UPDATED: 05/05/2026
Nothing yet found for today in Kimberley’s history…the research continues
THE GAOLS OF YESTERYEAR IN KIMBERLEY
The gaols of yesteryear were not as comfortable as they are today.
A certain newspaper correspondent, true to his profession of occasional overindulgence in spirituous liquid, spent several days in Kimberley’s Transvaal road “tronk”, compliments of Mr Shirley, the Acting Police Magistrate, for being “drunk and incapable in the public streets”. It is not the transgression of the reporter, known only as “By One who has Been There”, that is important in this story, but rather the characteristics and quality of life in the gaol of 1886.
The Criminal Yard was a large, open space lined with high black and white walls, the ground covered in hardened cow dung, and the walls in a “paint” cover of black shale. The black and white prisoners were kept apart as much as possible by George Healey, “the Governor”, but a man convicted of a trivial offence would be with hardened criminals. Kimberley prisons were different to those in Natal and the rest of the Cape colony in that both black and white were divided, whereas elsewhere they were herded together irrespective of colour or creed.
The food was not bad at all, with the meat and bread being “quite wholesome”, the latter being just as good as bread bought from a bakery. Prisoners in for a longer period than three months received more rations than those in for a month or two, while women, children under the age of 18 and blacks received ¾ rations of the men. Normal rations for a man would be (per week), 20 ounces of meat, 16 ounces of bread, 8 ounces of meal and ½ ounce of salt; and daily, one ounce of rice and an ounce of beans and onions. The gaol kitchen was in a “dark sort of outhouse” and had six large copper pots dividing the kitchen in two, devoted to soup, meat and mealie pap. The soup would be carried to the prisoners in galvanized buckets, while the meat, when cooked, was thrown into a large wooden tub to be cut up. The ration due was placed on a tin plate together with a piece of bread and a chunk of salt and then given to the prisoners.
The bakery was a “scrupulously clean place”, and the bread baked there was eaten by many of the top officials including the Resident Magistrate and the Civil Commissioner. Two prisoners worked all day bringing out the bread requirements. Washing facilities were rudimentary indeed, the “baths” being four square holes made of cement, with a shower head over each “which lets down a good volume of Vaal river when the tap is turned on”. Five or six prisoners were placed in each bath and cleaned en masse. An iron tank to the rear of the “baths” held 2000 gallons of water.
The laundry was a small miserable room, where all the washing and ironing was done. At least six female prisoners did the ironing, and the laundry yard always had washing hanging on the lines. Black and white women did exactly the same work, side by side in the sunshine at the washtubs. The white women had only two beds in their prison ward, while on the opposite side of the female prison yard, the black women had a hut where they slept.
Debtors and “criminal libelists” were not kept with the other prisoners but had their own room in George Healey’s house.
Considered a first class flat it had a decent bed with wooden floors, the only sign of prison being a barred window. Prisoners condemned to death, generally speaking, are not contented, and the quarters allocated to these individuals were not very cheerful places. The doors were painted black and the cells were eight feet by six feet by nine feet in size. In the corner of each cell was an iron chain to which the prisoner would be fastened. The walls of the cell were made of mud, and anyone could cut his way through with a penknife or pick handle in a short time. The black prison sick ward had the appearance of an old kraal hut. Where the mud walls join there were cracks that ranged from one inch to five inches. There were no beds, as some old sacks were deemed sufficient. The white prison hospital – not a ward – was in a rough dreary room some forty feet square. The doors were black, the predominant colour in the prison, the walls were cracked and the roof was bare corrugated iron with one sunlight, the only piece of glass in the entire building. The floor was made of mud, and the furniture consisted of a table with a blanket as the cloth and a small stove.
Six beds were in the hospital, nearly always occupied, and were mere planks of board placed on trestles some nine inches from the ground. The walls were painted black from the ground upwards for four feet, and then whitewashed up to the roof – clean, cold and cheerless. In those days, paupers and the mentally disturbed were looked after in the gaol, and in Kimberley gaol there were ten beds available for the streetwalkers, while for the “lunatics” there were two rooms. At the time of this report one of the rooms was occupied by an Irishman named Kinshela who was awaiting removal to Robben Island.
The “prisoner awaiting trial yard” was the worst part of the prison.
They had the same food as the rest but the living quarters were the worst. Over the road from the gaol was the “industrial yard” where some prisoners would do carpenting and blacksmithing work, the Government making good use out of the department. Indeed, convicts did not only build the old Courthouse but also made the fittings and furniture within.
Guards had their own quarters in a small row of houses within the gaol precinct. Clergymen rarely visited.
In December of 1886 there were 773 prisoners all told, of which some 228 were at De Beers where they worked in and about the mine. Mr Healey, the supervisor, managed everything most admirably, but the entire gaol was rambling and badly arranged. Everything was primitive, rough and clumsy, and “ought to have been pulled down years ago”.
It would last until the 1890s when the new gaol at the corner of Transvaal Road (now Phakamile Mabija Road) and Hull Street was opened.
UPDATED: 05/05/2025
Assuredly something historically important happened in Kimberley on this day, but the information has not yet been found. The research continues, but not at this very moment as we are all locked down and the research library is closed.
A few Harry O memories of Kimberley
Harry Oppenheimer’s earliest memories of Kimberley include going for rides from their Lodge Road residence in the pony trap with his brother Frank (who drowned in 1935) and the family maid, as well as the all too frequent mention of diamonds, and that his father was the Mayor of Kimberley.
Talking to The Sunday Times in 1973, he recalled that Kimberley was “a place that has always fascinated me. I was sent back to England to be educated and then when I joined my father in the business, he packed me off to Kimberley for a year to learn to sort diamonds.”
In fact, he rented a house in Egerton Road, a stones throw from 7 Lodge Road, but traveled by train on weekends to Johannesburg as Kimberley had little or no night life. During his time in Kimberley he went horse riding a lot and was frequently seen in the Kimberley Club.
“Kimberley is the only real diamond town in the world, in the sense that it produces diamonds as well as handles them. No other diamond mine anywhere has a big place like Kimberley to go with it – usually there is just a small community.
“It is still small enough to retain a village atmosphere, with everyone knowing everyone else and there is dignity in its buildings. The De Beers Headquarters still has old cast-ironwork around it. But the town is being improvised all the time, although for me that is rather sad. I suppose it is inevitable that it must start to lose its Wild West atmosphere…”
“Kimberley was famous for its great characters. The most outstanding personality of my early days was E.H. Farrer, the De Beers resident Director.”
UPDATED: 05/05/2023
Assuredly something historically important happened in Kimberley on this day, but the information has not yet been found. The research continues…
Today in South Africa’s history the following occurred:
5 May 1897, Sir Alfred Milner arrives as Cape Governor.
5 May 1925, Afrikaans is declared an official language.
5 May 1984, Over 7000 people attend a rally in Pretoria to mark the foundation of the Afrikaner Volkswag.
5 May 2003, Walter Sisulu dies.
The policing of Kimberley and area in the 1870s
In the early days of the diamond fields, Nicholas Waterboer’s territory known as Griqualand West came under the protection, and indeed, was taken over by the British government. The rush of diggers looking for instant wealth saw settlements springing up all along the Vaal river and the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, based at Kenhardt under command of Captain Jackson, were ordered to the diggings to establish and maintain law and order until a permanent police force could be organized. This was complied with but it was only in September 1872 that a proclamation was issued to organize and regulate a police force for Griqualand West (including Kimberley). Many members of the same Frontier police became members of the first police force, including Inspectors McLean, McKenna and O’Connor.
On 26 May 1873 a mounted force was organized and named the Griqualand West Mounted Police. Just over a year later the entire force was re-arranged into the following categories: Mounted Police; Town Police (including detectives); Rural police; and the Convict Police (including gaolers, turnkeys, and special constables). Well-known law enforcers at the time were Inspectors G. Percy, O. Back, G. Back and G.R. Bradshaw. Major Maxwell was appointed the Inspector of Prisons.
In 1880 the mounted police were incorporated into the Cape Mounted Rifles, and later the police in the Cape Colony were organized into Districts, Kimberley becoming the HQ for Cape Police II, the patrol region stretching up to Mafikeng. On 1 January 1913, three years after the Union of the Cape, Orange Free State, Transvaal and Natal, the South African Police came into being.
The Detective Department, active from 1872, had John Larkin Fry as its Chief from 1872 until 1882 when he was re-appointed Chief. He served in that capacity for only three more years before being removed from his post in February 1885 for negligence in keeping the department’s books.
Police stations, including satellite stations, were the Headquarters in Transvaal Road, West End, Old De Beers (Gladstone), and Dutoitspan village (later Beaconsfield).
The normal effective strength of the force amounted to 56 officers and men in Kimberley, distributed at the four depots, responsible for the following duties: Barrack guard at each depot, 24 hour town patrols, Magistrate and Police court duties, High Court duty when in session, preservation of “peace and order within the district”, traveling in execution of warrants of arrest, searching for criminals, etc.
Executions in Kimberley were always held in the precincts of the Police Barracks on Transvaal Road, the first execution being held approximately on the corner of Roper Street and Transvaal Road (then known as Giddy Street), later executions up until 1892 took place over the road in the Barracks region now occupied by the Van Heerden buildings.
From 1892 executions were held at the Hull Street gaol complex, but by 1927 all executions had been moved to Pretoria Central prison where they occurred until capital punishment was outlawed in terms of the South African Constitution of 1996.
Pictured are some policemen in the 1890s.
Nothing found as yet for today. Research is ongoing.
DID YOU KNOW
St Alban’s Anglican Church was built on a section of the Old De Beers cemetery, Kimberley’s second oldest such burial ground. Dating from circa May 1871, the cemetery as such was filled with great rapidity and by the late 1870s had fallen into disrepair.
The boundaries of the graveyard were originally walled and were in the approximate position of where the hedge is today. In 1883 the Anglican community in the Gladstone/De Beers suburbs decided that church services should be held in the area rather than force the women and children to walk past the “throngs of natives more or less intoxicated” when attending services in Jones Street, where St Cyprians was then positioned. Services were held in the De Beers Mining Company offices (the former Gladstone School) until the church (known originally as the De Beers Church) was ready for services. The foundation stone was laid by the Bishop, Dr Bruce Knight on 3 October 1886 and within four months the nave, baptistery, porch and belfry were completed at a cost of £1040. The architects Stent and Hallach designed the church. The vestry was added in 1888 at a cost of £200. The sanctuary, chancel and southern transept were added in 1913, the last alterations or additions made. Historical artifacts within the church are the main chalice and patten set (donated by Sir Frederick Carrington), and two candlesticks in the side Chapel altar used during Cecil Rhodes’ funeral ceremony.
From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt
