MARY "PICKHANDLE" FITZGERALD - A WOMAN OF MANY FIRSTS

Mary SINNOTT was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1882, one of five children born to Thomas SINNOTT and Margaret DUNN. The family was Catholic. Her eldest siblings were Dorothea / Dorothy Eleanor (Dorrie) and Dennis, and her younger siblings Sarah and Barbara (Babs). Her mother's family had roots in County Meath. Mary attended Presentation Convent in Wexford, where she learnt shorthand, typing and bookkeeping.

Thomas left Wexford for America, where he found employment as a representative for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. A few months later, he set sail for Cape Town. Having decided that the town had good prospects, he returned to Ireland to prepare the family for immigration to South Africa. In 1900, he left for Cape Town, with Mary who was then an attractive, red-haired, fair-skinned teenager. The rest of the family was to follow once they were established in Cape Town.

Shipping records list the following passengers on the Garth Castle departing from Southampton on 15 December 1900 for the Cape:

Miss M. SINNOTT (age 17, born ca 1883, single)
Mr D. SINNOTT (age 20, born ca 1880, single)
Miss S. SINNOTT (age 14, born ca 1886, single)
Mr F. SINNOTT (age 45, born ca 1855)

In Cape Town, Thomas started selling sewing machines, at 10 guineas each, on 28-month installment plans. Mary found work at The Castle, the headquarters of the British military in Cape Town, working for Colonel LONG as a typist. Dennis found work with the Tramways Department, where he later fell from a tram and died from his injuries. After Dennis' death, Barbara took John Brick FITZGERALD, tram conductor and a friend of Dennis, home to meet the bereaved family. Mary later married John at the Catholic Church Cathedral, and they went on to have five children - Mary (died at 6 months of age), Sidney, Kathleen (Kathy), Margaret (Peggy) and Thomas (Tommy).

Soon after the end of the Anglo-Boer War in 1902, the Sinnott and Fitzgerald families left Cape Town for Johannesburg by train. They settled in Belgravia. Margaret looked after Mary's children, and Thomas carried on selling sewing machines. John applied for a job with the City and Suburban Tramways Company and was employed as a tram driver. Mary found work as a typist for the Transvaal Miners' Association. She always wore an ankle length dress or skirt in maroon, olive green, navy or black, with a crisp white blouse and a tie; with shoes, hat and handbag imported from England.

Mary Fitzgerald

She was very concerned with the miners' well-being and often rode around the mines on her bicycle, collecting funds to bury phthisis victims properly. Phthisis is caused by the accumulation of mine dust in the lungs. She accompanied Union officials to gatherings that they addressed, and later started addressing these gatherings herself. She became very popular with the miners. In October 1909 she attended the South African Labour Party conference, the only woman among 54 delegates.

By 1911, when the workers on Johannesburg’s tram system went out on strike, Mary was a prominent labour activist. She lay on the tramlines, preventing scab drivers leaving the depot. The police arrived at the strike armed with pickhandles, In the subsequent clashes at Market Square, some of the pickhandles ended up in the hands of the strikers. They carried these to protest meetings, and this is how Mary earned her nickname of Pickhandle Mary.

In 1912 she attended a meeting chaired by Dora MONTEFIORE, a British sociologist and suffragette, to form the short-lived United Socialist Party. Mary also met Constance Antonina (Nina) BOYLE, another British suffragette and a journalist. She was one of the pioneers of the women's police service in Britain and in April 1918 was the first woman to be nominated to stand for election to the House of Commons. Two of Nina's brothers served in the Anglo-Boer War and Nina lived in South Africa at the time, working in the hospitals and as a journalist. While in South Africa she began to pursue her interest in women's rights, founding the Women's Enfranchisement League of Johannesburg. She returned to Britain in 1911. This friendship led Mary to campaign for women’s votes and equality of pay and opportunity. The Women’s Industrial League, which she founded, organised low-skilled female workers. She orgainsed a work boycott by Johannesburg waitresses which resulted in their improved pay and conditions.

She was also involved in the miners’ and general strikes of 1913 and 1914. Jammed against a wall by a police horse during the 1913 strike, she used her hatpin on the horse to free herself. She shouted defiance at the police and encouraged the strikers to stand firm. On 04 July 1913 a scuffle broke out between police, mounted soldiers and a riotous crowd in Market Square. The police were assaulted after strikers attacked them with stones. Strikers set fire to Park Station and the offices of The Star newspaper. Shop fronts were smashed, followed by looting. The strikers refused to disperse and fired shots at the military. One of the ringleaders, a tall red-headed miner from Nigel named Johannes L. LABUSCHAGNE, twice walked into the street, threw out his arms and shouted, "Shoot me!" The second time, when the crowd behind him began to move forward, he was shot dead. A 13-year old boy, Monty DUNMORE, was shot through the back while selling Strike Heralds to the crowd outside the Rand Club, and horses were killed in the crossfire. After the arson attacks, Mary was arrested for inciting workers to commit public violence. She refused to have her fingerprints taken and was imprisoned for six weeks at the Johannesburg Fort before the trial at which she was acquitted. She was the first woman to be imprisoned and tried for strike activities.

Mary addressing strikers in Market Square, 1913

Mary was at the front of Labuschagne's funeral procession. At a subsequent meeting of the strikers addressed by General Jan SMUTS, she jumped up on the platform, holding a baby. "This is Labuschagne’s baby, the child of the man that you shot," she shouted. The meeting descended into anarchy.

The 1914 general strike was catalysed by the government's decision to retrench railway workers in the National Union of Railway and Harbour Servants on Christmas Eve 1913. Martial law was imposed from January to March 1914. After the strike, General Smuts, then acting Minister of Mines, ordered the deportation to England of the instigators. They were J. T. BAIN, Archibald (Archie) CRAWFORD, R. B. WATERSON, G. MASON, D. MCKERRALL, W. LIVINGSTONE, A. WATSON, W. H. MORGAN and H. J. POUTSMA. Protests against the deportations followed, and the government rescinded the order, but not before the nine deportees were taken from their prison cells at night (without trial), taken by special train to Durban under armed escort and put aboard the steamship Umgeni, which sailed from Durban for London on the morning of 30 January 1914. The Umgeni arrived in London on 24 February 1914.

