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.
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- Date Issued: 1983
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.
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- Date Issued: 1993
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.
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- Date Issued: 1988
Grahamstown: a socio-ecological study of a small South African Town
- Authors: Watts, Hilstan Lett
- Date: 1958
- Subjects: Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Buildings , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions , Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3386 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013424
- Description: Little is known at present about the development, structure, and functions of small towns in the Union of South Africa, and there is a need to fill this gap in our knowledge. A study has been made of Grahamstown, a small South African town. This study is monographic and intensive in character, and heuristic in aim. Ad hoc hypotheses have been formulated on the basis of the findings of the study, and these must be tested by subsequent studies of other small towns. Grahamstown, the subject of the study, was chosen largely for reasons of convenience, and also because of its interesting development. It is suggested that in many ways the town is possibly a typical small town, but at this stage we cannot know if this is so. Only the white population of the town was investigated, as it was necessary to limit research to manageable proportions, and in addition several studies have already been made of the non-white populations of the town. The analysis has been described as socio-ecological, as basically the methodological approach used is an attempt to wed the methods of the urban demographer and the social ecologist. Time and space are used as the two co-ordinates for the analysis, so that both a social historical and an ecological-demographic analysis of the town have been made. The historical analysis of the development and functions of Grahamstown relies heavily on material collected from the early newspapers of the town. Grahamstown, once the most important town in the Eastern Cape Province, known as the ''Emporium" and ''Metropolis" of the Eastern Cape, and the most progressive town in the Colony, is to-day a small static town with, on the whole, relatively restricted influence. This fundamental change in the historical development of the town, hitherto unexplained, is the result of the changes in the socioecological make-up of the region around the town. Founded in 1812 as a strategic outpost on the frontier of the Colony, Grahamstown dominated a wide region; as the gateway to and the supply centre for, the frontier, the town flourished and reigned supreme. From the mid 19th Century onwards the region began to change to a developed one, with the frontier more and more inland. Grahamstown, no longer a strategic outpost in a frontier region, lost its dominant ecological position to Port Elizabeth, the natural supply base for, and gateway to, the new settled region. As one town among many in the new settled region, Grahamstown gradually lost many of its former functions, and began to stagnate. The town is to-day mainly known for its important educational function. This function, a relic from the days of the town's zenith, has saved the town from complete stagnation. The town is what it is to-day largely because of the socio-ecological regional influences which have operated on it since its foundation. To-day Grahamstown is located within the Port Elizabeth metropolitan district. The town is the centre of a wide variety of regional services of an ad hoc type, and the modal region served seems to be that settled by the 1820 Settlers - basically the town is mainly a supply centre for its surrounding rural areas. The demographic structure of the town reveals a static population. Growth of the white population has been practically static since about 1880, and the age structure is that of a stationary population. Particularly noticeable is the under-representation of the young working group in the population, and it is suggested that due to the lack of economic opportunities in the town, the young workers of the town, especially the unmarried males, migrate to larger urban areas to seek employment, and advancement. The sex-ratio of the population shows an excess of females, and this may be due to migration out of an excess of young males, and possibly migration in of older spinsters. Retired persons definitely migrate to the town to settle. The town, a predominantly English speaking one, has practically no industries, and so the population contains a majority of workers engaged in professional, administrative, and commercial activities. This stresses the service and supply functions of the town. The ecological analysis delineated various natural areas and zones in the town. The pattern approximates to patterns revealed by studies of American towns. Although the areas involved were relatively small, ecological differentiation was marked. The spatial distribution of demographic and other social phenomena was studied in detail. The results of the study have allowed several ad hoc hypotheses concerning the development, functions, and structures of small towns in South Africa to be formulated. These may be tested by subsequent studies, and so ultimately knowledge and theories about our small towns may be built up.
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- Date Issued: 1958
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.
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- Date Issued: 1984