Constance Marion Currie

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Notes:

graveyard listing for St. Jame's Anglican Church, Southwell:

[Right side]:

In Loving memory of
CONSTANCE MARION FORD
(Born CURRY) [sic]
Beloved Wife of Fred Ford
Died 11th July 1923
Aged 36 years & 10 months
etc.

[Left side]:

And
FREDERICK
JOHN FORD
Born 17th Nov 1874
Died 5th June 1946
(Both of Paardekraal)

Constance married Frederick John Ford on 3 Apr 1907 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Frederick (son of John Ford and Eliza Gray) was born on 17 Nov 1874; died on 5 Jun 1946 in Paardekraal farm, Southwell, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Married, - On April 3rd, 1907, at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George, Grahamstown, by Rev. Canon Mullins, Frederick John, youngest son of the late John Ford, of Paardekraal, Albany, to Constance Marion, eldest daughter of Major W. L. Currie, C. M. G., of Highlands."
Grahamstown Journal 4.4.1907 p2 c4

WEDDING
FORD - CURRIE
Yesterday afternoon the Cathedral was the scene of a very pleasing function, the nuptials of Mr. Frederick John Ford, son of the late Mr. John Ford of Paardekraal, to Miss Constance Marion Currie, eldest daughter of Major W. L. Currie, C. M. G., of Highlands. Both the bride and the bridegroom belong to well-known families in the district, and the sacred edifice was well filled with friends and well-wishers. Punctually at 3 'o clock the bride entered the Cathedral escorted by her father, Major Currie, and attended by three maids, passed up the aisle to the Chancel, where the bridegroom, attended by his bestman, Mr. Bret Ford, was in waiting, the organist Mr. W. Deane playing Handel's Wedding March. Rev. Canon Mullins conducted the ceremony, which included the singing of the hymns "How welcome was the call," and " O Perfect Love, all human thought transcending".
After the service the newly-married couple adjourned to the Chapter House, where the registers were signed, and a few words of advice given by the officiating clergymen, meanwhile the organist playing Mendelsohn's Wedding March, after which they left the Cathedral, amidst showers of confetti, for Egerton, West Hill, the residence of Mrs. Walter Currie, the bride's Aunt, where the reception was held.
The bride's dress, which was made in England, was of white satin, trimmed with lace. She wore the regulation wreath, and her mother's embroidered tuile veil, and carried a beautiful bouquet.
The bridesmaids were Miss Smith, cousin of the bride, Miss Nellie Currie, sister of the bride, and Miss Nora Ford, niece of the bridegroom. They were charmingly attired in gowns of soft white silk, white hats trimmed with chiffon and violets, and carried bouquets. The former wore an exquisite brooch, and the two latter attractive chains and pendants, the gifts of the bridegroom.
At the reception, which was well attended, the numerous handsome and costly presents were on view, and were much admired. The usual toasts were honoured, Canon Mullins proposing that of the bride and bridegroom, and canon Turpin that of the bride's parents, which were replied to by Mr. F. J. Ford and Major Currie respectively. many telegrams of congratulations were read from all over the country, and the gusets vied with each other in felicitating the happy couple. After the reception Mr. and Mrs. Ford left for a drive in the neighbourhood, prior to entertaining for East London, where the honeymoon will be spent. The bride's going-away dress was of white serge trimmed with white silk braid and hat of pail (sic) pink chiffon. In common with the large circle of their friends we offer the newly-wedded pair our sincere good wishes for their future welfare.
The bride-cake it may be mentioned, was a work of art, and was supplied by the local firm Messrs, H. Fitchat & Co.
Grahamstown Journal 4.4.1907 p5 c5

1. Harold John Ford was born on 28 Dec 1907; died on 21 Oct 1990.
2. Mary Noreen Ford was born on 6 Dec 1909; died on 20 Aug 1983.
3. Frederick Douglas Ford was born on 27 Feb 1923; died on 24 Mar 1991.

