Below is the second installment of a series based on John Lincoln's wonderful book Story from a Diamond Mine (click here to view series index). It looks at the discovery of the famous Cullinan Diamond and highlights some of the mysteries that are still with us today. The piece finishes by looking at some of the other famous stones that have emerged from the Cullinan / Premier Mine.
Fred Wells
Fred Wells is credited with finding the Cullinan Diamond, although some sources credit an African worker for pointing it out to him. Either way, on the 25th January 1905 the world’s biggest diamond was found. Fred Wells was at that time surface manager, and his daughter relates that “as my father was doing his routine inspection that evening he saw something glittering in the sunlight high up the side of the mine. He climbed up, and extracted the stone with his pocket knife. It was pronounced by the experts to be a diamond of exceptional quality, and the name by which it became at once known was bestowed in honour of Mr (later Sir) Thomas Cullinan, chairman of the company and discoverer of the mine”. She also relates that “when my father transported his large family of eight children plus a nephew from Kimberley to Premier Mine, there were only two houses with some tents clustered around the small washing plant. “We children used to play in and out of the works, sorting for rubies, as the grown-up girls helped sort the diamonds. “In...
