Post by Mal on Oct 26, 2008 5:28:13 GMT -5
I decided to add to this useful form with a bit about the Cornish in South Africa.
As people here will probably know the wealth of South Africa was built on mining, and a lot of its strife as well! The gold mines on the rand were mined originally by Cornishmen (amongst others) and a native labour force. For anyone partciularly interested in this subject there is a good book I have consulted and found on internet too.
Cornish immigrants to South Africa : the Cousin Jacks' contribution to the development of mining and commerce, 1820-1920
by G B Dickason: Cape Town : A.A. Balkema, 1978. ISBN: 0869611038 : 9780869611036:
The Cornish miners were not just involved in gold and diamonds and most people think, in fact South Africa's coal mining was also important and many "cousin" Welshmen went to the mines, for obvious reasons.
There is an area of Johannesburg known as New Redruth and also an area of Soweto, Baragweneth that testify to their Cornish origins in name.
These miners were single men, and men being men mixed often with native women. I have met quite a few South Africans of mixed race origins with Cornish surnames, a friend of mine was Tregowning- pronounced "tree-gahn-ung" with a strong S.A. accent!
The Cornishmen were also an important part in the socio-economic history of South Africa too, hence the following article.
www.psa.ac.uk/Publications/psd/1998/payton.htm
South Africa:
In 1895 the Radical Liberal who had won Camborne in 1886 lost his seat to a Liberal Unionist candidate, part of the trend sketched above. However, his term of office was also relatively short, with Liberal Unionist support eroded swiftly as a result -- ironically -- of Imperial policy with regard to South Africa. Although seen hitherto as supportive of Cornish Imperial interests, Liberal Unionist policy on South Africa -- culminating as it did in the Boer War -- was viewed with alarm in Cornwall. With the continuing depression of the tin mining industry in the late nineteenth century, a great many Cornish miners had been drawn to the gold and diamond fields of South Africa. Unlike the 'permanent colonists' of earlier times, such as those who had taken their families to settle in Australia, many of these emigrant Cousin Jacks viewed their sojourn in South Africa as only temporary, leaving their wives, children, parents and other dependants at home in Cornwall. In this way, an informal welfare system, with an attendant 'dependency culture', was created in the Cornish mining districts, with families increasingly reliant on monies earned abroad and sent home. By the end of the century the situation had become stark, the arrival of the 'African Mail' a major event in Camborne, Redruth and the other depressed mining towns. In September 1898, for example, the West Briton noted that:
Saturday morning last saw the arrival of the African mail - ..... - the main delivery for the month from Johannesburg, Kimberley & C. The heavy mail was promptly dispatched from the post-office, and it was not long before the banks of the town were busy cashing drafts. With such an influx of money into the town a busy Saturday market was an assured thing, and so it turned out. 16
In January 1902 the Cornubian newspaper, published in Redruth, summed up the situation succinctly: 'We are living on South Africa'. 17 In 1905 it was estimated that there were some 7,000 Cornish miners on the Rand, earning per annum something like £300 each -- if the cost of living accounted for perhaps half their wages, then as much as one million pounds a year was being sent back to Cornwall. In such a climate, it was inevitable that any hint of difficulty in South Africa would create apprehension in Cornwall. Certainly, there was a vocal Cornish anti-war faction (the 'pro-Boers'), and in the Election of 1900 its spokesman, W.S. Caine, defeated the Liberal Unionist incumbent in the Camborne seat. As Dawe has noted, 'On the political front Cornwall voted against the national tide when the Liberal Unionist lost to the Liberal Radical, who was a pro-Boer'. 18 As before the attitudes of the emigrant Cornish were a factor in this outcome, with Caine claiming that 'out of 700 Cornish miners home from South Africa, at least 650 had voted for him'. 19 Significantly, the pro-Boer sympathies of the Cornish were not reciprocated by the Boers themselves, the Cornish not only despised as 'Uitlanders' but also disliked because of their restrictive practices in the South African mining industry where Cornish bosses ensured that the best jobs and key positions were given to Cousin Jacks. Added to this was resentment at the continual flow of wealth from the Rand to Cornwall, with Botha declaring that 'It is time South Africa began to raise her own skilled workers . . . in this vast amply rich country with its army of imported artisans, with its perpetual stream of postal orders flowing to Cornwall'. 20
In the aftermath of the Boer War, with the Tory-Liberal Unionist alliance still in power in Westminster, South African policy continued to cause disquiet in Cornwall. This time the bone of contention was 'Chinese Slavery', the plan to bring out 60,000 Chinese workers in a bid to quickly restore South Africa's mining output to pre-war levels. Although Cornish opinion supported the rapid restoration of the South African mining industry, the prospect of a flood of 'coolies' taking 'Cornish jobs' (and thus wages destined for Cornwall) was too much to bear. The resultant hostility to the Chinese was given a Christian and Radical tinge through the argument, widely articulated in Cornwall, that the Chinese were being coerced into going to South Africa where they would receive only nominal remuneration. This view was taken up by the Liberal Party on the eve of the 1906 General Election. The Cornubian thundered: 'Will you vote for a Government that has ruined South Africa for the Cornish miner? Will you vote for Chinese labour? If it be not a kind of slavery, what is it?' 21 In the ensuing 'Liberal Landslide' election, the Liberal Unionists were trounced in Cornwall, with every Cornish seat falling to the Liberals. And the new Liberal Government did indeed put a stop to 'Chinese Slavery'.
