A history of Grahamstown, 1918-1945
- Authors: Torlesse, Ann Catherine Marjorie
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2565 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002418 , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Description: This study in local history describes socio-economic developments in Grahamstown between 1918 - 1945, and analyses the extent to which these developments mirrored trends in the macrocosm. During these years the city failed to become ndustrialised, but enhanced her reputation as an eminent educational centre. Despite being financially handicapped, the City Council undertook large public works schemes for the provision of essential services, such as electricity and an adequate supply of water. In addition a water-borne sewerage scheme was introduced, and roads were repaired and tarred. The influx of a large number of poor rural Blacks into the urban area placed a considerable strain on the city's health services, and housing projects had to be implemented. Local political affiliations and race relations are examined against the background of national developments, especially the growing entrenchment by the State of the policy of segregation. Attention is also devoted to the impact upon the community of international political crises. The cultural and sporting pursuits, as well as the entertainments enjoyed by Grahamstonians, are investigated; and a picture of the local "mentalite" is presented.
- Full Text:
An approach to the urban history of early Victorian Grahamstown, 1832-53, with particular reference to the interiors and material culture of domestic dwellings
- Authors: Scott, Patricia Elena
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Interior decoration -- Grahamstown -- History , Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- History , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2555 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002408 , Interior decoration -- Grahamstown -- History , Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- History , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History
- Description: This study is a venture in urban history in that although housing has been the subject of a number of recent studies, little attempt has been made within the British urban history framework to give serious study to what lies behind the architectural facade, the material domestic culture of an urban community. An important objective of this study is to examine the material culture of domestic dwellings in early Victorian Grahamstown, also referring to other parts of the Cape Colony. Where possible these facts are related to the occupants of the dwellings. No community, urban or rural, can be divorced from the influences which lie beyond its immediate locality in region or metropol. As a preliminary to this study the urban background of industrial Britain is examined, as are English and Dutch cultural influences on the interiors of Cape homes in general. The occupational stratification and spatial structure of early Victorian Grahamstown are then explored, leading into· a discussion of the material domestic culture of the interiors of Grahamstown dwellings. In the final analysis, this study is an attempt to uncover the character of early Victorian Grahamstown and its possible implications for English cultural influences at the Cape. In so doing, not only what constitutes the domestic material culture of Grahamstown is established, but beyond that, a comparison made with domestic material cultural developments in another colonial, though not frontier, settlement with roots in Georgian and Victorian England, namely Australia.
- Full Text:
A period of transition: a history of Grahamstown, 1902-1918
- Authors: Southey, Nicholas
- Date: 1984
- Subjects: Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2558 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002411 , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History
- Description: A Period of Transition : A History of Grahamstown 1902-1918 attempts to show that the trends begun in the nineteenth century were confirmed by developments in the first two decades of the twentieth century. In this period, Grahamstown was forced to abandon ideas of economic recovery and political importance, as it adapted to its role in the post-Union dispensation. The city has been firmly grounded in the wider environment, though comparison with towns of similar position and outlook has been impossible because of a lack of source material.4 It is clearly evident that Grahamstown was under pressure from the macrocosm; nonetheless, local initiatives and developments also lent clarity to broader trends. This is particularly clear in the emerging pattern of racial segregation in the City, to cope with the economic and social problems posed by a burgeoning black population. The limited financial resources of a corporation the size of Grahamstown restricted its effectiveness to improve schemes of public works and public health, and further underlined the dependence of the city on the government for assistance. Grahamstown's transition was predominantly one of acceptance of a changed political, social and economic environment.
- Full Text:
A study in local history: Grahamstown, 1883-1904
- Authors: Sellick, Rose-Mary
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2556 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002409 , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History
- Description: [From the Preface]: A Study in Local History: Grahamstown 1883-1904 aims to draw into a coherent picture the threads of political attitudes, approaches to racial issues and changes confronting the late Victorians in Grahamstown, particularly in the areas of sanitation, public health and shifting commercial frontiers. The relation of local development to national affairs has been investigated, although attempts to define exactly how the former influenced the latter, and vice versa, would involve one in the proverbial chicken-and-egg syndrome. Let it suffice to say that an understanding of events in the microcosm, or locality, lends clarity to the cross-current of affairs at the national level. It begins at the point where Grahamstown's commercial importance in the Eastern Cape declines after a flourish of hopes in the prospects of the Port Alfred harbour as a means of bringing trade back to Grahamstown. The study concludes when the foundation of Rhodes University College in 1904, provides a new centre of development for the city.
- Full Text: