South Africa General

I grew up with Jan Smuts being household name, quite literally. My great uncle, Henry William Alexander Cooper, was his private secretary during the war years, and my dad's godfather. We grew up with his artifacts and treasures in our home. My dad became ill when I was in my late thirties, and this treasure trove became mine to administer. Much of it went to the Smuts House, some to Brenthurst, and I then found his book, Our First Walk. I have taken it upon myself, a decade later, to publish it in his honour, as he would have wanted, so that he is never forgotten.

Smuts House (The Heritage Portal)

Henry was one of eleven children raised on the family homestead ‘Platdak’ in Rietfontein, Pretoria, at the end of the Boer War. He was a studious boy and got into the habit of keeping daily diaries in his early years. These tell sad tales of the stark economic situation in Pretoria after the war when obtaining daily provisions was a stretch, as is revealed more clearly in this book.

After completing his schooling, Henry enrolled for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of South Africa, where his favourite subject was Philosophy, and within that, Greek Philosophy and Mythology. He joined the Civil Service, and before long became Secretary to...

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the photobooth (also known as a Foto Kiosk in Afrikaans). These analogue photobooths once became ubiquitous in cities around the world, commonly found in public spaces. Sadly, they have gradually faded away, largely replaced by digital event-hire services.

Were you a “boother”? If so, what are your memories? Did you behave formally, or did you attempt a creative or ridiculous pose whilst seated in the booth? Do you still have evidence of your interaction with these early analogue devices?

As a young man, I recall using a photobooth only once—at the Pretoria Railway Station in the late 1970s, while serving there as a national serviceman. During this time, teenagers were often seen enthusiastically engaging in silly antics inside the booth. Of course, their shenanigans weren’t immediately obvious, as the half-curtain was drawn. It was only once the machine spewed out the images that their antics became clear—followed by more giggling.

Although photobooths were initially intended for passport or identity photographs, they quickly became popular among young and old for producing fun, often silly imagery. Some of the antics captured in these booths, I’ve been told, left little to the imagination (read: risqué). The benefit was that the machine retained no evidence or photographic negative.

How much fun! Unknown granny with assumingly her two granddaughters - what...

A family file titled: Beadle Family and Relatives was recently acquired at a car boot sale in Johannesburg. The album, containing the Beadle family tree and many other family documents of significance was solely bought for the photographs contained therein. For some reason the seller was not negotiable on the rather exorbitant selling price. I budged and acquired the album at his selling price. Back home I accepted that the purchase price was fair in that the album contained rich family history – discarded family history.

One of the documents that immediately attracted my attention was the story of Lorna Edna Nattrass (Beadle), neatly typed on two pages. I cannot help but to wonder whether this life story was possibly put together by Lorna Nattrass for publication in a specialist interest group magazine, or whether it was simply meant for the inclusion in the Beadle family tree album. If her discarded story was not previously captured, the electronic capturing thereof becomes significant in that it contains rich family history and also briefly reflects, amongst others, on South Africa during the Second World War.

Lorna was clearly an energetic, positive individual. In her story she touches on the fact that she obtained a pilot’s license and that she was a volunteer during the Second World War. She also achieved as a tennis player, pianist, in needlework, a cookery show judge, and as instructor at ML Sultan Tech where her husband, Henry (Hal), was the first Principal. It is also recorded that...

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in South Africa were times of turbulence and economic change. Settlers from the Cape explored deeper into the interior in pursuit of territory, adventure, and political and religious expansion. The process of opening frontiers led inevitably to ethnic confrontation and war. Among the many who influenced events in those stormy decades were at least eleven men who had similar surnames – Bain, Baines, or Baynes – and they are easily and frequently confused with one another in historical literature. That they lived and worked in the same region in  approximately the same era, and in several instances followed similar careers, merely compounds the possibility of error.

