| 10. | George Rex was born on 24 Aug 1765 in London, England; was christened on 2 Sep 1765 in Whitechapel St Mary, London, England (son of John Rex and Sarah Creasey); died on 3 Apr 1839 in Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa; was buried in Melkhout Kraal,Knysna,South Africa. Notes:
George Rex was given a Royal Warrant, and sailed as a grown man into CapeTown, South Africa in 1797. Some believe he was sent to the colony to save the monarchy from a scandal. This has been disproved, and there is no royal connection.
George Rex subsequently set off eastwards toward Knysna, taking with him his beloved companion, a coloured slave he had met and freed in CapeTown.
In his will, he took great pains to emphasise that all his children were illigitimate, he having steadfastly refused to marry their mother.
Many believe this supports the theory that the last words of George III to his son as he departed for South Africa were: "You must never marry. There must be no ligitimate heirs." This is 'folk lore' and not possible.
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George Rex
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'George Rex' redirects here. For ruling monarchs named George, see King George. You may also be looking for George Rex Graham.
George Rex (29 August 1765 - 3 April 1839) was a British-born entrepreneur, who spent most of his adult life in the Cape Colony, South Africa. He founded the town of Knysna in the Western Cape and played a key role in its development. Rex filled a number of positions in the Cape Colony - including Marshal of the Vice-admiralty Court, notary public to the Governor and advocate for the Crown - before settling on the farm Melkhoutkraal, in the Knysna district.
George Rex was the eldest child of John Rex (1726-1792) a prosperous distiller at Whitechapel, Middlesex, who was Master of the Distillers' Company in 1782, by his wife Sarah Creasey. His brothers and sisters were Sarah Rex (1767-1769), John Rex (1768-1821) a wine and brandy merchant who named his 'late brother George Rex of the Cape of Good Hope' in his will, Sarah Rex (1770-1842) who lived at Bath and corresponded with her brother George, and Elizabeth Rex (1772-1773). John Rex named his son George in his will in 1788, saying that he was 'already advanced ... very considerably more than I have my other son and daughter'[1][2].
George Rex was articled for seven years to one of the Procurators General of the Court of Arches in 1780 when aged 14, and admitted a Notary Public by the Faculty Office in 1786 when 21. He was a Supernumerary at Doctors Commons in 1787 and a Proctor there 1789-97. He was appointed Marshal and Sergeant-at-Mace of the newly created Vice-Admiralty Court at the Cape of Good Hope in 1797. He was Registrar of Courts Martial, 1797-1801, and Advocate for the Crown, 1798. He purchased four slaves in 1799. He was Marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court, 1800-02. He purchased the homestead Schoonder Zigt (now being run as the Flower Street Guest House in Oranjezicht), Table Valley, Cape Town, in 1800, and asked permission to sell gunpowder taken from a prize of war, 1801. The Vice-Admiralty Court closed in December 1802 and he signed the Oath of Submission to the Batavian Republic in 1803. He sold Schoonder Zigt in 1804 and purchased Melkhout Kraal, Knysna. He had 33 slaves there in 1805 and was part-owner of the ship Young Phoenix, 1810-16. He became a timber exporter and trader, having licence for 400 woodcutters in 1811. He was Postmaster of Plettenberg Bay, 1815-20, and held game-shooting licences, 1817-20. He purchased the further loan-farms of Sandkraal, Welbedacht (re-named Eastford), Jackals Kraal, Portland (1817) and Uitzigt (1830), about 24,000 acres. He built the yacht Knysna in 1831. He became a man of some influence at the Cape and regularly entertained at his estate distinguished visitors from overseas such as Lord Charles Somerset, the Earl of Caledon and, later, Sir Lowry Cole[3].
In his will George Rex said that he had not submitted himself to the matrimonial laws of the Colony, but he had four children by a former slave, Johanna Rosina van der Caap, and then nine children by one of her daughters (Carolina Margaretha Ungerer) by a previous master. It is possible that he had married in England before going to South Africa.
Royal descent disproved
It has often been stated, and was firmly believed by many of his descendants, that George Rex was the son of King George III and Hannah Lightfoot. They believed that he had been banished to the Cape, granted large tracts of land there, and forbidden to marry, a story with many later embellishments, that gained ground in the 1860s following contact with Mrs Lavinia Ryves the daughter of the imposter and forger Olivia Serres (Princess Olive)[4][5].
This claim to royalty was thoroughly disproved by Patricia Storrar in "George Rex: Death of a Legend".[6][7]. The lack of royal blood was confirmed by genetic testing in 2004.
References
1. ^ Anthony Camp, Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714-1936 (London, 2007) pp.59-76.
2. ^ http://www.anthonyjcamp.com, re Sarah Creasey, accessed 2008.
3. ^ Patricia Storrar, George Rex: death of a legend (1974) and David Philip, British Residents at the Cape 1795-1819 (Cape Town, 1981) p.342.
4. ^ John Lindsey, The Lovely Quaker (1939)
5. ^ Sanni Metelerkamp, George Rex of Knysna (1955).
6. ^ Notes and Queries, vol. 220 (1975) 18-23 and 364
7. ^ Patricia Storrar, George Rex: death of a legend (Macmillan South Africa, 1974).
George married Carolina Margaretha Ungerer in 1808 in Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa. Carolina (daughter of Hendrik Christian Ungerer and Johanna Rosina van de Caap) was born about 1792 in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; died on 17 Apr 1866 in Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa; was buried in St Georges Cemetery,Knysna,Cape,South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1882 - Abt 1941 (58 years)
