Historical

UPDATED: 30/01/2020 30 January 1884, Arthur E Caldecott awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal. 30 January 1903, Mrs Joseph Chamberlain (Mary Crowninshield Endicott, daughter of the US Secretary of War) lays the foundation stone of the Women’s Hostel in Lennox Street. ...

UPDATE: 23/01/2020 23 January 1913, Six Black miners die in a Kimberley Mine mud rush. MUD RUSH GIVES NO WARNING Mud rushes are sudden inflows of mud from draw points or other underground openings, and the rapidity of the mud ...

UPDATED: 16/01/2020 16 January 1889, Kimberley awarded the cricket Currie Cup by England. 16 January 1891, Fabricius has five men working the new Wesselton mine. 16 January 1900, Soup kitchen opened at the Hull St Convict Station. Pictured is the Wesselton Mine ...

09 JANUARY 1873, Lt-Governor Richard Southey (pictured) takes up his appointment for Griqualand West. 09 JANUARY 1914, Unknown Chinese storekeeper murdered in his shop on Maude Street.   A PLACE OF TRAGEDY IN KIMBERLEY It has often been said that certain ...

5 January 1876: Enquiry into allegations of bribery against Cecil Rhodes  CECIL RHODES ACCUSED OF BRIBERY The Black Flag Rebellion of 1875, coupled with other matters of social misbehaviour, saw the appointment of Colonel Crossman as a Royal Commissioner with ...

30 DECEMBER 1909, Mrs NO Ruffel, wife of well-known Kimberley pharmacist, dies in Durban, 1909 DID YOU KNOW Every now and again a brick wall is hit when researching an individual or an event, and the Ruffel family of Kimberley is ...

29 December 1894, Three buildings on Dutoitspan Road burnt to the ground.  29 December  1895, Dr Jameson departs Pitsani for his raid on the Transvaal. 29 December  1917, Cape Corps arrive back in Kimberley from East Africa.  (Pictured is the Cape ...

28 DECEMBER 1888, Two men die in a slip of ground in Bultfontein Mine. FATAL MINING ACCIDENT The Diamond Fields Advertiser reported the tragedy on 29 December 1888: “Fatal Mining Accident at Bultfontein Last night an accident happened in the ...

27 December 1870, First cricket game on the Diamond Fields (at Hebron) won by Old Colonists versus Natalians.  27 December, 1871, Arthur Marcus, aged 17 years, the first to be buried in the new Jewish cemetery. 27 December 1877, Kimberley’s ...

Violet Bank on Park Road was built at the turn of the century (c1899/1900) and occupied until his death in 1910 by James Hill, who in 1884 had been elected a Member of the Cape Legislative Assembly, representing Barkly West. ...