IVAN DE VILLIERS IN NORTH AMERICA

Ivan DE VILLIERS was born on 31 March 1892 in the Griquastad area of South Africa, the son of Pieter Gysbertus DE VILLIERS and Agnes Margaret Josephine MELLE. His nickname was Slim. His father was born on 05 December 1839 in Paarl. His mother was born on 11 July 1852 in South Africa, the daughter of Dr George Alexander MELLE and Alison Mary. She died in Los Angeles in 1925.

Ivan last lived at 1811 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, USA. He died on 22 March 1931 in Los Angeles, California, USA, and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery. An obituary was published in the Daily Illinois State Journal, which listed him as an aerial advertising promoter.

His siblings were:
1) Maude Allison Jessie DE VILLIERS born 04 November 1878 in Philipstown. She married Geoirge Barker BUDLER in Griquastad in 1894.

2) Xavier DE VILLIERS born 23 December 1881 in Philipstown. He died in the Anglo-Boer War.

3) Irene Margaretha Annie Mary DE VILLIERS born 11 March 1890 in Griquastad. She married Knox BAXTER. She married MEDFORD.

4) Cecil Bulwer Mophey DE VILLIERS born 08 September 1893 in Cape Town. He died in Los Angeles. He married Marie BARTHELL. He is listed in the USA World War I Draft Registration Cards as  living at 725 Madison, Oakland, California and married. He became a USA naturalised citizen on 09 October 1936. He immigrated to the USA from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, aboard the ship Railway on 15 September 1910. At the time of naturalisation, he was married to Marie and they had a child, William DEVILLIERS, and Cecil was a branch manager. In the WWI draft registration, he was living in Los Angeles, working as a salesman for American Magazine Bureau. The World War II Draft Registration Cards list him as Cecil Bulwer DEVILLIERS. In 1940 he was living at 3701 W. 9th Street, Los Angeles and was a publisher. He died on 16 August 1953 in Los Angeles and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery.

Ivan was a pilot, according to various records, but was also referred to as an aerial advertising promoter and stunt flyer for motion pictures. He performed aerobatic stunts in movies, and was said to have been a member of the Thirteen Black Cats and White Phantoms. He was a passenger in the monoplane that Miss Aline MILLER (22) was flying when it crashed in Los Angeles. The aircraft took off from Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale.

Aline was from Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was the daughter of Norman MILLER and Jeanne KREBS. She began flying at age 18 and became a prominent and proficient pilot. She worked as a demonstration pilot and saleswoman for the Emsco Aircraft Company at Downey Field in Los Angeles. Besides corporate flying, she was also a flight instructor. She received the Air Transport rating on 06 February 1931, and was one of the youngest air transport-rated female pilots in America. Aline was a member of the Betsy Ross Corps (BRC), a women's flying association. Circa 1930, she got engaged to Cecil ALLEN, a trans-Pacific pilot and sales manager for a manufacturing company. Her family believed that Ivan's stunt flying was as a wing walker, not as a pilot, and that he was responsible for the crash.

Ivan may have lived in Canada before immigrating to the USA.
On 23 September 1908, Ivan DE VILLIERS arrived at Ellis Island, New York City from Southampton, England, aboard the Teutonic. He was 16 years old, a student, and had last lived in Johannesburg before going to England. His final destination was listed as to his brother, Cecil DE VILLIERS, c/o Gordon Bros., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The ship left Southampton on 16 September. His passage was paid by his mother who lived at 51 Height Street, Doornfontein, Johannesburg. From New York, he sailed further on the Oceanic.

As Sargeant Ivan DE VILLIERS, he made a parachute jump at a Dominion Day celebration in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. He fell into the sea and was in hospital. The news report referred to him as an aviator, world and Boer War veteran. Ivan couldn't have been an Anglo Boer War (11 Oct 1899 – 31 May 1902) veteran as he was aged 7 to 10 years at the time. 

Another news report refers to Sargeant Ivan J DE VILLIERS as a Canadian recruiting officer, a Boer War veteran and the son of General DE VILLIERS of Boer War fame. He was not the son of a Boer War general. This report mentions that he was attacked by a pro-Germany Pennslyvania German. He was cut on the head and stabbed in the arm, while recruiting men for the Canadian army.

Ivan was married four times:
Elsie LEMPORT (born circa 1892), married in 1917 in Chicago, Illinois.
Myrtle SULLIVAN (1893 - 1968), married in 1920 in Butte, Montana.
Marion Gerrish BOOTH, married in 1921 in Vancouver, Washington.
Hazel Mae ROE (1892 - 1953), married in 1925 in Los Angeles.

The Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index (1871-1920), lists Ivan J DEVILLIERS (age 25) marrying Elsie LEMPORT (22) on 29 May 1917 in Chicago.
In the 1930 United States Federal Census, Elsie DE VILLIERS is living in Reno, Nevada. Her age was listed as 29, born in Illinois and was divorced.

Ivan's US World War I draft registration dated 1918, lists him living at 104 W. Oak Street, Chicago. At the time, he was a discharged soldier (British) and was working for the Western Relief Fund. The Fund was for the benefit of the men in Chicago and the adjoining district who enlisted for the war in Canada or Great Britain. He was married to Elsie. He had blue eyes and brown hair, and had a severe head wound.

His mother, Agnes Margaret Josephine DE VILLIERS, arrived at Ellis Island on 03 November 1918 aboard the City of Lahore, which had departed from Calcutta, India. She was 63 years old. Her final destination was to her son, Cecil, at the Hotel Oaks in Oakland, California. Her last address in Cape Town was at her daughter, Irene at 2 Upper Orange Street, Cape Town.

The Montana County Marriages (1865-1950) for Butte, County of Silver Bow, lists Ivan J. DE VILLIERS (age 26) marrying Myrtle SULLIVAN (27) on 20 August 1920.
In the 1940 United States Census, Myrtle is living in Los Angeles and listed as single. She was a secretary at a law office. She died in Placer County, California, on 30 January 1968.

In March 1921, Ivan DE VILLIERS arrived in Seattle, Washington, USA, from Vancouver, Canada. He was listed as 26 years old. He had a Dodge motor vehicle registered in Oregon, USA in September 1921 under the name Ivan J DEVILLIERS.

There is a marriage recorded for Ivan DE VILLIER in Vancouver, Clark County, Washington, USA to Marion BOOTH (maiden name GERRISH) on 18 October 1921. He was listed as 28 years old, the son of P.G. DE VILLIER. His occupation was flyer.

Ivan Jess DEVILLIERS born on 31 March 1892 married Hazel Mae ROE on 09 March 1926 in Los Angeles. Ivan is listed as divorced and that this was his second marriage. His occupation was aviator. They had two children:
1) Mary Agnes DEVILLIERS born 16 June 1927 in California. She died on 05 December 1986 in Los Angeles. She married Warren BURBANK.
2) Clotine Matilda DEVILLIERS born 22 December 1928. She died on 23 April 2007 in California. She married Norman Tarrant McELWEE in 1946.

Hazel Mae ROE was born on 11 August 1892 in Illinois, USA, the daughter of James Cusion ROE and Mary Matilda REINHART. She died in Los Angeles on 07 September 1953.
Her first marriage was to Charles Leonard WILLIAMS in 1915 in Champaign, Illinois, USA. The 1920 United States Federal Census lists her still married to him and living in  Camargo, Douglas, Illinois, with two children: Frances Elizabeth WILLIAMS (4) and Gertrude M WILLIAMS (2).

In the 1930 United States Federal Census, Ivan was listed as renting 1811 Cimmaron Street, Los Angeles, and that he was 31 years old when he first married. His spoken language was given as French. He immigrated to the USA in 1909 and was a naturalised citizen. His occupation was listed as Advertiser in the areoplane industry. The rest of the family were listed as Hazel R DEVILLIERS (age 38), Mary A DEVILLIERS (3) and Clotine M DEVILLIERS (1).

In 1934, Hazel was living at 9714 Otis Avenue, Los Angeles. In the 1940 United States Federal Census, Hazel is listed as a widow living at 218 East Hillcrest Street, Inglewood, Los Angeles (rented home) with Mary and Clotine.

FLIGHT SA406 (RIETBOK)- 13 MARCH 1967

 I have done extensive research in archival records to add details to the crew and passenger manifest. This article is a record of who they were. R.I.P.

 

On Monday 13 March 1967, South African Airways flight SA406 took off from Port Elizabeth en route to East London with five crew members and 20 passengers. The Vickers Viscount aircraft, named Rietbok, with the registration ZS-CVA, crashed into the sea, off Kaysers Beach, while on approach to East London Airport. There were no survivors. The flight was a return flight from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein, East London and Port Elizabeth.

That Monday, the Viscount Rietbok had two incidents on the flight down from Johannesburg. The first  occurred immediately after take-off from Jan Smuts when the nose-wheel refused to retract due to a malfunction. The flight was aborted, and the fault was rectified and departed on its way. On arrival at East London at 17:50, the weather was poor but the crew landed without difficulty after an instrument approach. On take-off from East London at 18:15, the Rietbok struck a bird. The captain decided to press on to Port Elizabeth where the aircraft was inspected and passed as serviceable. Flight SA406 to Johannesburg, with stops in East London and Bloemfontein, was readied for take-off.  The aircraft reported at 19:09 to East London that it was “at 2000 ft seaward, with the coastline in sight.” One minute later at 19:10, the aircraft struck the sea.

The Rietbok

THE CREW

1) Captain Gordon Benjamin LIPAWSKY (48)

He was born on 17 July   1918 in Mowbray, the son of Adolph Bernard LIPAWSKY and Jessie FANSTONE.

His nickname was Lippy.

His last residential address was 32 Northridge Avenue, Sunnyridge, Germiston.