Thomas Baines, the explorer and artist, is the best known and he is often confused with Thomas Baynes, an engraver, artist and illustrator of books by other explorers. Andrew Geddes Bain and his son, another Thomas, were road engineers and sometimes muddled with Thomas the artist and Stewart Bain, another road builder around Harrismith. Baines, the artist, painted a hunting scene on Andrew Hudson Bain’s farm and they are sometimes assumed to be one and the same, although they never met. The Anglican Bishop of Natal, Arthur Hamilton Baynes, is often confused with his successor, Bishop Frederick Samuel Baines, because both were involved healing the schism in the Anglican church and in the founding of Michaelhouse. There are three others that are contenders for confusion: Sir Joseph Baynes of Baynesfield fame in KwaZulu-Natal, James Thompson Bain, the notorious trade...

A large sepia-toned photographic portrait hangs in an entrance hall, the dignified sitter gazing out. The placement of the portrait is central, deliberate. Encased in a slightly worn yet delicately carved wooden frame, an elderly lady, elegantly dressed, stares confidently into the camera. Her posture is straight, with a brooch visible, pinned to her dress. The wooden frame, dating from more than a hundred years ago, has a small crack, with the protective glass showing dust and small scratches, but her gaze remains clear - fixed, unwavering, as though watching over the entrance hall.

In this regularly frequented room, the portrait photograph has become more than an image - it has a distinct presence – a presence not to be ignored.

Today, she is someone’s ancestor. A person of significance, or just an ordinary South African citizen of the time.

The evolution of photographic portraiture contributed to the rich and diverse field of photography we know today. These early photographic portraits, from between the 1880s and 1920s, stand as evidence of human ingenuity and our desire to capture and preserve personal and historical moments. They have become a powerful tool in shaping cultural narratives in that they are closely tied to social status and identity.

Framed, wall-mounted portraits were not merely decorative. They became central to domestic life and symbolic of personal, familial, and sometimes political narratives. They also played a vital role in historical documentation, capturing images of ordinary people, significant figures, men and women in uniform, sporting events...

In constructing this article, I had to ask myself the question: 'Is this article still in line with my primary research topic, namely South African photographic history, or have I become a full-blown genealogist?'.

This article stems from a photograph found in a South African West Coast pawn shop. Without it, this heritage story might never have been told.

The photograph in question is a photograph of seven Afrikaans-speaking Oxford students, captured by an Oxford-based photographer. Photographs by foreign photographers are not included in my ongoing research framework. The fact that all the sitters are South African was however the attraction.

To answer my own question above... a photo historian cannot ignore genealogical aspects presented by any image. The two aspects, namely photographic history and genealogy, therefore clearly overlap. In my ongoing research work, the photograph remains the primary source with the supporting text becoming secondary.

This is the second article where I rely on the photograph to partly reconstruct the narratives of students abroad. The first article related to medical students in Edinburgh (1878), some 50 years before the photograph under discussion in this article (click here to view).

Initially, I was stuck on how to go about researching each of the sitters as only the initials and surnames were presented in the photograph. I was going around in circles and was getting nowhere, until a heritage mentor, Prof. Kathy Munro, suggested: “Think Rhodes Scholarships”. Well, that opened the door. Immediately, I could link all seven sitters to Rhodes Scholarships awarded to...

Weddings are always big news. Especially when someone rich or famous is involved. Every marriage is preceded by some form of prior agreement, which is the subject matter of this article.

In the Western World the sight of a man kneeling before a woman, with an outstretched hand containing a small box will be instantly recognised as a proposal for marriage. “Rosemary, I love you with all my heart, will you marry me” and the much anticipated response “Yes, I will” usually signifies that the couple have entered into an arrangement known as “engagement”. The small box usually contains an engagement ring which will be worn on the ring-finger of the woman’s left hand as a signal to all and sundry of her “bespoken” status.

What many may be unaware of is that an engagement is actually a reciprocal contractual undertaking (a promise in fact) by the parties to be married to each other at some future unascertained date, and that failure to meet that commitment could have legal consequences in the form of damages for “breach of promise”.