O'okiep
www.okiep.co.za/attractions.htm
Has some photos and information on Cornish copper mining history in the area.
My own family in South Africa
In my own family there was a connection with South Africa. My Great-Great Grandfather John Sampson Davies was a blacksmith, he had the old forge in Saint Erth, that is now "Anvil House" and used by a wood-turner I beleive. I am glad the smithy has not been forgotten. With the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg area) he also went to South Africa. Family legend has it that he declared gold-prospecting to be a "fool's game"- for more men were ruined than ever became rich! Being a blacksmith he knew that the miner's needed the basic implements of picks, shovels, buckets, chains and so on and therefore set up a foundry. This was were his fortune was made. During the Boer War the Boers blew up his factory, and then when he rode out to see the damage they blew his house up- afterall he was an "uitlander" in Kruger's Republic. It is no surprise that he did not hold a high opinion of the Boers!
Anyway, there are all sorts of stories suggesting that he knew Cecil Rhodes himself and all that but these are unconfirmed.
In Johannesburg, Doornfontein area near to Ellis Park Stadium (note the name), there is a Davies Street. No one is sure as to why it is named Davies Street, the suggestions are that either a Cornish mine engineer Henry Davies or a John Davies gave their name to the street. The coincidence is that this is more or less where John Sampson Davies had his foundry.
Once his fortune was made he returned to Cornwall and lived out his days until the 1930's in Saint Erth.
As people here will probably know the wealth of South Africa was built on mining, and a lot of its strife as well! The gold mines on the rand were mined originally by Cornishmen (amongst others) and a native labour force. For anyone partciularly interested in this subject there is a good book I have consulted and found on internet too.
Cornish immigrants to South Africa : the Cousin Jacks' contribution to the development of mining and commerce, 1820-1920
by G B Dickason: Cape Town : A.A. Balkema, 1978. ISBN: 0869611038 : 9780869611036:
The Cornish miners were not just involved in gold and diamonds and most people think, in fact South Africa's coal mining was also important and many "cousin" Welshmen went to the mines, for obvious reasons.
There is an area of Johannesburg known as New Redruth and also an area of Soweto, Baragweneth that testify to their Cornish origins in name.
These miners were single men, and men being men mixed often with native women. I have met quite a few South Africans of mixed race origins with Cornish surnames, a friend of mine was Tregowning- pronounced "tree-gahn-ung" with a strong S.A. accent!
The Cornishmen were also an important part in the socio-economic history of South Africa too, hence the following article.
