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Pictured are the Tapscott boys: At the back (left to right): Norman and Sidney. In the front: Lionel Eric (Doodles), George Lancelot (Dusty), and Cecil Leander.

TODAY IN KIMBERLEY’S HISTORY – 7 NOVEMBER

UPDATE: 07/11/2023

7 November 1889, SA cricketer Dusty Tapscott born.
7 November 1901, Opening of the Soldiers’ Institute on Stockdale Street.
7 November 1955, The Black Sash have a meeting in Kimberley to open a branch.
7 November 1990, McGregor Museum Extension opened by JWH Meiring.
7 November 2014, Kevin Ritchie, former editor of the DFA, appointed editor of The Star.

George ‘Dusty’ Tapscott

George Lancelot “Dusty” Tapscott was born on 7 November 1889 in Barkly West to George Arthur Montgomery Tapscott and Ida Margaret Catherine Tapscott (nee Green), one of ten children to the union.

Educated at CBC Kimberley, he represented South Africa at cricket in one test against England in 1913-14. His brother Lionel Eric “Doodles” Tapscott was also a South African test cricketer (and international tennis player) while his sister Ruth Daphne “Billie” Robbins (nee Tapscott) was a good tennis player having reached the Wimbledon quarter finals.

In World War I (1914-1918) “Dusty” served with the Royal Flying Corps and on 11 March 1917 was gazetted a Temporary 2nd Lieutenant. It is believed at this stage that he served in German SWA in 1915 with the South African forces.

Married to Kathleen (nee Store), George Lancelot Tapscott died at Kimberley on 13 December, 1940. There were no children born to the union.

A hard-hitting batsman, he scarcely fulfilled the promise given in an innings of 106 for Griqualand West against Natal in March 1911. In the following December, by brilliant hitting he scored 111 in seventy minutes and 60 for the Rest of South Africa against Transvaal; but he failed to gain selection for the South African team that toured England in 1912.

When the England team under J. W. H. T. Douglas visited South Africa in 1913-14, Tapscott played in the first Test match, but scored only 4 and 1, and was not called upon again, though he continued to bat and bowl with considerable success for Griqualand West until 1923, when he gave up first-class cricket because of knee trouble.

Tapscott Street in Kimberley is named after his father, George A. M. Tapscott, director of the firm Hill and Paddon (and a manager of the same firm), who was at one time a City Councillor of Kimberley.

Pictured are the Tapscott boys: At the back (left to right): Norman and Sidney. In the front: Lionel Eric (Doodles), George Lancelot (Dusty), and Cecil Leander.

From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt

UPDATE 07/11/2016

DID YOU KNOW

Tapscott Street in Kimberley North is named after George A.M. Tapscott, father of “Doodles” and “Dusty” Tapscott, the famous South African cricketers, and of “Billie” Tapscott, the first lady tennis player to not wear stockings at Wimbledon. George was a Director of the firm Hill and Paddon and at one time a Town Councillor. The street received electricity in 1905 and was tarmacadamed in 1937. Two Springbok rugby players lived on this street, George Crampton in No 15 and Bertie Powell in No 17. The street attracted mostly upper middle class residents, illustrated by an assistant Town Clerk, Mr Starkey living at No 5.

No 9 Tapscott Street is one of Kimberley’s truly magnificent houses. The Switzer family has lived in this house since 1973 when they purchased it from a Katz family (the Katz father worked at a butchery). The house was used for a setting in the 1980 TV series “Arende”. It was built in 1914 by George Church (Snr) of the firm Church and Maclauchlin as a wedding present for his son, George William Church (Jnr), and was described in the DFA as being a “handsome, new, freehold villa residence”. The wedding was on 10 November 1914 in St Cyprian’s Cathedral and the newlyweds had an “At Home” on 17 November 1914 to “christen” the house. George (Jnr) had married Ethel Gertrude Looney, and were still living at the house in 1924, but by the time George Snr died in 1935 they were living in Springs.

No 22 Tapscott Street is the house that the infamous murderess, Daisy de Melker, stayed in when she visited her sister in Kimberley.

No 22 Tapscott Street is the house that the infamous murderess, Daisy de Melker, stayed in when she visited her sister in Kimberley.

No 22 Tapscott Street is the house that the infamous murderess, Daisy de Melker, stayed in when she visited her sister in Kimberley. Daisy was married to a Kimberley man, Sydney de Melker, when she was executed in 1932 for murdering her son. Sydney played rugby for South Africa from 1903-1907. Daisy’s sister Fannie MacLachlan lived at this house with her husband W.M. (a police sergeant), and their son “Ginger”. Both Fannie and Ginger were involved with Daisy’s trial. Daisy also murdered two of her previous husbands, while the death of a fiancé and four other children were not investigated.

Pictured is George Crampton as well as No 22 Tapscott Street.

From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook

By Steve Lunderstedt

Aeon Computer Kimberley

About Steve Lunderstedt

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