Jane Meiring: Author and early feminist

Newspaper article 0n 26.03.2006 (Care of Johnny Briggs):

JANE Meiring, who has died at the age of 86 in Kenton-on-Sea, in the Eastern Cape, was a prolific author and historian.
    She wrote the first comprehensive biography of Thomas Pringle, who started the country's first newspaper, the South African Journal, with John Fairbairn. Pringle also waged a relentless battle with the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, for freedom of the press.
    Meiring was the first historian to tackle the life of Francois le Vaillant, a colourful French artist and early traveller to South Africa in the 1780s. Her book, Truth in Masquerade, examines Le Vaillant's controversial journals - which were considered far-fetched even in his own time - and provides a fascinating account of his travels into the interior.
    Its publication in the mid-60s coincided with the publication of 165 of his water colours, the originals of which were in the parliamentary art collection in Cape Town.
    Jane Meiring (nee Rose) was born in Johannesburg on February 24 1920. Her father was an American mining engineer who had been recruited to work on the South African gold mines in the early 1900s, when technical skills were badly needed to support the booming industry.
    The family moved to a farm in Addo in the Eastern Cape when she was eight and she was educated at St Dominic's Priory in Port Elizabeth.
She demonstrated an early talent for story-telling. When the children had to collect and clean eggs, her siblings were happy to do her share of the work provided she told them stories while they went about it.
    Her first stories were published in Outspan magazine when she was still at school. She continued submitting stories to magazines for the rest of her life and was published in the likes of Blackwoods magazine in Britain, among many other British and US titles.
    After reading History and English at Rhodes University, she did radio work for the SABC during the war years, which paid her £1 a story.
    In 1943 she married Pieter Meiring, a citrus farmer in Kirkwood in the Sundays River Valley, one of the early farmers in the valley.
    Meiring was an early feminist. Her heroines were Olive Shreiner and Emily Hobhouse, who highlighted the inhumane treatment of Afrikaans women and children in British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War. Meiring's mother-in-law and sister-in-law were among them.
    The last book she wrote, Against the Tide, is a history of the role of women in that war, and includes an in-depth investigation of the camps. Meiring was correcting the final proofs when she died.
    In 1965 she moved to an estate in Mazoe, north of Salisbury in the then Rhodesia, for 10 years when her husband was put in charge of Anglo American Farms.
    They retired to Kenton-on-Sea in 1976. Pieter Meiring died in the early '80s. In 1985 she married Eastern Cape ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Melville Marquard. He died four years ago.
    Meiring had a powerful personality and brooked no interruptions while writing. She pursued her projects with relentless self-discipline, rising early in the morning and spending a good six or eight hours at her desk.
    When friends saw the "Gone Fishing" sign on her door they knew better that to disturb her.
    Meiring is survived by three children and two step-chilren.

-Chris Brown

Addo Polo Club beginnings

Addo Polo Club beginnings

The Addo Polo Club, in Addo, Eastern Cape, was started in 1923 largely through the initiative of Cecily Fitzpatrick (daughter of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld) in 1923. Cecily found many supporters among the British settlers’ wives, all keen horsewomen. Dorothy Gibbs, Noel McBean, Margery Merewether, Phyllis Pearce, Iris Rathbone and two Apthorpe girls joined Cecily as players. Cicely FitzPatrick married Jack Niven – there has been a Niven playing at Addo throughout the club’s history – and men began to join the fray. It was not until the late 1940s and ‘50s that women’s polo started in South Africa.

The Addo Polo Club got going again, boosted by the Niven family team of father and three sons with Cecily (Sir PercyFitzpatrick’s daughter) as Umpire. Dougal McBean, a tall, austere and aristocratic Englishman, who owned Stellenhof farm, pressed for the exclusivity of the club, declaring that he had no desire to drink at the same club as his farm manager, who was in fact quite an educated Frenchman called Chevaux, but not an Englishman of course. Val Sullivan, the Archetypal Ladies Man and enthusiastic Polo player regarded it quite acceptable to swear loudly at the opposition during a chukka, so long as his blue-tinged outburst ended in “Sir”. Bull Oxenham always rooted for the pony rather that the player. Buller Pagden, always the showman, had his groom Willie bring his change of mount between chukkas to the front of the clubhouse so that spectators could watch him mount his fresh pony. Polo was very serious, posh, and rather high society.

Polo is still played at the Addo Polo Club today but not to the same degree. Ladies are now allowed in the bar and all are welcome! Bull Oxenham’s son, Futa, and grandsons, Ray and Hugh, still live up the road and play Polo for Addo. Addo History continues!

Based on the fascinating writings of Mr. Johnny Briggs, of Good Hope Farm, Selborne, based on the diary of his late father, ‘Kit’ Briggs, a Valley pioneer.

Childhood Memories of Addo by Jane Meiring

Childhood Memories of Addo

By Jane Meiring

When we ‘emigrated’ to Addo from Johannesburg in 1929, and while my father was having our house built on ‘Rosedale’, we were given accommodation in ‘Duncan’s House’ (who was Duncan?), situated near the road to the Elephant Park. It was quite large and elegant, and entirely surrounded by Addo bush, but is now degraded, bereft of bush, exposed, and part of a brick-making industry.

Coming from Johannesburg, and suddenly living in the bush was a wonderful experience and it wasn’t long before we children had collected all manner of small animals, tortoises, field mice, and a myriad of insects including dung and stag beetles, stick insects, lizards and – to the consternation of our Zulu cook, who had come down with us – chameleons! My mother, although I never heard her complain, must have longed for all the comforts of her former existence and deplored copper geysers for the bath, candles and lamps, no water laid on. I do know that she was not enchanted by an enormous, hairy baboon spider which confronted her one morning in the kitchen.

Quite frequent glimpses of wild animals during the day, and the wonderful bush sounds at night, together with the knowledge that we were only a stone’s throw from the Addo Elephants, added another dimension of excitement to our lives. While my mother uncomplaining coped with adjusting to difficult conditions, my father, a retired Mining Engineer, reveled in farming and was often heard to say that he regretted not having chosen farming as a career. Once installed in our new house, we began to meet members of the Addo Society, most of whom were 1920 Settlers in Sundays River Valley, many of them very eccentric, to say the least! My mother was more than a little taken aback one day when Mrs. Horn came to call on her and arrived at the front door dripping from having fallen in a canal on her way! Other stories have been told of this remarkable woman, and of many other eccentric people – too numerous to mention here. There were lots of children of our ages, the Rogers, Elliotts, Dykes, Merryweathers, Osmonds, Howells, to name but a few and without T.V. and all the other distractions of today, we had a truly wonderful childhood. There were river parties in ‘Dykes Pool’ and at Townsends, where a ‘foefie slide’ had been erected for us – the river was brown and brak, but we loved it! There were tennis parties, moonlight picnics at Aloes (St. George’s Strand), birthday parties and the unforgettable house parties given by Nana and John Champion where we played all kinds of exciting games, like “Murder” and were taught to dance the Lancers; Christmas parties given by Mrs. Jordi where we plucked apples out of a tub of water with our mouths and where we tried to escape a rather amorous, quite elderly gentleman lurking under the mistletoe.

So many things come to mind, like Gruskin’s Store. Walking into this store was like entering another world full of exciting and strange things – blankets, German prints, big farmers’ boots, implements, tools, sacks of beans, samp, buttons, sweets and ‘twak’ tobacco. There was something there for everyone – black and white – and was a welcome oasis in the early days when Port Elizabeth seemed so far away. I can still see dear old Mrs. Gruskin on guard behind the till to forestall theft by some of her white assistants. Kindly Mr. Gruskin, who had fought with the British in the Boer War and who was always ready to lend a helping hand as he did, during the struggling Twenties, tiding some of the Settlers over hard times, and what of Bert with his wonderful knowledge of the Valley’s old days and its inhabitants, and his fluency in Xhosa which gave him an edge on all his dealings with the Africans with whom he came in contact and who were devoted to him. In the days before deliveries were eliminated from our lives, the Gruskin’s delivery ‘boy’ used to come round to the houses in a little donkey cart with his order book in which the housewives would place their orders for the following day. Shortly after arriving from Johannesburg, my mother was surprised to find the oxtail she had ordered had been ‘booked for that week’.

