Episode 279 - Dean Williams and Bishop Merriman compete for Anglican Souls as De Villiers Graaff Ponders
About this episode
The episode discusses the intersection of world events with southern African history in the early 1880s, focusing on political and economic turmoil.
We’re up to the early 1880s where world events are intersecting in various ways with southern African events. The mere ratification of the Pretoria Convention in 1881 failed to bring peace and prosperity to South Africa. The frenzied speculation in diamond shares reached it’s height in 1881, and war expenditure had swelled the tide of fictitious prosperity which had flowed from Table Bay to Lydenburg. Now the troops and the glory departed, Natal after the pomp and ceremony of the Wolseley period, drifted into a political backwater — and yet clamoured for responsible government and an augmented imperial garrison. In the Cape, the overcapitalised diamond companies began to topple, and banks shortened credit and in 1882, the crash came. John Scanlen the Cape Prime Minister succumbed to what some called retrenchment mania and laid off judges amongst other members of the bureaucracy. Times were bad, and growing worse, with Phylloxera visiting the Western Cape vineyards, drought had smote the land and red-water fever the cattle. It was old testament level pestilence and suffering, at least if you read the journals of the time. Did I mention the outbreak of smallpox as well? How remiss…
People in this episode
Host: Desmond Latham
Topics covered
- Anglican Church
- South African history
- political changes
- economic downturn
- disease outbreaks
- diamond mining
Keywords
- Dean Williams
- Bishop Merriman
- De Villiers Graaff
- South Africa
- 1881
- diamond shares
- smallpox
- political backwater
Mentioned in this episode
Places: South Africa, Natal, Cape
More episodes of History of South Africa podcast
- Episode 284 - Australians and the Struben Brothers Hunt Gold on the Ridge of White Waters
- Episode 283 - Warren’s Great North Road Balloon and Telegraph Escapade
- Episode 282 - The Scramble for Africa Berlin Conference of 1884/5 and Lüderitz becomes German
- Episode 281 - The Boers anoint Dinizulu King of the Zulus
- Episode 280 - Zibhebhu’s Mandlakazi shatter Cetshwayo’s uSuthu setting off a Zulu Civil War
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