1902 in South Africa explained

The following lists events that happened during 1902 in South Africa.

Incumbents

Cape Colony

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope: Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.

Natal

• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Edward McCallum.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Albert Henry Hime.

Orange Free State / Orange River Colony

• State President of the Orange Free State: Martinus Theunis Steyn (until 31 May).
• Governor of the Orange River Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
• Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton Goold-Adams.

South African Republic / Transvaal

• State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger (until 31 May) (in exile); Schalk Willem Burger (acting until 31 May).
• Governor of the Transvaal and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
• Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal: Sir Arthur Lawley.

Events

February

• 27  - Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.

March

• 7  - The Burghers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.

April

• 4  - The town Concordia in Namaqualand surrenders to Boer forces.
• 8  - O'okiep is besieged by Boer forces under General Jan Smuts.^[1]

May

• 1  - Boer commandos use the locomotive Pioneer to propel a truck-load of dynamite into the besieged O'okiep.
• 4  - Boer General Jan Smuts meets with the British General Herbert Kitchener at Kroonstad.
• 6  - Qulusi-Zulu chief Sikhobobo with a 300-strong impi attacks Field-cornet Potgieter and 70 Boers while sleeping, leaving 56 Burghers and 52 Zulus dead in the Battle of Holkrans.
• 31  - The Second Boer War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at Melrose House in Pretoria.

December

• Mahatma Gandhi arrives in Durban from Bombay.

Unknown date

• James Stevenson-Hamilton is appointed the first warden of the Sabie Game Reserve.

Births

• 1 January  - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer. (d. 1977)

Deaths

• 26 March  - Cecil John Rhodes, businessman, mining magnate, imperialist and politician.
• 2 May  - Jan Stephanus de Villiers, composer and organist, dies in Paarl.

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 1 May  - Free State  - Bloemfontein to Sannaspos, 21miles.^[2]
• 18 July  - Natal  - Tugela to Mhlatuze, 44miles.^[2]
• 1 August  - Cape Midland  - Cookhouse to Somerset East, 19miles.^[3]
• 1 August  - Cape Midland  - Klipplaat to Willowmore, 621NaN1.^[3]
• 1 August  - Cape Western  - Sir Lowry's Pass Village to Caledon, 51miles.^[3]
• 15 November  - Cape Western  - Moorreesburg to Eendekuil, 49miles.^[3]

Locomotives

Cape

• Four new Cape gauge and three narrow gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
  • Fourteen 6th Class bar framed 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6J on the South African Railways (SAR).
  • The last ten 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Eastern System. In 1912 they will be designated Class 7C on the SAR.
  • The first thirteen of twenty-three 8th Class Mastodon locomotives on the Western, Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8 on the SAR.
  • A single experimental "Consolidation" type tandem compound steam locomotive, in 1912 designated Class Experimental 2 on the SAR.
  • Three Type A 2-6-0 Mogul type steam locomotives, later to become Class NG7 on the SAR, on the Hopefield narrow gauge branchline that is being constructed from Kalbaskraal.
  • Two Type A 2-6-4T Adriatic type narrow gauge locomotives on construction service on the new Avontuur branch that is being built out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof.
  • A single Type C 0-4-0 narrow gauge tank steam locomotive named Midget on the Avontuur branch.
• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service with the East London and Table Bay Harbour Boards:
  • Two 0-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter shunting service at the East London Harbour.
  • Eleven 2-6-0 saddle-tank locomotives enter harbour shunting service in Table Bay Harbour.

Natal

• The Natal Government Railways places ten Class F Baltic type tank steam locomotives in service, the first known locomotive in the world to be designed and built as a Baltic. In 1912 they will be designated Class E on the SAR.
• The Natal Harbours Department places a single saddle-tank locomotive named Congella in service as harbour shunter in Durban Harbour.
• The Zululand Railway Company, contractors for the construction of the North Coast line from Verulam to the Tugela River, acquires two 2-6-0 Mogul type tender locomotives as construction engines, later to be designated Class I on the NGR.

Transvaal

• The Imperial Military Railways places forty Cape 8th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8A on the SAR.

Notes and References

1. Web site: South African History Online : O'okiep . 23 October 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305022558/http://www.sahistory.org.za/vereeniging-gauteng/ookiep . 5 March 2016 . dead .
2. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 184, ref. no. 200954-13
3. 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.