Mary first met Archibald CRAWFORD in 1911. Born in Scotland, and a fitter by trade, he came to South Africa as a soldier during the Anglo-Boer War. He became a foreman in the Pretoria Railway's Works soon after, until he was dismissed in 1906 for agitating against retrenchment. He became a trade union activist and a Labour councillor, and published the Voice of Labour between 1908 and 1912. They also printed The Strike Herald, which often publish the names of scab workers. When Archie was deported in 1914, Mary joined him, although still married to her husband and pregnant. She gave birth to her last Fitzgerald child in England.

Archie encouraged her to stand in the first Johannesburg Town Council elections in 1915, after women had received the municipal franchise. She won a seat, becoming the first woman to hold public office in the city. She served from 10 November 1915 to 26 October 1921, becoming chairman of the Public Health Committee in 1915, and deputy mayor in 1921 to Mayor John CHRISTIE. On her retirement she was presented with a car bought by public donations, the first to be owned and driven by a Johannesburg woman.

Mary's election poster

Between 1915 and 1918 union membership increased greatly. Unions were getting more organised, and needed to print more pamphlets. Mary trained as a printer, qualifing as a master printer, and becoming the first female printer in Johannesburg. She became co-owner Modern Press with Archie, which printed Voice of Labour. When Voice of Labour became defunct, they produced the Weekly Herald. In 1929 Mary had to abandon Modern Press.

In 1918, Mary divorced John, who although a striker, had remained uninvolved and unhappy with her activities. She married Archie in 1919 and they set up home in Bramley. In 1921 Mary took part in a strike in Durban and in the same year was appointed by the government as an official adviser to her husband at the International Labour Organization conference in Geneva. This trip made her unpopular with workers.

After 1921 Mary seemed to lose interest in union and political activities. She did not stand for Council again in 1922. Mary and Archie's only child, also Archie, was born in 1922. The Communist Party won leadership of the South African Industrial Federation, ousting Archie. He remained in the trade union movement, and Mary settled into domesticity. In 1924 Archie became ill with enteric fever, and died in hospital. After Archie's death, she took no further part in public life. From 1926 she withdrew almost entirely from public view and after a stroke spent her last years living with her daughter. She died in Johannesburg on 26 September 1960, and was buried at the Brixton Cemetery, alongside Archie.

In 1939 the Johannesburg City Council approved a motion to name the square in Newton, the Mary Fitzgerald Square. The square was previously known as Aaron's Ground and was initially a wagon site, but was used for the many strikers' meetings. The council never got around to the official dedication, and it was only so renamed in 1989. The pickhandle she is said to have used was kept at the Africana Museum in Johannesburg. In September 2005 a plaque in her memory was unveiled at Mary Fitzgerald Square - her son, Archie, was 81 when the plaque was unveiled.

Mary's father died in 1916.
Her sister, Dorrie, married Frederick William BROOKS (born in Grahamstown). She died in 1972, as did Frederick.
Sarah married James KELLY. She died in 1966, he died in 1951.
Mary's son, Tommy, had a daughter Glenda who married VAN OERLE.

A small brewery has named a brew after Mary - Pickhandle Mary Malted Oats Stout.

A book, Mary 'Pickhandle' Fitzgerald: Rediscovering a Lost Icon, was written by Frances Hunter, a South African journalist who now lives in Sante Fe, California.

LINDFIELD HOUSE - A VICTORIAN HOUSE IN JOHANNESBURG

Katherine LOVE is the owner of Lindfield House in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. The house museum, at 72 Richmond Avenue, is furnished in the Victorian era style, and was recently declared a Provincial Heritage Building. It was designed by Sir Herbert BAKER and built circa 1910 on half an acre of land. The Victorian era covers the period from the late 1830s to 1900. It was built for Dr. ST. John STANWELL and his wife Alice. St. John was born in 1870, the son of Willaim STANWELL and Fanny, who lived in Yorkshire Street, Wardleworth, Rochdale, Lancashire, according to the 1871 England Census. William was also a surgeon. By 1881 the family was living at The Elms, Yorkshire St, Wardleworth. St. John married Alice EVANS in 1898 in Stamford district, Lincolnshire. They left Southampton on the Kildonan Castle on 07 December 1901 for the Cape, along with Mr and Mrs STANWELL. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1893, and was registered as a doctor in South Africa in 1903. In 1913-1915 his office was at 40 Wolmarans Street, Johannesburg. Dr. STANWELL died in 1931 in Natal. Alice travelled between South Africa and England a number of times. On 17 April 1913 she arrived in Southampton on the German from Natal. On 04 October 1913 she left Southampton on the Durham Castle for the Cape. On 04 November 1922 she left Glasgow on the Ulysses for the Cape. On 04 August 1926 she arrived in London on the Dunluce Castle from Port Elizabeth. On 28 November 1928 she left London on the Gloucester Castle for Port Elizabeth.

Lindfield House

Through the years the house has been altered and extended. In 1924, A.J. MARSHALL, Sir BAKER's partner, made some changes. In 1933, Nellie EDWARDS, the city's first female architect, added more rooms. Nellie EDWARDS was born 02 August 1897 in Britain, where she did her training. When she registered with the Institute of South African Architects in 1927 she was resident at 86 Marathon Street in Kensington, Johannesburg. By 1933 she had been in practice on her own for nine years and had designed apartments, schools, churches and was at the time designing two blocks of hostels for government schools, a handiwork block and laboratories for another school. She was appointed an arbitrator in about 1933, giving her age as "thirty-six years old on 2 August 1933." By 1947 she had had offices at 111 - 112 London House in Loveday Street. She retired in 1951, resigning from the Institute of South African Architects in 1963.

