19 October 1871, The farm Vooruitzicht officially sold by the De Beers brothers to the Ebden Brothers for 6000 guineas.
Pictured is the original De Beer’s homestead and Johannes Nicolaas de Beer.
Gravestone of Johannes Nicolaas De Beer
Vooruitzicht and the Homestead
Johannes Nicolaas de Beer, the original owner of the farm Vooruitzicht upon which the two mines De Beers and New Rush (Colesberg Kopje/Kimberley), did not stay too long at his farmhouse in what is now the suburb of Homestead.
Original De Beers Homestead
Alfred Ebden, a partner in the Port Elizabeth firm Dunell, Ebden and Company, had two agents working on the diamond fields, Robert Stockdale and D.K. Reitz. Ebden was travelling through the diggings region in August 1871 and had approached Johannes de Beer offering to purchase the farm.
The deal was verbally concluded with de Beer on or just days before 9 August 1871, but the deal was only legally concluded on 19 October 1871 when Reitz formally purchased the farm from J.N. De Beer for 6000 guineas.
Dunell, Ebden and Company, together with their partners, sold the land to the Cape Colonial Government for £100 000.00 on 31 May 1875.
The title deed of the Vooruitzicht Estate for the benefit of the Kimberley Borough Council was only granted on 4 March 1889 although the Cape House of Assembly had passed a resolution to this effect in July 1884.
From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt
Shortlink for this post: https://www.kimberley.org.za/?p=10949
