Skip to main content

GSSA HEADER ENG

Anglicisation of the Cape after the British takeover

Dr. Liza-Mari Oberholzer, 10 July 2021

Three families were highlighted and each was discussed in detail.

Anglicisation took place in various ways after the Batavian period at the Cape, which came to an end at the end of 1806. Initially there was little assimilation between the two language groups before 1920 but as time went on, the groups interacted more socially.

The ancestor of the Van Reenens was a wealthy man at the time of his death and his eldest daughter married Baumgardt and they moved in English social circles where she was especially popular among the British officers. Her popularity it gave them access to the British elite in the Cape. Their children were anglicised e.g.one son was in the British Navy for about 40 years.

The ancestor of the Cloetes was very poor and when his wife died, the children were still small and three of them were placed in foster care. One of the boys, Henrik (Hendrik) later bought Groot Constantia. He became a member of the civic council and his children later went to England. Henry (originally Henry) was sent to Natal by Sir George Napier to assist with the annexation. Sir Abraham Josias Cloete studied at a British Military College.

The Truter ancestor was chief gardener at the Cape. His grandson was later Sir John (Johannes) Andries Truter. He was the secretary of Justice and a prominent Freemason. He invited some of the English elite, who were Freemasons, to join the lodge to which he belonged. He was knighted and some of his nieces marry prominent Britons like one of them to the British writer John Barrow.

It was an interesting, detailed presentation.