CHAPTER NINE

FREDERICK JOHN QUESTED'S CHILDREN

ANNIE QUESTED AND THE CRAW FAMILY

  

Annie (182) was born in Ladysmith on 16th August 1883, the eldest daughter of Frederick (180) and Agnes Quested.  She was baptised on 20th November 1883 by the Reverend John Smith at the MacKillican's house in Pietermaritzburg.  Her early childhood and school days were spent in Ladysmith, but she later went to boarding school in Pietermaritzburg run by a Miss Rowe, a graduate of  Newnham College, Cambridge, who had taught at schools in England, France and Germany.  This lady arrived in Pietermaritzburg in 1885 to take over as headmistress of the Girls Collegiate School, that is, the old school which was in Burger Street.

Miss Rowe soon came to consider the conditions under which  she had to work were primitive and after a few years became so disillusioned that she decided to open up a school of her own on the lines of an English high school.  She left the Collegiate in 1893 and having bought a property of 60 acres at Blackridge some three miles out of town and 800 feet above it, she had buildings erected to her requirements.  The school was built of bricks made on the site from the local clay, but the construction works were not completed until 1899.

In the meantime Miss Rowe had started a small school for girls in the Wesleyan Parsonage in Loop Street on the site where the block of flats known as Raldor now stands, but as soon as the buildings were completed at Blackridge, Miss Rowe, who later became Mrs Colepeper, and her pupils moved to the new Uplands High School for Girls.  This was about the middle of 1899. The curriculum included English, French, Latin, mathematics, elementary science, hygiene, class singing, freehand and model drawing, geometry, needlework and physical drill.

It seems that most of Annie's tuition under Miss Rowe must have been in Loop Street before the move was made to Blackridge.

On leaving school, Annie returned to the family farm, Woodcote, at Elandslaagte in the Ladysmith district where she took an active part in sport including ladies cricket, tennis and shooting.  She played tennis for the Ladysmith Ladies against Harrismith in 1904 and in the following year took part in rifle shooting competitions for Ladysmith.  About the year 1905 Annie was sent off to Britain for a period to visit her mother's family connections there and to broaden her outlook.  It has been said that one of the reasons for this overseas trip was to get her away from the Ladysmith area for a while because she had formed an attachment for a man named Alec Craw (183) who was a good many years older than she was.  Her parents and her two sisters went off to England and Scotland for a holiday in 1906 and Annie then returned with them.

In spite of the fact that her parents did not appear to approve entirely of the match, Annie was determined to marry the man of her choice and her marriage to William Alexander Parker Craw took place on 1st January 1907.  She was then 23 and he was 41.

The wedding was at All Saints church in Ladysmith and the service was conducted by the Very Reverend Dean Parker who was a personal friend of both families and who had traveled especially from Pietermaritzburg for the occasion,  He had some years earlier been vicar of the Ladysmith parish.

Annie was given away by her father and her bridesmaid was her sister Daisy.  Alec Craw's best man was Mr. F.M. Scott.  The reception was held at the house of Alec's sister Isabella Anderson whose house was just across the road from the church in Murchison Street.  The honeymoon was spent at Howick.

Alec Craw was descended from an old Scottish family.  Craw was the surname of a 12th century family in the Merse and was then styled Auchincraw or Auchencraw, from the lands of Auchencraw in the parish of Coldingham in the County of Berwickshire.  The name was locally pronounced Edencraw.  Tradition has it that the Craws were descended from a Danish invader of about the 9th century.

In the time of William the Lion, the place was spelled Aldengrawe and during William's reign Adam de Aldengrue (Aldengrawe) appeared as a charter witness at Coldingham.  Early in the 13th century Michael de Aldengrawe quit claimed his supposed rights under the will of Aldencambus to the priory convent in the lands of Coldingham.  In 1467 a certain James Craw was a member of an inquest regarding a claim to fishing rights on the waters of the River Tweed.  In 1577 Alexander Auchincraw and his son Henry Craw appeared together as chartered witnesses in Nether Aytoun.  It would appear that the clan was well established in the neighbourhood.

It is evident that the surname was eventually shortened  to Craw and sometimes was spelt Crow.  The family crest was in fact a crow.

John Craw, a schoolmaster of Colington, Midlothian, was deposed in 1655 for brewing and selling ale "near the Kirk and hard by the ministers gate".  There was probably more money to be made from brewing than from teaching.  In 1679 Patrick Craw of Heughead was restored heir to lands in the Barony of Coldingham and in 1715 this same Craw family was forfeited for their complicity in Mar's rebellion but they were afterwards pardoned.

By the 19th century there were various Craw families in Berwickshire and adjoining counties and it has not proved possible to pinpoint Alec Craw's forebears back beyond his grandfather.  Alec's father, James Craw, was born in the County of Roxburgshire on 15th January 1827.  James's father was the Reverend Peter Craw, minister of St Boswells at that time.  James was the only child and he was baptised on 20th March 1827.

Peter Craw had been licensed by the Presbytery of Haddington, East Lothian, on 7th September 1802 and then became tutor to the family of Robert Veitch of Hawthornbank.  He was presented to St Boswells by Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, on 19th June 1810 and ordained as minister on 20th September of that same year.  He remained at St Boswells for the rest of his life.

Peter Craw married twice.  The proclamation for the first marriage was recorded in the parochial register of St Boswells on 18th August 1811 when he married Margaret Bruce, second daughter of Richard Brown of Wylam.  Margaret died on 23rd May 1813 and there were no children from this marriage.  The second marriage was some 12 years later, on 8th November 1825, when Peter married Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of William Dunbar of Forres.

Elizabeth had one child, James, from whom the Craws of Natal descended.

The Reverend Peter Craw died at St Boswells on 21st March 1834 at the age of 59.  This means he must have been over 50 years old when his son James was born.  Less than a year later, on 10th January 1835, Elizabeth died and James thus became an orphan before he was eight years old.  No definite information has been obtained as to where he was brought up from then on, but there is an indication that he may have lived with one of his relations, Isabella Craw.

It is known that James was in residence at Byethorn Academy, a boarding establishment near the town of Selkirk, Selkirkshire, the adjoining County to Roxburgshire, in 1841.  Dr John Clery's academy, Byethorn, was one of several private schools in Selkirk at that time.  Pupils had their early schooling there and then attended the Selkirk Grammar School while still boarding at Byethorn.  The Grammar School was apparently famous throughout Scotland at that time for its high standard of education and sons from many well known families attended it and boarded at Byethorn.

Census schedules show that James Craw was at Byethorn Academy in the year 1841 at which time he was about 14 years old.  It is assumed that he was then attending the Grammar School.

Unfortunately, none of the old school records are now available but a ray of light is shed upon that period of James' life by a letter which has somehow survived the years and is now in the possession of the writer of these notes.  The letter was sent to James by a friend who had evidently been at school with him, but who had then proceeded on to college in London.  As was quite commonly done in those days, the writing was in criss-cross fashion diagonally across the page.  The style of writing, with its many abbreviations is illustrative of the custom of the time.