www.psa.ac.uk/Publications/psd/1998/payton.htm
South Africa:
In 1895 the Radical Liberal who had won Camborne in 1886 lost his seat to a Liberal Unionist candidate, part of the trend sketched above. However, his term of office was also relatively short, with Liberal Unionist support eroded swiftly as a result -- ironically -- of Imperial policy with regard to South Africa. Although seen hitherto as supportive of Cornish Imperial interests, Liberal Unionist policy on South Africa -- culminating as it did in the Boer War -- was viewed with alarm in Cornwall. With the continuing depression of the tin mining industry in the late nineteenth century, a great many Cornish miners had been drawn to the gold and diamond fields of South Africa. Unlike the 'permanent colonists' of earlier times, such as those who had taken their families to settle in Australia, many of these emigrant Cousin Jacks viewed their sojourn in South Africa as only temporary, leaving their wives, children, parents and other dependants at home in Cornwall. In this way, an informal welfare system, with an attendant 'dependency culture', was created in the Cornish mining districts, with families increasingly reliant on monies earned abroad and sent home. By the end of the century the situation had become stark, the arrival of the 'African Mail' a major event in Camborne, Redruth and the other depressed mining towns. In September 1898, for example, the West Briton noted that:
Saturday morning last saw the arrival of the African mail - ..... - the main delivery for the month from Johannesburg, Kimberley & C. The heavy mail was promptly dispatched from the post-office, and it was not long before the banks of the town were busy cashing drafts. With such an influx of money into the town a busy Saturday market was an assured thing, and so it turned out. 16
In January 1902 the Cornubian newspaper, published in Redruth, summed up the situation succinctly: 'We are living on South Africa'. 17 In 1905 it was estimated that there were some 7,000 Cornish miners on the Rand, earning per annum something like £300 each -- if the cost of living accounted for perhaps half their wages, then as much as one million pounds a year was being sent back to Cornwall. In such a climate, it was inevitable that any hint of difficulty in South Africa would create apprehension in Cornwall. Certainly, there was a vocal Cornish anti-war faction (the 'pro-Boers'), and in the Election of 1900 its spokesman, W.S. Caine, defeated the Liberal Unionist incumbent in the Camborne seat. As Dawe has noted, 'On the political front Cornwall voted against the national tide when the Liberal Unionist lost to the Liberal Radical, who was a pro-Boer'. 18 As before the attitudes of the emigrant Cornish were a factor in this outcome, with Caine claiming that 'out of 700 Cornish miners home from South Africa, at least 650 had voted for him'. 19 Significantly, the pro-Boer sympathies of the Cornish were not reciprocated by the Boers themselves, the Cornish not only despised as 'Uitlanders' but also disliked because of their restrictive practices in the South African mining industry where Cornish bosses ensured that the best jobs and key positions were given to Cousin Jacks. Added to this was resentment at the continual flow of wealth from the Rand to Cornwall, with Botha declaring that 'It is time South Africa began to raise her own skilled workers . . . in this vast amply rich country with its army of imported artisans, with its perpetual stream of postal orders flowing to Cornwall'. 20
In the aftermath of the Boer War, with the Tory-Liberal Unionist alliance still in power in Westminster, South African policy continued to cause disquiet in Cornwall. This time the bone of contention was 'Chinese Slavery', the plan to bring out 60,000 Chinese workers in a bid to quickly restore South Africa's mining output to pre-war levels. Although Cornish opinion supported the rapid restoration of the South African mining industry, the prospect of a flood of 'coolies' taking 'Cornish jobs' (and thus wages destined for Cornwall) was too much to bear. The resultant hostility to the Chinese was given a Christian and Radical tinge through the argument, widely articulated in Cornwall, that the Chinese were being coerced into going to South Africa where they would receive only nominal remuneration. This view was taken up by the Liberal Party on the eve of the 1906 General Election. The Cornubian thundered: 'Will you vote for a Government that has ruined South Africa for the Cornish miner? Will you vote for Chinese labour? If it be not a kind of slavery, what is it?' 21 In the ensuing 'Liberal Landslide' election, the Liberal Unionists were trounced in Cornwall, with every Cornish seat falling to the Liberals. And the new Liberal Government did indeed put a stop to 'Chinese Slavery'.
O'okiep
www.okiep.co.za/attractions.htm
Has some photos and information on Cornish copper mining history in the area.
My own family in South Africa
In my own family there was a connection with South Africa. My Great-Great Grandfather John Sampson Davies was a blacksmith, he had the old forge in Saint Erth, that is now "Anvil House" and used by a wood-turner I beleive. I am glad the smithy has not been forgotten. With the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg area) he also went to South Africa. Family legend has it that he declared gold-prospecting to be a "fool's game"- for more men were ruined than ever became rich! Being a blacksmith he knew that the miner's needed the basic implements of picks, shovels, buckets, chains and so on and therefore set up a foundry. This was were his fortune was made. During the Boer War the Boers blew up his factory, and then when he rode out to see the damage they blew his house up- afterall he was an "uitlander" in Kruger's Republic. It is no surprise that he did not hold a high opinion of the Boers!
Anyway, there are all sorts of stories suggesting that he knew Cecil Rhodes himself and all that but these are unconfirmed. In Johannesburg, Doornfontein area near to Ellis Park Stadium (note the name), there is a Davies Street. No one is sure as to why it is named Davies Street, the suggestions are that either a Cornish mine engineer Henry Davies or a John Davies gave their name to the street. The coincidence is that this is more or less where John Sampson Davies had his foundry.
Once his fortune was made he returned to Cornwall and lived out his days until the 1930's in Saint Erth.
