1857 in South Africa
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Incumbents
- Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Sir George Grey.[1][2]
- Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: John Scott.
- State President of the Orange Free State: Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff.[3]
- President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic: Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (from 6 January).[4]
Events
January
- 6 â Marthinus Wessel Pretorius becomes the first President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic (Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek).[4]
June
- 29 â Act no. 10 of 29 June 1857 grants the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company approval to construct a 57-mile-long (92-kilometre) railway between Cape Town and Wellington.[5]
Unknown date
- Robert Moffat completes Old Testament Bible translation into Setswana.
- About 157 Irish women arrive on the ship Lady Kennaway and settle in British Kaffraria.
- The first Legislative Council is selected in the Natal Colony.
- The Union Steam Ship Company wins the first mail contract for regular mail service between Great Britain and South Africa.
- The Cape Point Lighthouse at Cape Point is built.
- Building of the Roman Rock Lighthouse at the entrance to Simon's Town starts and only completed in 1861.
Births
- 2 October â Martinus Theunis Steyn, lawyer, politician and statesman, last president of the independent Orange Free State. (d. 1916)
Deaths
- 15 December â Anna Maria Truter, Cape Colony botanical artist and wife of Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet. (b. 1777)