When Katherine and her mother, Katharine McGill LOVE (maiden name VILJOEN), bought the 22-room house 43 years ago, the shingle roof and two tall chimneys were removed. Katherine was born a block away. The Apostolic Church offered to buy her parents' house and demolish it to build a church. She and her mother saved the fireplaces, doors and windows, and used them at Lindfield. Katherine's father, Aubrey Clarence LOVE, died in 1968. When her mother passed away in 2005, Katherine turned the house into a Victorian museum and about 10 years ago she started giving tours. She also conducts walking tours of Auckland Park. She has never married and has no heirs. During tours of the 22-roomed house, of which 18 are open to the public, Katherine wears the uniform of a Victorian parlour maid. The entrance fees are the only income she receives. Her family has lived there for two generations, building up a collection of 19th and early 20th century furniture, art, decorative and utilitarian objects representative of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Katherine also gives talks and presentations on the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The by-appointment house tour lasts approximately an hour and a half, and is followed by afternoon tea. Call Katherine on Tel: 011 726 2932 to arrange a tour.

Katherine Love (Photo credit: Beeld newspaper)

The suburb of Auckland Park was laid out in 1888. It was named for New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, by New Zealander John LANDAU, who bought J.J. LINDEQUE's farm on the present site of the Johannesburg Country Club. The area reminded John of a valley near his home in Auckland. He turned the farmhouse into the Auckland Park Hotel, to compete against the nearby Sans Souci Hotel. He constructed a lake filled with water flowing from the Braamfontein Spruit held concerts in the grounds and started a half-hourly bus service from Commissioner Street. In 1906, the hotel became the country club and the lake disappeared. The Standard newspaper carried the first advert for the sale of stands in the suburb. By 1905, an employee of the Auckland Park Real Estate company, Horace COLLINS, renamed the streets after places in the Thames Valley in London and streets associated with the London office of the company. The area was always known for its bluegums, planted by J.H. HARDY in 1888 when he built the first house. At the turn of the 20th century, Auckland Park was in the country relative to the Johannesburg city centre. In Richmond Avenue there is a large oak tree, planted from an acorn by Bill WILSON, whose father brought back the seed from service in WW1. Julius JEPPE built a grand house in Molesey Avenue. When the Prince of Wales, later the Duke of Windsor, visited South Africa in 1925, he stayed at 1 and 2 Greenlands Road.

JOHANNESBURG'S EARLY HISTORY

"They are trying to make Johannesburg respectable. They are trying to make snobs out of us, making us forget who our ancestors were. They are trying to make us lose our sense of pride in the fact that our forebears were a lot of roughnecks who knew nothing about culture and came here to look for gold. We who are of Johannesburg, we know this spirit that is inside of us, and we do not resent the efforts that are being made to put a collar and tie on this city. Because we know that every so often, when things seem to be going very smoothly on the surface, something will stir in the raw depths of Johannesburg, like the awakening of an old and half-forgotten memory, and the brick-bats hurtling down Market Street will be thrown with the same lack of accuracy as when pioneers of the mining camp did the throwing"... so wrote Herman Charles BOSMAN of Johannesburg in A Case of Jerepigo...

Johannesburg was declared a city in 1928 but was founded on 04 October 1886, the date proclaimed by President Paul KRUGER on 08 September 1886 when he declared the area open for public digging, under the leadership of Carl VON BRANDIS. The first tent went up in Ferreira's Camp on 09 July 1886, put by John Paptone DE ROI, who died in 1931.

"Proclamation by His Honour the State President - Whereas it has become apparent to the Government of the South African Republic that it is desirable to proclaim the farms named Driefontein, Elandsfontein, Southern portion of Doornfontein, Turffontein, Government farm Rantjeslaagte, Langlaagte, Paardekraal, Vogelstruisfontein and Roodepoort, all situated in Witwatersrand, district Heidelberg, as public diggings.

Therefore I, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, State President of the South African Republic, on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council, in terms of section 5 of Law No. 8 of 1885, as amended, proclaim the above-named areas as a Public Digging in the following sequence and as from the following dates, respectively, to wit: -

The farms Driefontein and Elandsfontein, on Monday the 20th September, 1886;

The southern portion of the farm Doornfontein and the farm Turffontein, on Monday the 27th September, 1886;

The piece of Government ground named Rantjeslaagte and the farm named Langlaagte, on Monday the 4th October 1886;

The farms named Paardekraal, Vogelstruisfontein and Roodepoort, on Monday the 11th October 1886;

Insofar as they have not been beaconed off by owners or lessees for Mijnpachtbrieven, or, under Law No. 8 of 1885 as amended, reserved for cultivated areas, gardens, arable land and water furrows in the vicinity thereof.

God save land and people.

Given under my hand at the Government Offices at Pretoria, this 8th day of the month, September, A.D. 1886.

S.J.P. Kruger State President

W. Eduard Bok State Secretary"

Here are some of Johannesburg's first...

On 17 July 1886 the Diamond Fields Advertiser in Kimberley announced the existence of a newly-discovered 30 mile-long gold reef, 50 miles south of Pretoria in a place it called "Vetvatterrand" (Witwatersrand). Eight days later, Joseph Benjamin ROBINSON, one of the richest of the Kimberley mining magnates, was in the Transvaal. As described by Eric Rosenthal in his book Gold! Gold Gold!, he "behaved like a man demented, and scarcely lying down to sleep, he hurried from farm to farm on the Rand, taking options or purchasing for cash." Robinson had been beaten to the Reef by a crowd of diggers who formed a camp alongside the only water source, Fordsburg Dip, on the farm Turffontein. The camp consisted of tents and wagons, and was named after its leader, Colonel Ignatius FERREIRA (age 46). He was a Boer soldier and had tried his luck on the diamond diggings too. In July, the Diamonds Fields Advertiser reported that the population of Ferreira's Town was 300 persons, and there were 14 "hotels" supplying liquor.

