The Leibbrandt Family Tree
APPENDIX. B – Personal Histories
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- [11.225544] John Romaine Addison *21/8/1895 +6/6/1983
APPENDIX. B – Personal Histories.[9.2258] Hendrik Carel Vos *31/12/1837. +1/1/1911.24 Hendrik married Sara SINCLAIR in 1860. They had 12 children, 7 sons and 5 daughters, of whom 8 survived infancy. Hendrik, the eighth child of wine merchant Johann Sebastiaan *1793 and Alida FISCHER, was educated at the South African College Cape Town. The University of Utrecht in Holland awarded his Theology degree in August 1859. He returned to the Cape got married and was inducted as minister of the N G Kerk Victoria West on 6.5.1860. Hendrik was a very active member of the ministry, as he established a congregation at Canarvon in 1875 and another at Prieska in 1878. His ministry at Victoria West however lead to dissention due to his activities in the liberal school of ministers. Other members of the School were T F Burgers (later President of the Transvaal Republic) L S and J J Kotze, and S P Naude. All these were contemporaries of Utrecht University Hendrik's views were unacceptable to the majority of the congregation. He was outspoken and the trouble became serious in 1870. His was co-author in three essays entitled 'Gedachten over de roeping der Kerk en de verhouding van den leraar tot zijne gemeente' Cape Town, written for the Christian congress in that year. This caused a storm amongst the clergy and the congregation but Hendrik was inflexible and would not retract his views. Permission was granted to form a second congregation, but this was abandoned and the congregation at Victoria West asked him to resign. He was offered 2500 pounds Stirling as 'compensation' He Resigned on 25.6.1877. Hendrik was well liked by some of the congregation and he was presented with an address thanking him for his good work in 18 years with the community. This apparent reversal led to his 'real' work as the first Archivist, as he was appointed in preference to another past time custodian; C M Theal. His work output was prodigious and spurred on by rival Theal he wrote an enormous number of articles and précis for the Archives. If fact he laid the basis for the present Archives in Cape Town. Hendrik 's strong points were his energy, honesty outspoken when convinced he was right, and fluency in Dutch English and German. Being a minister of the Church he also had knowledge of Latin and Greek. He retained his friendship with President Burger as on one occasion he baptised Burger's child. Some of Hendrik’s Archives work is the following:
The Government instructed Hendrik to edit the documents related to what is known as the Slachtersnek Rebellion and this was published as 'The Rebellion of 1815, generally known as Slachter's Nek. (Cape Town 1902.) Hendrik wrote numerous articles for 'Het Zuid-Afrikaansche Tijdschrift', and a series on the hunter and explorer Jacobus Coetzee. It must be emphasized that the above is just a small sample of the volume of Hendrik's work. What is not realised is that Hendrik was both librarian and Archivist until seven years before his retirement in 1901 when these two posts were separated. During a small portion of his working life he had temporary assistance, but never the less he was able to classify 3440 documents and these documents were bound between 1881 and 1906. Undoubtedly Hendrik was a giant of a man when one considers the amount of work he accomplished in his lifetime not only for the Cape Archives but also for the outlying districts. His work earned him the title of honorary member of the 'Historische Genootsschap' of Utrecht. Many references of Hendrik Leibbrandt and his work can be found in the Cape Archives. C J Rossouw wrote 'Die werk van Hendrik Carel Vos Leibbrandt as argivis en Suid Afrikaanse geskiedskrywer' and this is one of the many written monuments of the great South African. On page iii of this document the author stated some of the characteristics of Leibbrandts, and these points are repeated again and again when one reads and knows some of this clan. Hendrik was probably a good example of what was meant in the remarks. [11.225544] John Romaine Addison *21/8/1895 +6/6/198323 Romaine was born in Wellington, Cape Province, the only son of Christoffel Johannes *1858 +1919. His education at South African College School extended from 1908 to 1913, and may have known [12.2412322] Douglas Herbert *1897 +1982, the authors father, as he attended the same school over roughly the same period. His daughter Catherine writes as follows. The Principal of the school Mr William Baxter found him to be an excellent student. In 1913 he wrote the Matriculation examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1914 he joined the 5th South African Infantry, and was sent to East Africa.( The East African campaign under General J C Smuts lasted from 1916 till 1917 for most of the forces of South Africa.*) At the end of 1917 he was discharged 'in consequence of being temporarily unfit for Tropical Service, due to Malaria and Dysentery. In 1916 under special regulations regarding students on active service he obtained his B.A. degree. In January 1918 he became a Clerk in the Magistrates office in Caledon. As the War was still in progress he, after some time in the Magistrates Office, joined the Heavy Artillery He was sent to England but by the time he arrived there the war had come to a close. Upon his return to South Africa, he was again on the staff of the Magistrate's office in Caledon, where he remained until he was transferred to Wynberg Cape. At the Wynberg office he acted as Clerk of the Court and Acting Additional Magistrate. From 1927 to 1940 he was on the relief staff as acting Magistrate and public prosecutor in Ligtenberg, Venterstad, Middelberg, Stellenbosch and De Aar. In 1931 he was awarded the LL.B by the University of South Africa, and subsequently was appointed additional Magistrate in Bloemfontein in 1941. He married Mary Stiven Pope, born Wilson, in 1940 and later adopted her daughter Shenagh Rainier Pope. His son John was born in Bloemfontein on 9.6.1941. The family was transferred to Graaf Reinet in November 1941, and remained there for four years. Margaret Louise Addison was born 26 Dec 1912, a happy time for all, until the untimely transfer to Upington From a letter addressed to Romaine, dated 30 October 1945 the Chairman of the Native Advisory Board and the Vigilant Committee ( Messrs A W Ramand and S Dan Malunga ) it was apparent that he was held in high esteem by the coloured community for some act of kindness. Quote '...all you did here in the light of our non-Europeans for which you stood bravely in the light of justice to the cost of losing friendship amongst certain prominent citizens especially when you were on the Bench.' (Authors Remark. This must have been a very unpopular judgement against a prominent member of the European community. For this reason the following quote in one of his references is given below.) About Romaine Leibbrandt. All those who knew him well found Leibbrandt to be of great integrity and compassion a gentleman, a loyal friend and employee, a quiet man devoted to his family and above all, a man of intelligence with a sound knowledge of the law and a lover of justice, in the pursuit of which he was prepared to make sacrifices. He was a marked man from then onwards in the Justice Dept. and assessors were appointed to retry his cases. They failed. His daughter Catherine (the contributor of this history) was born in Upington on 12 Jan. 1946. In April 1946 the family was transferred to Witbank where Romaine took up the senior Magistrates post. Again moved to another post in Nigel in 1951. He never came to terms with the humiliation he faced during this period, and throughout a long correspondence with the various Secretaries for Justice, he was unable to obtain a satisfactory explanation for the treatment. He retired as Magistrate in Nigel in August 1955, and moved to Springs, where the children went to school. In July 1955 Romaine petitioned to have his name removed Romaine petitioned to have his name removed from the Roll of Advocates of the Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. In September of the same year he was admitted as Attorney - Transvaal Provincial Division. From then onwards to 1956 he acted as Assistant to Charles Sherman, a Solicitor in Springs. He practised as an Attorney in Johannesburg, commuting from Springs every day. In the closing years of his life from 1959 to 1976, he was employed as Archivist in the Law Section of the Natal Archives, Pietermaritzburg. The children completed their schooling in Springs until 1961, and then went to Pietermaritzburg. He died on the 6th June 1983. Daughter Catherine stated in her letter,' My father in particular taught me things I value and I have passed on to my children ' and ' he had a lovely sense of humour'. Authors note. To overlook this mans period of war service would not be correct. He served in the 5th South African Infantry. Private number 13531, 8th Platoon, 13 Company Nyasaland Contingent, under General Northy He was in the peace training Service before joining up on 3rd May 1915. The troops boarded the ship 'Professor Woerman ', sailed up to Beira, where they landed. They then were taken in barges up the Zambezi River to Chindeo and then on to Port Herald in Malawi. Proceeding to Songea in the North of Lake Malawi, the plan was to engage the German forces under General von Lettow Vorbeck. The German general and his forces were 'chased' and never really pinned down during the whole British campaign in East Africa, in fact Von Vorbeck only came in after the Armistice. Romaine, like hundreds of others, suffered from dysentery malaria fever and hunger while marching in rain and mud. He was sent back to the Union to recover, and given a Certificate of Discharge 28 Aug 1916, for 'being temporarily unfit for tropical service for three months '. These three months were stretched to 30 Nov 1917, due to sickness, until the Proceedings on Discharge finally discharged him. For some strange reason Romaine again joined up to go to France in 1918, and arriving too late to fire a shot was again discharged on 30 Nov 1918. Authors note. What a pity this man was also 'ahead of his time ' Yüklə 0,53 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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