Forbes diary dramatis personae
Please reference as: Liz Stanley (2019) ‘Forbes diary dramatis personae’ www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/Collections/Collections-Portal/Forbes-Diary-Collection/Forbes-Diary-Dramatis and provide the paragraph number as appropriate when quoting.
Guides to the Forbes diary are:
- The Forbes diary in a nutshell
- Introducing the Forbes diary
- Forbes diary dramatis personae [this]
- Forbes diary overviews
- Forbes diary: working conventions
1. On names
1.1 The Forbes diary provides a record of day-to-day activities, persons and events over a long time period and reflects what its writers – David Forbes snr and Kate Forbes, but also on occasion Maggie Forbes and Dave Forbes jnr and more residually some other people – considered relevant to record, and how they did so. An important aspect of this is how they named people. Lacking an orthography for the African languages they were fluent in orally, they rendered African and some other names phonetically. This not only means there are variant spellings between different diary-writers, but also variations from one writer on different occasions. This has been responded to in two ways.
1.2 The first is that the full transcriptions of entries in the diary database are rendered exactly as they were originally written, so that these not only include mistakes, insertions and deletions, but also the many variant spellings that feature.
1.3 The second is that, to facilitate searching across the huge number of records that compose the diary database, the names of key people have been standardised in the summaries that the WWW team has provided, also part of the database.
1.4 This standardisation includes some people of European extraction whose names may be spelt differently by different writers or on different occasions. However, it mainly concerns African people who were key members of the Athole Estate as peasant farmers and sharecroppers living there and working for themselves as well as for the Forbes. They were important members of the Estate community and recognised as such in differentiations recorded between different groups of workers, including how they are named. Therefore enabling the activities of these people to be traced over time by users of the Forbes diary database has underpinned this decision. The full range of variations will however be found in the transcriptions, as already noted. Regarding these, it is recognised that the 19th and early 20th century versions rendered by the diary-writers may now be seen by some users as offensive as well as obsolete, although at the time these often, though not always, had neutral descriptive meaning.
2. The Forbes
2.1 The Forbes brothers Alexander and David were Byrne migrants to Natal in 1850. Their younger siblings were Lizzie, James and Jemima. The family timber business in Pitlochry, run by their father and uncle, which exported goods to the Baltic, had failed when their uninsured ship was sunk. Their parents died within a short time of each other, and the siblings were looked after by this maternal uncle, Peter Sim, and his wife. All the siblings quickly became economically active, the older boys as labourers including in Ireland, and the girls in service. Emigration to South Africa was seen in terms of economic opportunity for the two eldest brothers, rather than being propelled by penury.
Alexander snr: The eldest of the three brothers, after their arrival in Natal Alexander shared first trading trips and then farming with David snr. He died in 1866 as the result of a liver condition contracted during a trading trip.
David snr: By turn a labourer, trader, farmer, prospector, miner, company director, his drive to rise above the condition of his life in Scotland formed the underpinning dynamic of the Forbes family entrepreneurial spirit. David snr comes across in letters and diary-entries as an honourable man albeit with many of the attitudes of his day. This involves ‘race’ matters and also other aspects of life. While treating his sons and daughters in a very even-handed way with regard to the land and other property, it is nonetheless notable that their activities as represented in the diary flourished in the wake of his death. He was the major letter-writer in the family, due to the range of his economic activities; and was also the primary diary-writer.
Lizzie: She was the eldest of the Forbes sisters. She worked as a ‘higher’ servant and most often as a housekeeper for wealthy Edinburgh professional families. A key letter-writer who largely originated the style of writing that developed within the Forbes scriptorium, Lizzie appears less frequently in diary-entries. She expedited much family economic business in Britain, as well as taking responsibility for looking after sub-branches at the family. Later, the Forbes in South Africa paid Lizzie a regular allowance as a kind of stipend for this.
James snr: Youngest of the three brothers, James followed Alexander and David to Natal some years after their arrival. A Jack of all trades, he became a prospector, concession owner, and the inventor of one of the first diamond washing devices. He became wealthy and spent very lavishly and as a result went through money as well as accrued it. He returned to Scotland and built a number of properties in Edinburgh and the Borders, and also became involved with a widow to whom he unexpectedly left all his property, rather than as promised. He died of stomach cancer or cirrhosis of the liver when minerals prospecting in South Africa in 1896.
Jemima: The youngest of the Forbes siblings; see Condie.
Kate, nee Purcocks: From a young age and soon after marriage, Kate managed their farm and workers during David’s trading trips away. Her letters and diary-entries convey presence of mind and a decided insistence later on in her life on her authority in relation to both white farm managers and black farmworkers. The key correspondent in maintaining family connections, she first appears as a diary-writer in 1868, then after David snr’s 1905 death became the primary diarist. The different components of the family collection suggest that she was the family archivist as well, a role later played by son Dave.
Nellie: The eldest of the children of David snr and Kate. In earlier years, she has something of a shadowy presence in diary-entries. She paid a number of visits to Scotland where she seems to have had a romance, alluded to in a letter from her brother Dave jnr, although she did not marry. Around the period of her father’s illness and death, she became a much more visible diary presence, in managing groups of workers and expediting activities on both the Home Farm and the Estate.
Alexander jnr (aka Alick): The oldest of the three sons of David snr and Kate. He inherited an interest in prospecting and mining and while in Barberton on a related trip with his cousin Isabella and her husband Jack Bryant in 1885, he contracted typhoid and died. His parents were in Britain at the time and his final illness then burial at Athole were managed by Sarah Purcocks and his brother Dave.
Dave jnr: He grew up with a very entrepreneurial set of interests and was always looking for new ways of developing family economic activities. After the sale of the Forbes Reef mining company, he became manager of a Coal Concession in Swaziland and combined this with running a number of farming properties. In World War I he was associated with the British forces and was awarded a DSO. After his father’s death, he became involved in a more hands-on way with his holdings at Athole and environs. He wrote many letters when away from Athole, and later succeeded his mother as family archivist.
Kitty: see Rawson.
Jim jnr: An impression is gained of Jim as a rather unsettled character who relatively rarely put pen to paper. He became a transport rider and was drover of the family’s cattle and thoroughbred horses during winter months when they were moved further north. He later ran the family farm at Tolderia. When in his forties he married Olive Matthews in 1915. The marriage ran into difficulties in a few years, including a dispute over access to their daughter. He died in 1922. See Matthews.
Maggie aka Madge: Youngest of the Forbes siblings, like her brother Dave she had a good head for property management and development and expedited most of the administrative aspects of his property dealings as well as her own. At various points she took over writing diary-entries when her mother was absent or indisposed. She later married Thomas Dunn, and after his death a farmer called Tonkin. See Dunn.
3. Other dramatis personae
3.1 A very large number of people are mentioned or described or commented on in the Forbes diary. There are a number of overlapping figurational entities involved. These include immediate family, wider family in both South Africa and Britain, more distant kin members, neighbouring farmers and tradespeople, strangers and acquaintances passing through, a wide range of professionals and politicians, and public figures observed through newspaper reports and gossip.
3.2 There are in fact far too many to be able to provide sketches of them all. Therefore in what follows, brief comments are provided about the key individuals and family circles that feature in the diary.
Arthur: The two Arthur brothers were McCorkindale party arrivals in the New Scotland area. Many members of the Arthur families are mentioned. However, little detail is associated with their names, so that it is difficult to get a sense of their relationship to the Forbes or much else about them. There were a large number of people of that surname and they played a significant part in the local settler community, but were not particularly close to the Forbes.