Colonel Ignatius FERREIRA 

Ferreira's Camp, 1886

The first mayor was Johan Zulch DE VILLIERS, inaugurated on 01 October 1897, having arrived in town the same day. He was born in Paarl in 1845, and started his public career in the Orange Free State Volksraad (Parliament). He was known to be "a reliable, honest and tactful official". He moved to the Transvaal in 1881 and was a special landdrost (magistrate) for Pretoria, Barberton, Lydenburg and Swaziland, between 1881 and 1897. He lived at 22 Koch Street near Joubert Park. On 01 October 1897 the first town council was also appointed. The town was divided into 12 wards, each ward consisting of two councillors, one of which had to be a Transvaal burgher. De Villiers was Mayor until 1900. He retired from public life in 1902 but served for two years as a member of the Transvaal Legislative Council. He died in 1910.

The early Witwatersrand farms

The first baby born in Ferreira's Camp was Paulus Johannes HARTOGH, born on 13 May 1887. He was the son of Paulus Johannes HARTOGH senior. This is possibly his family - Paulus Johannes HARTOGH was 30 years old when he married Cornelia Susanna Gertruida PRELLER at the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk in Pretoria on 23 March 1885. She was 21 years old. Paulus was born in the Cape Colony and Cornelia in the ZAR. She died in 1921 and he died in 1936. There is a Paulus Johannes HARTOGH who died in 1967. Possibly Paulus who was born in 1887? He was married to Amalia Cathrine.

The first electric street lamp was erected on the corner of Rissik and President Streets in October 1895. Wright & Graves advertised "K boots" in the first electric sign circa 1905. The first gas lamp was erected on 17 November 1892 by the Johannesburg Lighting Company. A town engineer, William Henry MILES, was appointed in 1889. He established the town's first fire brigade in 1892 on Market Square.

The first electric trams were introduced in March 1906, travelling from town to Siemert Road, Doornfontein. The trams ran until March 1961, when they were discontinued. The first car to be seen on the streets was a Benz Voiturette. The Standard & Diggers' News reported that it was "the motor car, or noiseless carriage, the first and only in South Africa" and was exhibited at Wanderers' Grounds on Wednesday 13 January 1897. The exhibition was put on by Hess & Co. On the same day, two ladies from a visiting theatrical company were the first women in the country to sit in a car. The first traffic light was erected in March 1927 on the crossing of President and Rissik Streets. It was placed in the middle of the road, but was knocked over shortly afterwards by a motorist.

Benz Voiturette Motor Car

The first railway tracks were laid in 1888. The line from Johannesburg to Boksburg was opened in March 1890 and was known as the Rand Tram. It was extended to Springs in October 1890, and to Roodepoort in November 1890. The line from Cape Town reached Johannesburg in September 1892. The line to Pretoria opened in January 1893, to Maputo in November 1894 and to Durban in December 1895.

Johannesburg's first road was created in 1889, from Ferreira's Camp to Jeppestown, down what became Commissioner Street. It was made by three ox-wagons, laden with stones, driven up and down in a straight line for a week to compact the stones.

Traffic jams started in 1886, when ox-wagon owners would find themselves parked in, sometimes five wagons deep, and had to dismantle their wagons, piece by piece, if they wanted to move. Colonel Ignatius FERREIRA was the first one with his ox-wagon, parking it where he set up camp close to where he was mining for gold. He started his own gold mine within 100m of his wagon. Within a very short time, a large number of wagons and carts had been parked around his wagon. In 2012, property owners in the Main Street Mall, mainly mining companies, brought a replica of his ox-wagon to the CBD, where it was placed in Main Street as a permanent fixture alongside other mining memorabilia that now form part of an outdoor mining museum. Although not the original, a similar wagon was found at the James Hall Transport Museum and restored by Balthi DU PLESSIS, a Pretoria museumologist and professional-ox wagon restorer. The leather thongs (osrieme), whips and ropes used to tie up the oxen are no longer made the way they used to be, but Balthi found two people – H.J. GREYLING of Victoria East who hand-made the whip, and S. DU TOIT of Cornelia who made the ropes.

The first telephone system, imported from Paris, came into being in September 1894 on Plein Square, with about 250 subscribers. The following instructions were issued: "Subscribers to the Telephone System should not wait for a return-bell after they have rung up the Central Station, by means of the black button on the instrument. When the latter has been pressed, the receiver should be taken from the hook and upon an enquiry from the Central, the name and number of the subscriber with whom connection is required, should be given. On the reply "Voorwaarts" being heard, the receiver should be replaced on the hook, the white knob pressed and the return-bell awaited before taking the receiver down again."

The first gold weighing 350 ounces was sent to Pietermaritzburg on 12 April 1887. The first share transaction happened in a miner's tent in Ferreira's Camp. The first shares to be quoted at a stock exchange happened in June 1887. Johannesburg's first stock exchange started in a tent, moved to Donovans' livery stables on the corner of Sauer and Commissioner Streets, and then to a brick building on Commissioner Street. This building had stained glass windows, tiled lavatories, a bar, offices and a front porch. The first stock exchange slump happened in 1891, as reported in the SA Mining Journal of 1912, brought about when the alluvial gold had run dry, and capital was needed to mine below the surface.

The first bank was opened by Standard Bank on 11 October 1886 in a tent. It later moved to a thatched cottage at 185 Anderson Street. The first bank manager was Donald P. ROSS who wrote to his head office that the population of Braamfontein was then 100 persons. The Standard Bank Arena today has a Donald Ross Room. The first bank clerk was Mr. P. MYNHARDT.

Mail delivery was rudimentary. Letters were sent from Pretoria by runners and deposited in a gin box in Arthur Ballantine EDGSON's canteen in Ferreira's Camp. He read out the names on the envelopes while the early residents waited for their mail. Mail accumulated, and towards the end of the first year of this service there were 10 000 unclaimed letters, 130 of them for a SMITH family. In September 1886 a small post office was erected on the site of the present Rissik Street Post Office. The postmaster was C.A. DORMEHL. At that time there were 18 mail coaches per week between Johannesburg and Kimberley. The first telegram was sent on 27 April 1887 by J.E. SYMONS, the telegraphist. He sent it to himself. The office was in Market Street and by 1890 it employed 26 telegraphists and dispatched 400 000 telegrams per year. The first postal pillar box was erected in June 1889. The first house-to-house mail deliveries took place on 02 November 1896 with 20 postmen employed to deliver 3000 letters. Three months later, in February 1897, the budget for £3 000 wasn't approved and the service was discontinued.

