Passengers to Natal per Ocean Ranger from St Helena 1874

After the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1832, a shortage of labour prevailed at the Cape. In response to this situation, the Cape government shipped more than 22 000 St Helenians to the mainland between 1873 and 1884.







Passengers per schooner OCEAN RANGER from St Helena arrived at Natal May 5 1874.
(surname, forename and age)

YON Martha 50
YON Sarah 20
BENNETT Martha 40
BENNETT Jane 13
KNIPE William 20
RICHARDS Matilda 18
PETERS Emily 19
LEO Elizabeth 18
JUDD Jane 36
JUDD Charles 13
BOWERS McLaren (?) 23
JOHN Sarah 25
POWELL Wm Henry 30
POWELL Sarah 27
POWELL Jemima 8
POWELL Albert 5
POWELL Ernest 3
HAMILTON Eliza 33
HAMILTON Matilda 15
HAMILTON David 14
MITTENS (?) Elizabeth 50
BENJAMINE William 38
BENJAMINE Ruth 36
BENJAMINE Louisa 16
BENJAMINE Ada 14
BENJAMINE Alfed 11
BENJAMINE Cornelius 8
BENJAMINE Edward 6
BENJAMINE Henry 5
BENJAMINE Edith 4
BENJAMINE Joanna 2
BENJAMINE Infant 6 mths
RICH Ann 30*
SMITH John 32
SMITH Elizabeth 33
SMITH Joseph 12
SMITH John 10
SMITH Hester 8
SMITH William 5
SMITH Walter 3
SMITH Abraham 1
HOYLES James F 19
BRUCE Charles 18
MASON Richard 19
DICKINSON Walter 17
BRUCE Ellen 16
PHILLIPS Harriet 19
GEORGE Rose 30
GEORGE Thomas 25
GEORGE Ann 22
PAYNE Hannah 46
PAYNE Elizabeth 14
HASTIE Margaret 37
SINGER Elizabeth 22
BOWERS Ellen 20
BENNETT Sarah 24
HENRY Sarah 14
MAGGOT Caroline 27
DAWSON Isabella 32
DAWSON Albert 12
GEORGE Mary 16
GEORGE Louisa 18
JONAS Sarah 18
THOMAS Elizabeth 17
BURWICK Eliza 30
LONDON (or LOUDON) Martha 24
DELANY Mary 32
HENRY Eliz. 17
ELLIS Thomas 42
ELLIS Ellen 30
ELLIS Eliz. Jane 16
ELLIS Chas Edw. 14
ELLIS Lena 4
ELLIS John 3
ELLIS Thomas (Inf)
BAGLEY Benjamin 50
FORD Ellen 30
WILLIAMS Sarah 12
CROWIE Saml. 40
CROWIE Louisa 38
CROWIE Margaret 15
CROWIE Joseph 13
CROWIE John 11
CROWIE Eliza 9
CROWIE Martha 9
CROWIE William 7
CROWIE Emma ...

* A telegram dated 13 Mary 1874, sent by the Assistant Protector of Immigrants Durban to the Protector of Immigrants Maritzburg, noted:

Immigrants per Ocean Ranger left for Maritzburg yesterday afternoon. R. Thompson's servant Ann Rich aged Thirty dark complexion deserted from wagons in Durban.

Instructions were to issue a warrant for her arrest. Ann Rich was one of several indentured immigrants (domestic servants and other) on board the Ocean Ranger destined for employment in Natal: in Ann’s case, this was apparently not a welcome prospect. Unfortunately, we know no more of her history.

A deceased estate file dated 1876 is held at Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository for Emma Knipe, described simply as ‘a St Helena girl’. Possibly she was a relative of the William Knipe who was a passenger on the Ocean Ranger in 1874.

St Helena in more recent times

Lighthouse: Shelley Point, St Helena

This unusual and classically-attractive lighthouse (strictly speaking not a lighthouse but a lead light), also called Stompneus Point light, was built privately by the owner of the estate (he was a lighthouse enthusiast) and later became official. Located at the northernmost point of the Cape St. Martins peninsula, marking the western entrance to St. Helena Bay, about 20 km northeast of Paternoster. Today the site is open but the tower closed.

Harold Williams does not include this light in his volume Lighthouses of Southern Africa, hence he offers no lists of lightkeepers at Shelley Point. If anyone has further information on the topic please contact Mole via this blog.

Input from P J Hannabus: it seems that the old beacon was a local structure to assist the trawlers. From that point, eastwards along that small piece of coast, is a residential area called The Golden Mile. Rows of palm trees line the access roads and properties. As the name suggests, it is a Millionaires Row with mansions resembling Beverley Hills in the USA. 

These folks were unhappy with the  common wooden structure on their doorstep, and had the present structure built to resemble a Middle East minaret.

[Mole is of the opinion that the dome looks more Italian than Middle Eastern.]