Baillie: Mr Baillie was proprietor of a well-known school in Morningside in Edinburgh and the family was well heeled. Both Mr Baillie and daughter Nellie feature in many letters and diary-entries including after Mrs Baillie’s death. Lizzie Forbes worked for a fairly lengthy period as a housekeeper and general factotum for the family and they became close even after she stopped working for them. She was particularly close to Mr Baillie, who went to many business meetings with her, and Nellie Baillie. The latter was a friend of Lizzie’s nieces Nellie, Lizzie and Susie Condie and also of the Forbes daughters when they lived in Edinburgh, when attending school or being ‘finished’.
Bismark and Nomalanga
Bismark: A peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term worker on the Athole Estate. The impression is that Bismark could turn his hand to a wide array of skilled tasks. In spite of some grumbling, it comes across that the Forbes relied on him for many things. He appears to have been a Christian or Kolwa, although the transition between his first and second wives seems to have been managed in a customary law way.
Nomalanga (aka Nomalenga, Mrs Bismark): The second wife of Bismark; she later had a relationship with Mashisiman and they left Athole.
Boonshe (aka Boonsie and other variants): Boonshe was a cattle and horse herd, employed at Athole. He was a Kolwa.
Boshabarn (aka Boshbarn and other variants): He was a worker employed as Athole.
Bothma: The Bothmas were a large Boer family intermarried with many others in the Ermelo area, although not all local people of that name were related, making it difficult to trace out connections.
Christiaan: One of the local Boer farmers that the Forbes found troublesome.
Hendrik: Son of Christiaan and acting veld cornet for Ermelo district. His wife was married to Dansie Louw.
Bresler: The Breslers were family friends of the Forbes. Mr and Mrs Bresler were based at a farm in the Ermelo area, and their adult children (and other members of the extended Bresler family) visited and sometimes corresponded with the Forbes family. Names mentioned include Duke, Jack, Maggie, Dolly, Offy and Vere.
Bryant: A family connection of David Forbes snr via his cousin John Forbes, Isabella Forbes married Joseph aka Jack Bryant. She was close to her younger cousins and was in Barberton with her husband and Alick jnr when they were prospecting in late 1885; all three caught typhoid and she and Alick died.
Buchanan: The Buchanans, Dingleys, Forbes, Purcocks and Walkers were interrelated, sometimes over a number of generations, and family names were recycled across the generations. The Erskines were also cousins of the Buchanans and there were intermarriages in addition. The Buchanans were a large family and interconnected with many others who feature in the Forbes diary. They were Scottish migrants and moved from Natal to New Scotland as part of the McCorkindale-led exodus.
David Dale: Founder of the Natal Witness newspaper, who died before the diary commences.
Mrs Mary: She is the Mrs Buchanan who was the mother of Jack and Laura among others.
Jack: He was a particular friend and associate of Dave jnr and Jim jnr and shared many family and money-making ventures with them.
Laura: She married David Purcocks and is the ‘Mrs Copoy’ (aka Kopoy) of many diary-entries. Their children included Percy and Cecil. See Purcocks.
Butchel: The Butchel family worked on Athole and lived at a kraal there. The kraal had gardens and cattle. Some of the Forbes cattle were housed at their kraal at various points over the years.
Butchel: (aka Butchell and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term worker employed on Athole. He and his wife, referred to only as Mrs Butchel, had a kraal, and their own livestock, crops and gardens. Like Bismark, he seems to have been able to turn his hand to many different tasks and became a key worker on the Estate.
Polly [aka Pollie]: Butchel’s son. He was employed on Athole from 1908 onward.
[Unnamed] daughter: Butchel’s daughter is mentioned in 1903, when she underwent tests to become a witchdoctor.
Celliers, S [aka Cilliers]: He took over what had been the Tosen farm in around 1910.
Sergeant Chantler: A member of the local South African Constabulary, which was established after 1902.
Churchman: A carpenter and handyman, Churchman was initially hired to do carpentry work on Athole farmhouse, and was kept on in an unspecified capacity for about a year following this. Churchman later returned to help Kitty with unspecified projects when she returned to live on a farm, Glen Eland, near Athole.
Mr Coester (aka Coetser, Koster): He is mentioned as being a Resident JP in 1916-17.