He married Rosemary June STEWART on 1949 in Durban. St the time, he was a pilot in the South African Air Force and lived in Randfontein. She was a florist.

Their children:

John Gordon LIPAWSKY

Jennifer Jessie LIPAWSKY

Heather Ann LIPAWSKY

His airline transport pilot’s license was No. 211A. He had 12,344 flying hours, of which 3,231 hours were on the Vickers Viscount.

During WWII, he commanded No. 1 Fighter Squadron in Italy, being awarded the DFC and bar. After the warhe joined the South African Air Force's Permanent Force , based in Durban in 1948 as the officer in charge of a detachment of Spitfires at Stamford Hill Aerodrome. With their withdrawal from service, he joined 35 Squadron and converted to Sunderland Flying Boats. He also served with the flying Cheetahs during the Korean War for which he was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross. On his return to South Africa, he joined SAA.

2) First Officer Brian Albert Richard TRENWITH (30)

He was born on 27 March 1936 in Flint, Michigan, USA, the son of Albert TRENWITH and Florence Hosking LEGGO.

His last residential address was in Third Avenue, Roodepoort.

He was unmarried.

He had a 1958 Morris Minor, registration TU 19628.

His airline transport pilot’s license was No. 393 A. He had 3,995 flying hours, of which 109 were on the Vickers Viscount. He was also a Grade 3 flight instructor. He joined SAA in 1953.

3) Senior Flight Steward Petrus Lukas BEZUIDENHOUT (26)

He was born on 21 April 1940 in Fort Beaufort, the son of P.N. BEZUIDENHOUT and Zacharia Elizabeth VAN SCHALKWYK.

His last residential address was 2 Sanview, Reynolds Street, Kensington, Johannesburg.

He married Johanna Dolphina GERICKE in Port Elizabeth.

They did not have children.

He had a 1956 Ford Consul and a Borgward motor car.

4) Flight Steward Zacharias Christiaan DE BEER (27)

He was born on 11 October 1939 in Boksburg, the son of Dewald Lambertus DE BEER and Anna Margaretha RICHARDS.

His last residential address was 1 Stephanie Court, Greyilla Styreet, Kempton Park.

He married Maria Elizabeth VAN DER MERWE in Pretoria.

They did not have children.

5) Air Hostess Alberta (Bertha) Petra VAN DER POEL (22)

She was born on 28 April 1944 in Pietermaritzburg, the daufghter of Albertus Petrus Jonas VAN DER POEL and Emily Harbin FOUCHE.

Her last residential address was 2 Acapulco, West Street, Kempton Park.

She was not married.

Her sister: Catharina Maria VAN DER POEL (married ZIETSMAN)

THE PASSENGERS

6) Clifford Ross ANDERSON (55)

He was born on 07 October 1911 the son of David ANDERSON and Clementina Mitchell HUNTER.

He was a company director.

His last residential address was 43 Tyrwhitt Avenue, Melrose, Johannesburg.

He married Margaret Atholie STONE on 04 February 1941 at St Wilfred's Anglican Church in Hillcrest, Pretoria.

Their children:

Ian Kilwa ANDERSON

Atholie ANDERSON

7) Joseph BLANKFIELD (47)

He was born on 05 July 1919 in Johannesburg, the son of Abraham Isaac BLANKFIELD and Ada Rachel FINKELSTEIN.

He was a company director.

His last residential address was 21 Primrose Drive, Victory Park, Johannesburg.

He married Myra Martha MORRIS in Johannesburg.

Their children:

Mark Ian BLANKFIELD (married JAFFE)

Robyn Rose BLANKFIELD (married LICHTER)

Paul Bernard BLANKFIELD

Prof. BRUWER

8) Professor Johannes Petrus van Schalkwyk BRUWER (52)

He was born on 23 September 1914 in Barrydale, the son of  Abraham Petrus van Schalkwyk (Piet) BRUWER and Margritha Petronella Magdalena HAASBROEK.

He was the acting chairman of the Broederbond and vice-rector of the University of Port Elizabeth. He was enroute to Johannesburg, catching the connecting flight from East London. He was due to be picked up by his daughter Griet. He was going to Pretoria where he was going to be appointed as a roving ambassador for African countries based in Zambia.

His last residential address was 1 Avon, Surbiton Street, Port Elizabeth.

He married Cornelia Dorothea GUTTER in Nyanje, Zambia.

Their children:

Bertha Magrieta BRUWER

Pieter Gutter BRUWER

Margaritha (Griet) Petronella BRUWER (married LE ROUX)

Johannes Petrus van Schalkwyk BRUWER (journalist)

Cornelia Dorothea BRUWER

9) Desmond Page CLEAR (43)

He was born on 04 June 1923 in Port Elizabeth, the son of Francis Pillip CLEAR and Gladys Florence PAGE.

He was a manufacturer's representative.

His last residential address was 22 Skegness Road, Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth.

He married Audrey Joan THURTELL on 08 July 1950 in Port Elizabeth.

They did not have children.

10) Hans-Jurgen Willi DORN (22)

He was born on 23 March 1944 in Robersberg, East Germany, the son of Karl Friedrich Wilhelm DORN and Gerda.

He was a boiler maker.

His last residential address was Caravan Park, St George's Strand, Port Elizabeth.

Anna ROTHER was also listed as a next-of-kin, living at 56 Drummond House, 59 de Villiers Street, Johannesburg.

He married Monika Ingrid PLOOG on 09 February 1967 in Port Elizabeth.

They did not have children.

11) Vernon Desmond EDKINS (39)

He was born on 27 April 1927 in Johannesburg, the son of Ernest Vincent EDKINS and Iris Doreen COOPER.

He was a manager.

His last residential address was Bevan Road, Rivonia, Johannesburg.

He married Alethea Rosalie HIND on 04 February 1950 in Germiston.

Their children:

Graham Vernon EDKINS

Robert Christopher EDKINS

Ernest Phillip EDKINS

12) Graham Edward EVANS (35)

He was born on 26 January 1932 in Port Elizabeth, the son of Thomas Richard EVANS and Verna Florence BREDELL.

He was a manager.

His last residential address was 8 Smeelton Road, Framesby, Port Elizabeth.

He married Beryl Maud MATTHEWS on 19 December 1959 in Port Elizabeth.

Their children:

Wayne Thomas EVANS

Reginald Graham EVANS

Garth Deon EVANS

Anthony Richard EVANS

13) Douglas Hudson LAMB (32)

He was born on 23 November 1934, the son of James Henry Hudson LAMB and Rose VAN DER RIET.

He was a sales manager.

His last residential address was 44 Ruth Street, Glenhurd, Port Elizabeth.

He married Diana Mary MANSFIELD at Hill Church in Port Elizabeth.

Their children:

Graham Hudson LAMB

Sharon Diane LAMB

Ian Peter LAMB

14) Lothar Wilhelm LAUE (45)

He was born on 07 January 1922 in New Hanover, Natal, the son of Hermann Frederik Johannes LAUE and Marie Anna Magdalena (Leni) KLINGENBERG.

He was a company director.

His last residential address was 2 Fourth Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg.

He married Hazel Millicent EDWARDS on 07 August 1948 at St Paul's Church in Durban.

Their children:

John David LAUE

Mark Daryl LAUE

MELMED

15) Max MELMED (54)

He was born on 28 June 1912 in Queenstown, the son of Meyer Itzak MELMED and Dora KAHANOWITZ.

He was a manufacturer's representative for Anglo American.

His last residential address was 49 Winermere Road, Port Elizabeth.

He married Annette JANKELSON in Johannesburg.

They did not have children.

16) Archibald Richard Eaton MEGSON (53)

He was born on 19 July 1913 in Hove, England, the son of Archibald John Eaton MEGSON and Ada Eleanor WITTINGTON.

He was a chief engineer.

His last residential address was 279 Harley Road, Blackheath, Johannesburg.

He married Myrtle Ruth WEDDELL in Florida, Johannesburg. They did not have children.

17) Leslie Scott PEARSON (53)

He was born on 25 February 1913 in Port Elizabeth, the son of Paul Philip PEARSON and Hilda Jane SCOTT.

He was a company director.

He was unmarried.

His last residential address was 27 Milner Avenue, Sydenham, Port Elizabeth.

His siblings:

Phulip Arthur Nelson PEARSON

Marion Gertrude PEARSON (married NILSEN)

Leonard Bruce PEARSON

Thelma Joyce PEARSON (married KOHLER)

Pauline Phyllis PEARSON (married CALDERWOOD)

Niels Peter PEARSON

ROSENTHAL

18) Audrey Anne ROSENTHAL (27)

She was born in December 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, the daughter of Samuel Allan FAREN and Dorothy SINGER.

Her sister: Lois FAREN.

She married Aaron Richard ROSENTHAL on 25 August 1959 in Multnomah, Oregan. They were later divorced.

She graduated from the University of Michigan, and received her doctorate in history from the University of California. After university, she worked in London for two years as a consultant for children's teaching aids.

In April 1998, her lover Martin Chatfield LEGASSICK, a professor of history at the University of the Western Cape, said he had recruited her to work for the Defence and Aid Fund, a group run by Canon COLLINS, dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. They met in London in 1966. At the time, the group was trying to provide clandestine financial support for family members of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress in South Africa. Prior to her death, she had spent five weeks in South Africa gathering information for the Defence and Aid Fund. One of the last people to speak to her was the Eastern Cape journalist, Jimmy MATYU. He met her at Court Chambers in Port Elizabeth, just hours before the crash. He was one of the people she wanted to meet in Port Elizabeth. She walked into his office on the afternoon of 13 March, carrying a light brown briefcase. They then walked to a cafe at the bottom of Theale and Main Streets. He gave her the names and addresses of families of activists. They returned to the office and left in the late afternoon in a taxi to the airport.

19) Jurgen ROTHER (27)

He was born on 27 November 1939 in Germany, the son of Alfred ROTHER and Auguste.

He was a construction fitter / boiler maker.

His last residential address was 56 Drummond House, 59 de Villiers Street, Johannesburg.

He married Anna in Johannesburg.

They did not have children.

20) Mr N. SUSNOW

Of London, England.

No further details found.

21) Julie Dora VENTURAS (24)

She was born on 01 March 1943 in Springs, the daughter of Panos VENTURAS and Helene.

She was a senior laboratory assistant.

She was unmarried.

Her last residential address was 201 Maubern House, 78 Third Street, Springs.

22) David Bertil WEST (32)

He was born on 04 September 1934 in Cape Town, the son of Lawrence Arthur WEST and Vera MELLSTROM.

He was a sales manager.

His last residential address was Hotel Majella, Pretoria.

He was unmarried.

23) Charles Dennis WILLIAMS (29)

He was born on 29 December 1937 in Johannesburg, the son of Alfred Dutson WILLIAMS and Gladys Mary.

He was a sales engineer.

His last residential address was 93 Central Avenue, Illovo, Johannesburg.

He was unmarried.

His siblings:

Peter Dutson WILLIAMS

Suellen Patricia WILLIAMS (married FORBES)

Melanie Ann WILLIAMS

24) Edith Verena Lavinia WOOD (62)

She was born on 20 September 1904 in Jamestown, the daughter of RICHARDSON and Martha.

She was a housewife.

Her last residential address was Uplands, Grahmstown.

Her and her husband were on their way to go visit their daughter Ursula. She lived at 38 Cotswold Crescent, Willowvale, Ontario, Canada.

She married Victor Baden-Powell WOOD in Lady Grey.

Their children:

Ursula Verena WOOD (married ALLEN)

Valerie Elaine WOOD (married BOWEN)

25) Victor Baden-Powell WOOD (66)

He was born on 04 January 1901 in Riebeeck West, the son of William Thomas WOOD and Emily Mary MARMETSCHKE.

He was a retired school teacher.

His last residential address was Uplands, Grahmstown.

He married Edith Verena Lavinia RICHARDSON in Lady Grey.

Their children:

Ursula Verena WOOD (married ALLEN)

Valerie Elaine WOOD (married BOWEN)

A TRIBUTE TO FLIGHT SA228 - 20 APRIL 1968

On Saturday 20 April 1968, Souh African Airways flight SA228 from Johannesburg crashed seconds after take-off from Windhoek's then J.G. Strijdom Airport just before 21:00. Twelve crew members and 111 passengers died. Five passengers survived the crash.

The Boeing 707-344C, registration ZS-EUW, was known as the Pretoria and was on a scheduled flight from Johannesburg to London via Windhoek, Luanda, Las Palmas and Frankfurt. The aircraft took off from Jan Smuts International Airport in Johannesburg with 105 passengers and 12 crew. In Windhoek, 35 passengers disembarked. For the next sector, 46 new passengers boarded, making up 116 passengers along with the 12 crew. 

For this article and tribute I traced the crew and many of the passengers through extensive archival records in order to add details to the names on the manifest.

ZS-EUW

THE DECEASED CREW

1) Captain Eric Roy SMITH (49)

He was born on 18 January 1919 in Queenstown, South Africa, the son of Charles Thomas SMITH and Alice Margaret ROY.

His first marriage was to Dorothea Ada RUDDOCK (1922-2004) in 1942 in Johannesburg. At the time, he was a soldier and she was in the Women's Auxillary Army Service, they lived at Donavon Court, Joubert Park. They divorced in 1960.

Eric and Dorothea's children:

Margaret May SMITH (married CLANCY).

Yvonne Erica SMITH (married McDONALD).

Patricia Ann SMITH (married BARAGWANATH).

Eric's second marriage was to Eithne Concepta (1932-1978) in Cape Town.

Eric's last residential address was Flat 4 The Gables, Bradfield Drive, Fairmount, Johannesburg.

This was to be his last international flight before he retired. He had 18,102 flight hours and was one of SAA's most experienced pilots.

2) First Officer John Peter HOLLIDAY (34)

He was born on 10 December 1933 in Pretoria, the son of Frederick HOLLIDAY and Winifred DAVIES.

He married Phyllis Susan HOWELL (1934-2020) in Durban.

Their children:

Yvonne HOLLIDAY

Jeffrey Stephen HOLLIDAY

Gregory John HOLLIDAY (married LAW)

John's last residential address was 66 Goodman Street, Rynfield, Benoni.

He had 4,109 flight hours.

3) Second Officer Richard Fullarton ARMSTRONG (26)

He was born on 01 September 1941 in East London, the son of Raymond Fullarton ARMSTRONG and Dorothy PLEDGER. At the time, his father was a Captain in the South African Air Force.

He married Maria Elizabeth WEBER in Cape Town.

Their child:

Justin Raymond ARMSTRONG (married RILEY)

Richard's last residential address was 4 Grenada Court, Palm Avenue, Kempton Park.

He had 1,000 flight hours.

4) Flight Engineer Officer Phillip Andrew MINNAAR (50)

He was born on 24 August 1917 in Potchefstroom, the son of Phillip Andrew MINNAAR and Charlotte Eugenie EBERHARDT.

He married Florence Edith FICHARDT in 1945 in Bronkhorstfontein, Senekal. At the time he was in the South African Air Force (No. 68 Air School) in Pretoria.

Their children:

Peter Andrew MINNAAR (married KNOBEL)

John Carlyle MINNAAR (married Ann-Charlotte)

Roy James MINNAAR (a doctor)

Phillip's last residential address was 25 Poinsettia Road, Wychwood, Germiston.

5) Flight Navigator Henry (Harry) Charles HOWE (44)

He was born on 20 September 1923 in Fulham, London, England, the son of Harold Archie HOWE and Bessie Louise ECCLES.

He married Elizabeth Margaretha POTGIETER in Cape Town in 1957.

Their children:

Caroline Louise HOWE (married MILLHOUSE)

Marion Elizabeth HOWE (married MacKINNON)

Peter Scott HOWE (married RACKHAM)

Henry's last residential address was 27 Louw Avenue, Lakefield, Benoni.

6) Flight Traffic Officer Alexander George MANSON (30)

He was born on 05 October 1938 in Durban.

He married Hildegarde Pauline HEESE in Johanneburg.

They did not have children.

Alexander's last residential address was 9 Braleen Court, 122 Donnelly, Turffontein.

He had a 1966 Volkswagen, registration TJ 2661.

7) Chief Flight Steward Johannes Andries ERASMUS (39)

He was born on 04 December 1929 in Klerksdorp, the son of Mrs Cootie ERASMUS.

He married Feika Memoria BERGSMA in 1957 in Johannesburg.

They did not have children.

Johannes' last residential address was 63 Buckingham Road, Kensington, Johannesburg.

He had a 1959 Jaguar.

8) Senior Flight Steward Hercules Stanley LOUW (36)

He was born on 28 April 1932 in Calvinia.

His first marriage was to Petronella Wilhelmina DE WET. They divorced in 1956.

Their child:

Christiaan Stefanus Van der Berg LOUW (married COETZEE).

His second marriage was to Dorothy Jacqueline GREYLING in 1957 in Glencoe.

Their children:

Gordon Stanley LOUW

Charmaine Jacqueline LOUW (married 1. VAN JAARSVELDT 2. VAN WYNGAARD, )

Debra Ruth LOUW (married ADAMSON)

Hercules' last residential address was 30 Mulberry Road, Primrose, Germiston.

He had a 1960 Vauxhall, registration TB 5323.

9) Flight Steward Rudolph Johannes BESTER (34)

He was born on 08 April 1933 in Sterkstroom, the son of Gotly Rudolph BESTER and Petronella.

He married Stanislawa Teresa DONCER in 1956 in Malvern, Johannesburg. At the time, he was a traffic inspector.

She was born in Poland.

Their children:

Lynette Teresa BESTER

Wanda Diane BESTER (married MORGAN-SMITH)

Rudolph's last residential address was 8 Lesman Court, 54 Page Street, Yeoville, Johannesburg.

10) Flight Steward John Wardle JESSON (24)

He was born on 27 July 1943 in East London, the son of Sidney John JESSON and Louisa WARDLE.

He married Wilhelmina Elizabeth VAN LELYVELD in East London.

Their child:

Alma Rene JESSON (married DU PREEZ)

John's last residential address was 11 Oranjehof, Pine Avenue, Kempton Park.

11) Flight Stewardess Marietta NORTIER (22)

She was born on 18 December 1945 in Boksburg, the daughter of William Warren NORTIER and Hester Martha Aletta BOTHA.

She was unmarried.

Her last residential address was 59 Second Street, Boksburg North.

12) Flight Stewardess Elza JANSE VAN RENSBURG (22)

She was born on 19 September 1945 in Johannesburg, the daughter of Petrus Johannes JANSE VAN RENSBURG and Margaretha Cornelia TRIEGAARDT.

She was unmarried.

THE DECEASED PASSENGERS

13) Edna W. AVERY (54)

Listed as S.W. on the passenger list.

Daughter of Elizabeth SOMMERFIELD.

Sister of Ronald SOMMERFIELD (of Greystoke Gardens, Westbury-on-Trym).

She worked in the linen department at the Royal Infirmary.

She married George A. AVERY in 1939 in Bristol.

14) George A. AVERY (54)

Of 381 Southmead Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol.

He was a clerk at the Guided Weapons division of British Aircraft Corporation.

He married Edna W. SOMMERFIELD in 1939 in Bristol.

The couple were visiting their only daughter, Janice (23) and her husband Ernest George DAVIES who lived in Kenmare, Krugersdorp.

15) E. BACHMANN

16) F. BACHMANN

17) D.A. DE O. BARBOSA

18) I. BARTELS

19) A.E. BEGLEY

20) C.B. BLACKWOOD

21) Ingrid H. BÖHM (29)

She was born in 1939 (maiden name LIEBIG).

22) Sybille BÖHM (2)

She was born in 1966.

23) Hester Anna BRAND (60)

She was born on 11 November 1907 in Bloemfontein, the daughter of Nicolaas Johannes Jacobus JOOSTE and Johanna Maria Sarah FOURIE.

She married Johannes Hendricus BRAND in Bloemfontein.

They lived in Ladybrand and had no children.

24) B.A. BRANDT

25) T.A. BRANDT

26) K.G. BROCK

27) Raymond Battersby BROCKBANK (39)

He was born on 07 March 1929 in Ladysmith, Natal.

28) H.W.F. BRONS (32)

He was born on 07 February 1936 in Groothusen, Aurich, Niedersachsen, Germany.

His wife was KEMPE.

29) Wilhelm Heinrich BRONS (47)

He was born on 27 June 1920 in Emden, Ostfriesland, Germany.

30) Frieder Karl Wilhelm BURZLAFF (2)

He was born on 04 February 1966 in Windhoek.

31) Helga BURZLAFF (29)

She was born on 25 October 1938 in Bremen, Germany (maiden name GERDING).

32) Susie Jean CHEAL (23)

She was born on 25 July 1944 in Harrow, Middlesex, England.

33) P.K. COATES

34) Margaret Patterson COLLINS (59)

She was born on 30 August 1908 (maiden name ORR).

She married John COLLINS and they lived in Luderitz.

She was a secretary.

35) Francoise Joseph Marie-Theresa DE CHAZAL DE CHAMAREL

She was also known as Joseph Francoise Marie-Therese.

She was born in Mauritius (maiden name LALOUETTE).

She married Edouard Auguste Roland DE CHAZAL DE CHAMAREL.

36) J.H. DE GROOT

37) Petronella Adriana DE KOK (51)

She was born on 12 July 1916 in Frankfort, Orange Free State, the daughter of Jacobus KOTZE and Petronella.

She married Johan Leonardus Formyn DE KOK in Carolina.

Their children:

Johan Adriaan DE KOK (married DIPPENAAR)

Jacobus Marinus DE KOK

38) E. DE RAUVILLE

39) M.E. DE RAUVILLE

40) Philippe Du Hecquet DE RAUVILLE

41) Vida Evelyn ENGELBERT (56)

She was born on 30 July 1911 in Bethlehem, Orange Free State, the daughter of Johan Adam FRONEMAN and Anna Jacoba VICTOR.

Her first marriage was to Angus WATTS on 02 September 1933 in Springs. He was Australian. They divorced in 1938.

Her second marriage was to Robert George MOORE on 17 February 1943 in Johannesburg. He was British. At the time, she was a nurse. They divorced in 1952.

Her third marriage was to Kurt Martin ENGELBERT on 04 May 1954 in Durban. He was German.

42) Alice Clarke FERGUSON-DAVIE

She was born in London, England (maiden name NEWMAN).

She married Charles Francis FERGUSON-DAVIE (deceased in 1967).

43) Edith Wally FITZE (46)

She was born on 05 May 1921 in Berlin, Germany, the daughter of Paul KARCZ and Wally.

She married Paul Gerhard Rudolf FITZE in Berlin in 1942.

She was a manageress.

Her last residential address was 171 Ivy Road, Norwood, Johannesburg.

Their children:

Hannelore Jutta FITZE (married BLACKMORE)

Marion FITZE (married 1. POTTER, 2. FAITHFUL)

44) J. FORREST

45) H.A. FUSSENEGGER

He was an American doctor, connected to an Austrian textile business.

46) Louwrens Pieter GELDENHUYS (44)

He was born on 14 November 1923 in Kroonstad, the son of Johannes Albertus GELDENHUYS and Cornelia Gertruida Dina PRINSLOO.

He was the CEO of the South African Wool Board.

He married Gertie Pieternella SAULEZ in Pretoria in 1949.

Their children:

Martha Elizabeth GELDENHUYS

Susanna Hermina GELDENHUYS

Johannes Albertus GELDENHUYS

47) Joyce L. GILBERT (43)

She was a South African school teacher (maiden name SPENCER) that moved to England in 1947.

She married Michael A. GILBERT in 1947 in Surrey.

He was the deputy headmaster at Derwent School in Derby in 1968.

Her last residential address was 9 Wilsthorpe Road, Chaddesden, Derby.

She had spent six weeks with her parents in Johannesburg for their golden wedding anniversary. She was booked on a later flight but changed flights to fly home earlier.

She had three children:

Lynne GILBERT

Meryl GILBERT

Patrick GILBERT

48) W. HANISCH

49) E. HEINZ

50) Hellmuth Werner Rudolf HINSCH (50)

He was born on 14 November 1917 in Hamburg, Germany.

He was an electrician.

51) T.P. HOOPER

52) M.W. HOOPER

53) Yolanda JOOSTE (22)

She was born on 30 September 1945 in Cape Town, the daughter of Petrus Johannes JOOSTE and Johanna Frances FOORD.

She was a radiographer and umarried.

Her last residential address was Rusticana, 14 Elgin Road, Milnerton, Cape Town.

54) Ingo Heinrich Joachim KANNEGIESER (56)

He was born on 19 March 1912.

55) K.H. KECK

56) Ingeborg D.M.A. KIRSTEN (55)

She was born in 1912 (maiden name PREUF).

57) L. KNISPEL

58) Grada KROMMENHOEK (34)

She was born circa 1934 in Zutphen, Netherlands, the daughter of J.H. TERWEL of 21 Groen van Prinsterer Street, Zutphen.

She married Marinus KROMMENHOEK in the Netherlands.

Their children:

Marinus KROMMENHOEK

Grada KROMMENHOEK

Christelle KROMMENHOEK

Dirk KROMMENHOEK

59) Marinus KROMMENHOEK (39)

He was born on 22 December 1929 in Scheveningen, Netherlands (his mother lived at 266 Pluvier Street, Scheveningen).

He married Grada TERWEL in the Netherlands.

He was a building contractor and they lived in Gobabis.

60) V.B. KRUFINSKI

61) Gertruida Johanna Geraerds LANGERMANN  (46)

She was born on 28 September 1921 in Boksburg, the daughter of Mattheus Hendrik Gerhardus THESINGH and Christina Catharina BESTER.

She married Jorgen LANGERMANN in Bethal. They had no children.

Her last residential address was 17 Irwin Street, Messina.

62) Jorgen LANGERMANN (52)

He was born on 28 May 1915 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

He was a horticulturist.

His first marriage was to Petrus Jacobus Nicolaas ERASMUS (female). They divorced in 1951.

His second marriage was to Gertruida Johanna Geraerds THESINGH.

63) Mario de Barros LOBO (38)

He was born on 13 March 1930 in Lourenco Marques (Maputo), Mozambique, the son of Octavio Rodrigues LOBO and Elvira GOMES.

He was a company director and lived in Lourenco Marques.

He married Anna Maria Nunes Prata DIAS in Lourenco Marques.

Their child:

Cristiana Maria Prata Dias de Barros LOBO

64) F. LORENTZ

65) Jacobus Willem LOUBSER (39)

He was born on 17 December 1928 in Calvinia, the son of Johannes Jacobus Abraham LOUBSER and Louisa Johanna Jacoba BOOYSEN.

He was a senior lecturer.

His last residential address was 296 Die Rand, Menlo Park, Pretoria.

He married Stephania Cornelia JORDAAN in Sterkstroom.

Their children:

Johannes Jacobus Abraham LOUBSER (married BOTHA)

Rudolph Philippus LOUBSER (married SWART)

Stephan Wilhelm LOUBSER

66) Stanley Lourens LOUW (41)

He was born on 29 September 1926 in Worcester, Cape, the son of Lourens Johannes LOUW and Johanna Helena Albertha VAN DER MERWE.

He was the principal engineer at the General Post Office.

His last residential address was 1208 Caley Lane, Queenswood. Pretoria.

He married Lola Charmain MASKE on 01 January 1949 in Cape Town.

Their children:

Alan John LOUW (married KRUGER)

Clive Michael LOUW (married TAMERIS)

67) Frederick George MAGEE (52)

He was born on 05 January 1916 in Plymouth, England, the son of David MAGEE and Violet BUNKER.

He was a manager.

His last residential address was 304 Walton Heath, Jacobs Avenue, Illovo, Johannesburg.

His first marriage was to Ethel GALBRAITH.

His second marriage was to Mercia SCHREUDER on 14 November 1950 in Cape Town.

His children:

Fredrick George MAGEE

Peter MAGEE

Roshea MAGEE (married HAVEL)

Deirdre MAGEE (married SMUTS)

68) Hans Ulrich MATERNE

He was born circa 1930 in Breslau, Germany.

He married Sarepta Aletta GERBER on 11 December 1954 in the NGK Randfontein. At the time, he was a shift boss.

69) R. MATERNE

70) Sarepta Aletta MATERNE

She was born on in Bloemfontein circa 1935, the daughter of Edward GERBER and Hester Magrieta KRUGER.

She married Hans Ulrich MATERNE on 11 December 1954 in the NGK Randfontein.

71) W. MATERNE

72) I.M.I.S. MERZ

73) K.L. MERZ

74) Rose MININBERG (58)

She was born on 03 September 1909 in Springs, the daughter of Phillip DUNCHEN and Ethel

Her last residential address was 7 Bentinck Street, London, England.

She married Zvi Dov MININBERG on 06 January 1935 in Johannesburg.

Their children:

Victoria MININBERG (married to BERNSTEIN)

Helen Adeline MININBERG

75) B.A.C.D. NOTZON

76) G.A.R. NOTZON

77) J.S. NOTZON

78) K. NOTZON

79) R.M. OSE

80) K. OSTMANN

81) L.A. OSTMANN

82) H. PACK

83) H.W. PACK

84) R. PACK

85) W. PACK

86) Michael Arnold PARKER (34)

He was born on 30 July 1933 in Salisbury, Rhodesia.

87) Kathleen Mary PATTERSON (58)

She was born on 10 February 1910 in Johannesburg, the daughter of James Livesey PATTERSON and Harriet Lidsey ANDREW.

She was a typist and unmarried.

Her last residential address was 69 Eighth Street, Orange Grove, Johannesburg.

88) Winifred Eliza PATTERSON (60)

She was born on 24 May 1908 in Johannesburg, the daughter of James Livesey PATTERSON and Harriet Lidsey ANDREW.

She is listed as W.A.G. on the passenger list.

She was a typist and unmarried.

Her last residential address was 69 Eighth Street, Orange Grove, Johannesburg.

89) Martinus Arie Joseph PETERS (46)

He was born on 15 March 1922 in Gelderland, Netherlands, the son of Cornelius PETERS and Adriana.

He was a businessman.

His last residential address was 40 Van Lill Street, Witpoortjie.

He married Grada PETERS in the Netherlands.

Their children:

Cornelius Eugene Antonius PETERS (deceased 2007)

Maria Helga Theresa PETERS (married BRUNETTI)

90) Desiree PETRICK (22)

She was born on 09 November 1945 in Pretoria, the daughter of Arthur Johannes PETRICK and Catharina Helena ROOS.

She was a travel agent at SATOUR and umnarried.

Her last residential address was in Brummeria, Pretoria.

91) H.E. POHL

92) Victoria May PURCOCKS (68)

She was born on 15 May 1899 in Amsterdam, Transvaal, the daughter of Frederik Ambrose STOW and Victoria Cornelius Johannes RIES.

She was a housewife and widow at time of death.

Her last residential address was 1 Van Riebeeck Place, Piet Retief.

She married David Richard Vincent PURCOCKS (deceased 1954).

Their children:

Catherine May PURCOCKS (married to ATHERSTONE)

Vincent Ambrose PURCOCKS (married BEKKER)

Stanley Richard PURCOCKS (married HEYDENRYCH)

93) M. RADOVANOVIC

94) K.M. RICHARDS

95) Ieuan ROBERTS (56)

He was born in 1912 in Wales, the son of Evan ROBERTS and Keturah ELLIS.

96) Paul ROCH (57)

He was born on 02 October 1910 in Comanche, Texas, USA, the son of John David ROCH and Bertie Ann HANSON.

He married Emma Lee GENTRY on 02 July 1935 in Brazoria, Texas.

97) Sheila M. ROOKE

98) Gustav Oswald RUMMEL (53)

He was born on 09 August 1914 in Cologne, Germany, the son of Gustav Max Oswald RUMMEL and Elisabeth.

He owned the Hansa Hotel, Post Street, Swakopmund.

He married Elisabeth RICHTER in Essen, Germany.

They had no children.

99) Esme May SALTERS (60)

She was born on 21 April 1907 in South Africa, the daughter of Francis Louis THORNHILL and Johanna Hendrina Magdalena FORD.

She married Reginald McLelland SALTERS on 05 September 1936 at St John's Anglican Church in Boksburg.

100) Reginald McLellan SALTERS

He was born circa 1904 in Krugersdorp.

He married Esme May THORNHILL on 05 September 1936 at St John's Anglican Church in Boksburg.

101) Dr Christa Luise SATTLER (26)

She was born on 12 June 1941 in Anklam, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany (maiden name PLOGER).

She grew up in Brazil, where her parents lived in Sao Paulo.

She was a zoologist.

102) Dr Werner SATTLER (41)

He was born on 12 August 1926 in Wetzlar, Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hessen, Germany.

His father was an optician in Leitz.

He worked at the Max Planck Institute, and was in South West Africa on a safari holiday with his wife.

He married Christa PLOGER in 1964 in Brazil.

103) Flori Irma SCHREIBER (46)

She was born on 06 September 1921 in Neuenhagen bei Berlin, Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg, Germany.

She is listed as E. SCHNIEBER on the passenger list.

104) Bryan William SEWELL (50)

He was born on 01 March 1918 in Wynberg, Cape Town, the son of Lewis Arthur Edward SEWELL and Gwendoline Mary BARTLE.

He was a managing director.

His last residential address was 57 - 5th Avenue, Illovo, Johannesburg.

He married Helen Dorothy VAN ZIJL in Kenilworth, Cape Town.

Their children:

Bryan Trevor SEWELL (married ROUSSEAU)

Glendyr Helen SEWELL (married LOUW)

105) Howard Joseph SIGSWORTH (41)

He was born on 12 March 1927 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Joseph SIGSWORTH and Alice ANDREWS.

He married Doris Margaret WILLIAMS in 1952 in Glamorgan, Wales.

106) David Gilchrist SIMPSON

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland.

He married Janey Freeland McCowan STEVENSON.

107) Jacobus SMIT (49)

He was born on 19 September 1918 in Velsen, Netherlands, the son of Jacobus SMIT and Ariaantje VERKUIL.

He was a diamond merchant and lived in South West Africa.

He married Hermine Elisabeth PASSCHIER.

Their son:

Jacobus Ariaan SMIT

108) R. SMITH

109) Margit Ruth STAIGER

She was born in 1934.

110) Bernd Hugo Eckart STALMANN (36)

He was born on 13 June 1931, the son of Otto STALMANN and Margarte.

He married Ruth-Dagmar Anna Katharina ROBRECHT.

111) W.R. STERN

112) Benjamin THOMAS jnr.

He was born circa 1910 in Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA.

He was a director of European operations for South-eastern Engineers Inc. of West Point in Georgia.

He had been living in Oxenhope, Yorkshire, England.

He married Mildred Marie PHILLIPS.

Their children:

James F THOMAS

Richard D THOMAS

Barbara THOMAS (married PAYNE)

113) Clarence A. THOMAS

114) E. THOMAS

115) Philip M. THOMAS (44)

He was born on 12 February 1924.

He was the CEO of a cooperative wholesale society, and was also an author and genealogist who published arricles in Burke's Peerage.

He lived in Alderly Edge, Cheshire, England.

He married Elise BARBUTO in 1952.

Their child:

Antonia THOMAS

116) E.N. THOMPSON

117) Robert TIGNER

He was born on 02 June 1925 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the son of William TIGNER and Sophie.

He was an engineer.

His last residence was 48 Cotswold Drive, Saxonwold, Johannesburg.

He married Joyce SOLARSH on 16 December 1955 in Johannesburg.

Their children:

Michael Searle TIGNER

Carolyn TIGNER (married WILKOV)

Sandra TIGNER (married SCHREIBER)

118) J. De 0. TRINDADE

119) David F. USHER

120) Dr Jan Georg VAN DER WATH (60)

He was born on 25 August 1907, Ladybrand, Orange Free State, the son of Cornelius Jacobus Hendrik VAN DER WATH and Anna Catharina VAN DER WALT.

He died on 15 May 1968 in Pretoria. Initially, he survived the crash but died the following month in hospital from his injuries.

His last residential address was in Ermelo and he also owned the Tati Ranch in Botswana.

He was a veterinarian, farmer and businessman. He was a member of the South African Wool Board (1948-1966), and its chairman in 1960, chairman of the International Wool Secretariat, chairman of the South African Wool Textile Research Institute (1962-1966), member of the Wool Commission (1960-1966), and its chairman in 1965.

He married Margaretha Elizabeth STEENKAMP on 10 September 1937 in Ermelo.

Their children:

Carel Steenkamp VAN DER WATH

Anna VAN DER WATH (married ALBERTS)

Anna Catharina VAN DER WATH (married VAN ROOYEN)

Cornelius Jacobus VAN DER WATH

Jan Georg VAN DER WATH

Willem Nicolaas VAN DER WATH (married NIEBUHR)

121) Frits Cornelis VAN ELTEN (44)

He was born on 01 April 1924 in the Netherlands, the son of Maria.

He was a consultant engineer.

His lasdt residential address was Alphen, 15 Collins Street, Kensington B, Randburg.

His first marriage was to Cornelia Maria Anna DE KOCK. They divorced.

His second marriage was to Margaret Rose JONES in Johannesburg. They had no children.

122) C.H. WICHERT

123) Alma Therese WILLIAMS (34)

She was born on 16 September 1933 in Johannesburg, the daughter of Charles Francis Norman JUCHAU and Marie DANKWORTH.

She was a housewife.

Her last residential address was 1 Jordaan Street, Parkdene, Boksburg.

She married Peter Trevor WILLIAMS in Alberton.

Their children:

Karen Jean WILLIAMS (married MOFFAT)

Rhett Owen WILLIAMS (married SWANEPOEL)

Tracey Lee WILLIAMS (married WRIGHT)

Tamr Andria WILLIAMS (NEYLAND)

124) J.D. WYLIE

PASSENGER SURVIVORS

125) B.R. ARNTZEN

126) A. DERBYSHIRE (62)

He was an engineer and managing director of Controlled Heat & Air Ltd of Smethwick.

He lived in Fairways, St Johns Hill, Shenstone.

He was returning from a business trip to the Phillipines, Australia, India and South Africa.

Ten years prior, he was booked on a flight which he later changed to another at the last minute - the first flight (Salisbury to London) crashed near Salisbury.

His son: Anthony DERBYSHIRE

127) W.E. ROOKE

He was employed as a foreman by the Royal Ordanance factory at Puriton, Somerset, England.

He lived in Buckland St Mary, Somerset.

He was returning from a 4-month government work contract in Cape Town.

He married Sheila.

Their children:

Geoffrey ROOKE

Valerie ROOKE

128) Thomas W. TAYLOR (36)

He was known as Tom. After the crash, he got the nickname Miracle Man.

He was an American diplomatic courier. The diplomatic bag he was carrying was found in the wreckage and delivered.

He lived in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA.

129) Peter Trevor WILLIAMS (35)

He was born on 21 August 1932

He died on 31 December 2003 in Parkrand, Boksburg.

His first marriage was to Alma Therese JUCHAU in Alberton. She died in the crash.

His second marriage was to Alida Aletta STEYN in 1974.

Their children:

Karen Jean WILLIAMS (married MOFFAT)

Rhett Owen WILLIAMS (married SWANEPOEL)

Tracey Lee WILLIAMS (married WRIGHT)

Tamr Andria WILLIAMS (NEYLAND)

THE AMERICAN BEHIND POPULAR SOUTH AFRICAN WINES

If you’ve had a glass of Chateau Libertas, Nederburg, Lieberstein, Grünberger, Tassenberg, Graça or many other wines, you can raise a glass to Dr William Charles WINSHAW. Many of South Africa’s most popular wine brands belong to present-day producer-wholesaler Distell Group Limited, which links to Dr WINSHAW in the early 1900s.

Dr William Charles WINSHAW

Dr William Charles WINSHAW was born on 21 November 1871 in or near Somerset in Pulaski County, Kentucky, USA, the eldest son of a doctor, Dr Carl WINSHAW and his first wife. His mother died when he was five months old (circa April 1872). His father re-married and had a son, Otto WINSHAW, with his second wife. William Charles died in Stellenbosch, South Africa on 11 March 1968. 

According to an interview he gave in 1968, he ran away from home at the age 12 as he didn’t get on with his stepmother. His stepmother was German and it is claimed that she was one of the first female doctors in the USA. There was a snow storm the afternoon he left, with a pumpkin pie baked by the family's cook Dinah. She was a former slave and her son, Rastus, was the young William's friend. He recalled taking on any job he could get - cutting bacon for a grocer, working as a stoker on a train in Dixieland, unloading bananas in New Orleans, joining the Yukon gold rush in Canada and the Klondike gold rush in Alaska. At a St Louis racetrack, he offered to hold a horse named Mulligan. He asked the bookmaker what the odds were on that horse. He only had one dollar and the bookmaker said he'd give him 1,000 to one. The young William got his first lucky break - the horse won. He bought a good suit, a couple of guns and a ticket to Texas. It is claimed that he became a Texas Ranger in 1893, and fought on the Mexican border in the Yaqui War. Next he set off for New Orleans determined to study medicine at Tulane University and become a doctor like his father. To pay for medical school, he played faro at night. To date, I have not found the WINSHAW name among the university's medical graduates. An opportunity to study tropical diseases in Germany came up and he enrolled at Berlin University for a year. He returned to America where he practiced medicine for some time in New Mexico

.
In 1899 he met an Englishman, Lieutenant McGUINESS who was fighting in the Anglo-Boer War and was sent to the USA to buy horses and mules for the British Army. Great Britain had established a military base in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the shipment of horses and mules from the USA to South Africa. Some of the horses and mules came from Argentina via New Orleans. From October 1899 to June 1902, 109,878 horses and 81,524 mules were shipped from New Orleans in 65 different British steamships making 166 voyages.

The Lieutenant offered William a job overseeing the 2,080 mules from Argentina aboard the Manchester City from New Orleans to Cape Town. The ship departed New Orleans on 23 November 1899 and arrived in Cape Town on 26 December 1899. When the Manchester City arrived in Cape Town, 187 mules had died. I have found reference that the ship William sailed on was the Larinaga but I have found no such ship arriving in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War with mules and/or horses.

William intended to do a return trip, but he ended up remaining in South Africa. Once the mules were delivered, Dr WINSHAW is said to have joined the British military as a doctor (so far, I have not found records to prove this). In his 1968 interview, William said that he was appointed chief plague officer of the Cape, and later on also came down with bubonic plague. I did find that he was appointed as Head of Removal Staff in 1901-1902.

Bubonic plague came to South Africa in 1899-1900 through the port cities of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. After the start of the Anglo-Boer War in October 1899 the amount of shipping to South African ports increased dramatically. With the first cases and ensuing panic, public health officials began quarantining people, killing rats, disinfecting and even burning whole neighbourhoods down. On 5 March 1900 the SS Kilburn arrived in Table Bay from South America carrying people with plague aboard, and was sent in quarantine to Saldanha Bay. The bacteriologist of the Cape Colonial Administration, Dr J. A. MITCHELL, recently arrived from Glasgow and Edinburgh, was put in charge. The five patients recovered, and the ship was disinfected. In October 1900, Dr MITCHELL had to deal with a limited outbreak in the King William's Town district. The first patient was a man who had recently returned from a British remount station. It was found that he had probably been infected via rats concealed in forage transported from Cape Town with horses imported from South America for the British cavalry.

On 6 February 1901 Dr MITCHELL was recalled to Cape Town. Dr A. J. GREGORY, Medical Officer of Health for the Cape Colony, informed him that rats were dying of plague in the Cape Town docks. That area of the docks had been in the hands of the military authorities since the start of the Anglo-Boer War. It housed stocks of grain and forage imported from South America. Before the year was out 766 cases of plague had been confirmed and 371 people had died.

On 12 April 1901, several bubonic plague-infected rat carcasses were discovered in Port Elizabeth, in the vicinity of a large stock of forage which had been shipped from Beunos Aires some months before. Four days later, a case of bubonic plague was discovered in a man that had worked on the stock. It was later confirmed that the infection had spread from the forage to the nearby military remount station in North End which had received forage from Buenos Aires.

According to his 1968 interview, William was not popular with the British junior officers at the time. When he heard that they complained about "this alien", he applied to become a British South African citizen. His application, dated January 1905 in Port Elizabeth, lists him as a government plague disinfecting officer. At the time, he was living in Port Elizabeth and had been in South Africa for five years. As William's first marriage was in Port Elizabeth in September 1902, it is clear that he first worked in Port Elizabeth. His first two daughters were born in Graaff-Reinet where he also worked as a doctor.

At about the same time as William applied for citizenship, his hopes of continuing to work as a doctor in South Africa were dashed. The British had used his medical expertise during the war, but afterwards refused to accept his American and German credentials unless he did a six month medical course at the University of Edinburgh. William refused. By 1905 he rented the farm Patrysvlei (Brown Hills) near Stellenbosch from a Cape Town dentist, Dr George NATHANIEL. This is where he started to experiment with making wine in his kitchen from mostly Hermitage and Pontac grapes. He took the product to Fred GREEN of the wine merchants EK Green & Co. The first order was for 500 hogshead at £10 per leaguer (a Dutch measure equal to 153 US gallons). He later imported Vitis Labrusca grapes (also known as fox grapes) from Concord, Massachusetts. He soon had regular customers, and started the Stellenbosch Grape Juice Works in 1909. 

By 1909, William was doing well and was a respected figure in the wine industry. An over-supply in a depressed market after World War I saw his business in financial trouble. In January 1921 a banruptcy order was filed, one of the biggest insolvencies in the country at the time. KWV bought William's stocks, cellar and equipment. He left for America in 1922 but returned to Stellenbosch in 1923 and worked as a consultant to wine farmers.

William's travels in the early 1920s included:

On 03 October 1921 he arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, from Hong Kong aboard the Empress of Asia. He was listed as a manufacturer and an Anglican by religion. He was en route to the USA and gave his destination as: P BARKLEY, Lincoln, Nebraska (a friend).

From Victoria, the ship stopped in Seattle on 04 October 1921. William was in transit and was going to spend two months in the USA. The shipped originally left from Yokohama, Japan on 24 September 1921. He further gave the following details:
Birth place: Somerset, USA.
He stated he was last in the USA from 1871 to 1895 in Texas (where was he from 1895 to the end of 23 November 1899 when he departed New Orleans?)
Complexion: Light
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Gray
Height: 6 Feet
Address of relative or friend in South Africa: friend - C. MURPHY, Plein Street, Cape Town.
Wife: Ada, in Cape Town.
His intended departure from the USA was to be 19 November 1921 from New York, with Cape Town as his final destination.

William visited Lincoln, Nebraska for one day in late October 1921, according to a report in The Lincoln State Journal of 02 November 1921.  The report stated that he became friends with the "late James BARKLEY" in Cape Town. On this visit, he visited Mrs BARKLEY and her daughters whom he knew as children in Cape Town. He also attended a lunch arranged by W.B. BARKLEY at the Chamber of Commerce. The report described him as having "the appearance of an out of doors American. He is almost shy in his bearing, with a quaint style which is made doubly fascinating by his speech, made up of the cultivate English accent superimposed upon his soft Kentucky drawl." He had left South Africa in June and travelled via India, China and Japan.

James was James Allen BARKLEY born 04 December 1870 in Newport, Indiana, son of William Elliott BARKLEY and Nancy Ellen. He died in 1918 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was an electrical engineer. He married Phoebe GERRARD in Columbus, Nebraska. In 1916 they lived at Northam, Sea Point, Cape Town. James left the USA in 1900 and settled in Cape Town in May 1902 where he was in business. Phoebe was born in Columbus, Nebraska. They had three daughters: Dorothy Elizabeth born 1901 in Honolulu, Phoebe Hope born 1904 in Cape Town, and Olivia Grace born 1909 in Port Elizabeth. His relative in the USA in 1916 was listed as Mr E. BARKLEY, 126 North 11th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska.