RFA Darkdale torpedoed St Helena 1941: list of those lost

22nd October 1941 at 00.15 RFA Darkdale was torpedoed by German submarine U68. Three of the four torpedoes made their mark. The ship exploded, turned over and sank. Reports vary as to who escaped, but all hands bar the Captain, Chief Engineer and Purser who were dining at the Garrison, two rankings in hospital and two rankings in the process of returning to the ship, perished.

Memorial: RFA Darkdale

www.historicalrfa.org/rfa-darkdale

St Helena Resources

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/st-helena-genealogy/

The above link takes you to St Helena Institute's Forum for Family History. It is intended for anyone interested in St Helena family history and genealogy (incl. Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha).

As the forum is both a Message Board and a Mailing List, your message will be accessible online to future members and visitors to the site. Posts to the group should feature one of the names being researched in the subject line, if applicable.

Basic resources relating to St Helena family history can be found on the Institute's homepage at http://www.st-helena.org.

Explore the Family History Library Catalogue at familysearch.org for filmed military records relating to St Helena. Bear in mind that St Helena was a trading colony from the mid-17th c and had close connections with India: the island was occupied by troops of the East India Company between 1659 and 1836. In 1836, company troops were replaced by regular British troops. Muster and pension rolls for 1789-1859 include the name, rank, company, regiment, date of arrival, date of discharge and other information for soldiers serving on St Helena. The films include some partial indexes. The original records are in the India Office Military Department collection no. L/MIL/13/1-15, held at the British Library.

Passengers passed through St Helena on their way to England from far-flung outposts in India and China.

For further information and links visit the FIBIS (Families in British India Society) site
http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=St._Helena

http://sthelena.uk.net/newsitems.php  news of the imminent publication, by the Friends of St Helena, of the book St Helena Britannica.

St Helena descendants

Alice Armstrong photographed on her wedding day, 18 July 1910, St Michael's Church, Observatory.

Born Alice Mary Harriet Weston on St Helena on 27 February 1885, she was the 2nd child of George Weston, a Corporal in the Royal Engineers, and Ann Maria Sim, born Bagley on the Island in 1859 and widowed in 1881. Ann Maria married George Weston in St John's Church, Jamestown, 8 August 1882.

Descendants of the Saints: St Helena Heritage

Many St Helenians came to the Cape shortly after the abolition of the slave trade in 1832 because there was a shortage of labour in the Colony. 

Between 1873 and 1884 the Cape government shipped 22 232 St Helenian immigrants to the colony. The  Emigrants Advice Office was established in London in 1887, through which financial support was provided by the government to employers of artisans and domestic labour. The newcomers from St Helena moved into relatively empty areas east of the city such as District Six and Woodstock. These became overcrowded before the turn of the 19th c.

St Helenians integrated with various South African communities - European, African, Malay, Khoi, Chinese - and the local freed slaves, as well as slaves who had been liberated by the British Western African Squadron from slaving vessels which were still trading illegally after the abolition of slavery.

The South African St Helenian Heritage Association was founded by Merle Martin. The Association's mission is to promote awareness, preserve and protect St Helena Island Heritage in South Africa. Merle is compiling a list of descendants whose ancestral lineage can be traced back to St Helena Island:

'My aim is to get people to come and tell us their stories. I was always interested in searching my family tree. I've heard so many people say they have ancestors from the island. My paternal grandmother was from the island. Our motto is: We do know our roots.'

Merle mentions: 'My research has shown that St Helenians arrived in the Cape from 1795 until 1949 when SA barred St Helenians from entering. Also, note that that the total of 22 232 immigrants stated above would have included mostly temporary residents of St Helena who were freed off slaving vessels.'

Anyone wishing to know more or to share information is welcome to contact Ms Martin by email:
saint.helena.island@gmail.com or phone 021 7018422
 
Read descendants' stories at
Rediscovering St Helena: a Gathering of Saints in Cape Town   www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/rediscovering_st/    
 

Alice Armstrong with her eldest son Jack  aged about 2 or 3 and her mother Ann Maria.
The person on the right is not identified.

St Helena: Slaves and Owners

http://www.fosh.org.uk/

Friends of St Helena is a charitable Society that has several aims, one of which is to provide information about St Helena and its two sister islands, Ascension and Tristan Da Cunha.

Of specific interest to anyone tracing their ancestry to St Helena, this Society has just published a full list of over 700 slaves emancipated from the year 1827, together with a list of nearly 200 owners. www.fosh.org.uk/index.php?id=23.

The St Helena government effectively loaned a sum of money to each slave to buy their freedom, and then required that sum to be paid back over the next few decades.

A considerable amount of additional information is available to members of the Society, which anyone can join for a nominal sum, this being the Society's only source of funding. This additional information comes from reports generated by the St Helena Government to track the sums owed by slaves and includes their age, value, skills, family relationship and comments on their character.


Over and above that, the Society publishes a magazine called Wirebird with a number of articles on St Helena. A detailed index of all 39 editions published since 1990 is available to anyone visiting the web site, and members can upload full copies of any of these editions as Acrobat files.

The above information was provided by Ian Bruce (Membership Secretary and Webmaster, FoSH).