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Notes:

Served in Nesbitt's Horse during the Anglo-Boer War

William L. Currie (Major)
Reg. No. 27
Age: 43
Trade: Civil Service
Previous Service: Brokers Robers 77-78
Address: Grahamstown
Enlisted: Grahamstown 8 January 1900

William married Ann Currie on 14 Jul 1880 in St Bartholomew's Church, Market St, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Ann (daughter of Henry Frederick Currie and Nellie Johanna Bowker) was born on 23 Dec 1859 in 'Waterval', Albany District, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was christened on 11 Jan 1860 in Grahamstown Cathedral (St Michael and St George), Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 3 Mar 1928 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Grahamstown Cemetery (Old), Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Notes:

She lived in Hartfield Farm, Cathcart, Cape Province, Union of South Africa.

DEATH NOTICE:
MOOC 6/9/
Name of Deceased: Ann CURRIE
Place of Birth: Grahamstown, Cape of Good Hope
Names of Parents of the Deceased: Father: Henry CURRIE
Mother: Nellie BOWKER
Age of the Deceased: 68 years (b 1860)
Ordinary Place of Residence: Hartfield, Cathcart
Married
Name of Surviving Spouse: Walter Leopold CURRIE
Place of Last Marriage: Grahamstown 14 July 1880
Date of Death: 3 March 1928
Place of Death: Nursing Home, Grahamstown
Names of Children and whether Major or Minor:
Reginald Carlisle CURRIE
Walter John CURRIE
Helen Louise CURRIE married CLARKE

Signed: William L. Currie Surviving Spouse

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Notes:

Grahamstown Journal:
Saturday 26 February 1848

Married at Graham’s Town on Wednesday last, Joseph, second son of the late Walter CURRIE Esq. JP of Bathurst, to Frances Jemima, eldest daughter of John CARLISLE Esq of Belmont.

Grahamstown Journal of 7.6.1862 p1 c 8:
"Died - At Grahamstown, on 3rd June 1862, Mr. Joseph Currie, aged 41 years and 2 months"

Burials in the Parish of St. Bartholomew’s, Graham’s Town in the Division of Albany in the Year 1862
Entry No. Name Abode When Buried Age By whom the Ceremony was performed
1. Joseph Currie Graham’s Town June 6 41 Yrs N. J. Merriman




Buried:
CORY LIBRARY – MS 17775

Joseph married Frances Jemima Carlisle on 23 Feb 1848 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Frances (daughter of John Carlisle, 1820 Settler and Catherine Philipps, 1820 Settler) was born in 1829 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 24 Oct 1920 in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Name: Henry Frederick Currie

Notes:

"We regret to announce that Mr. H. F. Currie, late of the Fish River Randt, and the youngest brother of Sir Walter Currie, died yesterday afternoon at the Masonic Hotel. The deceased gentleman had only been seized with illness a few days ago. The funeral took place this afternoon, when a large number of mourners followed, among the rest being the members of the Masonic lodges."
Grahamstown Journal 8.10.1879 p1 c5

Henry married Nellie Johanna Bowker on 2 Nov 1858 in St George, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Nellie (daughter of William Monkhouse Bowker, 1820 Settler and Hester Susannah Oosthuisen) was born on 22 Oct 1841 in 'Elands Kop', Koonap River, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 6 Oct 1929 in Bushnek farm, Adelaide, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Adelaide, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Notes:

DEATH NOTICE:
6/9/3609 R24215
Name of Deceased: Nelly Johanna BOWKER
Place of Birth: 'Thorn Kloof', Bowden, Cape of Good Hope
Names of Parentsof the Deceased: Father: William BOWKER
Mother: Hester BOWKER
Age of Deceased: 88 years 7months
Condition in Life: Farmer
Ordinary Place of Residence: 'Groenfontein', Albany, Cape Province
Widow
Name of Pre-deceased Spouse: Henry Frederick CURRIE Died about 1879
Date of Death: 6 October 1929
Place of Death: 'Bush Nek', Fort Beaufort, Cape Province
Names of Children and whether Major or Minor:
Ann CURRIE Died before 1929
William Cole CURRIE Died before 1929
Henry Miles Bowker CURRIE Died before 1929
Nelly Hester CURRIE Married to Binney
Ina Florence CURRIE Married to LEX and to HILL
Walter Clement Leopold CURRIE
Helen Mary CURRIE Married to EMMS
Movable Property? Yes
Signed by W.C.L CURRIE Son

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 173
• Occupation: Purser in Royal Navy; Justice of the Peace in Bathurst.
• Settler: 12 Feb 1820, The Downs, Deal, Kent, England

Notes:

It is our painful duty to record this week the death of W. CURRIE, Esq., of Bathurst where he had for many years sustained the office of stipendiary justice of the peace, with the highest credit to himself, and advantage to the public service. Perhaps there was none amongst the British settlers of 1820, who stood higher in the public esteem for inflexible integrity of character and singleness of purpose, than the deceased; added to which he was alike remarkable for intelligence, for industry, and for an incessant anxiety to improve the country of his adoption. To a new settlement such an individual is peculiarly valuable; and hence the loss sustained by the death of MR. CURRIE, must be viewed as a severe and trying public misfortune.
This calamitous event has happened also at a period when his moral weight in the scale of society would have been of essential importance. He had had great opportunities of knowing, and of justly appreciating the Kafir character, as well of the motives of those who have stood forth as their defenders, and as the accusers of the British immigrants and colonists in general. With singular force, manliness, and effect, has he often stood forth in opposition to those mischievous principles and false notions, which, in spite of this opposition, and the warnings given from time to time by him and a few others, have ultimately ended in the ruin of one of the most promising settlements ever formed by the hand of industry. To this fatal catastrophe may be traced the death of this upright and valuable magistrate. When the neighbouring barbarians burst into the colony, all the inhabitants of lower Albany who escaped fled to Bathurst; and when there congregated, the whole presented such a scene of wrechedness and woe, - whilst the prospect was so gloomy, that Mr. C. appears to have sunk under the painful conflicts of which his mind was called to endure at this trying crisis. From this state of mental depression he never rallied. All hope of amelioration, or of raising the settlement to its former state of enviable prosperity, seems to have been abandoned by him; and when labouring under this depression of spirits, with the mind in a state of feverish excitement, to which he was peculiarly exposed by his public duties, he was attacked by dysentry and fever: and though every thing was done for him which skill could suggest, yet nothing afforded him any sensible relief, and on Friday last his mortal career terminated at the early age of 52 years; leaving an affectionate wife and large family to deplore the loss of a most amiable husband and parent - and society, of a tried and truly valuable member.
Grahamstown Journal 28.7.1836 p2 c2


Settler:
Willson's party on the La Belle Alliance

Walter married Ann Lowe, 1820 Settler in 1814 in Jersey, Channel Islands. Ann (daughter of John Lowe) was born in 1794 in Jersey, Channel Islands; died on 22 Sep 1858 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 555
• Reference Number: KH9M-VV7
• Settler: 12 Feb 1820, The Downs, Deal, Kent, England

Notes:

"Died on the 22nd September, at her son's residence, Oatlands, Graham's Town, Ann, relict of the late Walter Currie, Esq., R.N., aged 64 years."
Grahamstown Journal, 25.9.1858 p4 c8


Settler:
Willson's party on the La Belle Alliance

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 1197
• Religion: the Protestant Church
• Residence: Belmont, Leek (nr), Staffordshire, England
• Residence: Belmont farm, Grahamstown district, Eastern Cape, South Africa
• Settler: 3 Dec 1819, Gravesend, Kent, England
• Occupation: 1829, Belmont farm, Grahamstown district, Eastern Cape, South Africa; an Under Sherriff
• Occupation: 1838, Glencliffe; an Agriculturist

