The last few years have not been kind to the Gately House Museum in East London. Due to ongoing security problems the museum is no longer open to the public and artefacts have been relocated for safekeeping (click here for details). Despite the depressing current situation it is fascinating to look at some of the history of the house and the battle to save it a half a century ago. The article below appeared in the 1975 edition of Restorica, the journal of the Simon van der Stel Foundation (today the Heritage Association of South Africa). Thank you to the University of Pretoria (copyright holders) for giving us permission to publish.
Seen within the context of the history of the Cape Colony's eastern frontier, East London, founded in 1848, has a relatively short history. Beginning as a military settlement on the west bank of the Buffalo River, it remained under military government until 1860.
The arrival in 1858 of the German settlers and the granting of land to some of them on the east bank of the Buffalo gave rise to the village of Panmure, named after the then British Secretary of State for War. In 1877, the English writer, Anthony Trollope visited East London and described it thus: "At present East London is not a nice place. It is without a pavement, almost without a street... Opposite to the town of East London on the east bank of the Buffalo River, and connected with it by ferries, is the township of Panmure...