On 04 May 1922, William arrived in New York aboard the Homeric from Southampton, England. He intended to visit New York for three months, visiting the Foreign Traders Co., 154 National Street, New York.  He gave his occupation as grape juice manufacturer.

On 21 October 1922, William arrived in Southampton, South Africa, aboard the Olympic from New York. He gave his occupation as farmer, and the address in the UK as 61 St John Hill, Clapham, London.

On 28 October 1922, William departed Southampton, England, aboard the Briton for Cape Town. He gave his occupation as farmer, and the last address in the UK as 89 York Road, London.

On 02 May 1923, William arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, aboard the Eastern Crown from Durban, South Africa. The ship left Durban on 24 March 1923. He gave his final destination as New York City, and the addres as: friend J.A. HIRSCH, 105 Hudson Street, New York. He intended to visit for two months. In his physical description it was noted that he had a glass left eye (he was known as Eagle Eye). He gave his occupation as farmer.

On 21 December 1923, William arrived in Southampton, England, aboard the Majestic from New York.
Dr Charles William Henry KOHLER, a dentist, was trying to set up a wine co-operative to help the struggling wine farmers. All the wine farmers were to sign a draft constitution. One farmer, VAN DER MERWE of the farm Merwida near Rawsonville, refused to sign. Charles approached William to see if he could convince VAN DER MERWE to sign. William left early one morning and arrived at VAN DER MERWE's farm while he was still eating breakfast. After breakfast, William offered up one of the four bottles of brandy that he had brought with him. The two sat and drank. By the time the last bottle was opened during supper, VAN DER MERWE said "You bleddie Yankee Doodle! Give me the papers to sign!" On 08 January 1918,  the Ko-operatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika was founded with Charles as chairman. It became KWV, still in existence today. Under Charles' leadership KWV saved the wine industry from certain ruin. He guided KWV as chairman of the board until his death in 1952.

In March 1924, William was formally rehabilitated from his insolvency. In 1925, at the age of 53, William joined Gideon Johannes KRIGE and his wife Susanna Elizabeth RABIE, in a distillery venture in Stellenbosch. GJ Krige en Zoon (GJ Krige and Son) of the farm Oude Libertas had been in business since 1918 at least. Gideon's father had purchased the farm in 1867. The partnership was called The Stellenbosch Farmer's Winery, Wine and Spirit Merchants, Producers and Wine Growers. It was situated at Oude Libertas and was founded on 01 April 1925 as a ten-year partnership with William and Susanna as the two partners. William served as its first chairman and managing director.

In the 1929 Cape Town telephone directory, William is listed at Lower Dorp Street in Stellenbosch and his phone number was 145. His son, William Joachim (Bill), is listed at Virgin Way, Dorp Street, Stellenbosch with 258 as his phone number. The WINSHAW family lived in a red brick house in Bosman's Crossing, near the Oude Molen estate, until William bought La Gratitude in Dorp Street in 1932. It was built between 1795 and 1798 by the Rev. Meent BORCHERDS, minister of the Dutch Reformed of Stellenbosch from 1786-1830. William had extensions done circa 1935.

La Gratitude today

William's friend, Mark MARKOTTER, was a lawyer and a director at the Stellenbosch District Bank. When the ten-year partnership with KRIGE expired, William asked for his help to get a bank loan of £6 000 to buy out Susanna's share. A new company, The Stellenbosch Farmer's Winery (Pty) Limited, was registered on 18 March 1935, and William was joined by his two sons, Bill and Jack. In 1935 The Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery (SFW) Limited was registered as a public company.

Zonnebloem was one of his main customers. William was so impressed with Zonnebloem's 1945 Cabernet that he described it as "a great red wine ever to be produced in South Africa". In the late 1950s he re-labelled 120 bottles as W.C. Winshaw Private Cellar 1945 and with his family crest in honour of his 78th birthday. These bottles were only opened at special family ocassions.

William's business was doing well with products such as Mellow Wood brandy (made by Gideon J KRIGE, launched in 1915), La Gratitude dry white wine, and the red blend Chateau Libertas. He had a flair for marketing, which made him a leader in wine marketing during the post-war years, capturing about 70% of the market for SBW.  In 1956 Stellenbosch Farmers Winery Ltd. was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. In 1959, SFW introduced Lieberstein, a semi-sweet table wine which sold 46,000 bottles that year. In 1964, Lieberstein broke sales records by shipping 31 million liters, making it the world’s largest selling bottled wine at the time.

In 1960, the family sold a controlling share to South African Breweries and Bill stayed on as managing director. William remained as MD of SFW until 1962 when he retired at the age of 92. A painting of William hangs in Distell’s Adam Tas Building. Prior to his retirement, the South African government increased the tax on fortified wines and lowered tax on natural wines, much to William's delight as he had campaigned for this. SFW merged with Distillers Corporation on 4 December 2000 to form Distell Group Limited and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as Distell with assets of R3.8 billion. Distillers Corporation was founded in 1945 by Dr Anton RUPERT of the Rembrandt empire.

William's wife Ada became ill prior to his retirement. A home care nurse, Susan Valerie BUTLER, was employed to care for her. Susan had been the matron at the Allied Forces hospital in Cairo during World War II. She became William's second wife after Ada'a death. William later suffered a stroke and spent most of his day in a wheelchair. It was at this time that the late Peter VELDSMAN became a friend of William and Susan. He helped Susan with her social events, and it was William who suggested he make a career in the food and wine industry. Peter learnt cooking skills from Rosy, the WINSHAW's cook. He went on to cook for their guests such as Commodore Norman BARNES of the Royal Navy and Lady Vere de Vere. One day, William sent his driver, Apollus, to SFW to collect a package. When he returned, it was with 12 bottles of wine, of which six were W.C. Winshaw Private Cellar 1945 from Zonnebloem Estate and these were given to Peter. Years later, Peter donated the last bottle to SFW as a museum piece. When William died, Peter accompanied the family to St Mary's Anglican Church for the funeral service.

Despite his wealth, William remained a charming and down-to-earth idealist. He was fondly known as the Oubaas.  The family motto was "Ne cede malis" (yield not to misfortunes). The family crest, awarded by the Royal College of Heralds, was a vine wreath and white grapes surrounding a galleon in full sail. The galleon was used on various SFW brands. He was a regular bridge player. William disliked petty-minded authority and cheap sherries, doctored wine, and witblits which he referred to as belly wash. He often served home-made Kentucky pumpkin pies. He travelled throughout South Africa, camping in open spaces, and argued with rigid prohibitionists and hotel keepers that served sub-standard food. According to the 1968 interview, the family once stayed at a hotel in Estcourt, a town known for its quality bacon. At breakfast, William was not impressed by the bacon on offer. He left and bought a good piece of bacon from a local butcher, and cooked it in the hotel's front garden. All the hotel guests were invited to taste what good bacon tasted like.

THE FAMILY

Mrs Susan Winshaw and Natalie circa 1968

William's first marriage was to an English nurse, Ada Charlotte DAY (1874 England-1959 Stellenbosch) on 01 September 1902 at St Mary's Collegiate Church in Port Elizabeth. In England, the Hampshire Post & Southsea Observer newspaper dated 03 October 1902 published a marriage announcement. Ada was the daughter of William DAY of Fareham, Hampshire, and had come to South Africa to nurse in the Anglo-Boer War. They had four children:

1) Virginia WINSHAW born 13 July 1903 in Graaff-Reinet.
She was baptised on 25 August 1903 at St James' Anglican Church in Graaff-Reinet. At the time, her father was working as a doctor in Graaff-Reinet.
She died on 21 January 1999 in Stellenbosch.
She married Ockert Almero OOSTHUIZEN on 08 March 1930. They divorced in 1946.
Children:
a) Mary-Anne OOSTHUIZEN (1930–1967). She married Alfred Walter CROMPTON.
b) Virginia OOSTHUIZEN (1933–). She married Oystein LILTVED (opera singer) in 1959.

2) Natalie WINSHAW born 31 December 1904 in Graaff-Reinet.
She died on 27 July 1994 in Stellenbosch.
She married Cecil Alfred NUTTLEY on 04 October 1939. They divorced in 1950.

3) Nancy Ada WINSHAW born 30 October 1906 in Stellenbosch.
She died on 09 February 1994 in Stellenbosch.
She married Albert Waldemar (Wally) MITCHELL (1911-2001) on 14 January 1939. They divorced in 1969.
Children:
a) William Jack Campbell MITCHELL born 11 June 1946. He died on 13 May 2019. He was a racehorse owner.

4) William (Bill) Joachim WINSHAW born 19 March 1908 in Stellenbosch.
He died on 31 July 1997 in Stellenbosch.
He married Dorothy Jean BOSMAN (1912-2004) on 24 June 1939.
Children:
a) Jill Clare WINSHAW (1941-). In November 1967, she spent American Thanksgiving with the family of William TEMPLER in Waco, Texas. She was visiting the USA with a school friend, after attending school in England. According to the local newspaper, Jill's family had moved to South Africa "100 years ago from England". Jill was a school teacher.
b) John William WINSHAW (1942-2019). He married Jeanette JOUBERT in 1980. Children: Pierre William WINSHAW (1981-), John Philip (JP) WINSHAW (1983-), Sue-Marié WINSHAW (1986-), Lorraine WINSHAW, Jean WINSHAW. Owned Klein Welmoed.
c) Valerie Jean WINSHAW (1944-2010). She married Michael de Villiers HELLAWELL (1939-1997).
d) Gail Adrienne WINSHAW (1947–2016)
e) William Brian WINSHAW (1951-). He married Naudéne BARNARD (daughter of Dr Marius BARNARD and Inez NAUDE). Children: Charles WINSHAW.

