E.P. & COMMERCIAi. PTG. CO. LTD. SMl]"H STIUl!ET • • DUAIIAN AFRICA LIBRAR Y C04 0027 0560 11111111111111 NO. ... 66/1 .. 987 .. CLASS BA. ... 9.68.J.02 .... EYR DICK KING SAVIOUR OF NATAL being some inciJents in the life of Rfchard Philip King (1813,1871) UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN LIBRARIES BY CYRIL J. EYRE The Author is deeply indebted to the Durban Municipal Library and Durban Publicity Association who arranged for the publication of this work. First published 1932 ( All rights reserved) DICK KING, {From a photo in tbt pomssion of Dr. Richmond Allan. Photo by A. L. Btvis,junr., Esq.) ILLUSTRATIONS. PACE DICK KING • 3 DURBAN IN I 842 . 29 THE "OLD FORT," DURBAN, AT THE TIME OF THE SIEGE 31 'NDONGENI • 3.S MONUMENT ON THE ESPLANADE 39 THE "CONCH" ENTERING THE HARBOUR • 59 MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE 63 MRS. R. P. ("mcK") KING 6S MONUMENT AT THE ISIPINGO GRAVEYARD 71 MAP SHOWING PROBABLE ROUTE TAKEN BY DICK KING at end of Vol. FOREWORD Mr. Eyre's interefling and well.,written Life of Dick PREFACE. King, who saved Natal in 1842 by his memorable ride to Grahamstown, supplies a long.,felt want in the annals of For much valuable as#flance rendered in the writing of Natal. Many people who look at the monument at the head this little work, I wish to record my thanks to the following: of the jetty on Durban Esplanade will be able to visualise Mr. R. H. P. King, of Manderflon, Natal; Mr. F. R. better by reading Mr. Eyre's brochure the aBual hifloric King, of lsipingo Beach, South Coafl; and Dr. Richmond falls and feel the thrill of what King did for his Colony and Alla~, of Pinetown; Mr. M. Basson, Keeper of the Natal for South Africa. Without unduly anticipating the contents Archives; ProfessorC. Beyers, Senior Archivifl, Pretoria; of the booklet, we cannot but mention Dick King's famous and also Mr. A. L. Bevis,junr., of Durban,for the photo; horse" Somerset"-a noble animal who bore the burden and graphs appearing in the book. beat of day and night in the famous ride. The memories of CYRIL J. EYRE. the favourite horses of illuflrious soldiers have been per" petuated no more deservedly than the memory of" Somerset." Durban North. The Durban Library Committee is to be congratulated in March, 1932. encouraging the publication of this book, which is destined to attraB the interefl of a clientele far beyond the bounds of our shores. A. LAMONT, M4y,r. D11rban. M4rcb, 193.z. INTRODUCTION THE present paper is little more than an attempt to put down accurately the available information about "Dick" King. A few facl:s about the early days relating to the movement which induced settlers to this country during 18.20, and also extracts from the narrative of one of the settlers, have been included to complete the hisl:orical record. Only one "roman., '"tic fiory appears in the work-the fiory relating to "Somerset," his supposed gallant horse. The compiler expresses the hope that one day the fiory of"Dick" King will be told by a writer skilled in the art of making a narrative attracl:ive, for the wanderings and achievements of Dick King are worthy of a literary setting, and a heritage of which we may well be proud. CYRIL J, EYRE, D11rbon North. Mmb, 193z. DICK KING: Saviour of Natal. BEING SOME INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF RICHARD PHILIP KING (1813 ... 1871) URING the year 1819, owing to disl:ress and unem,. D ployment among the lower and middle classes in the United Kingdom, outlets for the superabundant pop,. ulation were sought, and the Cape of Good Hope was suggested as a good field for emigrants. On the 12th July 1819, the House of Commons decided to expend the sum of £50,000 in sending out to the Eastern districts of the Colony some 4,000 souls. The suggested scheme was a success from the start, no less than 90,000 applicv tions being received for consideration. Out of this huge number 4,000 were selecl:ed, and in due time embarked from England in twenty ... six emigrant ships. Of these twenty ... six ships, our interest is centred chiefly in one, the Kinnersley or Kennersley Caflle, under the command of Captain Pinkney. In the month of January, 1820, she was lying at the Port of Bristol, awaiting the motley throng who were to make up her complement of emigrant passengers. Amongst the number who embarked at this port was a pany of sixty,.four persons under the direcl:ion of Mr. Samuel Bradshaw, and this little party sailed as "Brad,. shaw's pany." Now, included in the number on this !