The only road to Port Elizabeth was untarred and so narrow that when a vehicle was encountered coming in the opposite direction it was necessary for one or both vehicles to reverse until a place was reached where they could pass in safety. Meeting a donkey cart was a different matter as donkeys are easily persuaded to go into reverse. Sometimes when the river had come down in flood, and before the big bridge was built over the Sundays River, we had to wait for the water to subside before we could cross over the Addo Drift. Before the development of the Fish River Scheme we used to have devastating, soul-destroying droughts, followed usually by destructive floods when the river went roaring down to sea, taking with it carcasses of animals and large, uprooted trees and eroding its banks so severely that it took several substantial homesteads and several citrus orchards with it to the sea. Memories are endless – the passing parade of personalities – the ex-soldiers to tell, e.g. Captain Reddie, who was taken prisoner and ate his papers so that they shouldn’t fall into the hands of his captors. Commander Petrie, Commander Merryweather, Captain Wilkie, whose Irish Terrier ‘Ponkey’ was always given pride of place on the front seat of his car and closely resembled his master. Eccentric Miss. Magnias, daughter of a distinguished English general, who brought out a group of Land Girls who unfortunately all soon dispersed for several reasons and destroyed her dreams of settling them on land. Miss Magniac was a strong advocate of the League of Nations; also a great benefactor, not only in the Valley where she earned a reputation for taking in a great number of stray and ailing animals, but for establishing soup kitchens for the poor in the African Townships in Port Elizabeth. It was also her eccentricity and careless disregard for elegance that saw her frequently with her dress on inside out! It was after her that the Valentine Hall was named. Seeing the Hall now in all its splendor, and venue for the world-famous ‘Rose Days’ it is difficult to imagine how it was in the early days – just a plain barn-like edifice where all social gatherings took place, including a travelling “Bioscope”, where we sat on planks placed on upended paraffin boxes to see films like ‘Captain Blood’ and ‘Sunshine Susie’.

There was the irascible Captain (‘Skipper’) Walters on whom a certain lady confessed to ‘concentrating on for four years’ in the hope of a marriage proposal – all in vain, however! Formidable Mrs. Swann, who had wonderful stories to tell of her childhood and of their neighbour G.K. Chesterton who used to produce exciting pantomimes every Christmas. Old Mr. Mohon, retired engineer, who carried his flute hidden under straw in his mule wagon, hoping that someone would invite him to play. The Filmers, who sometimes had dinner with us and entertained us afterwards, Mrs. Filmer on the piano and her husband with his fine voice. Mrs. Filmer was the mother-in-law of the famous actor and playwright Emlyn Williams. Later we were allowed to go to dances in the Hall and it was here too, that unforgettable play readings were held. These were organised and participated in by such stalwarts as Vivienne Gruskin, who has been responsible for their continued existence over many years. One evening the Thespians came out from Port Elizabeth to perform for us and at the end of the evening John Vincent was asked to thank them. He did, nervously, thanking the Lesbians for their fine performance! It is said that the Thespians later remarked that they were waiting for someone to make that faux pass. Memories of Addo must include Miss Higgins (“Higgie”), a famous schoolteacher and unforgettable character. Her school, a large grey wood and iron house, stood at the Addo Station and here she gave elementary education to many of the Settler children who later went to private schools in Grahamstown. She was one of the kindest women I ever knew and she extended her kindness to everyone, black and white and, in fact was invited to a ceremony in New Brighton where she had the title of M’Bantu conferred on her. The Polo Club where the Nivens had their own team, three sons and their father, with Mrs. Niven umpiring. Lots of splendid horses and lots of social activities, with Val Sullivan as a sort of presiding deity. A story is told of the early days when Mrs. Horn climbed into one of the very few motorcars in the Valley at that time and went hurtling around to stop until the petrol ran out.

Geoffrey Benough and his wife Anndora, gardener par excellence; the Briggses, Commander Francis and his beautiful wife Garness, and Grace de Kock; So many memories, so much more to write about, so many people, most of then gone now. When World War II broke out many old W.W.I veterans joined up, some of who were placed in administrative posts in Pretoria – Captain Reddie and Rathbone were two of these. Sadly three of our childhood companions were killed in this war – John Bunton, Peter Osmond and Tony Rogers, the last-named doing bomb disposal in Malta and posthumously awarded the George Medal.

What a childhood we had! And what a wonderful Valley we lived in! With the tremendous development taking place in the Valley today, with lodges and B&B’s, restaurants etc. it is difficult to imagine a time when the early Pioneers struggled to make a living, when droughts and floods dominated their lives, bringing despair; so many people, brave and resilient, too many to mention in an account of this kind.

