DUNROBIN arrived at Cape Town 16 August 1880. The Natal Witness reported on 4 September 1880 as follows:
The Dunrobin at the Cape
The Home Government and the Basuto War
Cape Town, August 16
The Dunrobin Castle arrived at 2 p.m. today.
Regret is felt in England at the Basutoland news. The Home Government is firm in its resolution not to interfere between the Cape Ministry and the Basutos, and will not send forces.
General Bisset is a passenger by the Dunrobin, and brings out 20 young gentlemen to establish farming operations on St. John's River.*
Passengers for Natal by the Dunrobin Castle:
Messrs
Banks
Peyton
Girling
Wathers
Collins
MacLean
Creote
Farrant
MacPherson
Peacock
Peel
Prodgers
Carmichael
Mrs Carmichael and family
Messrs
Pulvermacher
MacFarlane
Sheldrick
Southwell
Dacre
Fraser
Bethal
Winsor
Bruce
Harlier
Smith
Marlborough
Monck
Charlton
Foster
Humphreys
Brown
Winder
Jeffreys
Jesson
Mundley
Blone
Gordon
Delarooski
Atherley
Atkins
Smith
Sykes
Wilson
Kendrey
Birch
Hendrey
Delaney
Newman
Spencer
Base
Mrs Winsor
Miss Winsor
Lieut. Read
Mrs Arundel
Mrs Barrett
Mrs Smith
*No further information at present on these proposed farming operations or whether these young gentlemen settled successfully at the St John's River.
The territory around the mouth of the 'St John's River' i.e. the Mzimvubu) was surveyed for development in 1878, according to a newspaper report (Sheffield Independent, 5 Dec 1878), after having been 'declared forfeited to the the Caffre chief Umquikela'. I have a personal interest in the Natal Witness Dunrobin report, as I suspect that the MacPherson may be the George Gordon Sutherland Macpherson who set up as a chemist in Maritzburg and married his wife there in 1882, having spent time in 1881 trying (apparently unsuccessfully) to set up as a chemist in the Transvaal. But I haven't been able to find out anything about Bisset's scheme to develop farming at or near Port St John's.
ReplyDeleteSorry Geoff I'm unable to help you on this query.
ReplyDeleteAll the best, though!
Thanks anyway. Whatever may have happened at Port St John's, I think the next sighting of GGS Macpherson is actually in the ZAR in April 1881, when he was trying, evidently unsuccessfully, to set up as a chemist in the republic, so he wouldn't have been trying to farm for very long if at all. In 1880 it's possible he was on the run from the law.
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