1904 Plague

Cultural history is plagued by the plague. The Black Death stalks through history pages captivating and horrifying us at the same time, even Shakespeare used the threat of the plague in his plays to curse his characters. Most modern humans see the plague as something of the past, a historical disease far removed from modern day living and experience.

However the plague has once again raised its head.

In October 2017 the World Heath Organisation issued a warning to nine countries including South Africa that they were at risk of contracting the plague through trade with Madagascar which had lost 124 people to the Yersina pestis bacteria by the 26th of October 2017.

This warning and the slew of news articles written about the potential outbreak reminded me of some research I had done a few years ago about early Johannesburg.

In 2013 and 2014 Newtown Junction was being built. At the time I was asked to be involved in the building process as the excavators had been digging up a great deal of artefacts. I went along to the site and was greeted with a stratigraphic column containing a 30 cm layer of what looked like glass glued together with ash. It looked like something you would expect to find near a volcano or at the sight of a devastating fire.

I had to know what happened.

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We are honoured to publish this powerful piece of research dealing with many aspects of the outbreak of plague in Johannesburg in 1904. The piece was compiled by Tim Capon, the great grand-nephew of Emily Blake, the only nurse to die during the epidemic. The research comes at a time when historians and residents are up in arms over reports that a massive mixed use development containing over ten thousand residential units, offices, restaurants, hotels and schools is planned for the Rietfontein site.

Introduction

This paper is part of a larger work looking at the life of my great grandaunt, Emily Blake, who sailed to South Africa in May 1901 to nurse victims of the Third Plague Pandemic. Over ten years of research has gone into this project and probably a good many more will be needed before it is completed.

In this paper I hope to show that the Rietfontein Plague Hospital is possibly one of the few untouched areas that have a direct causal relationship to Mahatma Gandhi's life in South Africa; those he helped and nursed, and those he knew and died, still remain buried at the site, including my great grandaunt Emily Blake, whom he mentions in his work 'The Story Of My Experiments With Truth'. Those who died represented a cross section of South African society, from all ages, sexes and races; however, they were predominantly of Indian descent.

The recent decision to develop the site, and the lack historical information about the site and...