The letter reads as follows:

To Mr J. Craw     Putney College

Byethorn Academy    18th June 1841

Near Selkirk, Scotland

Mr dear James,

According to promise I now sit down to write to you a description of my adventures since I left the 'Land of Cakes'.  After a quick but rough passage I arrived quite safe and would have replied to your letter had I had time, but really I was so much engaged that I had scarcely a minute to spare.

I went to the Italian Opera last Saturday and liked it very much though on account of the heat and crush I fainted and was obliged to come out for some time.

I went next day - Monday - to see the Tower which was a very interesting sight.  I saw all kinds of ancient armour and new muskets for 100,000 men quite ready for service.  I next went to St Pauls and climbed into the ball, which though from the ground does not appear so large as a mans hat is able to contain nine men.  It was rather nervous work and when I was at the top I heartily wished myself down again on terra firma.  However, I met with no accident but arrived quite safe.  The whispering gallery is very strange and when the door is shut quickly it makes a noise through the whole building like very loud thunder.

I went on Tuesday to the National Gallery and the Zoological Gardens and some other places which I cannot take the trouble to mention, and now that I have given you some account of my doings in Town I will proceed to a description of this place.

1stly, we all have beds to ourselves and wash and dress in our own rooms.  2ndly, we are awoke at six by an immense bell and must be ready for parade at a quarter to 7.  We then go through a few evolutions and afterwards march in order to the chapel.  We have a private chapel and chaplain  and do not go to church.  Prayers are then said and we march out as before and are then dismissed.

Breakfast is at eight and we get as many cups of tea and coffee as we please.  The monitors make it and also sit at the heads of different tables during all the meals.

Classes commence at nine and come out at one when we have lunch which consists of biscuit, cheese and beer.  We then on some days go in at two and some out at four and on others we have a lecture or chemistry from three to 4.  We then finish at four and a quarter and have the rest of the time to ourselves except on Mondays and Wednesdays when we have a German and French master from seven to 8.  During our leisure hours we are allowed to go where we like except to Town so that we return in time.  I am going next Monday to see the launching of the "Trafalgar" at Woolich and in  my next letter I will give an account of it.

There is to be a boat race here on Wednesday next, our college against some other which I at present forget, and Colonel Hutchinson has declared a half-holiday for it.  I almost forgot to explain to you which kind of a place this is but as I am not much good at describing I shall make a plan of it. (Not included.)  It looks very nice in summer though I expect it is damp in winter on account of the Thames being so near.  Here ends the description of my present abode.

Continued June 23rd

My dear James, I hope you will excuse me for sending so old a letter but as it is so very long I cannot be bothered writing another.  I went last Monday the 21st, to Woolich to see the launch and was very much pleased.  The river was crowded with steam boats, etc., all around with passengers to see the launch, and on some of the boats there were nearly 1000 people on board, indeed they appeared ? of hats and bonnets yet I am glad to say I do not think any accident happened.  At about two the Queen and escort went on board one of the Government steamers to lunch and a number of cannon were fired on her leaving the shore.  The lunch took place at two and a half hrs, and was universally thought to be one of the finest which ever took place.  She came down quite majestically and did not make the least plunge on leaving the cradle, as was expected.  It was thought that the waves it would make in plunging into the water would upset some of the steam boats, but nothing of this sort happened.

I should have given you a description of the boat race between our college and St Georges. The start was at four from Westminster Bridge six miles from here and the finish was to be Battersea Bridge.  The bridge was crowded with people and carriages and there were dozens of boards on the river on both sides, wearing their different colours (ours orange theirs blue).  A little after five the boats came in sight but until they came fairly near it was not known who was first.  A shout rose from the orange party (we all had our uniform coats on and wore orange rosettes) on seeing their boat about a boats length before the other and then what a struggle took place among the blue to make up but all in vain, ours kept ahead and passed under the bridge about two lengths before the blues.  A number of small pieces were fired off and all the taverns had flags flying.  Those that rowed had dinner at the principle tavern in Putney and after dinner almost all the students went there and had a few bottles of wine.  Two students and myself went and had a couple.  I suppose by this time John will have been out to Byethorn.  Tell Mr Clery I should have written to inform him of my safe arrival had not John been going to Selkirk and as I had written to him I thought it needless, as most likely he would have told him before my letter arrived.

I hope Harrie and Willie are quite well, give my love to both of them and tell them to exert themselves and get some prizes.

I would be most obliged to you if you would sometimes give an eye to them to see that they get on properly. I had almost forgotten to speak of the peach blossom beauty in the New Road,  I hope you are getting on together happily and that no obstructions have arisen for the 15 union.  Remember me kindly to her as also to Bully, Sinclair, Ferguson, ?, Laing, ?, etc, etc.

Tell Hutchinson I delivered his message quite safe and found his brother and cousin quite well.  In the meantime as I have quite exhausted my news I must conclude with respects to Mr and Mrs Clery, Miss Steele, Mrs Gordon, Miss Scongale and Gordon and to ? Craw.

Believe me, I remain yours sincerely,

 Hugh Robinson

Please be so kind as to write soon and do not shown this to any of the masters etc.

College of Civil Engineers

 Putney

  London

This letter is the only surviving link with James's early years.  The ball which High Robinson refers to on his visit to St Pauls sits on the top of the great dome of the cathedral and is therefore very high above the street level.  The ship "Trafalgar" which Hugh saw launched at Woolwich was a first-rate 120-gun warship of 2721 tons.

It is believed that when James left Selkirk Grammar School he attended Edinburgh University for a period.  It has been ascertained that a James Craw from Roxburghshire attended the 1844-1845 session of the medical classes at the university, but he did not continue studies after the first year and therefore did not graduate.

Nothing more is known about James until 1848 when he was 21 years old.  In that year he came to South Africa in the barque "Coromandel", a vessel of  395 tons, commanded by Captain D. Cowan, which sailed from London on 1st July and arrived at Table Bay on 26th September.  He sailed again from Table Bay on 30th September in the schooner "Douglas" and arrived at Port Natal on 3rd October.  He was therefore in Natal before the general mass of immigrants began to arrive in the 1849-1850 period.  James apparently had private means with which to support himself and he was described as a gentleman and landed proprietor.

An early reference in the Natal records concerning James was his name in a list of donors to a fund opened in January 1849 by the Church Society in Pietermaritzburg, established for the purpose of building churches throughout the Colony.  James gave the sum of £5.  On 9th February 1849 he enquired from the Natal Government whether proofs submitted by him regarding the purchase of a farm at Umgeni from J.J. Potgieter would establish his legal title to the property.  The location of the farm has not been determined but in any case James did not appear to have taken up farming.

