Historical

UPDATED: 23/06/2017 23 June 1891, South African Teachers Association meets in Kimberley. DID YOU KNOW The Catholic missionaries in Kimberley set up temporary churches of canvas, and later of wood and iron and started rudimentary schools for the children. There ...

UPDATED: 11/06/2018 11 June 1888, South Africa’s first War Memorial, the Beaconsfield Town Hall, opened. (pictured). Pictured is the original building shortly after the opening in 1888, as well as a postcard and photograph depicting the Hall in 1902 or ...

9 June 1899, 30 mineworkers die in a dynamite explosion at the Kimberley Mine. 9 June 1940, Foundation stone for the new Catholic Cathedral laid. DID YOU KNOW Kimberley’s second worst mining disaster happened a few minutes after 09h00 on ...

2 June 1877, Cecil Rhodes becomes a Life Member of the Freemasons. DID YOU KNOW It was at Oxford University on 2 June 1877 that Rhodes became a Life Member of the Freemasons, paying £5 10 shillings to the Oxford ...

UPDATED: 26/05/2017 26 May 1873, Formation of the Griqualand Mounted Police in Kimberley. 26 May 1884, SA cricketer Louis Stricker (pictured) born in Beaconsfield. DID YOU KNOW Louis Anthony Stricker, a former South African Test batsman, died at Rondebosch, Cape ...

19 May 1879, Presbyterian Church foundation stone laid by Sir Walter Frere, New Main Road. 19 May 1881, First sod turned for the new Newton reservoir by Moses Cornwall. DID YOU KNOW It was the Mayor of Kimberley in 1881, ...

UPDATED: 12/05/2017 12 May 1903, Artist Cornelia (Nellie) du Plooy Steenkamp born. 12 May 1915, Ernest Oppenheimer resigns as Mayor of Kimberley. 12 May 1962, Dame Flora Robson (pictured) appears on stage in Kimberley in “The Corn is Green”. 12 May ...

UPDATED: 21/04/2017 21 April 1959, Manne Dipico, first Premier of the Northern Cape Province born. DID YOU KNOW Manne Emsley Dipico, first Premier of the Northern Cape Province, South Africa, was born in Kimberley on 21 April 1959. He was ...

UPDATED: 07/04/2017 7 April 1881, JB Robinson takes his seat in the Cape Legislative Assembly. 7 April 1972, SA cricketer Gerhardus Liebenberg born in Upington. DID YOU KNOW Sir Joseph Benjamin Robinson, 1st Baronet (Born Cradock 3 August 1840 – ...

Nothing to show today. Undoubtedly something happened in Kimberley this very day in history, but is not yet found. Research is ongoing. DID YOU KNOW Kimberley’s importance to South Africa and the world saw the city host an International Exhibition ...