1875 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1875 in South Africa.

← 1874 1873 1872 1875 in South Africa → 1876 1877 1878
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Henry Barkly.
• Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
• State President of the South African Republic: Thomas François Burgers.
• Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West: Richard Southey (until 3 August) William Owen Lanyon (until 3 August).
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Charles Molteno.

Events

May

• John Garlick started his first store on 3 May 1875, on the corner Bree and Strand Streets, in the central business district of Cape Town. This would later become Garlicks, a nationwide chain of department stores.[1]

August

• 14 – The Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (Association of True Afrikaners) is formed at the home of Gideon Malherbe in Paarl.

Unknown date

• The Black Flag Rebellion is staged by white diamond diggers at Kimberley.
• The Molteno Government begins construction of two Midland railway lines from Swartkops in Port Elizabeth and from Uitenhage.[2]
• The Verlatenskloof pass in the Roggeveld Mountains, begun the previous year, is completed.[3]

Deaths

• 19 May - Christoffel Brand, politician, (b. 1797)

Railways

New lines

• Construction begins on the Swartkops-Alicedale line.[2][4]

Railway lines opened

• 11 May – Cape Western – Cape Town Docks to junction with mainline, 7 miles 1 chain (11.3 kilometres).[4]
• 26 July – Cape Midland – Port Elizabeth to Addo, 31 miles 55 chains (51.0 kilometres).[5]
• 22 September – Cape Midland – Swartkops to Uitenhage, 13 miles 46 chains (21.8 kilometres).[5]
• 3 November – Cape Western – Wellington to Ceres Road, 39 miles 50 chains (63.8 kilometres).[5]

Locomotives

CGR 1st Class 4-4-0T of 1875

Three new 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):

• The first eight of twenty-seven 2nd Class 2-6-2 tank-and-tender locomotives on all three newly established regional systems, the Eastern System from East London, the Midland System from Port Elizabeth and the Western System from Cape Town.[2][6]^:23–25[7]
• Three 1st Class 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives on the Midland and Eastern Systems.[7][8]^:118–119[9]
• The first seven of eleven 1st Class 4-4-0 tank locomotives on the Western and Midland systems.[6]^{:25–26, 76–77}[7]

References

1. "From one Cape store to establishments in every major centre". Cape Times. 16 October 1981. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
2. The South African Railways - Historical Survey. Editor George Hart, Publisher Bill Hart, Sponsored by Dorbyl Ltd., Published c. 1978, p. 10.
3. http://www.samountainpasses.co.za/Home/WesternCape/Passes/KAROO/GannagaPass/tabid/548/Default.aspx
4. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 181, ref. no. 200954-13
5. Report for year ending 31 December 1909, Cape Government Railways, Section VIII - Dates of Opening and the Length of the different Sections in the Cape Colony, from the Year 1873 to 31st December, 1909.
6. Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
7. C.G.R. Numbering Revised, Article by Dave Littley, SA Rail May–June 1993, pp. 94–95.
8. Holland, D. F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
9. Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists, issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer's Office, Pretoria, January 1912, p. 17. (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)