Coester, Jan (aka Coster, Koster, and other variants): He was a foreman at the Assegai Farms (over the Assegai River), which were affiliated with the Forbes’s interests.
Condie
Jemima nee Forbes: She worked as an upper servant, then in 1869 married David McGregor Condie, a small-time Edinburgh builder. Their children were Nellie, Lizzie, Susie and John. David Condie was committed to an asylum in the early 1880s following a business failure; Jemima died not long after. Lizzy Forbes took care of the Condie children thereafter. Lizzie Condie was an invalid and died in 1899. Nellie and Susie both became nurses.
Susie: She paid a number of extended visits to the Forbes in South Africa, and considered emigration. However, she eventually decided not to, although her brother John eventually moved to Cape Town.
Daavid (aka David): He was a shepherd employed on the Athole Estate.
Danford: A significant figure in the development of the Forbes mining company, not always in a positive sense. Also the name given to a mule.
Davery, Joseph Burt: The government botanist.
Dingley: The Dingleys, Buchanans, Forbes, Purcocks and Walkers were interrelated, sometimes over a number of generations, and family names are recycled across the generations. The names of at least three generations of Dingleys occur in the Forbes diary. The most important in diary terms are members of the older migrant generation.
Mary Ann: see McCorkindale.
Anne Fenton: see Purcocks.
James George: The brother of Mary McCorkindale and Anne Purcocks.
Duncan, Patrick: A leading political figure in South Africa in the early 1900s through to the 1930s. He was a close friend and correspondent of Maud Selborne.
Dunn, Thomas Spence, Dr: A graduate of Glasgow University medical school, he became medical officer for the Piet Retief District. With his sister (not named) he was a frequent visitor to Athole, and the Forbes in turn sent many workers who had been injured to him for treatment. He later married Madge Forbes after the diary ceases. See Forbes, Madge.
Erskine: The Erskines were cousins of the Buchanans and there were intermarriages in addition.
St Vincent Whitshed: A leading land surveyor who became South Africa’s Surveyor General.
Alice Lindley Erskine nee Buchanan: She was married to St Vincent Erskine and was the fifth daughter of David and Mary Buchanan.
Farrar, George: An industrialist, Randlord and a leading presence in the Transvaal Progressive Party after the end of the South African War.
Faviell: A significant figure in the development of the Forbes mining company, not always in a positive sense.
Fitzpatrick, Percy: A Randlord and active in South African politics in the early 1900s.
Fooi: A peasant farmer/sharecropper who was employed on Athole, and lived at a kraal on or near it. He engaged in everyday farm tasks as well as carpentry.
Forbes: A number of branches of the Forbes family settled in different parts of South Africa.
Robert Forbes: He was a cousin, perhaps at remove, of David Forbes snr and brothers Alexander and James, and lived for much of his life in Natal.
Robin: He was the son of Robert Forbes and when in his late teens he worked for a year or two at Athole.
Gardener, William: A significant figure in the development of the Forbes mining company; later a pioneer in bicycle technology, a passion shared with Jim Forbes jnr.
Geba (aka Umgeba and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper employed on the Athole Estates. He lived at a kraal on Athole.
Groblar/Grobler and other variants: A Boer family who lived on a nearby farm. They are described in often irritated comments about their conduct in road disputes, cattle trading and behaviour generally.
Stef (aka Steff, Stief): A son of Mr Grobler/Groblar.
Thys (aka Tyes, Tys, Tysie, Theys): A son of Mr Grobler/Groblar.
Hans (Veldcornet, 1909): A son of Mr Grobler/Groblar.
Gobaaz / Gubasie (aka Kobaaz, Coalbaas and other variants): In diary entries he is usually called Gobaaz by David Forbes up to the end of 1903, and Gubasie by Kate Forbes from 1904 onwards. Accordingly, he has been named like this in summaries in the different year-diaries. As well as farming work, he also did carpentry and plastering and rather like Bismark appears a key presence on the Athole Estate. He was Makepan and Umquaka’s son. Gobaaz/Gubasie and his wife (no name given other than Mrs Gobaaz/Gubasie) were Kolwas, and long-term employees on Athole before their departure in 1907. They had five children, some of whom were also employed at Athole.