In the period 1850 to 1856 James owned property in Pietermaritzburg and at Isipingo.  At the latter place in 1854/55 he owned 422 acres of land for which he had to pay rates of £17.7s.  This land was part of Dick King's estate of 5816 acres, parts of which had been sub-divided and sold to a number of people.  Perhaps James had intended to go in for sugar cane planting but there is no evidence that he ever did that.

One of his friends was Joseph Henderson and when Henderson married Jane Maidstone Pearson on 13th August 1849, James was one of the witnesses, the other being John McKenzie.  The wedding took place at 27 Burger Street, Pietermaritzburg.  There was also a business relationship between James Craw and Joseph Henderson.  They were both foundation shareholders in the Natal Fire Assurance and Trust Company when this concern was formed and James was appointed clerk.  He held this position until 1852 when he left Pietermaritzburg to go up country.  He was also one of the early shareholders of the Natal Bank.  James Craw and Joseph Henderson were both elected commissioners for the Borough of Pietermaritzburg in the municipal elections held on 28th March 1851 and both were appointed to the finance committee, James bring appointed treasurer.  Commissioners were the forerunners of today's municipal councillors and to be eligible for election, candidates had to own fixed property in  the town assessed at £200 or more.  Commissioners were each elected to serve for a period of three years.  Other members elected at the same time were James Brickhill, P.H. Zietsman and David Buchanan.  The latter, who was chairman of the commissioners, was the renowned and outspoken editor of the Natal Witness.

James Craw married twice.  His first wife was Isabella Newlands, daughter of Mrs C. Cleghorn, who had come to Natal from Table Bay of the "Rosebud", arriving on 23rd March 1848 and had, therefore, been in the Colony for some months before James appeared on the scene.  At the time of his marriage James was 23 years old, but his wife was still a minor.  After the reading of Banns, the wedding took place at Rose Cottage, Pietermaritzburg, on 21st December 1850, the service being conducted by the Reverend W. Campbell of the Presbyterian church.  Witnesses to the signing of the register were Chas Sinclair and J. Morrison.  The former was an advocate and a director of the Natal Fire Assurance and Trust Company where James held the position of clerk.

On his marriage certificate James described himself as a landed proprietor.  He and Isabella set up house at 33 Burger Street, but within a year tragedy struck when Isabella died on 17th November 1851.  It is not known what caused her death at so young an age.  She dies at Dr Poortman's farm near Umvoti.

Isabella's death clearly caused James much distress and he decided to leave Pietermaritzburg for a while.  He gave up his clerkship at the Natal Fire Assurance and Trust Company at the end of January 1852 and resigned his position as a commissioner and as treasurer of the Borough with effect from March 1852.  he then travelled around the country but little is known of where he went or what he did for some time.  He must have spent some time at the coast when he purchased land from Dick King at Isipingo, but then it appears that he lived later near the Commando Drift over the Tugela river, in what is now Colenso.  He was there in 1855/56 and from there made various journeys over the Drakensberg.

Although away from Pietermaritzburg for some years, James still retained his status as a burgess because he still owned properties in the Borough, including number 33 Burger Street, number 21 Burger Street, number 12 Pietermaritz Street and number 41 Longmarket Street.

James Craw married for the second time on 27th December 1856, his new wife being Sarah, eldest daughter of Leonard and Elizabeth Wright, who hailed from Little Kelk, near Driffield in Yorkshire.  This family, which included three daughters and one son, Sarah, Fanny, Mary and William, arrived at Port Natal in the "Henry Tanner" on 10th October 1849.  Leonard Wright had been a farmer in England and on arrival in Natal was allocated 60 acres of land at Vaal Kop, about eight miles from Pietermaritzburg, on the way to Durban near Thornville.

He never took up this land but for two years or so the family lived on a rented farm owned by P.H. Zietsman.  This farm was about halfway between Pietermaritzburg and Howick.  Here, they offered accommodation for travellers and invalids.  Joseph Fleetwood Churchill, in his diaries, mentioned that he had good venison, bread and butter and coffee for lunch when he called there in October 1851.

From this place they moved to the area now known as Colenso, where Leonard obtained an appointment as ferryman at the Commando Drift on the Tugela river.  Besides doing this job he also ran an accommodation house adjacent to the ferry, on the Pietermaritzburg side of the river, and he operated a butchery close by.

In 1854 he was appointed postmaster at Commando Drift.  This was before the small settlement was proclaimed as the township of Colenso, which happened in 1855.  Prior to his marriage to Sarah, James Craw had lodged at the Wright's boarding house for about a year, during which time he must have got to know the family pretty well but what he did apart from living there is not known.

Sarah was only about 17 years old when she married and her parents considered her to be of very delicate health.  Indeed, her mother, in writing to her son Richard in England in April 1857 stated. "I often fear she is not long for this world.  I have one consolation, she has every comfort which her delicate state needs."  Events later proved that her mother need not have worried.  Sarah turned out to be tougher than at first appeared and successfully brought up a large family of children.

James' mother-in-law considered him to be "a most excellent young man and in comfortable circumstances" and Sarah's sister Frances (Fanny) wrote in April 1857 to her brother Richard, who had remained in Yorkshire when the rest of the family came to Natal, "my sister Sarah was married in December last.  They live near us in a pretty little cottage.  I like my brother-in-law very much and am sure you would.  His name is Craw.  Sarah is very delicate and I fear will not live long."

James had built a cottage for Sarah and himself at the Tugela which is mother-in-law declared was "quite in the English style, with boarded floors and papered walls."

At that time James had no business activities but did have a modest income from the properties he owned.  It is of interest to note that in October 1856 one acre erfs of land at Colenso were being offered at an upset price of £10 and it is likely that it was one of these plots that James bought on which to build his residence.  Records show that the township did not develop very rapidly and by 1878 it still only contained two inns, a store, a blacksmith's shop and three or four houses.

In 1862, after the death of her third child Sarah Frances, James took his wife with him on a trading trip over the Drakensberg in an endeavour to improve her health.  They were away for about four months but Sarah's health had not improved.

Soon after this they left Colenso for good and moved to Pietermaritzburg where, in January 1863, James obtained an appointment as a third grade clerk in the Natal Colonial Office, where he was made acting secretary to the Immigration Board.  In 1865 he acted as Postmaster General for a period of about three months.  On 1st January 1866 he was transferred to the office e of the Registrar of Deeds as acting chief clerk at a salary of £200 a year.  He was confirmed in this post in 1867.  His salary increased to £250 per annum in 1874, £300 in 1879 and £350 in 1885.

In 1876 and again in 1877 James acted as Registrar of Deeds, Distributor of Stamps and Registrar General during the absence of the official Registrar, Mr F.S. Berning.  He acted again in a similar capacity in September 1881 when Mr G. Lamont, the Registrar at that time, was away on leave.