If they could see what we see today would they not say: “How Green is my Valley now?”

Humphrey Osmond, an Addo pioneer

Johnny Briggs of Good Hope Farm, Selborne, wrote the following article on Humphrey Osmond, an Addo pioneer.

Humphrey Osmond

            The First World War ended in 1918 and many soldiers returning to England found little or no prospects of jobs. The British economy had been on a war footing and all the factories were geared to the war effort. An intriguing and exciting option for healthy, adventurous young men home from the war front was to go out to the Colonies and start a new life in far-away places with strange sounding names. Many emigrated to New Zealand, Australia, Canada and to South Africa and the Rhodesia’s. Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, transport rider, author, mining magnate and influential politician, had bought Amanzi Estate near Uitenhage and developed an interest in growing citrus fruit for export. He was convinced that the lower Sundays River Valley was an ideal locality to start an agriculturally based Settlement scheme. The soil was deep and fertile, and the Sundays River running through the valley flowed regularly, fed by an enormous catchment area. Sir Percy formed the Sundays River Land Settlement Company, which purchased a stock farm in the Addo area from a Mr. C. Holland, including his big old farm house originally called Commando House, later The Homestead, now owned by Thursten Whittle.  The Government was persuaded to fund the construction of Lake Mentz to store Sundays River Water for irrigation purposes. The bush in the Addo area was cleared by huge steam traction engines and surveyed by Charles van Breda into farm holdings of approximately 12 hectares. An irrigation canal distribution system was begun, and an office was opened in London to advertise the potential of the scheme and recruit young ex-soldiers and war veterans to take options on the land and begin a new life in Addo. A property of 12 hectares was to the English mind a fair holding, and prospects looked good.

            Sir Percy Fitzpatrick needed a man good and true to act as Secretary of the Sundays River Settlement Company. He was a partner in the Corner House, the most successful mining and finance house in the British Empire. A colleague and friend, Arthur James Wright, was his valued secretary. Wright had completed a secretarial Diploma in London, where he was taught the new “Short Hand Writing”, a subject in which he excelled. When Sir Percy discovered this outstanding ability he made Wright take down the whole of “Jock of the Bushveld” in shorthand. Jimmy Wright had for some years been friendly with an astute young lawyer called Humphrey Osmond, a clever man with a straight eye and a firm handshake. At the beginning of the Boer War they had both joined the London Yeomanry and sailed for South Africa on the same ship. A lifelong friendship began and continued through the First World War when they joined the Imperial Light Horse regiment, along with Sir Percy’s son Alan. They served together in the campaigns against the German African Colonies. So Jimmy Wright had no hesitation in recommending Humphrey Osmond to Sir Percy, for the Job of secretary of the Settlement Company. It turned out to be a good choice as there was to be a lot of litigation between the Sundays River Scheme and the Government, so Humphrey’s legal background stood him in good stead.

Humphrey Osmond was born in 1883 on the Caribbean Island of Jamaica. His father held the rank of Commodore in the British Royal Navy and was based in Jamaica. He decided to retire there as he enjoyed the climate, so he bought a house high on the hills above Kingston town. His wife was Scottish with flaming red hair, an accomplished horse woman, and very involved in social life on the island. They had 4 sons and 3 daughters, Humphrey being the youngest by far. He was cared for by a Jamaican nanny called Nana Bey, and had a private tutor with a cruel habit of picking him up by his long golden curls and beating him. Humphrey’s elder brother George, home unexpectedly on vacation, witnessed this and had the tutor dismissed forthwith. Humphrey’s father died when he was about 2 years old. At the age of 10 his mother decided that he should be educated in England. She wrote to a Captain Jellicoe a close friend of her late husband. They had served in the Royal Navy together. Captain Jellicoe owned a couple of Banana Packets, small cargo ships used to transport bananas from the West Indies to Britain. His son incidentally, later became Admiral Lord Jellicoe who distinguished himself at the battle of Jutland in World War One. Captain Jellicoe agreed to take Humphrey with him to England where he stayed with his Aunts, one of whom had a son Humphrey’s age. They went to junior school together and became good friends. Later on, Humphrey was sent to boarding school in London, the Bluecoat School for all sons of Naval Officers, so called because the boys all wore blue jackets. His holidays were spent with another friend of his late father’s, the Rev. Nightingale who lived with his family in a large manse on the country. Humphrey’s older brother Charles also went to the Bluecoat school, they were both sponsored by the retired Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock, under whom their father had served while in the Royal Navy. Charles went to Heidelberg University in Germany, a popular university in those old Victorian times. He eventually bought a farm in the Sundays River Settlement Scheme.

