Fighting for the Spoils Cape Burgerschap and Faction Disputes in Cape Town in the 1770S Town
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Fighting for the Spoils Cape burgerschap and faction disputes in Cape Town in the 1770s Town Cape Teunis Baartmanof University Thesis presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Historical Studies University of Cape Town October 2011 Town Cape of University [ii] Abstract Fighting for the spoils. Cape burgerschap and faction disputes in Cape Town in the 1770s. Teunis Baartman October 2011 The Cape of Good Hope was rocked by a period of political turmoil at the end of the 1770s and beginning of 1780s. Coenraad Beyers published an extensive study about this period and labelled the protesters: Cape Patriots (‘Die Kaapse Patriotte’). In his view they were pre-Afrikaner burghers who, driven by ideological arguments, opposed a colonial VOC tyranny. This thesis aims to revise this analysis, while seeking to demonstrate that late eighteenth century Cape society was marked by a complex and intertwined network of status groups. Town The burgher protests are used as a case study to illustrate that the Cape settlement was part and parcel of the Dutch empire. The protesters emphasised that their burgerschap was on par with that in cities in theCape Dutch Republic. The first part of the thesis compares Cape and Dutch burgerschapof and argues that the Cape burghers were justified in stating that they were burghers of a city belonging to the United Netherlands. It furthermore becomes clear that the Cape burghers had developed a robust burgher identity. This certainly contributed to the outbreak of the conflict, but was not the determining factor. Because the CapeUniversity settlement was essentially a Dutch city, many elements of political and social life derived from the Dutch Republic. One of these was that at the Cape a ruling elite consisting of higher VOC officials and prominent burghers had developed with close familial and entrepreneurial links between them. Like the Dutch city patriciates they guarded access to their inner circle carefully. However this situation also provoked challenges. This aspect is investigated in the second part of the thesis. This is done by a prosopographical analysis of the protesters, who are compared to the rest of the burgher population residing in the Cape District in 1779, as well as a close study of burgher officials and entrepreneurs. It is confirmed that the clash of the late 1770s was in fact a dispute between the ruling faction of VOC officials and elite [iii] burghers and one consisting of prominent rural and urban burgher entrepreneurs. This tussle for economic and political power followed the tradition of many eighteenth century Dutch political conflicts. Town Cape of University [iv] Contents List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... vii Glossary............................................................................................................................ix Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1. The burgher protests .......................................................................................... 23 2. The Dutch connection with Cape burgerschap .................................................. 42 3. Factions at the Cape: burghers and protesters investigated ............................. 83 4. The Burgher Councillors ................................................................................... 115 5. The Burgher Militia and their role in the protests ...........................................Town 134 6. The burgher entrepreneurs .............................................................................. 150 The meat pachters ............................................................................................ 151 Cape The farming community ................................................................................... 156 of Urban support: the alcohol pachters ............................................................... 161 A neutral faction ............................................................................................... 169 More entrepreneurial support for the protest faction .................................... 172 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 180 University Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 182 Appendix 1: the 404 signatories of the May 1779 Petition .......................................... 190 Appendix 2: Burgher Councillors - ruling faction .........................................................198 Appendix 3: Farming community network - protesters ...............................................199 Select Sources...............................................................................................................200 Bibliography..................................................................................................................202 Appendix 4: Database of Cape burghers (1770s, 1780s) (electronic copy) .................211 List of Tables and Figures Figure 3-1: A record of the database .............................................................................. 91 Figure 3-2: Protesters as part of the total male burgher population per district (1779) ...................................................................................................................................... 101 Table 3-3: Comparison Protesters & Non-Protesters according to 1773 tax ............... 108 Table 3-4: Comparison Protesters & Non-Protesters according to 1783 Quotisatie tax ...................................................................................................................................... 109 Table 4-1: Burgher Councillors, 1770-1779 .................................................................. 117 Table 5-1: Meeting Schedule of the Burgher Military Council, 1768-1780 ................. 143 Table 5-2: Burgher protest support among officers of burgherTown militia, 1779 ............. 144 Table 5-3: Burgher protest support among sergeants of burgher militia, 1779 .......... 145 Table 6-1: Meat Pachters, 1769-1783 .......................................................................... 155 Table 6-2: Alcohol Pachters, 1775-1779 ................................Cape................................ ....... 165 Table 6-3: Licensed burgher bakers in Capeof Town, 1779............................................. 175 Table 6-4: Burgher smiths Cape District, 1778 ............................................................. 178 Table 6-5: Burgher teachers, Cape Town 1779 ............................................................ 180 University [vi] Acknowledgements Work for this thesis started in the early 1990s, although I did not know that then. Soon after I arrived in Cape Town, I was looking for a way to continue my historical studies. After some searching I ended up with Nigel Worden, who, after learning that I came from the Netherlands, ever so subtly pushed me towards the eighteenth century archivalrecords.ThatishowIbecamepartofthe‘SocialIdentitiesinVOC CapeTown’ project, which eventually provided the framework in which this thesis was done. Over time the research work was increasingly pushed aside for income-producing business and in the end disappeared into the background. In 2008 I had a conversation with my sister Lieke Zielhuis and I mentioned to her that it would be nice to get back into my historical research. She replied very simply:“Ifyouwantthat,youmustdoit”.Not wanting my bluff to be called, I again contacted Nigel WordenTown and he welcomed me back into the fold. Therefore I must thank Lieke for the challenge and the push which made me pick up where I left off so many years ago. The National Research Foundation of South AfricaCape provided financial support, which made it possible to take time off from work.of Much of the research here is based on archival records and we are fortunate enough to reside in a city where access to these archives is so readily available. I want to thank the staff at the Western Cape Archives and Record Service in Cape Town. I have always found it a pleasure to work there and the service provided is commendable. As mentioned earlierUniversity this thesis is part of the VOC Social Identities project and it has been comforting to know that other historians were on hand to provide support when needed. I would like to thank Gerald Groenewald, Antonia Malan, Susan Newton-King, Nigel Penn, Robert Shell and Kerry Ward. Their feedback, comments, and sometimes just plain interest in my work have been much appreciated. I studied history in Leiden and a not inconsiderable portion of this thesis is based on work produced by lecturers I have had the pleasure of being taught by. There are two I specifically want to mention. One of the first classes