Draaifontein Farmhouse in which my Gran was raised

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 28 November 2019 0 Comment

Three of the Rev Francis McCleland’s grandsons all married Beckley girls who were raised in a unprepossessing house on the hill along Draaifontein Road which still exists today.

Whether this house was built in 1803, as is now supposed, or in 1815 when Capt. Francis Evatt was granted this property, is irrelevant in the oldest extant house stakes. On either count, no. 7 Castle Hill is the lame donkey to the virile horse. Yet few people are aware of this building’s historical significance.

Main picture: Photo of the Title Deeds taken by Tony Beckley

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Wild and Cantankerous Seaview

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 10 November 2019 2 Comments

For me, Seaview has always been the embodiment of a wild, eccentric and cantankerous old man. One moment it could be placid and charming and yet the next moment it displayed its obstreperous wilful nature. To make peace with such a character, one had to make peace with its mood swings

The focal point of Seaview has always been the hotel which sadly has recently been demolished. Naturally Seaview is much more than its hotel. It is a township located on a rugged stretch of coastline unsuited for swimming but with its own wild beguiling charm.

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.

Port Elizabeth of Yore: John Parkin – from Humble Beginnings to Property Magnet

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 8 November 2019 7 Comments

John Parkin was the leader of an 1820 Settler Party which arrived aboard the Weymouth on the 15^th May 1820. A carpenter and wheelwright by training, John Parkin resided at Lower North Street, Exeter, Devon.

Shortly after settling at the area designated for the Devon party at Kariega, John Parkin relocated his family to Port Elizabeth where he acquired a huge farm, eponymously known as the Baaken’s River Farm. By the time of his death in 1856, the Parkins were one of the wealthiest families in town.

Main picture: John Parkin of Baakens River Farm

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Destruction of St. Mary’s Church by Fire in 1895

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 7 November 2019 0 Comment

The destruction of the St. Mary’s Church was devastating for the community in Port Elizabeth. Not only was it the first church to be erected in the town but it was also the focal point of many activities in the town as well as being the mother church for all the sibling Anglican churches.

If there was any beneficial effect of its destruction is that it afforded the congregants an opportunity to transform a non-ecclesiastical oblong building devoid of architectural merit into a building befitting its status and not just a building fit for purpose.

Main picture: St Mary’s church the morning after the fire

Port Elizabeth of Yore: What Happened to the Bell of the Chapman?

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 6 November 2019 2 Comments

One of the seminal events in the history of the Eastern Cape and ultimately South Africa, was the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820. Notwithstanding their importance and impact upon the trajectory of South Africa, no artifact of that landing is extant.

If an artifact were still surviving, should it not have pride of place at the Bayworld Museum? If such an
artifact is indeed extant, where is it located?

Main picture: The Chapman’s Bell is housed at the Centurion Bowling Club, Lyttleton Manor Centurion [Photo taken by D.F. McCleland]

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Expeditions by Carl Thunberg in the 1770s

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 3 November 2019 0 Comment

Preceding the arrival of the Dutch farmers in Algoa Bay, intrepid adventurers and naturalists were exploring the area. Amongst this band of hardy individuals was a Swedish naturalist, Carl Peter Thunberg, an apostle of Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. Due to Thunberg’s discoveries in the Cape Colony, he has been awarded the sobriquet of “the father of South African botany”.

Of all the observations made by Thunberg during his three-year stay at the Cape Colony, two of them resonate with me but for vastly divergent reasons. This is the story of Thunberg’s brief sojourn in the wilderness that was Port Elizabeth in the 1770s.

Main picture: Carl Peter Thunberg in later life

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The McArthur Baths

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 31 October 2019 2 Comments

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

Port Elizabeth of Yore: State of Medical Services in the 1800s

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 30 October 2019 0 Comment

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 10^th September 1856 with Dunsterville and Rubidge serving as doctors.

Main picture: Entrance to the Richmond Hill provincial hospital in 1856

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Discovery of the Sacramento

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 27 August 2019 7 Comments

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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