            Humphrey finished school just as the Boer War began in South Africa in 1899. He immediately joined up, at barely 17, the youngest trooper in his regiment, the London Yeomanry, and set sail for the Cape Colony, along with Jimmy Wright. His adventurous spirit soon involved him in skirmishes with the Boer enemy. On patrol one day his platoon observed a group of Boer horsemen at the foot of the koppie. Humphrey, mounted on a fast horse, volunteered to ride out to reconnoitre. He reached a thicket of reeds growing between him and the Boers, who fired a shot at him as he entered the thicket, causing his horse to bolt. He sent his hat skimming over the reeds to confuse the Boers while he crawled in another direction around the koppie and came up behind them, capturing 7 of them before his platoon rode up to help. He was mentioned in one of Lord Kitchener’s dispatches of 8^th March 1903 “for the single-handed capture of 7 armed Boers in the Langberg on 11^th January.” He was a 19year old corporal when the war ended in 1902.

            After the Boer War ended Humphrey went to see his mother, who had returned to England with her two daughters, in frail health and not expected to live long. He never saw her again. On his return to South Africa he was articled to a Mr. Phillips, who knew the Osmond family, of the firm Mawby, Phillips (and later Osmond) in Krugersdorp. It so happened that Mawby’s sister Fanny married George Palmer of the farm “Cranemere” in the Pearston District, and their Grandson Maurice, in due course, married Humphrey’s daughter, Sita. While doing his articles in Krugersdorp, Humphrey stayed at a boarding house run by a Widow, Mrs. Brown. Her husband, a gold reef mine manager, had been killed in a mine accident. While showing a group of VIPs around he took them underground. The lift cage was full, so he rode down the shaft on the cage roof, against all the mine safety rules. A falling rock hit him, killing him instantly. Mrs. Brown had a daughter, Mabel, who was sent to boarding school at Oakford Priory in Natal at the age of 11. Shortly after, the Boer War began, Natal was cut off from the Transvaal, and Mrs. Brown lost contact with her daughter for the 2-year duration of the war. A couple of years later Humphrey, a lad of 22, still studying law and living in Mrs. Brown’s boarding house, went on holiday to Natal. He took a parcel with him to Mabel from her mother. She, a pretty 16 year old in matric promptly stole his heart, but they had to wait some years till Humphrey finished his law exams before marrying. Mrs. Brown subsequently re-married and had another daughter Lily, who married Neville van Breda, Mark’s grandfather.

            World War I, called by some the Great War, started in 1914 and Humphrey rejoined the Imperial Light Horse. Serving first in German East Africa, formally Tanganyika now Tanzania, then in German West Africa, formerly South West Africa now Namibia. They were important theatres of war because the British High Command was afraid the German colonies would combine with the Portuguese across Africa and push southwards toward the fabulously rich gold and diamond mines in South Africa. Humphrey, promoted to Captain, was often in the presence of General Jannie Smuts commanding the West Africa campaign and many were the stories he could tell. Unfortunately his military career came to an abrupt end when he was seriously wounded in the stomach while riding out to draw the fire of a German sniper so that he would reveal his position, and he ended up in hospital where he nearly died. Friends thought him a gonner. Alan Fitzpatrick, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick’s son and Jimmy Wright were with him during much of these campaigns.

            After the war Humphrey became a partner in the Law Firm of Mawby, Phillips & Osmond in Krugersdorp and soon made a name for himself as a competent young advocate, but his war experiences had left him very nervy and drained. Being of a sensitive nature, he did not enjoy the cut and thrust of the legal profession, especially the many divorce cases that seemed to land on his desk. So when Sir Percy, on their mutual friend Jimmy Wirght’s advice, offered him the job of secretary in the Sundays River Settlement Company, he readily accepted.