The Craws lived in a number of different houses in Pietermaritzburg.  In 1870/71 they were at 91 Burger Street.  They moved to number 4 Pietermaritz Street and then to number 3 Berg Street.  Later a move was made to number 12 Berg Street, but by 1875 the family had moved to a property situated in Old Town Hill Road.  This was lot 204 of Townlands, comprising something over ten acres.  The property was owned by James and the family lived there, in a 5-roomed wooden house, which had a detached kitchen, until 1887.  It was on part of this property that some years later the Anglican Bishop of Natal built a residence, at the corner of Roberts Road and Taunton Road.  The property ha passed out of the hands of the family after the death of James.

Although Sarah's health had given rise to misgivings from time to time, she seemed to have got stronger as she got older and she had eight children.  These were:

James Henry Born on 9th October 1857 in Pietermaritzburg, baptised (Willie)  at Camperdown on 21st May 1858.  He died in Pretoria,   aged 45, on 16th September 1903.  He died of haemorrhages caused by ulceration of the stomach.  His

  mother and sister Isabella were at his bedside when he died.

Annie (Amy) Born 1859 and died aged 15 on 17th November 1874.
Sarah Frances Born in Pietermaritzburg on 10th July 1861.   She was baptised on 3rd December 1861 and died on 26th of that same month aged five months and 16 days.

Frances (Fanny)  Born on 31st August 1862 and baptised on the 28th June 1865.

On 24th March 1885 Fanny married a Scotsman, Alexander Brown.  He worked as a bank clerk in Pietermaritzburg and rented a property at 156 Loop Street.  Later on he took up farming in the Polela district and became secretary of the Polela Agricultural Society, holding this appointment until 1904.  Later, he owned a farm called "Braiheid" in the Ixopo district.  Their daughter, Isabel Winifred Brown, married John Grant of "Landsdowne", Ixopo.   She had three children, Royal, Joan and Margaret.  She died at the Provincial Hospital, Hillcrest on 3rd March 1979.  Fanny was buried at Ixopo on 18th February 1929 aged 67, and Alexander was buried at the same place on 13th August 1938 aged 79.

William Alexander Parker, born in Pietermaritzburg on 30th March 1865 and baptised on 28th June 1865 at the same time as his sister Fanny.

Isabella Sarah, born in Pietermaritzburg on 1st July 1866.  Married her cousin, Robert Cuthbert Anderson on 28th June 1905 in Ladysmith.  Died in childbirth on  the 26th March 1907.

Wilfred Martin, born at 12 Berg Street, Pietermaritzburg on 12th June 1868 and baptised on 12th July 1870.  He died in 1926 aged 58.

Ada Mary, born in Pietermaritzburg on 17th December 1875.  Married William Brocklehurst in Ladysmith on 17th April 1907.

Because of failing health, James retired from the Colonial Service at the end of 1886, and was granted a pension but he did not live long to enjoy it.  In 1887, James and Sarah travelled to Steynsdorp in the Transvaal.  It seems likely that Willie, Alec and Wilfred and preceded the family to that destination which was on the Komati gold fields, not far from Barberton and also not far from the well known Forbes Reef and Hartbeestkop on the Swaziland border.

It is most likely that the family travelled by coach from Ladysmith onwards, because the railway did not go beyond there at that time.  The journey by coach normally took six days, with no night travelling, leaving in the mornings at 6 am.  The cost was £10 single fare and £16 return on Lloyds Coach Service.

James' health continued to deteriorate and he died on 4th September 1887 at the age of 60 years and eight months.  He was buried at Steynsdorp.

James' pension was commuted to a lump sum of £944.8s.9d.  He had died intestate and a meeting of his next of kin and creditors was called for by the Master of the Supreme Court in Pietermaritzburg on Friday the 9th September 1887 to appoint an executor.  It is probable that Willie attended this meeting to represent the family.  The executor appointed was Alexander Brown, son-in-law of James, who was a bank clerk at the Standard Bank.

It would appear that the earlier properties which James had owned in Pietermaritzburg had already been disposed of and when the estate was wound up only the Townhill property remained.  This was sold to Mr Montague Clifford for the sum of £340.  When the mortgage bonds were paid off and accounts were squared up the proceeds were distributed amongst the family.  Sarah received £52.10s and the six children £17.9s.11d each.

The family remained at Steynsdorp for some years.  Sarah and the family are known to have been still at the goldfields in December 1891 with the exception  of the eldest son, James Henry (Willie), who was at that time staying with the Pascoe's at Hilton Road in Natal.  Ada Pascoe (nee Wright) was Sarah's sister and was, therefore, Willie's aunt.

It is believed that the family were still at Steynsdorp in 1892, but from old letters it is known that Sarah visited her mother, Elizabeth Wright, in Durban during February 1894 and  she was reported to be quite fit and well.  Where the rest of the family were at that time is not known and the next to be heard of them was in 1896 when Sarah and her two unmarried daughters, Isabella and Ada, and son Alec, were on a farm at Tintwa in the Van Reenen district of Natal.  The farm was rented and Alec appeared to have been doing the farming.  They remained at Tintwa until October 1899 when the Boer invasion became imminent.  Then they moved hurriedly into Ladysmith and stayed at the home of Sarah's sister, Fanny Tatham (nee Wright, formerly married to Robert Anderson).

On 12th October 1899 4000 Boers with 18 field guns invaded Natal via the Tintwa Pass.

With the Tathams, Sarah and her daughters endured all the difficulties, hardships and stresses of the siege of Ladysmith for about four months.  Willie and Wilfred Craw were there also but where they had arrived from is not known.  Wilfred was seriously ill for some time, having several attacks of malaria.  Suffering also from lack of proper nourishment, his health caused great concern for a while but he did eventually make a good recovery.  Willie was also sick for a time and Sarah was later confined to her bed for five weeks after having been actively engaged in looking after various sick people and wounded soldiers.

Isabella was kept busy nursing sick and wounded soldiers at the hospital.  Alec Craw, like Major George Tatham, was on active service with the Natal Carbineers during the siege.

After the town was relieved Sarah and her daughters got away for a time to Pietermaritzburg but they returned later to Ladysmith to set up a new home, where Sarah hoped to be able to make a living by taking in three or four paying guests and selling garden produce such as fruit, vegetables, milk and eggs.  All the crops, poultry and pigs on the farm at Tintwa had been lost and the family never went back there to live.  It is believed they got some compensation from government for their losses.

Sarah and her family settled down in  their new home in Murchison Street, Ladysmith and that is where Sarah died on 20th August 1905 at the age of 66.  She was buried in the local cemetery.  It is evident that over the years she had outgrown her earlier weakness and in  the end she proved tougher than her husband James.  She demonstrated that her mother's belief, expressed nearly 50 years earlier that "she was not long for this world" was far from being correct.