The first prostitutes were women from the Kimberley diamond fields, mostly Coloured women from the Cape. By 1892 larger numbers came from France, Belgium and Germany. The area between Bree Street in the north and Anderson Street in the south, Sauer Street in the west and Kruis Street in the east, contained most of the brothels and became known as Frenchfontein.

The most famous brothel was known as Sylvio Villa, on the corner of De Villiers and Rissik Streets. It was opened in 1895 and closed in 1906, and was owned by Auguste Francois ROGER. The madam was Alice MULLER who controlled the nine working women - Evette VERWEY, Suzanne DUBOIS, A. DUMAS, Blanche DUMONT, Marie BUFFAUT, Jeanne DUBOIS, Marie ANDRE, Jeanne DURETT and Georgette CARPENTIER. They charged "£1 for short time" or "£5 per night". They had to pay Alice £4 per month for food and accommodation. This excluded clothing, laundry and medical expenses. Auguste married Therese BITTERLIN. He died in 1923.

The Green House brothel was located at 19 and 20 Sauer Street. Others included the Monte Christo, Phoenix and Spire House. By 1888 Frenchfontein had 97 brothels, 77 saloons, 43 hotels and 12 billiard rooms. In 1898 a Morality Act was introduced that made provision for possible banishment of moral offenders from the ZAR. When the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, the prostitutes and pimps left for the safety of Cape Town. This resulted in the Cape passing the Betting Houses, Gaming Houses and Brothels Suppression Bill in 1902. Again, they left, some returning to the Transvaal and others going to Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Johannesburg's first barmaid was Amanda Anna AQUENZA (maiden name SCHILLING), employed by Charles Armstrong BROWN in a bar in Ferreira's Camp. He was the first saloon owner in town. She arrived in 1887. A prospector, Edward Clarence TRELAWNEY-ANSELL, wrote a book in 1939, I Followed Gold, in which he noted: "I do not think that I shall ever forget the arrival of the first barmaid in Jo'burg. Word of her coming had got ahead of her. Tales were being spread of her wonderful beauty, the glorious clothes she wore, the very low cut of her bodices, etc. Special emphasis was also laid on how easily she bestowed her nightly favours - at a price. The day came when the coach was to arrive with this beauty of the bar. Crowds of the Jo'burg "boys" were there to meet her. The coach arrived with the beauty seated inside. Cheer after cheer went up as she was carried shoulder high from the coach to the billiard room of the Central Hotel, there to be regaled with iced champagne. Then she was forced to stand on the billiard table - in clothing that today would be thought much over-dressed, but was then thought supremely naughty - in corsets and voluminous drawers edged with plenty of lace - and was sold to the highest bidder for the sum of £150, champagne flowing like water meanwhile and all laughing and enjoying the fun." She married Charles but they divorced in 1897. She later worked at the Vienna Cafe on the corner of Market and Joubert Street. In 1903 she claimed compensation from the government for losses suffered during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.

In late 1886 Bishop BROUSFIELD visited Johannesburg. He noted that of the 26 shanties erected, 16 were for the sale of drinks. Three years later the 16 had become 127 saloons. In 1891 a newspaper editor organised a Barmaids Referendum. Seventeen thousand votes were cast at the 288 saloons. Mrs. GROTH of Kimberley Bar was declared winner by 2 000 votes. She was described as an "Aphrodite blessed with an ample body and great personal charm". After Pretoria fell to the British on 05 June 1900, a proclamation under military law prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquor and all outlets were shut. The bars re-opened in Johannesburg in January 1902.

The first liquor licence was issued in June 1886. The first brewery was established in 1887, Wiltshire Brewery was set up in Ophirton. The first building in Johannesburg was the Central Hotel, in Ferreira's Camp, made of wood. Later, when Randjeslaagte was proclaimed as the new town, Frank Howard BUSSEY, the owner of Central Hotel, built a new hotel on the corner of Commissioner and Sauer Streets, of stone quarried from Doornfontein.

The first barber shop was opened by George MEREDITH in Ferreira's Camp. The first jail was in Commissioner Street, opened in the same month as the town was established. The first jailer was Mr. C. BRAHN. It was a brick building with a thatched roof. A later jail was built on the site of the present Drill Hall, on the corner of Twist and Plein Streets.

William Somerset MORKEL (31 Oct 1845-16 Jan 1914) opened the first butcher in Ferreira's Camp, on the corner of Bree Street East and Marshall Square. He later had a second butchery in Bok Strret, Doornfontein. William's father, Pieter Loreth MORKEL, was a butcher at the Cape. Willem became a butcher too and moved to Kimberley, where he married Johanna Helena MARITZ (15 Jan 1854-20 May 1918) and their children were born:

1) Theunisina Christina born 13 Dec 1874
2) Hendrik Johannes (aka Harry) born 02 Jul 1876
3) Gerhardus Maritz (aka Gerrit) born 23 Jun 1878; died Jul 1955; married Flora Fanny MATTHEWS (born 25 Nov 1880)
4) William Somerset (aka Sommie) born 26 Sept 1879; died 11 Jul 1921 in Bethal; married Hester Jakowa KOTZE
5) Stephanus Kimberley (aka Steve) born 18 Nov 1881
6) Douglas Francis Theodore born 18 Oct 1885; died 20 Feb 1950 in Johannesburg; married Hulda Marie BUCHLER (died 1930)
7) John Vernon Bester born 16 Jan 1890; died 1924

The family lived in Davies Street in Doornfontein, and later moved to Bok Street in Hospital Hill. Harry took part in the Anglo-Boer War, along with his brothers Gerrit and Steve. Sommie was taken prisoner-of-war by the British at Abraham's Kraal on 10 March 1900 and sent to Deadwood in St Helena. During the war, both shops were closed and the family survived from a small rental income. Sommie and Douglas became Springbok rugby players. Harry was a champion hurdler. Sommie was also a mining contractor.

The first Johannesburg census was held on 02 April 1890, only whites were recorded, a total of 119 128.

The first company of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republieke Polisie was composed of 16 men, formed on 12 November 1886, in a precinct stretching from Boksburg to Krugersdorp. The first police station was in Kort Street, between Market and Commissioner Streets. This site was used in the 1890s to build the Gaiety Theatre. The Officers' Barracks were at the bottom of Market Square, while the barracks for the mounted police were in Kazerne in Bree Street. Soon after this a police station was built in 1887 in Bree Street, on the corner of Simmonds Street. In January 1895 Senior Detective J.J. DONOVAN was arrested on a charge of accepting bribes from a canteen owner, Mr. GREENSTONE. In November 1898, Chief Detective Robert FERGUSON was caught buying gold amalgam and passing it on to Count SARIGNY. Both officers were dismissed.

The first cricket club was formed in November 1886. The first match was won in a Test against Britain in 1906. The first rugby club, Wanderers, was started in 1886, and lost its first match against a Pretoria team, but they won in 1887. On 04 November 1890 the first golf club was formed. The first Association Football Club was the Alpha, formed in 1887. The first bicycle track race took place on 26 October 1889. The first roller skating rink was opened in February 1891 in Kerk Street. The first baseball match was played on Sunday, 10 February 1895 at the Old Wanderers Club, Simmer and Primrose versus City and Robinson. The game was introduced by American mine workers, and kept alive by Dr. BRENMAN and J.C. HOLDERNESS. The first ice-skating rink, named Niagara, opened in 1910 near Park Station. The first hockey club for women was started in 1903/4, and the first hockey Test was played in 1925, against England.

The first chess club was set up in 1891, with Lord Randolph CHURCHILL the first president of the Johannesburg Chess Club. Johannesburg's first concert was held on 21 June 1887, put on by the International Order of Good Templars to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It took place in Thompson's Store in President Street. On 13 October 1891, Sir Dan GODFREY conducted an orchestra, playing the piano with one hand and conducting with the other, at the Standard Theatre. The first circus was Fillis's Circus, set up in Ferreira's Camp in September 1886. The first flower show was held in the Wesleyan Church in February 1893.

The first snow fall occurred on Saturday 16 May 1891, during the morning. The first swimming pool was opened in Fordsburg in April 1888. The first banquet was hosted by the mining magnates for President Paul KRUGER in February 1887. A month later, an Irish banquet was held on St Patrick's Day. The first movie shown in South Africa was at the Grand National Hotel in Johannesburg on 04 April 1895. On 19 April 1895 the first kinetoscopes - boxes in which people could see a moving image - were opened to the public in Herwoods Arcade on Pritchard and President Street. The first presentation of film in South Africa was made on 09 May 1896 at the Empire Palace of Varieties on the corner of Commissioner and Ferreira Streets. It was opened in 1895 and run by Edgar Maurice HYMAN (died 1936). That year the first South African film was produced - scenes shot from the front of a tram in the city of gold. The Apollo Theatre in Pritchard Street showed moving pictures, and the first bio-cafes were opened in 1912.

Empire Palace of Varieties

The first school was opened in Ferreira's Camp in November 1886. There were 14 pupils, and Mr. H. DUFF was the first teacher. He built the school house which cost £7.10 plus £14 for furnishings. The first church building was the Methodist Church in 1887, on the site of the present-day His Majesty's Theatre, in Commissioner Street. By 1887 there were three government schools, all near Market Square, under the auspices of the Dutch Reformed Church.

The first female office worker was Miss Annie Francis Letitia (aka Letty / Lettie) IMPEY. She was the daughter of Richard Pullman IMPEY (born 1829 in Whitby, died 1920 in Benoni) and Hannah Tamplin HART (died 1908). Her father was a farmer near Greytown, then moved to Burghersdorp before becoming a manager at the diamond mines in Du Toitspan. After this he moved to Johannesburg where he became a civil servant. Lettie was born in Greytown and attended St Michael's School in Bloemfontein. Her family arrived in Johannesburg in 1887 by cart and horse from Aliwal North after a journey that took four weeks. She opened a school in the vestry of St. Mary's with five pupils, which grew to 280 students and was government-aided. She met President Paul KRUGER while teaching. Ill health forced her to give up teaching, and she went to England. Upon her return, she started working for the solicitor Henry LINDSAY in about 1894 as a shorthand secretary. She created quite a sensation at the time as she was the only woman in business and was booed by men for usurping their place. She sat in the office with a screen around her for privacy as it was not quite proper for a lady to be seen working in an office! She married Tom Henry TANDY. His first wife, Elizabeth WELSH, had died in 1895. They had a daughter, Ina Impey TANDY (married JACKSON) who was one of the first pupils at Parktown Convent and later became president of the Old Girl's Association. Lettie became chairman of the Northern Suburbs Unionist Party. She was also a member of the Unionist Club and White Cross Legion. She enjoyed crafts, gardening and croquet. She lived at 23 Curry Road, Oaklands, Johannesburg. Her memoirs are in the Strange Collection at Johannesburg Public Library.

Lettie TANDY, 1934

The first two cemeteries were Braamfontein and Brixton. Before they were established, a cemetery of 12 stands was laid out in January 1887 on the corner of Harrison and Bree Streets. This site proved unsuitable and the corpses were exhumed in the 1890s and re-buried in Braamfontein Cemetery. Braamfontein had its first burials in 1888 and contains the graves of many early Johannesburg pioneers. During the Anglo-Boer War, a cemetery was opened in Turffontein, on the site of a concentration camp. Brixton Cemetery was opened circa 1908. West Park Cemetery opened in 1932.

The first person buried in Johannesburg was Mary DEARLOVE who died on 29 March 1887, at the age of 45. Her nephew, Joseph Dearlove HARDY, a transport rider, was interviewed for the Sunday Times of 23 April 1911 - "It was in March 1887 that I dug the first grave on the Rand. My aunt Mrs Mary DEARLOVE fell ill. I outspanned on what is now Market Square and let the oxen graze there whilst I walked up to where my aunt lay ill in a tent. There were two doctors in attendance, a German and an Englishman who had come with the Rush. But they could not save her, and I had to go to Captain VON BRANDIS and asked him where they buried people. He said he did not know if there was a place, but he would send a man with me to point out a plot for a cemetery. I had the first grave marked out and my boys dug it. A carpenter friend of mine, John MALZER, helped with the coffin; but the nearest Minister was in Pretoria. We sent to Pretoria but there was no conveyance available, and a Mr RENS officiated at the graveside reading the burial service. As we got back from the cemetery a Wesleyan minister turned up."

Mary Ann LOW was born circa 1841 in Adelaide, Australia. She was first married to Robert McINTYRE and they had a daughter, Jane (married OSBOURN). Mary married Joseph Avery DEARLOVE in June 1865. Joseph was born in 1828 in Westminster, London, to John DEARLOVE and Mary Ann WILLIAMS. He died on 24 April 1906 in Boksburg. He is listed as Joseph Henry buried 25 April 1906, age 78 years, in the St Mary's Cathedral Burial Register. In 1869 Joseph and Mary were living in Burger Street, Pietermaritzburg, and he was a farmer. In 1873 they were living in Kimberley, where he was a butcher. Mary and Joseph had the following children:
1) John born 1865, died 1965 in Pretoria
2) Mary Polly born 28 Mar 1866; married John William KILFOIL (died 1902) in 1893?
3) Arthur Fredrick William born 1867, died 1899; married M. WATSON in 1898? He is possibly Frederick who was killed while serving with the Imperial Light Horse (1st Batattalion) near Ladysmith on 02 Nov 1899. Two of his brothers fought on the Boer side and survived. Trooper Frederick, regimental number 410. The battle is described here: http://www.ladysmithhistory.com/a-to-z/sorties/
4) Jessie born 25 Oct 1869 at Burger Street, Pietermaritzburg; died 1945. Alfred James CATTERAL was 26 years old, a bachelor, a bar and store-keeper, and living in Johannesburg when he married Jessie DEARLOVE on 15 May 1888 in St Mary's Catherdral, Johannesburg.  Jessie was 18 years old, a spinster and living in Johannesburg. They divorced in 1907.
5) Charles Edward born 1870, died 1946 in Johannesburg; married Elizabeth Phoebe COKER (died 1941)
6) Joseph born 16 Nov 1871 in Kimberley; baptised 15 Jun 1873 at St. Cyprian's Anglican Church, Kimberley; died 1911?
6) Francis Avery born 1872, died 1931, married Agnes HUDSON, divorced in 1911; married Philis Grace
7) Joseph Avery born 1872, married Jacoba Johanna
8) Walter Henry Lewis born 1874, died 1928; married Blanche HILL (died 1928)
9) Edith Ann born 01 Feb 1877, died 22 Jan 1971 in Discovery, Johannesburg; married Thomas Hodson WHIPP (died 1931)
10) John born 1879; married Georgina (died 1947)?

Frederick OSBORNE was 32 years old, a bachelor and a merchant living in Boksburg, when he married Jane McINTYRE on 22 Jun 1891 in St Mary's Catherdral, Johannesburg. Jane was 30 years old, a spinster and living in Elandsfontein. Edith DEARLOVE was a witness at the marriage. Jane died in 1939. Frederick had died by then.

Joseph Dearlove HARDY was 27 years old and a trader when he married Jacoba Petronella Elizabeth VERSTER on 17 May 1881 in the Anglican Church in Bethlehem, Free State. He was born in Bethlehem, as was Jacoba who was 24 years old when they were married. In 1903 Joseph claimed compensation from the government for losses suffered during the Anglo-Boer War. He fought on the Boer side and was taken as a prisoner-of-war by the British. He was age 46 at time of capture in Durban, and gave his address as Simmons Street, Johannesburg. He was sent to Diyatalawa POW Camp in Ceylon, on the ship Ranee II.

A locust swarm hit town on 28 May 1891. The first pet shop opened in a tearoom which was opened in 1900, on the corner of Noord and Harrison Streets. Isobel SOLOMON is said to have brought the first pet cat into town from the Cape, date unknown. Apparently the first pet dog was a fox terrier owned by Dr. George James McCarthy MELLE in April 1887. Its name was Whiskey. Dr. MELLE was one of the first doctors in town.

Dr. George James McCarthy MELLE died on 13 September 1937 at the Johannesburg General Hospital. He was married to Anna Elizabeth Susanna (aka Annie) VAN NIEKERK in 1889 and had two sons and two daughters. He was born in Rondebosch on 18 June 1861 to George Alexander MELLE and Alison TAIT. George James received his medical education at Edinburgh University, where he qualified in 1886. In 1887 he was acting locum for Dr. J. FEHRSEN of Cradock. He then went to Johannesburg, becoming one of the few doctors in the new town. While in Johannesburg, he became secretary of the newly-formed Transvaal Medical Society. In 1889 he bought a practice in Robertson, Cape, where he remained until the Anglo-Boer War broke out, when he served as civil surgeon with the British forces. Subsequently he joined Dr. HOFFMANN in Paarl, but later resumed practice in Robertson, with an interval of practice in Riversdale. In 1915 he left Robertson and practised in Rhodesia. He joined the South African Native Labour Contingent in 1916. In 1918 he was appointed M.O. to the Miners' Phthisis Bureau in Johannesburg, and in the following year he became Mine Medical Officer to the Zaaiplaats tin mines. He then settled in Potgieterus until his death.