            Humphrey and Mabel and their small children arrived in Addo during 1919 and took up residence in Commando House, the old Holland farmstead now known as the Homestead. A company office was set up in a square thatched rondavel in the garden. The old house had a large dining room and Mabel had to entertain many dignitaries to luncheon brought by Sir Percy to Addo to view the Settlement Scheme. Life was not easy for the young housewife, with water scarce, untrained domestic help and fresh foodstuffs and vegetables difficult to obtain. There were several thatched rondavels in the yard, and as the young English settlers arrived, eager but un-acclimatized and un-used to local conditions, Mabel housed them as best she could in the rondavels until they were able to move onto their own properties. The land had been cleared and the ground left loose, so whenever the wind blew the dust was appalling. Sand had had to be shoveled off the verandah floor. Some old-timers felt that this destruction of the natural bush affected the climate and caused awful droughts that were to follow. Mabel had of course grown up in her mother’s boarding house in Krugersdorp, so she must have had some considerable catering experience to fall back on and cope with the wave of settlers arriving at the beginning of 1920. Humphrey acquired the farm Hern, now owned by Bob Hewitt, the first property to be registered. Building commenced on the gabled family house, which took nearly a year to complete due to a shortage of building materials. His brother Charles bought the farm next door.

            Groups of settlers started arriving in numbers towards the end of 1919, many straight from England and shattered by their appalling experiences in the trenches and battlefields. They were initially terribly disappointed with Addo, expecting a green fertile valley with water flowing instead of the drought, heat and dusty conditions that met them. The promised Lake Mentz storage dam was still some 2 years from completion. Humphrey Osmond, on site in Addo, took the brunt of the storm of criticism and abuse leveled at the Settlements Company. Sir Percy, battling with ill health and financial problems of his own at the time, was frequently absent from meetings and left much of the company business to Humphrey. He had to shield Sir Percy from the ire of the disillusioned settlers. These were difficult times for Humphrey, who had become the scapegoat for all that was wrong. But he remained intensely loyal to Sir Percy, who held him in the highest regards as a man of integrity and conviction.

             Humphrey had a London matric and a law degree from the Transvaal, which for some reason did not allow him to practice law in the old Cape Colony. He was often asked to advise on legal matters but was not able to charge a fee. Many people paid him in kind. At the end of 1920 the DeBeers diamond company bought a large tract of land, some 1250 acres in the Barkley Bridge area as a contribution to and support of the Settlement scheme rather than a business enterprise. Humphrey handled the legal side of the transaction and they rewarded him with a trip to Kimberley and a grand tour of the mines. He never took payment for his services.

            During 1921 the Sundays River Settlements Company started running into financial difficulties to an extent due to insufficient capital from the start. Both Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Beit had spoken enthusiastically about helping finance settlement schemes involving young men from England, by using large sums of money controlled by them in their capacity as Life Governors of DeBeers diamond mines. But neither Rhodes who died in 1902 nor Beit who died in 1906 left any instruction to their trustees to assist such schemes. Had Rhodes lived longer, he would have been in his late sixties by the time the Settlement company was formed, and one wonders, to what extent he would have helped the scheme, given his interest in immigration, and his access to vast sums of money. Beit’s partner in the Corner House, Julius Wernher, also a Life Governor of DeBeers, used some of these funds to assist Sir Percy in his personal capacity in recognition of his political successes, but he died in 1912 before the Settlement Scheme was mooted. He had a very high regard for Sir Percy, and might well have assisted financially. Drought and delays in the construction of Lake Mentz further exacerbated the financial situation, with settlers unable to meet their commitments to the Company. In March 1921 Col. Deneys Reitz, Minister of Lands in the Cape Parliament, visited Addo settlement scheme. Humphrey took him on a tour of inspection, and tried to impress on him the need for the Land Bank to recognize the irrigation potential of the Valley and give assistance to farmers.

            In late 1921 another crisis occurred. General J.J. Byron had been appointed Managing Director of the company the year before. He appeared to be a wise choice, but it proved to be a disastrous move. He soon fell out of favour with the settlers, who found him autocratic and without sympathy or understanding. They did not need somebody barking orders at them. Then Byron, at a board meeting of co-directors, at which Sir Percy was absent, tried, in accordance with the Clause of Article of Association which disqualified directors who were continually absent form meetings, to attempt a coup d’etat. This would have ousted Sir Percy from him position of President of the company. The attempt failed and Byron was summarily dismissed on 29^th December 1921, but he sued the company for wrongful dismissal and loss of salary. This matter finally went before the Supreme Court in Grahamstown in 1923, and despite Humphrey’s heroic efforts on behalf of the company, the verdict went against it and Byron was awarded a large sum of money with costs. He was a Member of Parliament at the time, and the resulting adverse publicity did much to discredit the company, which went into liquidation toward the end of 1923. The Sundays River Settlements Bill was passed by Parliament in 1925, whereby the government was authorized to take over the assets of the company from the liquidators. Humphrey retired to his farm “Hern” in the Selborne district.