William Alexander Parker Craw was known to all and sundry throughout his life as Alec Craw.  He was brought up in Pietermaritzburg and completed his education at the St Charles Grammar School.  This school was in those days situated on the site of the present Ansonia Hotel in Longmarket Street backing onto Loop Street.  It was at first a co-ed school until the middle of the 181970's when a separate Catholic school was opened for girls in Loop Street, and the earlier school was then given the name of St Charles.  No information regarding Alec's scholastic progress has come to light because none of the school records remain from those days.  It is likely that Alec played rugby football at school because history indicates that the boys played rugby on a field near where St Mary's church now stands.  In 1882, St Charles School played against the High School (now Maritzburg College) on the field in Loop Street.

What Alec did on leaving school is unknown but it is clear that he was in the Transvaal in 1887, at Steynsdorp, on the Komati goldfields.  In a book dealing with the development of the game of rugby football in South Africa, there is mention of a match played at Steynsdorp on 27th July 1887, when Alec Craw was included in a team representing Natal, captained by A.J. Hanworth, opposing a team of all comers.

Whether Alec and his brothers were prospecting or mining for gold at Steynsdorp, or whether they had some kind of administrative jobs, or worked as storekeepers is not known but they were certainly in the area for some years.  By 1895 however, Alec had evidently given up hopes of making a fortune on the goldfields and the Natal Almanack of that year listed him as being a farmer at Tintwa on the Upper Tugela, in the Van Reenen district, between Spionkop and Harrismith and near the Free State border.  Tintwa farm adjoined Netherby and Middledale farms.

As mentioned earlier, Alec's mother and two of his sisters lived there with him, but his brothers had apparently gone away on jobs of their own.  Alec farmed there until it became evident that it was likely to be over-run by an invasion of Boer Commandos when war became imminent in 1899.

Alec had joined the Natal Carbineers in September 1899 and he served with them during the Anglo-Boer war, seeing action at the battle of Elandslaagte on 21st October only a few weeks after joining up.  He was in Ladysmith during the siege of the town.  The Carbineers won high praise for their participation in various sorties against the Boers, particularly in the battle of End Hill at Besters, and also in the night action on 8th December when an attempt was made to destroy Boer guns at De Waals Junction.

The Natal Carbineers camp during the siege was at the Ladysmith Show yard.  It is probable that Alec was able to see his family from time to time, although his sister Isabella, who kept a diary of events from day to day, made no mention of him except to write that on one occasion her brother acted as orderly to General White and that, like most of the Colonial troops, this was a duty he did not much care for.

After the war Alec continued as a member of the Natal Carbineers and attained the rank of sergeant before going on to the reserve in May 1904.  He was called up to rejoin the regiment to fight against the Zulus during the Bambati Rebellion in 1906, reverting to the reserve again when this campaign was over.  During the rebellion Alec served in 'D' squadron, in what was known as the left wing of the Carbineers.  On returning to Ladysmith on 31st March, after being on active service in the field for seven weeks, but having met no real opposition from the Zulus, the Carbineers were welcomed by the major and the men were entertained with refreshments at the Royal Hotel by Messrs F.J. Quested and L.W. Christopher.

      The unrest amongst the Zulus had not settled down  however and  the Carbineers were called out again on 17th April.  They once more set out for Zululand and sporadic clashes with the Zulus took place until July.  One of the members of the left wing, Trooper Vernie Christopher of Ladysmith, was one of the last casualties of the campaign.  He was killed by a Zulu who assagaied him at the Hlonono Ridge near the Umvoti river during a skirmish against Messeni's impi on 5th July.  The left wing of the Natal Carbineers was demobilised at the end of July.

In September 1908, Alec rejoined the Carbineers and was appointed a 2nd lieutenant.  After passing his 'A' Certificate examinations in 1910, he was promoted to lieutenant and continued in this rank until March 1913 when he once more reverted to the reserve.  This was the end of his military service.  He had been awarded the Queen's Medal and Clasp for the Boer war and the Native Rebellion Medal and Clasp.

Alec (183)Craw was a stock inspector for some years, having been appointed to the Klip River Division as from the 17th March 1904 and to the Ladysmith District from 1906 to 1915.  In his job he must have visited most of the farms in the area and records show that he made a number of calls at the Quested farm at Elandslaagte in the early 1900's in connection with outbreaks of scab disease in sheep.

He must also have known the Quested family socially because he was a popular participant in local sporting events.  In 1904 he assisted in the formation of the Ladysmith Tennis Club.  He was  a good horseman and took part in local gymkhana events, riding winners on a number of occasions.  At the Elandslaagte Sports in March 1905 her won the Tent pegging, Tilting the Ring and Cigar and Umbrella events.

In 1907 he won a number of events at the Ladysmith Gymkhana.

Alec acquired a good working knowledge of livestock and in June 1904 he won first price for the 'Best Colonial Bull under Two Years' at the Klip River Agricultural Society Show.

For a number of years Alec and Annie lived in the house they owned in Murchison Street, Ladysmith, and their three elder children were born in the town.  Annie had four children as follows:

Wilfred Alexander Frederick (184) Born on 27th July 1908.

Cuthbert William (185)  Born on 7th February 1910.

Isabella Natalie    (187)                Born on 9th August 1912.

Margaret (Peggy)   (203)                Born on 10th August 1918.

From 1915 onwards Alec became a farm manager and in this capacity moved around Natal fairly extensively, although the family did not go to all the different farms he managed because they kept on the house in Ladysmith and at other times lived at Woodcote.  Alec spent periods at George Frederick Tatham's farm Netherby at Middledale Pass, Tintwa, and at another farm at Bergville known as Sandford.  This belonged to George Edmund Tatham, son of G.F. Tatham.

In 1918 he was managing the farms Les Mensil and Jolivet at Dumisa. Between Ixopo and Umzinto.  These farms belonged to Dr Rouillard.  In 1919 and 1922 Alec was at Elandslaagte and from 1925 to 1929 the family were back again at Sandford, Bergville.  Then in 1929 he went to H.E.K. Anderson's farm, Boschfontein, at Brackwal, in the Van Reenen area.  Between 1932 and 1936 Alec was looking after Doornkraal and Wembly farms which adjoined each other in the area about 12 miles or so from Ladysmith along the road to Pomeroy and Helpmekaar.  Wembly farm belonged to H.D. Anderson.

From about 1937 onwards, for the remainder of his days, Alec and Annie lived in the cottage on Woodcote farm, Elandslaagte.  During the last few years of his life Alec did not enjoy good health, suffering from cancer.  He died at the Sanatorium in Ladysmith on 28th August 1943, aged 78, and was buried in the Ladysmith cemetery.

Annie (182) continued to live at Woodcote for some time but in 1948 travelled to East Africa by sea in order to stay for some months with her elder daughter, Isabella (Bella 187) and her family in Nairobi, Kenya.  She was there when the youngest of  Bella's children, Digby (199), was born on 12th May.  On returning to Natal later in the year she lived for most of the time at Umkomaas on the South Coast.  With increasing years Annie had to contend with failing health and she died on 8th March 1957, aged 73.  She was buried in the Ladysmith cemetery.