Hoomie (aka Hoomi and other variants): He was a farm worker employed on the Athole Estates, and was one of the key people who reported events on the farm to members of the Forbes family.
Inhlovo (aka Umhlovo and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper employed on the Athole Estate.
Intima: The Intima family were peasant farmers/sharecroppers living and working on Athole. They lived at a kraal on the Estate, and had their own cattle, crops and gardens. The family comprised Intima (aka Inteema and other variants), several wives (none of whom are personally named), and approximately eight Athole-employed children.
Busac (aka Busack, Busaye and the other variants): He was one of Intima’s sons, and he died in 1917.
M’Shepe (aka MShepe and other variants): He was one of Intima’s sons.
Umbetsha (aka Umpetch, Betch and the other variants): He was one of Intima’s sons.
Umcomane (aka Komane, Umcoman and other variants): He was one of Intima’s sons.
Jackall
Jackall (aka Jackal, Jokole and other variants): She worked long-term for Sarah Purcocks at Westoe and was a key presence in the household and much relied upon.
Foss (aka Fos): The daughter of Jackall, she often travelled about with Sarah Purcocks when visiting Athole and other places.
Scotchman: He was a younger child of Jackall’s.
Joubert: A large Boer family living in the area, many of whom the Forbes family had intermittent disputes and business dealings with. Many references are made to Roi Stoffel, Franty, Frederik, Smith Joubert.
Mr Kerswill (aka Kerswell, Kersvile): An Amsterdam Judge and acquaintance of the Forbes family.
Kolwanie (aka Kolwami, Colwanie and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term employee of the Athole Estate. The Kolwanie family lived at a kraal on Athole, where they had their own cattle, crops and gardens. Kolwanie had a wife (unnamed), three sons and one daughter; two of his sons were employed at Athole.
Kop (aka Kope, Cop): A shepherd working on the Athole Estate.
Kopolo (aka Copolo, Kopola and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term presence on the Athole Estate. He had a kraal on the Estate, and his own cattle, crops and gardens. He had several wives, a son and two or three daughters, and his sister, Umvulazan, was a member of the Swazi royal family. Kopolo and his children are mentioned in many diary entries in connection with their livestock holdings and daily farm work at Athole.
Kosarn (aka Inkosarn, Inkosar, NKosan and other variants): A long-term employee at Athole.
Kotoy (aka Cotoy): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term employee of the Athole Estate. He had a kraal and his own cattle, crops and gardens. There is no mention of a spouse, but there are of three sons and one daughter. Life events including births, marriages, deaths, and illnesses are recorded for this family.
Kubulan (aka Kuboolan, Mbubulwane, Umkubulwane and other variants): He was a long-term employee on Athole, who engaged in all-purpose farm work in addition to shepherding.
Louw, Dansie: Brother-in-law of Hendrik Bothma. One of the troublesome local Boer farmers.
Lohawk (aka Lowhawk or Lowhak): He was a farm worker employed on Athole.
McCorkindale
Alexander: He was married to the eldest sister of Kate Forbes’s mother Anne Purcocks. He was an important figure in migration from Scotland to Natal and the development of the New Scotland area of the south-eastern Transvaal. A combination of dreamer, adventurer and hard-nosed entrepreneur, McCorkindale negotiated the sale of large tracts of land from President Pretorius, with a number of the farms marked out being bought by David Forbes, who had ‘spotted’ the potential of this area on one of his trading trips. Following McCorkindale’s death from malaria in 1872, the Transvaal Raad disputed his Will regarding all these farms, causing long drawn-out legal problems for his wife.