Notes:

John was the head of CARLISLE's party which included 10 young Staffordshire farmers for whom John CARLISLE paid a deposit of £120. The Chapman carried only two parties - the very large Bailie party and the small Carlisle party.
John and Frederick CARLISLE were granted 1268 acres, situated in a valley about four miles from Grahamstown. This they called Belmont in memory of their home near Ipstones in Staffordshire where the Carlisle family lived on an estate belonging to the Sneyd family. As the brothers were made the sole proprietors of their grant of land, it is assumed that since they had paid all the immigration fees, that the ten young Staffordshire farmers had waived their grant of 100 acres each and had probably indentured themselves for a period.

John was appointed first Deputy Sheriff of Albany in 1828, which position he held until his brother returned from England. John also acquired Frederick's interest in Belmont, and in 1834 received a further grant of 4095 acres of land.

GRAHAMSTOWN JOURNAL, Saturday 19 February 1848

In the Supreme Court of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope
Cape Town, the 18th day of December 1848 [sic]
John CARLISLE Applicant v Thomas ROBSON Respondent
Upon motion this day made to this Court by Mr. J.W.EBDEN it was prayed on the affidavit of the said John CARLISLE, now produced and read, for an interdict in order to restrain Thos. ROBSON, the above respondent, from removing, selling or alienating any of the Goods, and any of the Sheep or other animals, as well those belonging to the applicant John CARLISLE as those belonging to the said respondent, or any other person, being upon a certain Farm or Place situate in the division of Somerset, called Glen Cliff, the property of the said applicant, until the said respondent shall have paid the rent due by the said respondent to the said applicant, under and by virtue of a certain contract of lease executed by and between the said applicant and respondent, dated the 21st day of February 1844 or thereabouts, and done and performed all matters and things which ought by him to be done and performed under the said contract.
Whereupon it is ordered that the said interdict be and the same is hereby granted as prayed to continue in force until the further order of the court upon cause shown.
By order of the court
T.H.BOWLES
Registrar of the Supreme Court

GRAHAMSTOWN JOURNAL
Journal of 13.12.1859 p2 c4
OBITUARY. - Mr. John Carlisle, aged 62. Deceased was the son of a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, arrived in this colony in 1820, and was located near Grahamstown.



Settler:
Carlisle's party on the Chapman

John married Catherine Philipps, 1820 Settler on 19 Jul 1826 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Catherine (daughter of Thomas Philipps, 1820 Settler and Charlotte Harriet Arboin, 1820 Settler) was born in 1803 in England; died on 18 Jun 1841 in Belmont farm, Grahamstown district, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 621
• Name: Catharine Philipps 1820
• Religion: the Protestant Church
• Settler: 10 Jan 1820, Bristol, Somerset, England

Notes:

Issue 4 sons, 2 daughters
~
Extract from the Grahamstown Journal.of June 1841
Died at Belmont on the 18th inst after a short illness, Catherine the Wife
of John CARLISLE Esq. and eldest daughter of Thomas PHILIPPS Esq.

Settler:
Philipps' party on the Kennersley Castle

Notes:

Married:
Description: Rev Thomas Ireland

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 111
• Baptism: 4 Oct 1813, Parish Church of Saint Mary, Almer, Dorset, England
• Residence: 1816, Manor Farm, South Newton, Wiltshire, England
• Settler: 7 Jan 1820, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
• Residence: 25 Jun 1820, Olive Burn farm, Kleinemonde, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Notes:

William and his younger brother, Miles Brabbin Bowker, showed their quick assimilation to a South African way of life - they were young men in their late teens when they made the voyage on the 'Weymouth' - by marrying Ooosthuizen sisters, daughters of a friendly Dutch wagoner who transported the Bowker family to their first farm 'Oliveburn' which was soon rejected for 'Tharfield'. This is regarded as the original Bowker homestead in South Africa.
Tharfield', steeped in tradition now belongs to Mr. Thomas Guard Webb of Bathurst. The house in which the Webbs live was built in 1835, and not much has been changed since then as it was built in stone. The farm is situated in the undulating countryside between the Riet and Kleinmond Rivers, near the coast. The Webb family acquired it in 1925. It is at 'Tharfield' that Miles Bowker and his wife are buried. The small cemetery is still there.

