Caithness in the Diamond Fields 3

Diamond Digger

The Cape and Natal News of 8 August 1870 concerning members of Slater’s party leaving for the diamond fields gives only the surname Caithness – no forename or title, no mention of ‘Captain’. This could suggest it may not have been George Henry Caithness but his nephew James Ernest Caithness, at that point a fit thirty-year old bachelor and more likely to be setting off for the fields than would a fifty-something mariner such as George Henry.

However, it is certain that Captain Caithness made some trips by steamship from the Cape to England at the height of the diamond rush and that he presented ‘a collection of stones from the diamond diggings’ to the Hartley Institution (the latter became today's Southampton University).

The Cape and Natal News gives an idea of the freight carried by steamers, mentioning the Northam on which Captain Caithness was a passenger in 1872:

‘Diamonds were Trumps at the Cape’ and the same newspaper published some verses – enthusiastic if short on literary merit - by ‘a young Colonist’, entitled ‘Off to the Diamond Diggings’, giving a fair idea of the prevailing mood.

The South African press was full of stories about the diamond fields, who was on their way there, what the conditions were like en route and who had had spectacular finds. There wasn’t quite as much information on the many spectacular failures. 

Suddenly there was a dearth of ‘enterprising young men’ in the settled areas of the Colony: they were all off to the fields, wagons laden with stores and equipment, to rough it in tent-towns on the bare veld. 

Even men who were not so young hoped to make their fortunes, as the report below reveals:

During the year 1870 there poured into the country a stream of fortune-seekers which would be equalled only when gold was found on the Witwatersrand twenty years later.

It was the remarkable discoveries of diamonds and gold which put South Africa on the map and changed the course of its history. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Acknowledgement

Tom Sheldon

Research Resource:

Africana Library Kimberley

Holdings include: early travel and missionaries, Kimberley chronological, Directories and Voters’ Lists, geological and archaeological. Local newspapers from 1870, when diamonds were discovered, until present. 15 000 Photographs depicting the Diamond Fields and its people, mining and the Siege of Kimberley. 760 collections of Manuscripts, dealing with Siege of Kimberley diaries, discovery of diamonds etc. Ephemera: pamphlets, programs, invitation cards, medals, coins etc. South African and Kimberley maps.

http://africanalibrary.co.za/

  

Caithness in the Diamond Fields 2

The Diamond Fields At The Cape

The Hampshire Advertiser, on the alert for any news involving ‘Southamptonians’ and their relatives, reported on 29 Oct 1873 as follows:

Donations to the Museum: The Library and Museum Committee reported that Captain Caithness 'had sent a collection of stones from the diamond diggings' at the Cape.

These offerings are likely to have been uncut stones, as the museum (the Hartley Institution) had an interest in geology. What is less certain is whether Captain Caithness acquired the stones at the diggings himself or came by them indirectly.

Sorting Diamonds

It’s probable that the Captain mentioned was George Henry Caithness, whose career is gradually unfolding as more references emerge.

Shipping companies were involved in a rush of their own, making money on the back of the diamond frenzy. Demand for transport to the Cape was unprecedented and new competitors entered the market. 

For example, Messrs G H Payne and Co of London sent two chartered steamers the Westenhope and Beethoven, intended to be the start of a regular Cape line and advertised in the press with the magic words ‘Direct to the Diamond Fields’:

Unfortunately, the 'magnificent' Westenhope, after delivering passengers at Port Elizabeth for the diamond fields, was totally wrecked at Seal Island.

In May 1867 (the year of the Eureka Diamond discovery) Captain and Mrs Caithness were passengers from the Cape to Southampton on the Union Co. steamship, Cambrian. That this may have been a regular trip for the Caithness couple is indicated by another report dated 21 September 1872 listing them as passengers on the Northam, again to Southampton from the Cape:

The Northam’s cargo manifest included over 2 000 pounds in specie, an unstated amount of gold from the Marabastadt fields, ostrich feathers (highly fashionable), ivory – and ‘nine packages of diamonds.’ Numerous vessels departing the Cape at the height of the diamond frenzy would have carried similar items.

Captain George Henry Caithness was then in his mid-fifties. This seems a little late in life for active pursuit of diamonds in the fields. It’s tempting to imagine that James Ernest Caithness, then a young man of about thirty, might have spent some time at the diggings, passing on some of his finds to his uncle, Captain Caithness, perhaps to sell stones at good London prices during the latter’s trips overseas.