Mary Ann: Mary Ann McCorkindale nee Dingley is the ‘Aunt McCorkindale’ whose name frequently crops up in diary entries. She figures large in many letters and particularly in writing to her nieces Kate and Sarah. An educated and worldly figure, she was a kind of surrogate mother for the Purcocks children, as their mother, her youngest sister Anne, was frequently ill and both parents were not very competent in managing the economic aspects of family life.
McNamara (aka Macnamara): He worked for a lengthy period of time on Athole from 1909 to 1914 as a manager, stockman and craftsman. Latterly there were increasing frictions on both sides around the perception that the quality of his work had declined.
Madolowan (aka Madolo or Madolonan): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term worker employed on Athole.
Mafish: (aka Mafeesh, Fish and other variants): He was a long-term employee on the Athole Estate.
Majaas (aka Majash, Umjaas and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term employee at Athole. Majaas had a kraal on the Estate and his own cattle, crops and gardens. He had a wife and daughter (unnamed), and all of them were Kolwas.
Majobo (aka Majoba or MJoba): He was a farm worker employed on Athole. He also did masonry work). Majoba and his wife, Sparta, had (unnamed) twin girls.
Makepan and Umquaka (aka Umgakua, Gauka, Quaku and other variants): They were a Kolwa married couple. They and their three adult children (Mangaka, Gobaaz aka Gubasie and Intombieloova) were peasant farmers/sharecroppers and long-term employees on Athole. They had a kraal/s on the Estate, and their own livestock, gardens and crops.
Umquaka: Around 1870 she was nursemaid to the Forbes children and a confidant for them. She was the mother of Mangaka. One of her letters, dictated to Jim Forbes jnr, conveys her strength of character and no-nonsense approach. She remained living and working on Athole for many years.
Makigasarn (aka Makikizan and other variants): He was an employee who worked for the Forbes from 1851 to 1897.
Makindy (aka Macandee, Makindi and other variants): A worker employed on the Athole Estate.
Mangaka (aka Mangkaku, Mangawha and other variants): Mangaka was Makepan and Umquaka’s son. Mangaka and his wife, only ever referred to as Mrs Mangaka, are frequently mentioned in terms of their daily work and other activities. They were Kolwas, and they had seven children, five of whom are named in connection with their births and or baptisms).
Mashoya (aka Mashoye, MShoy, Myshoys and other variants): He was a cattle herd employed on Athole.
Masutu (aka Masuta or Masoota): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term worker employed on Athole. He and his wife, referred to only as ‘such, had a kraal and their own livestock, crops and gardens. They had an unnamed daughter.
Mathews: A number of members of the Mathews family appear in the diary. They include Olive Matthews, her mother, sister Daisy and brother, and lived in Johannesburg. The Matthews father may be the Mr Matthews from Johannesburg who was a surveyor and appears in the diary at around the same time that Olive Matthews does.
Olive: She married Jim Forbes jnr in 1915. Later the marriage foundered, and his attempt to ensure his mother and siblings would have access to their daughter after his death failed because his Will was not properly witnessed. This is covered in Forbes letters, although the diary ceases before it occurred.
Canon Mercer: Mercer worked for the Anglican Church Mission and was based at a mission station called Holy Rood, near Piet Retief. He had particular brief to cater to Christian or Kolwa Africans. This included the group of Kolwas living on the Athole Estate. At his suggestion, Madge Forbes set up a school for Kolwa children at Athole.
Milner, Alfred: A journalist then career diplomat and civil servant, he was knighted and later gained a peerage. He became Governor of South Africa and is often seen as largely responsible for provoking the South African War 1899-1902. After the war ended, he became Governor of the Transvaal with the intention of transforming its governance and turning it into a bastion of his kind of Britishness.
Moosingwania (aka Mizinguani, Musingania and other variants): A shepherd employed on Athole.
Numslogonia (aka Numslogona or Nuslogonie): He was a farm worker employed on Athole. A wife and three or four children are mentioned, including Mafish and a twin boy and girl.
Picannie (aka Piccanie, Picannine, and other variants): He was a farm worker employed on Athole.