George James McCartney MELLE

George Alexander MELLE was born in 1819 in Hamburg, Germany, the son of Johan Ulrich August VON MELLE. He qualified as a surgeon / chemist (apothecary). On 01 Nov 1841, he left Hamburg onboard the ship Franziska, arriving in Table Bay on 03 Jan 1842. He had a chemist at 49 Plein Street in Cape Town in the 1840s-1850s. He married Alison TAIT in 1846. In 1855, George took his family to Germany for a visit. He died at the Cape in 1875 and was buried in Montagu Old Cemetery. Alison died 04 January 1890 and was buried at St Peter's in Observatory. She was age 61 and lived in Woodstock.
George and Alison's children included:
1) Catherine Fredericka born 09 Dec 1845; baptised 17 Feb 1846 at St Andrew's Church, Cape Town; died 21 Jun 1915; married Barend Cornelius Berning LOUW; both buried at NGK Cemetery, Main Road, Observatory (Mowbray)
2) Theodore Albert Charles baptised 06 June 1847 at St Andrew's Church, Cape Town; moved to the USA in the 1860s
3) Thomas John Alexander baptised 22 September 1850 at St Andrew's Church, Cape Town
4) Agnes Margaret Josephine baptised 11 July 1852 at St Andrew's Church, Cape Town
5) James Abercrombie Gordon baptised 25 June 1854 at St Andrew's Church, Cape Town (went to the USA to visit Theodore Albert Charles and not heard of again, may have died in the San Francisco earthquake)
6) George James McCartney born 18 June 1861 in Rondebosch
7) Alison Mary born 20 January 1848; died 29 October 1939; married Adriaan Johannes Jacobus LOUW (26 Mar 1847-29 Aug 1921), both buried at NG Strooidakkerk, Paarl
8) Mary Henrietta Tait; died 1897; married MEIRING

George James McCartney MELLE and Anna Elizabeth Susanna VAN NIEKERK had the following children:
1) Basil George von Brandis born 31 Mar 1891 in Somerset West; died 08 Jan 1966 in Orchards, Johannesburg; married Margaret Alexander (aka Peggy) DONALD
2) Henry Augustus born circa 1892; died 1957; married Grace Jeanette VAN BOESCHOTEN
3) Gwen; married Harold ROBERTS
4) Eileen; married Bertrand Silver BOWER

Dr. Basil George von Brandis MELLE was a Rhodes Scholar in 1912. He played cricket for Hampshire, Oxford University, Transvaal and Western Province. His first class span was from 1908 to 1924. Basil George von Brandis MLLE and Peggy DONALD had the following children:
1) Elizabeth
2) Michael George born 03 Jun 1930 in Forest Town, Johannesburg; died 28 Dec 2003 at Betty's Bay. He played cricket for South Africa, Transvaal and Western Province. His Test debut was South Africa vs Australia in Johannesburg 10-14 Feb 1950. He toured England in 1951.

Henry Augustus MELLE and Grace VAN BOESCHOTEN had the following children:
1) Jenette born circa 1928; married Vivian HOURELD
2) Davidine born circa 1932; married Robert HINES

The first chemist was opened in 1886 by Mr. J. HEYMANN. It was in Commissioner Street and was named Golden Mortar Dispensary. The first cafe, Cafe Francais, was in Ferreira's Camp, on the corner of Market and Joubert Streets. The first chewing gum, Beeman's Pepsin Chewing Gum, was sold in 1895 by A.A. OFFICER.

Beeman's Pepsin Chewing Gum

The first hospital was established in the jail in Commissioner Street. The building was used for prisoners as well as the hospital. The first District Surgeon was Dr. Hans SAUER. In April 1887, the hospital moved into a two-roomed galvanised iron and wood building next door to the jail. A temporary hospital building was erected in August 1888 that accommodated 14 patients. This was the beginning of the Johannesburg Hospital situated on Hospital Hill. In Eric Rosenthal's book, "Gold! Gold! Gold!", Dr. SAUER described Ferreira’s Camp - "Within a fortnight after our arrival, Ferreira’s Camp began to assume the aspect of a busy place; tents and tented wagons covered a wide area, and here and there primitive reed-and-clay shanties appeared. Newcomers turned up every day, by ox wagon, by horse wagon, by mule wagon, and by every imaginable sort of vehicle, from the Old Colony, from Natal, from the Orange Free State, from Kimberley, from Pretoria, in fact, from all parts of South Africa. This rush continued without interruption for years. As there was practically no accommodation in Ferreira’s Camp, everyone had to manage in the open as best he could. All this happened in the beginning of the winter of 1886."

Joseph Barnett ISAACS was born in Brynmawr, Brecknuckshire, South Wales, in about 1861, the son of Barnett ISAACS and his wife Ellen. Joseph arrived in Johannesburg in about 1889 and started his photographic business in about 1894. He was later joined by his younger brother David. They were photographers for the London periodical Black and White. The brothers' early photographs are known as the Barnett Collection. Joseph, who was unmarried, died while on holiday in Wales and was buried at his birthplace on 23 July 1897. David carried on the business as Joseph Barnett & Co. In 1902 he launched a series of postcards. He became well-known in the cinema industry, helping to pioneer African Consolidated Theatres with Isadore William SCHLESINGER. By the time David decided to sell the photographic business, he was approached by Charles Davidson DON, editor of The Star from 1915 to 1938, who persuaded him to sell the collection to The Star, which he did in the 1920s. David died at the age of 90 in 1964. The 2100 plus photographs cover the early years of Johannesburg between the 1890s-1913; its buildings and streets; gold mining, mainly on the Witwatersrand, but also as far as Barberton; events like the Jameson Raid in 1895, the Matabele Rebellion in 1896, the Queen Victoria Jubilee in 1897, and the Anglo-Boer War in 1899-1902

Remembering Old Johannesburg, by John O’Meara

For Jo’burg was a mining town

And a very lively spot.

You’d get caught up in the action

Whenever things got hot.

A raw and ugly place, they say,

Like me with a very plain face,

But we both grew up so suddenly

There was little time for grace.

And when there’d been some fighting

We thought it quite a lark

To count the feet of policemen

being buried in Milner Park.

Later cannons started booming

along the road that led to the zoo,

lobbing shells on the hill at Brixton,

and we were there watching too.

There was such a mix of people

and colours of many a race

that later, when I travelled

I never felt out of place.

I’ll always be grateful to Jo’burg

for giving me a lively start.

Though it was a hardy place to live in,

it was a town with a very big heart.