Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cradock Place – A golden past obliterated

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

In establishing Cradock Place, Frederick Korsten broke the template for the development of a new town. Instead of rough-hewn dwellings gently suffusing an area until steady increments in wealth enabled the increasingly wealthy elite to build houses of distinction, Cradock Place dispensed with these steps. Instead Korsten built a huge integrated enterprise which encompassed all the processes in producing salted beef. Attached to it was a majestic home on a par with the best homes in the Mother City.  Korsten even owned a ship, the 500-ton Helena, to transport the finished product to its final destination being the British garrison on Mauritius.

The house was destroyed in a malicious arson attack on the 13th March 1909 whereas the impressive mill was lost due to lack of maintenance and repairs by a parsimonious town council detached from saving Por Elizabeth’s heritage.

Instead of Korsten and Cradock Place being revered in South Africa as the epitome of development, and acknowledgement of Korsten’s role in its establishment, both largely remain unknown by the majority of residents over 200 years later.

Main picture:  Cradock Place before the fire of 13 March 1909. Originally the farm Papenkuilsfontein, it was the home of Frederick Korsten from 1812.

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Pre-1820 Traders and Merchants

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

The advent of British soldiers stationed at Fort Frederick as well as the seizure of the Zuurveld in 1811-1812 opened up commercial opportunities for merchants. The first business to exploit these opportunities was Frederick Korsten.

To do so required an investment in the area. In the case of the contract with the British forces on Mauritius to supply 3000 barrels of salted beef, Korsten was compelled to make a substantial investment in cattle, mills, warehouses, smithies, tanneries, granaries and cooperages.

Notwithstanding that, other entrepreneurs also perceived the same opportunities albeit on a smaller less grand scale

Main picture: Cradock Place painted by Thomas Baines

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Business acumen of Frederick Korsten assessed

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Korsten possessed the temperament to succeed as an entrepreneur in spades, yet as will be shown, he was not necessarily successful in every venture which he tackled. In comparison with his friend Samuel Hudson, he was less dogmatic and more disciplined, but ultimately only marginally more successful.

Samuel Eusebius Hudson was a friend Korsten of long standing who was also an entrepreneur at heart. From his diary one is able compare their management and business styles and divine the flaws in each’s business character.

Main picture: Cradock Place painted by Walford Arbouin Harries in 1870

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Unbelievable Secret of Dr James Barry

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Amongst the parade of dignitaries making the pilgrimage to Frederick Korsten’s country estate 5 miles from Port Elizabeth, was Dr James Barry, one of the most highly respected surgeons of his day. He had risen from hospital assistant to become the top-ranking doctor in the British Army and was known as a zealous reformer who had served in garrisons from South Africa to Jamaica. Accompanying him on his visit to Frederick Korsten at Cradock Place was the governor Lord Charles Somerset.

Barry’s secret life would almost certainly have been taken to his grave if the hospital staff had obeyed his last wish that he be buried in his night clothes. This would have hidden the fact that Dr. James Barry was in fact a female.

How had this been possible?

Main picture:   Dr James Barry

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Origin of the name of Heugh Road

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

On Sunday afternoons in the McCleland’s household we performed our familial duty by visiting the family’s matriarch, Elizabeth Daisy McCleland. She lived with her daughter, Thelma, at 99 Albert Street . One of the roads down which we drove bore a unique but odd name: Heugh. What puzzled me over the years was the origin of the word Heugh. Even though it sounded to be Germanic in origin, it clearly was not Afrikaans.

And so the mystery would remain unsolved for another 60 odd years, until, in the midst of my research into Port Elizabeth’s history, I have tracked it down. It is the derived from a successful merchant of Danish origins, Johannes Pieter Heugh.

Main picture: Castle Hill showing Prospect House formerly Stanley House

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Settler Family called Damant

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Most settler parties conformed to the rules of the Emigration Scheme that they would be settled in the frontier districts. Having been stationed at Fort Frederick for seven years prior to the arrival of the 1820 Settlers, Captain Damant had already decided that the Gamtoos valley area would be the new family home.

This is the saga of the Damant family of Hankey

Main picture: Gamtoos River in 1908

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Cradock Place: A Barometer of Oscillating Fortunes

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 8 Comments

In its day Cradock Place ranked in beauty with the most beautiful of the old Dutch houses in the Western Cape. Senior officials and other dignitaries were treated to banquets and walks in the splendid gardens. Now it is a merely series of foundations, forgotten and unknown by the current generation. Of all the historical buildings that Port Elizabeth has unconscionably lost, this one perhaps rates as the most significant. On the threshold of the arrival of the 1820 Settlers, a Dutch immigrant by the name of Frederick Korsten, had made his mark prior to the establishment of Port Elizabeth. Perhaps for this reason alone, aside from any architectural merits of the buildings, these deserved to have been preserved for posterity. 

This blog comprises two sections. Firstly, it briefly mentions its initial founder, Thomas Ignatius Ferreira and then it sketches the journey undertaken by Korsten to arrive at Algoa Bay and what he did whilst in Port Elizabeth. In the second section, it provides an account by the final tenant of this property. He gives an insight into the treasures that were hidden therein. Finally, the real reason for its reprehensible destruction is revealed.

Main picture: Cradock Place

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Frederick Korsten: Founder of Eastern Province Commerce

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 3 Comments

Of all the early inhabitants of the nascent Port Elizabeth, Frederick Korsten, probably more than anyone else, deserves to be recognised and remembered. Yet there is no real tribute to him. The most fitting monument would have been the preservation of his former magnificent home, Cradock Place. But even that now lies in ruins. 

A comprehensive biography would have sufficed. But that also failed to materialise. John Centlivres Chase did make an attempt in 1868, yet in length it is little more than a eulogy. What he fails to mention or even allude to is that Frederick Korsten was his father-in-law. Nor does he provide any insights into what exactly made Korsten tick. 

Such disdain for history reflects poorly on the denizens of Algoa Bay.

Main picture: Frederick Korsten

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: John Centlivres Chase – Father of the Eastern Cape

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Often spoken of as the “Father of the Eastern Cape,” John Centlivres Chase, friend and son-in-law of Frederik Korsten, one of Baillie’s Party aboard the Chapman, a Member of the Legislative Assembly, he was one of the most prominent and influential settlers of the early town of Port Elizabeth. 

Despite setting foot initially on the sands of Algoa Bay, Chase’s southern African odyssey would not begin in Port Elizabeth. But that is where it would end, after an adventure filled life during which he contributed substantially to the body of knowledge about his adopted homeland.

Unlike Korsten whose focus was as a trader and merchanting, Chase spent his remarkable talents, energy and vigorous intellect enhancing the colony and its people. He was also a strong proponent of Separatism.

Main picture: John Centlivres Chase

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