Pigott (aka Piggot, Pickiti and other variants): A shepherd employed on Athole.
Pienaar: The Pienaars were a large local Boer family, comprising five or so men usually referred to as ‘Mr Pienaar’ without specificity. One of the Mr Pienaars was the Resident Magistrate in Amsterdam between 1912 and 1914. Other names mentioned include Bernard, H P J Pienaar, Jappie, and Jacob, who was Tosen’s brother-in-law.
Potolosie (aka Potolozi and other variants): An Athole worker over many years, Potolosie experienced periods of sometimes violent madness. These are a topic of concern in multiple diary-entries, which provide detail of how people responded.
Pryde, Bella: Initially an unsatisfactory governess for the Forbes daughters, she then worked for other New Scotland families and was found equally problematic. A rather fey person, she later seems to have established a long-term friendship with some of the Forbes daughters and was on visiting terms.
Purcocks: Kate Forbes’s family of birth.
David snr: Kate Forbes’s father. He seems to have been an amiable but economically not very competent person. Letters in the collection detail the failure of his Natal farm, while later Westoe was rented from his son-in-law David Forbes and in a practical sense managed by his daughter Sarah.
Anne Fenton nee Dingley: Kate Forbes’s mother. Before the family moved from Natal to New Scotland, she ran a licensed boarding house from their farm, which seems to have been located at a strategic position for travellers. As she was just functionally literate, the book-work was done by her then very young daughter Sarah supported by her Aunt, Mary McCorkindale, Anne’s elder sister.
George Fenton: Eldest child of David and Ann. With younger brother Vincent, he accompanied David Forbes snr on an 1871 mining trip. Even then his drinking was often out of control and he died from delirium tremens in 1876 near a Natal trading station run by David Forbes’s friend Thomas Duff.
Kate: see Forbes.
Vincent aka Vin: He accompanied his older brother George on the 1871 mining trip headed by David Forbes snr. Later with his brother David, he ran a trading station and all-purpose hardware shop, D & V Purcocks. He married Martha Walker in 1886. He died in ?1900. ‘Mrs Vin’ appears many times in the diary and later, after Sarah Straker’s death, she and her children lived on the farm Westoe.
Sarah: From letters and diary-entries, an impression is gained of Sarah as a redoubtable girl and then woman. As a girl, she took charge of matters when her parents experienced financial problems; she later ran her father’s farm Westoe, which initially belonged to David Forbes snr, and later still farmed it on her own behalf. In 1880, she married a local farmer, Joshua Straker, who died just a few years later. See Straker.
David: The youngest Purcocks child, he is often referred to in letters and diary-entries as Copoy or Kopoy. Together with his brother Vincent, he ran a trading station combined with all-purpose hardware shop, D & V Purcocks. In 1853 he married a cousin, Laura Buchanan, often mentioned in diary-entries as Mrs Copoy/Kopoy. Their children included Edith Maude (referred to as Birdie), Cecil, George and Percy.
Rawson
Rawson, Henry Gilbert: Probably a farmer in the Ermelo area, he married Kitty Forbes in 1909. A number of diary-entries suggest he was seen as rather unsatisfactory, at least by Kate Forbes, who arranged a post-nuptial agreement that prevented him from having control over Kitty’s property.
Kitty: From an early age she participated in stock-holding and also had a parcel of land on the Athole Estate growing a range of produce for local markets. After her marriage in 1909 she lived for a time in Johannesburg. In addition to her Athole holdings, Kitty ran Glen Eland, later became a major farmer in the Ermelo area, and was particularly renowned for her knowledgeability with regard to stock breeding.
Darrens (aka the baby, Darrins): The second son and first surviving child of Henry and Kitty. In a formal sense named after his father, from a very early age he was nicknamed Darrens.
Scotulu (aka Scotule, Scotulal or Scotula): He was a farm worker employed on Athole, who also engaged in shepherding work.
Lord Selborne
William Palmer, Lord Selborne: High Commissioner for South Africa 1900-1905.
