Historical

8 January 1887, William Smith shoots his wife Sarah dead in Sidney Street. 8 January 1900, Horseflesh being given out as food during the siege for first time. 8 January 1906, Secretary of De Beers, W.H. Craven, dies at Las ...

7 January 1858: Two-time Kimberley Mayor and department store founder John Orr born. DID YOU KNOW John Orr was born to Dickson and Letitia Orr on Thursday 7 January 1858 in Benburb, County Tyrone, Ireland, and died, while on holiday, in ...

6 January 1983: Armed robbers make off with R14 000 from a business situated in Cheapside. 6 January 1983: Jan Jacob van der Westhuizen, the gunman responsible for the deaths of three people on 2 January 1983, dies in Kimberley ...

5 January 1876: Enquiry into allegations of bribery against Cecil Rhodes  DID YOU KNOW The Black Flag Rebellion of 1875, coupled with other matters of social misbehaviour, saw the appointment of Colonel Crossman as a Royal Commissioner with the task ...

4 January 1965: Kimberley’s first black librarian, Roderick Ndaki, begins work. No more information on Roderick Ndaki is available at this time. DID YOU KNOW That there were two luxury railway carriages used by the De Beer’s Company Directors. The ...

On January 3rd 1883 the diamond field (Kimberley) mining companies were supplied with water extracted from the Vaal River for the first time. 3 January 1878, Kimberley’s first Town Clerk, JH Boag, appointed. 3 January 1883, Mining companies supplied with water ...

DID YOU KNOW that the village of Ritchie, a farming settlement, was originally called The Rosmead, possibly named after Lord Rosmead (Sir Hercules Robinson). In 1881 John Fraser offered plots for sale for the erection of buildings for what he ...

Three men killed and four wounded in a shoot-out that starts at Market square and ends at the railway station. The perpetrator is mortally wounded.

31 December 1887: Kimberley (GW) win the 4th Champion Bat cricket tourney. 31 December 1899: Pvt Kelly of the Kimberley Regiment found dead in the Big Hole. 31 December 1938: St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral destroyed by fire. 31 December 1953: ...

John Morrogh (1849 – 4 October 1901) was an Irish businessman and politician. According to his obituary in the Diamond Fields Advertiser he came to South Africa in the late 1860s, and was “…actively associated with the early working of ...