James Ernest’s precise whereabouts during the years after his father’s death in 1860 and James’s marriage in London in 1877 remain conjectural. If he was in South Africa for the start of the diamond rush around 1869/70 he could well have tried his luck at the Cape diggings. 

It may be significant that after his marriage he joined the Calcutta branch of Cooke and Kelvey, who were pearl and diamond merchants, jewellers, gold and silversmiths, watch and clock-makers.

Caithness: James Ernest in Calcutta?

There's a possibility that this photograph shows James Ernest Caithness as a young man in the mid-1860s. The original is a carte de visite by Bourne & Shepherd, a well-known and successful photographic studio operating in Calcutta at that time. 

In support of the date, below is a photograph of Samuel Bourne, one of the founders of the company, taken in 1864. His style and general appearance, including curly hair, moustache with full beard, typical of that decade, is similar to that of the probable James, seen above.

The picture below is of Bourne & Shepherd's premises in Calcutta:

An example of the reverse of one of Bourne & Shepherd's cartes de visite, showing their trade-plate, can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29057987@N03/4530922991/in/photostream/

Note that the simple trade-plate and lack of further decoration on the reverse of the carte, as well as the rounded corners, confirm the mid-1860s date - of the example, that is. Unfortunately, vital details (corners, reverse view) required for dating purposes are lacking for this picture: something to remember when rephotographing the ancestors - include the entire item, not just the subject of the photo as clues may be lost.

No precise information is currently available regarding James Ernest's whereabouts in the 1860s. We know he was in Calcutta for the birth of his eldest child in 1878, a year after his marriage in London. In 1878, James Ernest would have been 39, while the photo portrait appears to be of a man in his twenties.  It's interesting to speculate that he may have visited Calcutta, spent some time there prior to his marriage and had his photograph taken at Bourne & Shepherd's. 

Cooke & Kelvey, the firm James Ernest joined in India, was co-founded by Robert Thomas Cooke, brother-in-law of James's uncle, Edward Bear Ridges. 'Anglo-Indian' watch brand Cooke & Kelvey first opened its doors in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1858.

Caithness, James Ernest (1839-1902) 2

James Ernest Caithness married Eugenie Sarah Henrietta Westmacott on 11 December 1877 in Paddington, London. His father is given as James Ramsey Caithness a Merchant and hers John Guise Westmacott a Surgeon. John Guise was the grandson of the renowned sculptor Richard Westmacott senior (1747-1808) and nephew of the very renowned sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856). James Ernest Caithness had done well for himself.

James Ernest and Eugenie Caithness had nine children. The eldest Hilda was born in Calcutta in 1878. James was up to something in India. In 1882 Sir Rivers Thompson, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, came up with the idea of an exhibition in Calcutta to promote products from the British Empire. The Exhibition was held on 4 December 1883. One bronze medal was received by ‘the honourable J E Caithness member of the General Committee’.

Calcutta International Exhibition 1883-84 bronze medal

Apart from being on the Committee for the Calcutta International Exhibition (1883-84) James Ernest Caithness played a very important part in the early 1880’s as a member of the Legislative Council of Bengal. In 1895 James Ernest Caithness is mentioned as being a ‘past master’ of the ‘Calcutta Trades’ Association’.

James Ernest by 1895 had become the Senior Partner of the firm Cooke & Kelvey. Based at 20 Old Court House Street, Calcutta and also in Simla they are described as being ‘pearl and diamond merchants, jewellers, gold and silversmiths, watch and clock-makers….’  They also had an outlet at 150 Leadenhall Street, London.

Cooke & Kelvey's premises in Calcutta

It may be just a coincidence but during the late 1860’s and onwards diamonds were being discovered in South Africa: on 8 August 1870 the Cape and Natal News mentions a ‘Humansdorp party’ including a Mr Caithness leaving for the diamond fields 70 miles north of Hopetown. In 1873 a Captain Caithness, possibly a relative of James Ernest, donates a ‘collection of stones from the diamond diggings’ to the Library and Museum Committee in Southampton, later to be incorporated into Southampton University.

