1901 in South Africa
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Incumbents
Cape Colony
- Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Alfred Milner then Walter Hely-Hutchinson (governor from 6 March but not high commissioner).
- Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.
Natal
- Governor of the Colony of Natal: Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell (until 6 May), Henry Edward McCallum (starting 6 May).
- Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime.
Orange Free State
- State President of the Orange Free State: Martinus Theunis Steyn.
- Administrator of British-occupied Orange River Colony and UK High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
South African Republic
- State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger (in exile); Schalk Willem Burger (acting).
- Administrator of British-occupied Transvaal and UK High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
Events
- January
- 9 â Herbert Kitchener reports that Christiaan de Wet has shot a British peace envoy and flogged two more who had gone to his commando to ask the Burghers to halt fighting.[1]
- 15 â HMS Sybille, a 3,400-ton Apollo-class cruiser, strikes a reef about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Lamberts Bay.
- 31 â General Jan Smuts and his commandos capture Modderfontein.
- February
- 1 â Bubonic plague breaks out in Cape Town.[2]
- 26 â The Middelburg peace conference fails as Boers continue to demand autonomy.
- May
- 31 â Officially unrecognized Zulu king Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo refuses British instructions to take up arms against the Boers.
- June
- 18 â Emily Hobhouse reports on the high mortality and cruel conditions in the Second Boer War concentration camps[3][4]
- 25 â Boer armies invaded the Cape Colony and attacked the British settlement of Richmond for a day, then retreated as British forces approached.[5]
- July
- 2â6 â Nine Boer prisoners-of-war are murdered by Australian members of the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Spelonken area near Louis Trichardt.
- 16 â The Fawcett Commission is established to look at living conditions of women and children, including water supply, sanitation, medical care and the mortality and birth rates in the concentration camps.
- August
- 4 â Lieutenant-general Paul Methuen destroys the village of Schweizer-Reneke under the British scorched earth policy.[6]
- 20 â General Koos de la Rey's 84-year-old mother is sent to a concentration camp at Klerksdorp.
- September
- 17 â Commandant-General Louis Botha and General Cecil "Cherry" Cheere Emmett join forces to invade Natal.
- October
- Mahatma Gandhi embarks at Durban for Mauritius en route to Bombay.
- November
- 1 â Standard Bank opens its second branch in Johannesburg on Eloff Street.
- 9 â The electric tramline in Cape Town is extended from Sea Point to Camps Bay.
- 18 â Boer commandos invade the Cape Colony and come to within 50 miles of Cape Town.
- December
- 22 â On Peace Sunday Charles Frederic Aked (1864â1941), a Baptist minister in Liverpool, says: "Great Britain cannot win the battles without resorting to the last despicable cowardice of the most loathsome cur on earth; the act of striking a brave man's heart through his wife's honour and his child's life. The cowardly war has been conducted by methods of barbarism... the concentration camps have been Murder Camps." A crowd follows him home and breaks the windows of his house.[3]
Births
- 24 January â Harry Calder, South African cricketer. (d. 1995)
- 9 September â Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa. (assassinated 1966) (born in the Netherlands)
Deaths
- 19 May â Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, first president of the South African Republic and founder of Pretoria, at age 81.
Railways
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Railway lines opened
- 13 March â Natal â Stanger to Kearsney, 8 miles (12.9 kilometres).[7]
- 27 July â Natal â Mtwalume to North Shepstone, 20 miles 70 chains (33.6 kilometres).[7]
- 9 September â Cape Western â Malmesbury to Moorreesburg, 30 miles 51 chains (49.3 kilometres).[7][8]
Locomotives
- Cape
- Six new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
- Six 4-4-0 3rd Class Wynberg Tender locomotives in suburban service in Cape Town.[9][10]
- Eight redesigned American-built 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6G on the South African Railways (SAR).[9][10]
- 21 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives, built to the older designs with plate frames. In 1912 they would be reclassified to Class 6H on the SAR.[9][10]
- Ten American-built 6th Class 4-6-0 bar framed locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6K on the SAR.[9][10]
- Four 6th Class 2-6-2 Prairie type locomotives that are soon modified to a 2-6-4 Adriatic type wheel arrangement. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6Z on the SAR.[9][10][11]:â11â
- The first of sixteen 8th Class 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 8X on the SAR.[9][12]
- The Namaqua Copper Company acquires its first locomotive, a 0-4-2 saddle-tank shunting engine named Pioneer.[13]:â35â39â
- Natal
- The Natal Government Railways (NGR) rebuilds one of its Class G 4-6-0 tank locomotives to a Class H 4-6-2T Pacific wheel arrangement. In 1912 it would be designated Class C1 on the SAR.[9][10]
- The Natal Harbours Department places a single 0-6-0 side-tank locomotive named Edward Innes in service as harbour shunter in Durban Harbour.[14]
- The Zululand Railway Company, contracted for the construction of the line from Verulam to Tugela River, acquires one 2-6-2 tank locomotive.[9]
- Transvaal
- The Imperial Military Railways places 35 tank locomotives in service, built to the design of the Reid Tenwheeler of the NGR.[9]