Maud nee Cecil, Lady Selborne: Active as an organiser in conservative politics and later perhaps surprisingly a supporter of women’s suffrage. She was a close friend and correspondent of Patrick Duncan.
Shoam (aka Shum, Shom, Shum Mabango and other variants): Shoam and his wife, Nomulando Magaduli (aka Mrs Shoam), were long-term employees on the Athole Estate. Peasant farmers/sharecroppers, they lived at a kraal where they had their own cattle, gardens and crops. Their five children also worked at Athole (and three of whom are named in the diary).
Skelleme (aka Skelembie, Skellin and other variants): Skellembe was a cattle herd who had a kraal on Athole.
Slangan (aka Umslangan, Maslangan and other variants): He was a shepherd employed on Athole.
Slavan (aka Hlavan): He was a cattle and sheep farmer employed on Athole, and lived at a kraal on or near the Estate.
Smuts, Tobias: A general during the South African War and Commandant of the Ermelo commando. He was killed in 1916 in German West Africa.
Staffelberg: A neighbouring family; the Staffelbergs appeared to have a semi-cordial relationship with the Forbes family. Members referred to by name include Frans, Hans and John.
Steyn, Piet (aka Mr Styen): He was a Boer neighbour and a farmer.
Straker
Joshua: He was a Byrne migrant to Natal, and one of those who removed as part of the McCorkindale-led party to the New Scotland area. He farmed Kolwani, close to Athole, and following his marriage to Sarah Purcocks in 1880 ran Westoe with her until his death in 1883. He is mentioned in many diary entries in relation to Sarah.
Sarah: She is the ‘Aunt Sarah’ of many diary-entries and letters. When younger, nominally her father David ran Westoe – but in practical terms she did. She remained very close to her sister Kate and also her brother-in-law David Forbes snr. Their children used Westoe as a second home. She was redoubtable in terms of managing her workers and also dealing with farming issues. See Purcocks.
Stutwan (aka Stuartian or Stuartan): He was a farm worker employed on Athole.
Tosen: The Tosens were prominent members of the local Boer farming community.
Stoffel: A local farmer and stalwart of the Boer community, he was over many years a thorn in the side of the Forbes, in trespassing, poaching buck, damaging fences, and doing things that led to wild fires. However, at other times there was a rapprochement between David Forbes and him.
William: The son of Stoffel.
Trichaard, Piet: Constable Trichaard was a local member of the South African Constabulary, which was established after 1902. He was a frequent caller at Athole.
Umslopie (aka Umshope and other variants): He was a peasant farmer/sharecropper and long-term employee at Athole. He lived at a kraal on or near Athole, and he had his own crops, gardens and cattle.
Veldman, Frederik: He was a local farmer. His wife (named only as Mrs Veldman) was called in as a midwife when Kate Forbes gave birth in 1871.
Villiam (aka William and other variants): He was a Zulu and a long-term worker employed on Athole, who had also accompanied David Forbes snr on his 1870-71 prospecting trip to Kimberley. Alternatively, there may be two men of this name, one who went to Kimberley, and the other who worked on Athole.
Vimby (aka Veemby, Vimba, Fimby and other variants): He was a farm worker employed on Athole.
Vinkle (aka Vinkele, Vinkel and other variants): He was a farm worker employed on Athole.
Walker: The Walkers, Buchanans, Dingleys, Forbes and Purcocks and were interrelated, sometimes over a number of generations, and family names are recycled across the generations. The sense gained is that for the Forbes, the Walkers were part of local family circles but they were not particularly close to them, although there were still many contacts between them. Particular members of the family appearing in diary-entries include Mrs Walker and Mattie.
Mattie: The daughter of Mr and Mrs Bob Walker snr. She was a frequent visitor to Athole. She also frequented Westoe, and took care of Sarah Straker during episodes of illness.
Bunnie: The younger brother, he shot himself in 1904.
Last updated: 28 August 2019
