Historical

UPDATED: 14/01/2020 14 January 1871, First official mail from Cape Town to Klipdrift dispatched. THE POST BETWEEN THE DIGGINGS AND CAPE TOWN  It was on 15 October 1870 that the first mail was dispatched from the Diamond Fields to Cape ...

UPDATED: 13 JANUARY 2020 13 January 1900, The price of meat raised – beef 1/- and horse flesh 9 pennies per pound. Excerpt from “THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR’S WIFE” During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900 ...

UPDATED: 10 January 2020 10 January 1884, Dynamite explosion kills two miners at the De Beers Mine. 10 January 1887, Irvine Grimmer takes 16 wickets for 83 runs for Strayklips vs WP CC. OUTSTANDING SPORTSMAN – IRVINE GRIMMER Irvine Grimmer (pictured) ...

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 ...

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. Pictured is the Soup kitchen HORSE AND VEGETABLE SOUP J.W. McBeath, a ...

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. ...