5) Jack WINSHAW born 11 March 1910.
He died on 18 August 1997 in Robertson.
His first marriage was to Hazel KOTZE (1913–2002) on 16 January 1937 in Durban. They divorced in 1946.
His second marriage was to Dawn Averil BAXTER (1930–2016) on 27 November 1948 in Heidelberg, Transvaal. They divorced in 1965. HOOPER
His third marriage was to Brenda SCAIFE (1929–1997) ENGELS
Children:
a) Charles WINSHAW (1939-1973)
b) William Brian WINSHAW (1951-)
c) Averil Anne WINSHAW. She married Kevin H DALY in Paddington, London in 1976.
d) Geoffrey Harold WINSHAW (1958-), adopted son. In looking for a Kentucky, USA, connection, I found that the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper of August 1990 had a listing under Marriage Licences, Woodford County for Katherine Mary GORTON (1960-) and Geoffrey Harold WINSHAW (1958-). They were married in July 1990. Geoffrey was in businesses with Jack WINSHAW and William Brian WINSHAW.

On 12 August 1912, William and Ada arrived in Plymouth, England, aboard the Ballarat from Cape Town.

William's second marriage was to Susan Valerie SANSUM (1902 Wales-02 June 1978 Stellenbosch) on 29 February 1960 at St Mary's Anglican Church in Stellenbosch.
He was 88 years old and she was 57 years old.
Her first marriage was to BUTLER.

A booklet of 62 pages was written by the South African author, Eric Rosenthal, called Gold dust and grapes: W.C. Winshaw and his story. Eric passed away in 1983, and this booklet was only published in 1998 in Cape Town. It was a small print run as there are only two copies in South Africa's National Library in Cape Town. If anyone has a copy they would like to sell, I would be interested.

 

William's great-grandsons, Pierre and John Philip (JP) WINSHAW, are following in their great-grandfather's footsteps on the Klein Welmoed farm on Baden Powell Drive near Stellenbosch. They've been making wine under the Usana label since 2010 and launched the Winshaw range in 2017. The farm was bought by their father, John, in the 1970s. John originally bought the farm to grow grapes and sell to the SFW.  The Usana brand sells meat, eggs, and wines. Ten persent of their grapes are used in their own winemaking, the rest is sold to other winemakers.

LOOKING FOR THE PULASKI COUNTY CONNECTIONS

There are no confirmed records for the WINSHAW family in Pulaski County, Kentucky, that I have found. In the US Census of 01 June 1900, there is a Jenni A. WIMSHAW at House 508, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee. She was born in July 1861 in Germany and was a widow at the time of the census. Jenni had immigrated to the USA in 1874. She had three children. Listed with her are two boarders: Otto B WIMSHAW (born October 1876 in Missouri, parents born in Germany) and Jenni WIMSHAW (born February 1882 in Missouri, parents born in Germany). Otto and Jenni were both single at the time of the census, All three WIMSHAWs are boarders at the home of Electar SPEERS, a widow. Electar was 75 years old (born in December 1825 in New York), a widow and mother of three children (one child was deceased by June 1900). Could these WIMSHAWs be William Charles WINSHAW's relatives? If anyone has information that can confirm the US relatives, please let me know.

CHATEAU LIBERTAS

Believed to be South Africa’s oldest red blend, Chateau Libertas was launched by William in 1932. It has been produced every year since - through wars, droughts and pandemics. William wanted a wine to enjoy with food. It was considered good for the digestion and part of a healthy lifestyle. The problem was there wasn’t much choice on the local market in the years between the two World Wars and most of what was available was sweet and fortified. That prompted him to create a dry red blend. It was originally conceived as a Cabernet Sauvignon-based, wood-matured blend. Cinsaut was a component of the blend until the turn of the century. The current blend still features Cabernet Sauvignon but also Shiraz, Merlot, Ruby Cabernet and Petit Verdot.

An advertisement in The Wine Book of South Africa 1936, urged readers “When travelling by rail or motor insist on being served” his special blend with their meals. He advised them to “please complain to the Management” if it wasn’t available and assured them that this was a wine “not to intoxicate but give just the right stimulation to the digestion needed by travellers”. Chateau Libertas was so popular that when the British Royal Family visited South Africa in 1947 it was served at the official state banquet. It was also served to Viscount MONTGOMERY of Alamein when he visited the country in 1954 and again, in 1960, to honour British Prime Minister Harold MacMILLAN. In 1985, a bottle of 1940 vintage was sold for R20 000 at a charity auction.  In 2011, 3 bottles from 1961 sold for R20 000 at the Nederburg Auction, while a six-bottle case of the 1965 sold for R14 000 and a six-bottle case of the 1967, for R8 800.

FIND YOUR ROOTS
I started this research with only William's name, and from there it was a fascinating journey of discovery. If you'd like me to research your family history, email me and let's discover what your story is.

THE FAMOUS RECIPE BOOK

1961 edition

The classic South African recipe book Kook en Geniet was first privately published in 1951 by S.J.A. (Ina) de Villiers, after commercial publishers weren't interested in the 700 recipes manuscript. The first English edition, Cook and Enjoy It was published in 1961, also privately published. In 1961, Kook en Geniet was published by Central News Agency (CNA), and from 1972 by Human & Rousseau.

In 1990 Human & Rousseau obtained the production and marketing rights of the Afrikaans edition. The 1992 edition was a revised edition with a new look and incorporated the use of modern kitchen appliances such as microwaves and food processors in many recipes. Some recipes were newly tested and rewritten in an easier-to-follow style. Although a few recipes were edited and replaced, it retained the essence of Ina de Villiers' classic.

In 2009 Human & Rousseau published an updated and revised edition. Eunice van der Berg, the author's daughter, was in charge of the process. This edition returned to a format more in line with the original edition, but also incorporated a modern approach and look. Amongst the changes was a truncated title for the English edition, Cook and Enjoy. By 2005, about 500,000 copies of Kook en Geniet had been sold. When Ina passed away on 20 September 2010, more than a million copies of her books had been sold, making it the most successful South African recipe book to date. The book has never been out of print.

A children’s edition was also published, and co-authored with Eunice. In 2017, the iconic recipe book got its cooking TV show, Kook en Geniet, where the presenter visited a variety of South Africans in their kitchens to find out how the book influenced their cooking.

The 1972 edition only had 4 colour photos, and the rest were black & white. The books' photos, through the years, tell a story of interior decor and style in the South African house. Thousands of South African women grew up learning cooking from her books - in the early years, no bride in an Afrikaans family was married without a gift of the book. 

SJA de Villiers

Stoffelina Johanna Adriana (Ina) de Villiers was born on 24 February 1919 in Boshof, the middle daughter of Johannes Zacharias (Jan) van Schalkwyk and Eunice (Ina) Mehetabeel Ferreira. She was named after her grandfather, Stoffel Johannes Adriaan. The family lived in Pastorie Street in Boshof, where Ina grew up with her sisters, Louisa Talia and Hester Eliza. Their father was a teacher and later a school inspector and their mother was a housewife involved in community groups. 

The girls matriculated from Rooidakskool (Boshof Gekombineerde Skool). Ina’s father wanted her to study medicine, but after a few weeks at the University of Pretoria in 1937, she decided to change course. She moved to the University of Stellenbosch to study Home Economics. After graduating, she taught at Oranje Meisieskool in Bloemfontein for a year, before taking a job with the Department of Agriculture in Pretoria. 

Ina met her husband, Jacob (Japie) Eliza de Villiers (1912-1990) at a tennis match in Pretoria. He was a geologist with the Geological Survey Office in Pretoria. The newlywed couple were featured on the front page of Die Volksblad in February 1945. Ina suffered a miscarriage late in her first pregnancy, and to help her recover, Japie encouraged her to write a book. At the time, Ina's job involved travel by train to rural communities where she gave Home Economics lessons but realised that cooking lessons were more needed, so she started writing a cooking and kitchen guide - from how to measure ingredients, oven's best use, preparing vegetables and meat, to how to freeze food. She spent a year writing and learnt to type. When commercial publishers weren't interested in the manuscript, Japie decided they would publish it themselves, with Prof. Mattie Jooste of Stellenbosch as an adviser. They found a printer, Kaap en Transvaal Printers, who let Ina go in every day to help with the typesetting. Japie sold his gold shares and used the money to publish the book in April 1951. Marketing was done by word of mouth and mailing letters to bookshops. The book was mostly sold via mail order from their home in Marais Street, Brooklyn, Pretoria, for 23 shillings.

SJA de Villiers

Four years later, Eunice was born, and Heleen two years later. Ina spent her days working on the book and sales. The family's meals were mostly cooked by a domestic helper. Ina retired from her publishing business in 1990. Japie had retired at 55 and loved travelling. He died on 27 September 1990 at age 78, three days before returning from his long-awaited trip to China. Ina moved to the Azalea Court Old Age Home in Stellenbosch and died at age 91 on 20 September 2010 after battling dementia. 

Eunice van der Berg followed in her mother’s footsteps, studying Home Economics. Her husband is an Economics Professor at the University of Stellenbosch. They have two sons, Willem and Servaas, who live in the USA. Their daughter, Ineke, lives in Stellenbosch. 

Japie's favourite pudding

This classic self-saucing citrus dessert is from the original edition - Japie se Gunsteling. He had to test Ina’s recipes, and declared this his favourite, earning the recipe’s title. 

2 eggs

250 ml sugar

62 ml flour

250 ml milk

187 ml orange juice

12,5 ml lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon (finely grated)

25 ml melted butter

Beat the egg yolks well and fold in the sugar.

Add the flour and milk.

Add the juice, zest and melted butter and fold in the whisked egg white.

Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.

Place the baking dish in a large baking pan filled with about an inch of hot water.

Bake at 180ºC until golden or for about 45 minutes.

Serve with cream or ice cream.