Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

1876 in South Africa

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1876 in South Africa

Events

January
  • The inaugural Champion Bat Tournament is held, a predecessor of first-class cricket in South Africa.
  • 15 – Die Patriot, the first Afrikaans newspaper, begins to be published in Paarl.
    • February
  • 5 – The ship Memento sinks off East London and two 2nd Class 2-6-2TT locomotives intended for the Eastern System of the Cape Government Railways are lost.
    • March
  • 27 – The Cape Times, the first daily newspaper in South Africa, begins in Cape Town, Cape Colony
    • June
  • 16 – The railway line from Cape Town to Worcester is officially opened.
    • July
  • Construction begins on the Cape Town Central Station as hub to the Cape Government Railways.
    • Unknown date
  • A Dutch Reformed Church is built at what is now the town of Amersfoort in Mpumalanga Province.
  • Prime Minister Molteno travels as plenipotentiary to London to discuss Britain's proposed confederation model for southern Africa.
  • The "Molteno Unification Plan" is put forward as an alternative model for eventual political consolidation in southern Africa.
  • Isigidimi Sama Xhosa, the first Xhosa-run newspaper, is begun in Lovedale, Cape Colony.
  • Britain admits wrongful action in its annexation of Griqualand West.
  • President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State rejects any discussion of Carnarvon's proposed confederation system for Southern Africa.
  • The country's first official archives are created when the Cape Government appoints a commission to assemble, sort and index the records of the Cape.
  • Southern Africa's first railway tunnel, the Hex River tunnel on the railway line between Osplaas and Matroosberg, is completed.

    • Births

  • 9 October – Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer, is born near Boshof, Orange Free State.
  • 21 October – Sir Fraser Russell, Governor of Southern Rhodesia. (d. 1952)

    • New lines

  • Construction begins on the East London-King William's Town line.
  • In Natal construction begins on the Cape gauge railway line inland from Durban.

    • Railway lines opened

  • 1 January – Namaqualand – Kookfontein to O'okiep, 32 miles (51.5 kilometres).
  • 1 April – Cape Midland – Addo to Sand Flats, 22 miles 30 chains (36.0 kilometres).
  • 16 June – Cape Western – Ceres Road to Worcester, 24 miles 38 chains (39.4 kilometres).
  • 14 September – Cape Western – Bellville to Muldersvlei, 13 miles 37 chains (21.7 kilometres).
  • 18 December – Cape Eastern – East London to Breidbach, 38 miles 73 chains (62.6 kilometres).

    • Locomotives

    Cape

    Six new locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):

    Contents

  • The first ten of eighteen 1st Class 2-6-0 Mogul goods locomotives on the Western system.
  • A pair of Stephenson’s Patent back-to-back 2-6-0 Mogul type side-tank locomotives on the Cape Midland system.
  • The first of eight 2-6-0 Mogul tender locomotives on the Midland system, also designated 1st Class, all later rebuilt to saddle-tank shunting engines.
  • A single experimental 0-6-0+0-6-0 Fairlie locomotive and a pair of 0-6-0 Stephenson’s Patent permanently coupled back-to-back tank locomotives for comparative trials on the Eastern system. The Fairlie is the first articulated locomotive to enter service in South Africa.
  • The first of three 1st Class 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives with domed boilers on the Eastern System.
    • Natal
  • In January the Natal Railway Company obtains its third and last 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) broad gauge locomotive, a side-tank engine named Perseverance.

    • References

    1876 in South Africa Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA