We are very excited to publish this detailed article on the life and achievements of Sir William Hoy. The piece was compiled by Dr Robin Lee of the Hermanus Historical Society (click here to view details of the important work carried out by the society). Main image - Hoy's home in Parktown (Wanooka).
“He stopped the railway coming to Hermanus…” - almost every resident of the town knows this much about Sir William Hoy, and many visitors know it too. Perhaps slightly fewer know that he and his wife are buried on the crown of Hoy’s Koppie, because it was his favourite place to sit in the late afternoon, to survey Walker Bay and plan the next day’s fishing with his ghillie, Danie Woensdreght.
Hoys Koppie (Hermanus History Society)
But William Hoy had a life outside Hermanus that renders his actions about the railway to Hermanus an insignificant part of his life’s story. From his base in the Cape Railways and, later, South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H) he was drawn into some of the major events of the first 30 years of the 20th century.
In this research report I will first give an overview of his career and then explain his involvement in the following historical developments:
- Organising and often personally undertaking repair of railway lines destroyed by...