James Ernest’s uncle, Edward Bear Ridges (1825-1906) was working in Calcutta at the time as a Partner in the firm Dykes & Co (Coach Builders). It was perhaps Edward Bear who helped his nephew get a job at Cooke & Kelvey. Edward’s brother-in-law, Robert Thomas Cooke (1831-1914), was the Co-Founder of the Company. 

One of Cooke & Kelvey's historic Indian timepieces

James Ernest Caithness and his uncle Edward Bear Ridges were also neighbours in Ealing when they were in England - living in very substantial houses called ‘Berriedale’ and ‘Orchard Dene’.

James Ernest Caithness died on the 16^th February 1902 leaving a pregnant widow and eight children. A mariner’s life was definitely not for him and who could blame him? He left his widow £70,000 and I think some of that paid for the hats his daughters wore at the wedding of his second child Ethel in 1905.

The wedding of Ethel Caithness to Walter Sirr Sheldon 25 February 1905

Guest post by Tom Sheldon 2 x g grandson of James Ernest Caithness

Caithness, James Ernest (1839-1902) 1

Is it a mariner’s life for me?

James Ernest Caithness was born at No.7 George Row, Bermondsey (just south of the River Thames) on 17 May 1839. His father James Ramsey Caithness (1815-60), a Master Mariner, and mother Elizabeth Watson nee Ridges (1815-51) had married the previous year in Southampton.  James had been both born & baptised as James Edward but decided he preferred the middle name Ernest at some point during his life.

There was a strong maritime tradition in his family. His grandfather James Caithness had seen action whilst serving in the Royal Navy against the French in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His father James Ramsey and his uncle George had received their education at the Lower School of the Royal Hospital Greenwich and joined the Merchant Service rather than the Royal Navy.

The Royal Hospital, Greenwich

James Ramsey Caithness decided to settle in South Africa and in the early 1840’s brought his wife and the young son James Ernest out to join him. They were to have five more children, born in either Cape Town or Port Elizabeth, before his wife Elizabeth Watson died in early 1851. He remarried by the end of the year.

Young James Ernest was to witness the harsh realities of a mariner’s life. His father James Ramsey had his fair share of accidents – through no fault of his own. The worst incident perhaps was in 1855 when one of James Ernest’s brothers, likely to have been Alfred Douglas, was killed during a fire on board the ‘Flying Dragon’ whilst his father was in command (the same ship had also caught fire the previous year under Captain Carter off Simon’s Bay).  James Ramsey Caithness himself died in 1860 ‘after a long and painful illness’ aged 44.

Family oral tradition mentions that James Ernest tried his hand at sheep farming in South Africa. Life at home was apparently hard. His mother and father had died and his widowed step-mother had five step-children and three of her own children to support. James Ernest Caithness disappears for a while and next shows up at his wedding in London in 1877. His life has taken a new direction – Eureka!

Guest Post by Tom Sheldon, 2 x great grandson of James Ernest Caithness

Photo portrait by kind permission of June B-R

Souvenir Saturday: The Caithness Fan

This fan of bone with silk mount is a wonderful piece of Caithness memorabilia. Bearing the name ‘Etta’, it belonged to Eugenie Sarah Henrietta Westmacott (b 6 November 1858 d 15 January 1938). Etta, as she was known to her family, married James Ernest Caithness (b 17 May 1839 d 16 Feb 1902).

The folded view of the fan shows embossed arms and a motto, ‘I Commit My Work to God’. This is similar to the motto of the Earls of Caithness (surname Sinclair), ‘Commit Thy Work to God’ (Latin Revela Domino opera tua). Elements in the arms on the fan - sailing ship, lions rampant, rooster - echo the Sinclair arms.

Few accessories of the female wardrobe combine functional and decorative qualities as perfectly – or as elegantly - as the fan. Apart from keeping a lady cool in heated ballrooms or theatres and indicating that its owner was in the first rank of fashion, it was indispensable for certain accepted patterns of social behaviour.*

Etta’s fan with its personalized touches would have been a gift to mark a special occasion. Its condition tells us it was a treasured memento, carefully preserved.

* Language of the Fan

  http://home.earthlink.net/~zhizhu/LanguageOfTheFan.htm

By kind permission of the owner of the fan, June B-R.

Photographs and additional information by Tom Sheldon.