}ii~ there were twenty,two persons having the name of Ki~g," ~ut it is the family given in the following extract that 1s of11:1terest to us and whose progress we must follow for some ume. 12 DICK KING: SAVIOUR OF NATAL DICK KING: SAVIOUR OF NATAL 13 EMBARKATION LIST. early days of January, 1820, until her arrival at Algoa Return of Settlers proceeding to the Cape of Good Hope under the Bay (T. Sheffield, in the "Story of the Settlement," says direction of Mr. Samuel Bradshaw. Table Bay) on the 29th March, and in order to get an Profession or N rune of Names of Children. authentic story of the voyage out to the Cape, extracl:s Names of Meo. Age. Trade. Women Age Males Age Females Age from "An Albany Settler's Reminiscences" (1888) are Philip King 30 Labourer Maria 30 Richard 8 Elizabeth J Andrew s given. The author of these Reminiscen~es was, at ~he John time of his arrival with the settlers, aged rune, thus bemg [The youngest daughter, Rhoda, is not included in the above list. She Dick's senior by a year. was probably born at the Cape, afier Mr. and Mrs. Philip King's arrival ". • Men and women who headed the families from the home beyond at Algoa Bay.] the waters. These arc they who rcally 'bore the burde~ and ~h~ heat of the day' in the colonising of Sout~,Eastern Af~ica, for the~ anxieties on Now if you glance through the above extract, which behalf of their offspring doubled thw care and toil. .. It IS hardly to _be is taken from the "Records ofthe Cape Colony;' vol. 12. supposed that a child of nine years old could enter mto full sy~pathy with the feelings of those who were rending the ties of home a~d kindred, and 1818,.1820, pp. 470 ... 471, you will see among the male launching the boat of life on an unknown sea. But the p18ure ?,f the la§\ c~ildren the name of"Richard;' the youth whose name parting which I myself beheld has never faded from my memory. rmgs through South Africa as the "Hero of the ride to It may safely be suggested here that the e~~erience Grahamstown;' undertaken during May, 1842, and never faded from Dick's memory. The Rerruruscences which saved the Colony of Natal for the British Empire. continue: Richard Philip King, to give him his full name, and " ••• Long delays interfered with the departure of the Sir Gmgt Osborn. who is ever gratefully remembered by us as "Dick;' was We chafed under them, but they, perhaps, saved our lives, for a few dyas born at Chatham, England, on 28th November, 1813,* before our cxpc8ed time of flarting, one of those January gales, for which the coast of England is so fearfully noted, burfl upon us as we lay moored and, as seen from the aforementioned extracl:, was the in the Thames. • Had the gale ( which was said to be the scverefl that eldest son of a family of five children, three boys and two bad been known for forty years) caught us while going down the Channel, girls. His early childhood up to this age is a closed book we should, perhaps, have foundered, as many others did. _I know nothing about the regular emigrant ships of the present day; that 1s, so far to us; in facl:, we get no description of the man until we as respects the quality of the food, or the accommodation they supply; but meet him with the Rev. F. Owen, whose wagon he I remember the close packing ' between decks,' the 'banyan days,' and the drove, in 1837, at the age of twenty,.four. bard salt junk and the harder biscuit of 1820. I have not forgotten how W_e must now take up the threads of our story from salt the outside of the puddings used to tafie which the weather,beaten cook had boiled with sea water in the general 'copper' ; nor how the passengers the time the Kinnersley Caflle leaves Bristol during the sometimes quarrelled with the fleward for cheating them out of the sup, plies. And I remember the fieep wine,clad hills, and the grapes and * Through the courtesy of The Secretary to The Commander,in;Chicfp oranges of Madeira. Nor have I forgotten the one or two fearful 1:hc Admiralty, C:hatha_m, it has been ascertained that no entry of King's: ftomu we encountered, when the hatches were battened down, the heavy birth can be found m thcrr records. The Re8or of Chatham Parish Churcb ICaS were shipped, and while the torrents poured down among us in the had a ~cful search made through the records for the years 1813,1825 and midnight darkness, the mothers clasped their children to their bosoms, ex, also failed to find_any .