Annie's eldest son, Wilfred, never married.  He dies when he was 30 years old, on 24th November 1938, after suffering from heart trouble resulting from tick fever.  He had been a good sportsman and a keen polo player.  He was buried in the Ladysmith cemetery.

Cuthbert (185), Annie's second son, completed his education at Ladysmith High School and then went to work in a store at Bergville.  During the 1939/45 war he served with the South African forces, in the 2nd Natal Carbineers and the 6th Armoured Car Regiment in East Africa, Abyssinia, Egypt, North Africa and Italy.  While in South Africa for a spell of leave in 1943, he married Eunice Myrtle (Babs) Grant of Bergville, Natal.  The wedding was on 4th June.  Back in North Africa, during the fighting around Halfaya Pass, Cuthbert's squadron was captured by the Germans but he and two other men managed to escape and attempted to walk back to the Allied lines.  They suffered much hardship from exposure and lack of food and water, but were eventually picked up and rescued by Colonel Gordon Henderson of Biggarsburg.  

Cuthbert was a good golfer and was captain of the men's section of the Ladysmith Country Club in 1954/55.  He once played in an exhibition match with that distinguished South African golfer, Bobby Locke.

Cuthbert lived in Ladysmith after the war and worked for about 23 years with the firm of G. Clarence and Company.

For several years he suffered from angina and hardening of the arteries.  This progressively got worse and he died in Addington Hospital, Durban, after an operation, on 11th August 1977 and was cremated in Durban.

There were no children from this marriage.  His wife Babs died on 13th August 1983.

Annie's elder daughter, Isabella (Bella 187), trained as a nursing sister at Greys Hospital, Pietermaritzburg.  After obtaining further experience as operating theatre sister at the King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban, she went to Kenya in 1936 and carried on with her nursing career at a nursing home in Nairobi.  During the 1939/45 war, on 24th August 1940, she married Cecil Charles William Johnn at the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Nairobi.  At that time he was serving in the army but had gone to Kenya in 1937 in his job, working for the Shell International Petroleum Company, from England.  After the war they lived in Nairobi until the end of 1960 then spent nearly five years in England before coming to Natal, since when they have lived in Pietermaritzburg.

Bella had three sons, Michael William, Christopher and Digby Andrew.  All three are married.  Michael lives in England, Christopher in Cape Town and Digby in Hilton.

Annie's younger daughter Margaret, generally known as Peggy, married Orland Sylvester Fregona of Durban on 26th February 1942.  They lived in Durban all their married life where Orlando was in the motor trade.  In his younger years Orlando was a keen motorcycle and car racer, making a name for himself in these sports, building and tuning his own motorcycles and cars.  For some years he had his own garage business, but during a long period of ill health the business went down and was eventually lost.  Orlando suffered severely from stomach ulcers, partly due no doubt to stress during his racing days.  In 1978 he fell victim to cancer and this was the beginning of the end.  After a long period of illness and treatment he died on 4th August 1978 aged 58.  He was cremated in Durban on 8th August.

Alec Craw's sister, Isabella Sarah Craw lived and went to school in Pietermaritzburg.  She went to the Transvaal with the rest of the family in 1887, living for some years at Steynsdorp and subsequently lived on the farm at Tintwa in the Van Reenen district.  Then she was in Ladysmith during the siege of the town by the Boers.  Here she gained a well deserved reputation for her devoted nursing and attention to the sick and wounded in the town, although she had had no previous nursing experience.

After the war she was presented with a memorial silver belt by the Natal Carbineers and she was delegated for duties looking after sick troops on a troopship going to England where she had the honour of being personally decorated by H.M. King Edward VII with a medal for meritorious service.

Back in South Africa Isabella married her cousin, Robert Cuthbert Anderson, son of her mother's sister Frances (Fanny) Anderson.  The wedding was on 28th June 1905, about two months before her mother died.  The wedding was in Ladysmith and they lived in Murchison Street.  Isabella died in childbirth on 26th March 1907.

Wilfred Martin Craw, Alec's younger brother, was educated at the St Charles Grammar School in Pietermaritzburg.  He is said to have been with the rest of the family at the Komati goldfields at Steynsdorp from about 1887 until about 1890.  He was a keen sportsman and a good polo player.  After the siege of Ladysmith he served with the military intelligence unit until the war was over and was awarded the South African War Medal with two bars.

On 24th June 1906 Wilfred married Beatrice Proksch, daughter of a tobacconist who carried on his business in both Pietermaritzburg and Durban.  For a number of years Wilfred was secretary of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association and with his family lived at Pietersburg in the Northern Transvaal.

Beatrice had a daughter, Audrey Beatrice Craw, born on 24th November 1909.  Beatrice died tragically from severe burns after her nightdress accidentally caught alight, but just when this happened is not known.

Wilfred died in Pretoria in 1926 aged 56.

Audrey Craw married Angus Douglas and had a son, Anthony Douglas.   Angus worked at the S.A. Reserve Bank at two or three places around the country, but retired to Pietermaritzburg where the family lived until both Angus and Audrey died.  The son lives in the Durban area.

Ada Mary Craw was in Ladysmith during the siege and after wards continued living there  with her mother Sarah, her sister Isabella and her brother Alec.  She was a good tennis player and in November 1904 played for the Ladysmith Tennis Club against Harrismith, possibly in the same team as her future sister-in-law Annie.  She also took part in shooting competitions in Ladysmith and was considered an average shottist.

On 17th April 1907, a month after the death of her sister, Isabella, she married William Brocklehurst, a son of Mr H. Brocklehurst of Sefton Park, Liverpool, who was well known in shipping circles in that port.  William Brocklehurst had come out of England and for some time had been staying as a guest with his sister, the wife of Mr J.P. Mitchell-Innes at their farm at Biggarsburg some miles our from Ladysmith.  William was a good tennis player and had quickly made himself popular in the district.

The wedding was at the All Saints Church in Ladysmith and Ada was given away by her brother Alec.  The honeymoon was spent in touring South Africa and then the couple sailed for England where they made their home.

 

FREDERICK JOHN QUESTED'S CHILDREN

WILLIAM THOMAS QUESTED

           

William Thomas (210), the elder son of Frederick and Agnes Quested, was born in Ladysmith on 6th December 1885 and baptised on 2nd August 1888.

His early years were spent in Ladysmith where he attended junior school.  He then went as a boarder to Kokstad School for some time, but on 2nd February 1903 he started at the Durban High School, entering Standard VII.  He played for the first teams at cricket and football but from the school records he was not an outstanding player at either game.  He left the Durban High School from Standard IX on 20th December 1905.

Having left school, William, who was commonly known as Willie Quested, started assisting his father on the farms at Woodcote and Fitty Park and a farmer he remained for the rest of his life, apart from the time he was on military service.  He became a member of The Klip River Agricultural Society and by 1910 was a member of the executive committee.  In 1914, as a paying guest, he accompanied a group of South African farmers representing Regional Agricultural Societies on a  tour to Great Britain and Europe.  The 1914-18 war broke out just before the group of farmers arrived back in South Africa.