            The Osmond’s had four daughters and a son Peter, born on 18^th February 1921. Sir Percy, a regular visitor to Hern on his way from Amanzi to M’fuleni farm, his Dunbrody property, brought Humphrey an Oak seedling to plant in the front garden of Hern to mark the birth of his son. This seedling has grown into one of the biggest Oak trees in the Valley. Peter Osmond was a year older than Peter Bunton was and a year younger than his brother John Bunton. They spent their school holidays riding their horses between Elim farm and Hern and getting up to the usual schoolboy mischief. The two Peters went to St Andrew’s Prep school together in 1931, where Peter Osmond, a strapping youngster, was nicknamed “Bull” because of his rambunctious play on the rugby field. They went to St Andrew’s College in 1935, Peter Osmond to Mullins House. They both did well academically and on the sports field. Peter Bunton has the warmest memories of Humphrey and Mabel Osmond, who he regarded as wonderful people. He treasures the close association he had with the family. He tells of Humphrey’s great love of horses, how well he cared for them, and how his whole citrus crop was taken to the Co-op by horse-drawn trolleys. Humphrey had a D2 caterpillar tractor on the farm for heavy work such as discing, leveling and banking, but as much work as possible was done by his horses. In those days fertilizer did not come in a plastic bag, they were not even invented, and most of the farmers had manure pits – a long excavation with sloping ends, covered by some sort of roof, and filled with bedding such as weeds, old straw etc. There were haystacks on either side for the feed. The horses lived in these pits in warmth and comfort, the bedding well trampled, and the accumulated manure dug out from time to time with pitchforks and carted into the orchards. Humphrey’s horses were always kept in excellent condition. All the farm gates were attractively made of bamboo cut from a clump on the farm, with a high-end pole attached to the gatepost and a wire slanting down to the outer end of the gate to hold it off the ground. Being fair complexioned, Humphrey always wore a solar-topi, or sun helmet during the summer, which he would remove and tuck under his arm whenever he walked in the shade. One of his old farm workers, called Lion, told me that because of this habit he was given the Xhosa name, which meant “he who walks with his hat under his arm.”

            Humphrey always was a great optimist and worked exceedingly hard on his farm. The soil was heavy and the present deep-ploughing facility would have made things much easier for him. His aim in life at this time was to make Hern a productive farm for his son Peter, whom he adored. He was able to increase his acreage by acquiring an adjoining property owned by Jimmy Wright, as well as another property nearby. When his son Peter, a major in the British Army with a Military Cross decoration at the very young age of 24 was killed in action in Italy in 1944 his purpose in life received a mortal blow and the Osmond family was devastated. Their daughter Sita Palmer tells of the wonderful comfort Peter Bunton was to Humphrey and Mabel at this time. He and their Peter had been very close, growing up together. Peter Bunton suffered his own personal loss when his brother John was killed, and then his friend Peter Osmond. These tragedies drew him even closer to the Osmond family and he was a great comfort and companion to Humphrey and Mabel in their old age. Some years after Humphrey sold his farm and retired to a house in Port Elizabeth. He died in 1953. An honest, intelligent and dignified gentleman, Humphrey was greatly respected by all who knew him.

            Peter Osmond left school as World War II started at the end of 1939. He was with the 3^rd South African Armoured Car division in Abyssinia and the Western Desert in North Africa. He was promoted to Captain at the age of 22 and was prominent in the relief of Tobruk in 1941. He was mentioned in dispatches. Later, after a month’s home leave he was seconded to the British Army, the Imperial Army Recce Regiment. He was promoted to major. He was severely wounded at Gemmono in Northern Italy and died on 7^th September 1944. His colonel wrote that he was the finest soldier he had met in all his years of soldiering. Peter Bunton believes that many facets of Valley life would have been enriched had he returned to the farm after the war. He would no doubt have become a keen Polo player with his well-schooled string of ponies kept in excellent condition with the help of his father Humphrey’s long experience with horses.

                       

By Johnny Briggs

September 2000