31 May 1875, Ebden, Dunell and Company sell Vooruitzicht farm to the Cape Government for £100 000 Sterling.
31 May 1878, The Burness family murdered in the Kuruman region.
31 May 1902, End of the Anglo-Boer War.
31 May 1910, Union of South Africa inaugurated.
31 May 1925, Lt-Colonel HS Harris retires as OC the Kimberley Regiment.
31 May 1928, Union flag flown for the first time.
31 May 1961, South Africa declares itself a republic.
(Pictured is the original Homestead of JN de Beer, sadly demolished).
Vooruitzicht farm sold to the Cape Government
Johannes Nicolaas de Beer, the original owner of the farm Vooruitzicht upon which the two mines De Beers and New Rush (Colesberg Kopje/Kimberley), did not stay too long at his farmhouse in what is now the suburb of Homestead.
Alfred Ebden, a partner in the Port Elizabeth firm Dunell, Ebden and Company, had two agents working on the diamond fields, Robert Stockdale and D.K. Reitz. Ebden was travelling through the diamond fields in August 1871 and had approached Johannes de Beer offering to purchase the farm.
The deal was verbally concluded with de Beer on or just before 9 August 1871, but the deal was only legally concluded on 19 October 1871 when Reitz formally purchased the farm from J.N. De Beer for 6000 guineas.
Ebden, Dunell and Company, together with their partners, sold the land to the Cape Colonial Government for £100 000 on 31 May 1875. The title deed of the Vooruitzicht Estate for the benefit of the Kimberley Borough Council was only granted on 4 March 1889 although the Cape House of Assembly had passed a resolution to this effect in July 1884.
The farms of Dutoitspan and Bultfontein, owned by the London and South African Exploration Company, was purchased by De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd in May 1899 for £1 625 000.
Homestead of JN de Beer.
The mineral rights to the De Beers Mine after many buyouts of smaller companies during the 1880s, was virtually totally owned by the De Beers Company by 1888, while the rights to the Kimberley Mine in its entirety was finalised with the purchase of the Kimberley Diamond Mining Company in May 1899 for £100 000.00. This followed on the 1888 amalgamation accord between Barney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes, whereby on 18 July 1889 £5 338 650.00 was paid for the Kimberley Mine majority holdings of Barnato by De Beers Consolidated Mines. By July 1889 the De Beers Company also had controlling interests in the Dutoitspan and Bultfontein Mines.
From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt
Shortlink for this post: https://www.kimberley.org.za/?p=14512