He was also a member of the 1828 campaign against the M'fecani. He was Commandant, Corps of Guides in the war of 1834-1835, being mentioned in despatches and appointed Commisioner for Native Locations. He was Commandant, Thorn Kloof Station in the war of 1846-1847 and Field-Commandant, Somerset Volunteers in that of 1850-1853. He was Field-Cornet , North Fish River in 1858 and Member of the House of Assembly from 1864 to 1865.
~~
Grahamstown Journal, Saturday 12 February 1853

A DANGEROUS PICNIC

A party of juveniles, about 50 in number, attended by 10 gentlemen, went out on a picnic excursion to the waterfall at Mr. HART’s house at Glen Avon. Tho of the gentlemen, Messrs. W. BOWKER and R. HART, having their guns with them ,proposed going a little further up the kloof to look for a bush buck, but they had gone only a few yards when they found the fresh spoor of Kafir.
Following it in silence for some distance they saw a Kafir seated about 40 yards from them, occupied in brushing the flies off his face. BOWKER was going to shoot him at once but HART persuaded him to try and get a little nearer, and in doing so the Kafir caught sight of them and instantly bolted.
At this moment perceiving that there were two Kaffirs, both armed with guns, BOWKER fired, and heard one of them fall heavily to the ground, while HART fired and wounded the other. On reaching the spot where the man had fallen they found that he had got up and made off. After following his spoor a short distance, HART turned into a hole under the krantz, where the Kaffirs had made an almost inaccessable lurking place by piling up immense quantities of wood; only one person could get in at a time, and then had to climb up a very steep place, so that two or three fellows could have defended this stronghold against a host. Nothing daunted by his surprise at unexpectedly finding such a place close to his father’s homestead, HART climbed the steep pathway which terminated in a sort of cave, and there discovered, comfortably wrapped up in his kaross and fast asleep, a huge Kafir, whom he instantly shot dead. We presume this picnic party terminated rather abruptly, and the following day a different party visited the spot, and led by BOWKER and HART they followed the blood spoor of the wounded men for about 3 miles, to a place where an ox had been killed by them, but could not trace it any further. The whole number of Kaffirs seen on the previous day amounted to six, whereof two were wounded and one killed. We much require a rural police to assist in routing out such nests of thieves and murderers.
~~
Lost, found and installed, . . . at last
The history of the four magnificent stained glass windows recently installed in St David's Church, Bushman's River, reads like a comedy of errors, writes Peter Bowen.
Well over a hundred years old, the windows were originally built into the walls of St Michael and All Angels chapel, a family church on the farm Middleton, near Carlisle Bridge. Mrs Hessie Bowker had donated one window in memory of her husband William Monkhouse Bowker, and another in memory of Bourchier Bowker, who had supervised the erection of the church. Early in the 1950s the church began slowly to disintegrate, and the windows were removed and stored over the years in a variety of "places of safety". Well-known Carlisle Bridge farmer, the late Beresford Manning, moved to Bushman's River where he became, at various times, Chapel-warden and Lay Minister. Remembering the lovely windows and, judging the East Window at St David's to be rather plain, he approached the Bowker family who were only too pleased to donate the windows to a "living church". Time had not been kind to the windows and they were taken to a lady in PE who claimed to be an expert restorer of stained glass.
from :- http://www.pechurchnet.co.za/.
~~

Grahamstown Journal 7 February 1876:
DIED at Thorn Kloof, District of Albany, on 3rd February 1876, William Monkhouse BOWKER Esquire JP, in the 73rd year of his age.
Grahamstown Journal 11 February 1876:
In the death of Wm. Mitford [sic] BOWKER mentioned in a recent issue, the colony has lost one of its most enterprising farmers, enthusiastic colonists and valuable citizens. Coming to this Colony at an early age as one of a large family of sons, he and his “band of brothers” soon found that in a new country, occupied by a people with little respect for law, their own right arm was necessary in order to help them along in the difficult path they had to tread. Yet in no case has one of this family been charged with abuse of power or ill-treatment of Native servants, of whom this gentleman to the last employed so many, who now regard his loss as that of a parent. The name of Mr. BOWKER has too often “come to the front” to need that the public be told how he served the country of his adoption. As early as 1828 he formed one of the band of colonists who accompanied Col. SOMERSET (then Captain) on the “Fetcani Commando” which was called out for the punishment of the Pondo Tribes, as they are now called, for aggression on our later most formidable enemy, the Gaikas. Later on he took part in the famous Kno Commando. In 1830 he figured in the Corps of Guides, a body of young colonists formed by the late Sir Harry SMITH, and during the whole of that war he did hard and useful service to the colony. At the close of that war, changing his residence from Albany and his pursuits from agriculture to sheep-farming on the Fish River Randt, he there patiently endured all the loss resulting from the system of plunder carried on by the Kaffirs, which culminated in the disastrous war of 1846. While taking no very conspicuous part in the commando, he with a number of his brothers and neighbouring farmers had to resist some furious onslaughts from large bands of Kafirs determined upon getting possession of the fine herds of cattle of these colonists. Many of these combats, about which little was publicly said, were quite as violent as many engagements fought by general officers, and therefore emblazoned in General Orders. In all these, and subsequent similar larger engagements, his bravery and coolness were conspicuous. Courage was a family trait of the BOWKERs. Weary of this harassing strife, the close of this war found him a very considerably impoverished man, longing only for rest and quiet, that he might devote himself to the improvement of his family growing up around him. But these hopes were not to be realised yet. Rumours of war again were heard, and only two years after the close of the so-called war of 1846, the famous rebellion and general war of 1850 burst upon this unhappy colony. Mr. BOWKER, with PRINGLE, Walter CURRIE, DELPORT, ZIERVOGEL and others appointed Commandants for their various divisions, soon took the field, and after some slight skirmishing, joined in the difficult assault on Fort Armstrong. There again Mr. BOWKER gained credit for bravery and judgement, and, with the other chiefs, was greatly instrumental in the success of the undertaking. During the whole of this protracted war and long absence from his family and flocks, which trekked in any direction promising safety and pasture, he suffered heavy losses. Yet under all these sufferings he never wavered in his conviction that in spite of bad government and ill-treatment, the colonists would yet be victorious, nor ever seriously thought of abandoning the land of his adoption. A more settled and peaceable condition of things prevailing, with prosperity restored, and his family settled around him, he accepted a requisition to fill one of the seats for Albany in the House of Assembly. But a very few sessions convinced him that his tastes and ability lay in other than a legislative direction; nor could he brook the injustice done to the East by the abuse of power held by the West. He therefore resigned his seat and retired into domestic life, where, in pursuit of his quiet peaceable avocation, he spent the remainder of a long and useful life, dispensing hospitality freely to all – black and white alike sharing in the bounty of his hand. His spare hours were often devoted to the production of letters on general matters. These, the outcome of the feeling operating on his mind at the time, sounded like the views of one out of harmony with his fellow man, but in reality were far from being the result of his calm judgement or the feelings of his heart, which was kindness itself. Strongly attached to the English Church, of which he was a member, he yet possessed the large-heartedness which enabled him to associate freely with members, clerical and lay, of all churches, and, by support and sympathy, showed the real interest he felt in all their work. He died at his residence on the 3rd inst, aged 72 years, loved and lamented by all who knew him, as a firm friend, a loving parent, and a good citizen; and, in losing him, the colony has lost one of its most useful men.

from:British South Africa
A History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope from its Conquest 1795 to the Settlement of Albany by the British Emigration of 1819 [A.D. 1795 - 1825] WITH NOTICES OF SOME OF THE BRITISH SETTLERS OF 1820
BY
COLIN TURING CAMPBELL [Residient at Graham's Town, 1845-1871]:-
William Monkhouse Bowker, J. P., M.L.A., Commandant of Burghers, Eastern District, served in the Fikani Expedition in 1828, was Commandant of the Bathurst Corp of Guides during the war of 1835-36, served in the Kei patrol under Sir Benjamin D'Urban, and through the war of 1846-47. He was the first to raise the Somerset Volunteers in the war of 1851-52, and go to the rescue of families in the Winterberg, and was in command of burghers at the battle of Balfour and taking of Fort Armstrong.


Baptism:
Parish of Almer
BAPTISMS 1731 - 1879
These records have been transcribed from the Bishop's Transcripts.

Settler:
Bowker's Party on the Weymouth

Died:
DEATH NOTICE:
MOOC6/9/134 R2591
Name of Deceased: William Monkhouse BOWKER
Place of Birth: England
Parents of Deceased: Miles BOWKER
Anna Maria BOWKER
Age at Death: 73 years
Married
Date of Death: 3rd February 1876
Place of Death: 'Tharkloof', Albany, Cape of Good Hope
Names of Children:
Miles Robert BOWKER
Nellie Johanna CURRIE
Anna Maria CLOETE
Mary Elizabeth MORTON
Wilhelmina CURRIE
Hester Francina BOWKER Minor
Signed by M.R. BOWKER

William married Hester Susannah Oosthuisen on 9 Sep 1836 in United Church of England and Ireland, Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Hester was born on 4 Jul 1816 in 'Rietvlei', Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 6 Aug 1911 in Thorn Kloof, Albany, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Aug 1911 in Thorn Kloof, Albany, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Hessie lived for 35 years after the death of her husband. She had her own cart and horses and would visit neighbours and even go into Grahamstown about 65 km away. Her mother walked behind the wagon when her husband trekked into Natal. She drove her favourite flock of geese all the way.



Died:
DEATH NOTICE:
MOOC 6/9/673 R2220
Name of Deceased: Hester Susanna OOSTHUIZEN
Place of Birth: Rietvlei, Cape of Good Hope
Names of Parents: Father: Pieter OOSTHUIZEN
Mother: Petronella OOSTHUIZEN
Age of Deceased: 95 years 1 month (b July 1816)
Widow
Name of Predeceased Spouse: William Monkhouse BOWKER died 3 February 1876
Date of Death: 6 August 1911
Place of Death: 'Thorn Kloof', Albany
Names of Children and whether Major or Minor:
Miles Robert BOWKER
Nellie Johanna BOWKER married Unknown CURRIE
Anna Maria BOWKER married Unknown CLOETE
Mary Elizabeth BOWKER married Unknown NORTON
Williamina BOWKER married Unknown CURRIE
Hester Francina BOWKER married Unknown CLOETE
Whether deceased has left any property, and of what kind: Movable & Immovable
Signed: M.R. Bowker, Son

Notes:

Bathurst, Cape of Good Hope
41. William Monkhouse Bowker, Bachelor, and Hessey Susannah Oosthuisen, Spinster, both of this District, were married by Banns according to the rites and ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland, at Bathurst on Friday the 9th day of September 1836 by me.

James Barrow, Colonial Chaplain

This marriage was solemnized between us { W. M. Bowker (signed)
{ H. S. Oosthuisen (signed)

in the presence of:
{ T. H. Bowker (signed)
{ B. E. Bowker (signed)