Willie had enrolled as a volunteer in the Natal Carbineers on 21st October 1908 and was promoted to corporal on 30th April 1912.  He was transferred to the 2nd battalion of the regiment on 1st July 1914 and when he got back to Natal from Europe he was called up for active service.  He served with his regiment in the South West African campaign against the Germans.

In July 1915 when the S.W.A. campaign was over, the left wing of the Carbineers returned to Natal by sea.  They were met by the town notables at Ladysmith on 23rd July and given breakfast at the Royal and Crown Hotels at the expense of the municipality.  Later they were provided with a welcome home lunch by the Klip River Agricultural Society at the show grounds.

In December 1915 a recruiting rally was held in Ladysmith calling for volunteers to fight against the Germans in East Africa.  Willie volunteered and was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 8th South African Horse Regiment.  The regiment sailed from Durban to Mombassa and after arriving in East Africa went into action against the German forces in Tanganyika, traversing the country from the coast to the great lakes.

Like so many of his fellow campaigners Willie suffered from the effects of poor feeding, malaria, dysentery and bush sores, the later brought about from tick bites.  There is little doubt that these affected his health in later years and contributed to his somewhat early demise.

At the end of the war in East Africa, Willie returned to Natal.  The Springboks arrived back in Ladysmith on 12th April 1919.  The town band was at the railway station to greet them and the main streets of the town were decorated with flags and bunting.  A luncheon for the returned men was held at the Crown Hotel and a social and dance was held at the Town Hall in the evening to celebrate the homecoming.

After settling down again at home, Willie resumed his farming activities and participation in sports which included polo.  He was a good horseman and competed in the local Gymkhana Club Races.  He was also a good shot and before the war had competed in the Natal Carbineers annual shoot in July 1909, ranking third in the 200 yard standing competition.

Willie took an active part in many different spheres.  He helped to form the Klip River Poultry Club in 1912 and became a member of the executive committee.  He won many prizes for his poultry over a period of several years from 1913 onwards.  He also bred horses and took a great interest in them throughout his life.  At the Klip River Agricultural Show in 1914 he won prizes for the best general purpose stallion over three years old, best yearling, best general purpose filly and single harness horse.  His general purpose mare was highly commended.

Earlier, in 1909, Willie and his brother Fred had won prizes at the Horticultural Show in Ladysmith for white hanepoort grapes and yellow peaches.  Again, in 1910, at the local Agricultural Show, Willie had won prizes for his two year old filly and his harness horse in the 14.2 hands or over class.  At the same show he collected prizes for a terrier dog, porkers, 100 mealie cobs, five bags of red kaffir corn, red beans, millet, melons and pumpkins.

Willie's father made over the farm Woodcote to him by deed of gist as from the 1st January 1921, on the understanding that after his fathers death, Willie was to provide his mother with an income of £200 a year for life and also, that a 'personal servitude of habitatio' be granted to his sisters Annie Craw and Natalie Quested in regard to the small farm cottage behind the main house, the outbuildings and the garden pertaining thereto, for so long as they had need or wish to reside there.

At the time of the transfer of the property to Willie, the Woodcote farm was valued at £7337.9s, which represented a considerable increase over the price paid when his father bought the farm for £917.3s in 1893.

In spite of the fact that the farm now belonged to Willie, his parents continued to live in the main house, apart from periods they spent at their beach cottage at Illovo Beach, and his father still played a large part in the day to day running of the farm.  This situation continued for some years and Willie by no means had a free hand to do exactly as he pleased.  However, this did not apparently upset him too much because he had bought a 328 acre farm named Welgelegen, sub No. 2 of the farm Schaapplaats and there, it is supposed, he did things just as he wanted to.  He also owned three small properties in Johannesburg but it is not known what use he made of them.

Willie was a pleasant easy-going man, fond of sporting occasions and congenial company.  He was keen on horse racing and used to back his fancy at the races which he often attended in Pietermaritzburg.  When not in Pietermaritzburg it was said that he and his friends patronised the Ladysmith Club on  a Saturday where they received the racing results by telephone while they were enjoying a lunch of curried pigs trotters.  As a horse breeder Willie apparently considered himself to be a good judge of racing stock but events showed that he could not always pick the winners.  His gambling resulted in him getting into financial difficulties on occasions.

Willie was a good practical farmer and did much to improve the general standard of things on the farm.  He was elected a vice-president on the Klip River Agricultural Society in 1924.

Like most farmers Willie was very keen on shooting and he took part in many of the shoots organised by neighbouring farmers when they went after guinea fowl and small game.  It has been told that on one occasion his enthusiasm led him astray and this resulted in a very cool reception from his host at the end of the day when his misdemeanour was revealed.  The incident occurred when he was invited to a shoot on the Mitchell-Innes farm in the Biggarsburg area.  All participants were requested before they set out to avoid killing the white guinea fowl hen which was the leader of the flock on that particular farm.  After the main drive for guinea fowl was over the hunters continued onto the hilly ground in search of small game when suddenly a bird rocketed up from the ground in front of Willie, passing between him and the sun.  Instinctively he put up his gun and shot the bird down in one swift movement not realising before it was too late that this was the fowl not to be shot.  When he confessed to his host that he had unwittingly killed the white hen he was berated for his impetuosity and lack of perception.  He was never again invited to a shoot at the Mitchell-Innes farm.

On 8th August 1928 Willie married Eleanor Sansbury (Rona) Chapman, a daughter of George and Lillian Chapman.  Rona was born in Pietermaritzburg on 10th October 1901 and lived with her parents in Pietermaritzburg until she was about ten years old.  Then the family moved to the Dundee district where her father took up farming.  On completing her schooling Rona trained as a teacher at the Natal Teachers Training College in Pietermaritzburg, and then taught at the Longmarket Street School for Girls.  She lived at the Y.W.C.A.  Later she was transferred to Ladysmith and taught at the Egerton Junior School, and it was while she was there that she met Willie.

Willie had been considered a firm bachelor.  Rona first saw Willie at a dance but they were not introduced.  Some time later she saw him again at another dance at Elandslaagte and because no one introduced them he had to introduce himself and request 'the pleasure of the dance'.  A rapid courtship followed and they became engaged a short while afterwards, the engagement being announced at a new years party given by the Mitchell-Innes family.

The wedding was at the Church of St James at Dundee.  At that time Willie was 42 and Rona 27.  Rona had one child, a son who was named John William, born on he 16th September 1929.

Willie died suddenly from heart trouble on 15th February 1934 in his 49th year, at the house of his friends, the Masons, at 18 King Edward Avenue, while on a visit to Pietermaritzburg.  Although he had generally been quite active and enjoying life, his health had troubled him on and off for some years, almost certainly as an aftermath of his war service in East Africa.  After the funeral service at All Saints Church he was buried in the Ladysmith cemetery on 17th February 1934, less than two years after his father.