That was the lesson learnt by Mr Rosenbaum in the case of Guggenheim v Rosenbaum 1961 (4) SA 21 (W).

In 1943 Mrs Guggenheim was divorced from her previous husband at Reno, Nevada although she was domiciled in the state of New York. Some time thereafter Mrs Guggenheim met Mr Rosenbaum, who was domiciled in South Africa but was visiting the United States. As these matters sometimes go, they fell in love and...

The historical development of the limited liability company is indeed a fascinating one, not the least because depending on who you are talking to and when the discussion takes place, there are likely to be different accounts.  We can also accept that virtually every country around the world recognises some form of “limited liability” entity that can be used to carry on business. We will in due course produce an appropriate piece for the Heritage Portal that deals with this issue.

But in this article on “Cases that Shaped South Africa” we are going to look at the cases that have dealt with a particular aspect of company law, namely that a duly registered company has a legal persona which is separate and distinct from its shareholders.

Until recently, when the promulgation and coming into operation of the Companies Act 2008 on 1 May 2011 finally severed the umbilical cord, there was a close link between company law in South Africa and that enacted in the United Kingdom. It is for that reason that some of the cases that shaped South Africa, especially in the area of company law, are actually decisions of a court in the UK. This statement holds true for two out of the five cases we mention briefly in this article.

We start off with Salomon v Salomon and Co Ltd [1897] AC 22 (HL) where the liquidator of a company tried to block the payment of the proceeds from a realisation (sale) of the assets of...

Following the announcement that a Johannesburg-based book dealer was relocating from Johannesburg to Cape Town and that he was offering material at discounted prices, I went scratching. 

Amongst others, what did I find? A photo album containing 31 large format photographs, 26 of which are of particular interest to me. Amongst these 26 images are 15 photographs by the photographer, Henri Ferdinand Gros. This alone sealed the deal – the album was bought purely because of the HF Gros images.

Gros, a Swiss citizen, who was active in South Africa between 1869 and around 1895, is recorded as having been Pretoria’s first permanent photographer. He was also the first to record early Transvaal photographically, which makes his work unique.

Although the album contained these 15 valuable Gros images of early Transvaal, this is not where the story is going.

The album contained some additional provenance - it belonged to P. Baily Eastwood. One of the photo inscriptions underneath a photograph of Eastwood states that he was a photographer, baker and cook, presumably whilst travelling the Transvaal around the 1890s. This provenance diverted my attention from the Gros photographs.

Philip Baily Eastwood (circa 1890). The photograph is inscribed "P. Baily Eastwood - photographer, baker, cook, etc. - Our house and home July and August 1890." The man standing on the right is in all probability his assistant Piet.

 ...

The cases we are examining in this series have been grouped under the collective title “Cases that Shaped South Africa". Click here to view the series index.

The cases selected are completely within our discretion as to their subject-matter and the extent to which they have indeed shaped South Africa.

In our view all the cases have their own merit.

However, there is one case that has to rank head and shoulders above all the rest. It is to that case (which is actually two cases!)** that we turn our attention. And given that the Constitutional Court recently celebrated its 30th “birthday” the timing of this article is particularly apt.

Prof Iain Currie and Adv Johann De Waal (“The Bill of Rights Handbook”, Juta) describe the background to this case in the following terms: 

The Interim Constitution came into force on 27 April 1994. While only the first step in the construction of post-apartheid state, its effect on the South African legal system can justifiably be described as revolutionary...

The primary purpose of The Interim Constitution, the product of the Conference for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), an unelected gathering of political parties, was to set the procedures for the negotiating and drafting of the Constitution. Whereas the Interim Constitution was not produced by a democratically elected body, the Constitution passed in 1996 was produced by the Constitutional Assembly which took office after the first fully democratic elections held from 26 to 29 April 1994.

The Constitution was, however, itself subjected...