The farms Woodcote and Welgelegen then passed to Rona together with all Willie's stocks and shares, moveable property including livestock, implements, sundries, show trophies, rifles, guns, etc.  The only legacy left by Willie was the sum of £500 to his mother Agnes.  Welgelegen farm was sold for £905.5s.6d.  Movables, livestock, implements and sundries were sold for £656.5s.6d and shares were valued at £29.8s.6d.  Woodcote was transferred to Rona at a value of £4585.17s.

Rona moved to live at Hattingspruit and Woodcote was leased to Willie's brother Fred, who then engaged a young man as farm manager as from June 1934.  Fred continued to run the farm in conjunction with his own property, Fitty Park, for some years but on 13th December 1939 Rona sold Woodcote to Edward Rutter Merrick who took possession forthwith, much to the disgust of Fred who had hoped he would one day be able to purchase it himself and keep it in the family.

In the meanwhile Rona had taken up teaching again in the Dundee district and did this for many years. Her son John went to Treverton Preparatory School at Mooi River from whence he went on a scholarship to Michaelhouse at Balgowan.  He did well at both his studies and at sport and he proceeded to the Natal University, Pietermaritzburg, whence he graduated in surveying.  At school and university he played hockey and later on played representative hockey for Natal.  This sport also took him on an overseas tour to Great Britain and the Continent.

After a few years in the Natal Survey Department John joined the Government Survey in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and remained there for about 12 years.  During this period he undertook a year's postgraduate course at Natal University in Durban at the expense of the Northern Rhodesian Government.

John married Aileen (Alice) Oellermann, daughter of a well known New Hanover farming family.  They have four children, Catherine Eleanor, Digby, Elizabeth and Clare.

To be near John and family, Rona left her teaching job at Dundee and moved to Northern Rhodesia where she joined the Education Department.  She remained there as a teacher until she retired in 1973.  During school holidays she travelled extensively, making a number of trips to England and South Africa.

On leaving Zambia, John and his family returned to Natal and bought a property at Kloof.  Rona also lives at Kloof so as to be near John and Alice and family.

John set up in business for himself as a land surveyor and has an office in Pinetown where he is kept very busy.

The remaining  small property which Willie Quested had owned in Johannesburg  North, purchased on 10th November 1909, was transferred to his widow Rona in 1969, many years after his death, when it was valued at £1100.

John's eldest daughter, Catherine, married Gavin Myburgh at St Agnes Church, Kloof on 23rd April 1983 and his second daughter, Elizabeth, married Terry Gormley on 15th August 1986 at the same church.

 

FREDERICK JOHN QUESTED'S CHILDREN

DAISY MURIEL QUESTED AND THE BATES FAMILY

 
Daisy Muriel (224) was the second daughter of Frederick and Agnes Quested.  She was born in Ladysmith on 28th May 1888. She went to school first in Ladysmith and then on to the Uplands School for Girls in Pietermaritzburg, where she was a border.  On leaving school she spent her time with her parents at Woodcote farm at Elandslaagte and at the seaside cottage at Illovo Beach.

In 1906 Daisy made a journey to England and Scotland with her parents where they were met by her sister Annie who had gone to Scotland the year before.  Annie came back to Natal with them.

Daisy was a pretty girl and was much in demand on social occasions at the local dances and at the tennis club.  She had apparently been very fond of a young Ladysmith man named Vernie Christopher, who family were great friends of her father.  This young man was  a volunteer in the Natal Carbineers and was called up to fight in the Bambati rebellion in Zululand in 1906.  In one of the last skirmishes in this rebellion Vernie was killed by a Zulu wielding an assegai.  Had he not lost his life it seemed possible that Daisy might have married him in due course.

Later on, Vernie's brother, Walter Christopher, formed an attachment to Daisy and wanted to marry her, but she did not accept him.  Walter eventually married another girl but all through his life was very fond of Daisy and was always glad to have news of her.  Some years later, on 3rd July 1913, Daisy married a schoolmaster named Walter George Bates.  They met for the first time at Illovo Beach when Daisy was staying there with her parents at the family cottage where they spent a good deal of time when not at their home at Elandslaagte.  The story goes that Walter, universally known as Billy Bates, had his first glimpse of his future wife one day when she and some of her lady friends happened to walk along Beach Road, past the cottage which he was then building for himself.  Billy and one or two of his pals were working on the roof when the ladies passed by.  The men whistled loudly and the young ladies ran off giggling but Billy, having once spotted Daisy, is said to have remarked to his friends "that's the girl for me".  He soon made it his business to get to know the Quested family, and Daisy in particular, an action he was never to regret. The wedding was at St Pauls Church, Durban, the service being conducted by the Reverend Canon Fenton.  Daisy was attended by her sister Natalie, and Mr H.D. Southerns was best man.  The reception was at the home of Mr and Mrs A. Lister, the latter being an aunt of the bride.  Billy and Daisy went on honeymoon to Cape Town on the Walmer Castle.  Billy Bates was one of three brothers, sons of Walter and Harriet Bates, and was born at 6 Spring View, Blackburn, Lancaster, on 27th December 1873.  At that time his father was a preacher of the New Jerusalem Congregation.  The family moved to Melbourne, a small village about 15 miles from the city of Derby, and Billy's father then took up the trade of carriage building.  His workshop was adjacent to his house at 18 Ashby Road.

After leaving school Billy took up teaching and appears to have been an assistant master at two or three different schools.  He was at Westbourne Park School for three years prior to October 1899.  He then apparently went to London and on 14th March 1900 he attested to a trooper into the 75th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry.  He did not go overseas with this unit and was discharged on termination of engagement on 24th June 1901 at Gosport.  He was evidently determined to see something of the war in South Africa, however because he re-attested into the 38th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry at Aldershot on 4th April 1902 and with them sailed for Cape Town.

After trans-shipping with his regiment at Cape Town he sailed on to Beira in Mozambique, from whence he journeyed to Salisbury in Rhodesia and then on to the Transvaal.  The Anglo-Boer war came to an end and Billy by that time had decided that he liked South Africa.  He took his discharge from the army as a sergeant at Cape Town on 7th February 1903 and eventually made his way to Durban, Natal where he was to make his permanent abode.

He was successful in obtaining a post in the Natal Colonial Service and his name first appeared in the Natal official records as a civil servant in 1904, when he was appointed a provisional assistant teacher at the Junior Boys Model School in Smith Street, Durban.  In 1905 he was confirmed as a second class assistant and in the following year was issued with the Natal Teachers Certificate and promoted to first class assistant, still at the same school, with a salary of £183 per annum.  He continued in the teaching profession for the remainder of his working life.  From the records he proved to be a capable and popular schoolmaster.

In 1908 he was moved to the Albert Street Boys School, Durban, and remained there until July 1911 when he was appointed acting headmaster of the Umbogintwini School, a few miles down the coast from Durban.  He was confirmed in the post as headmaster in January 1912.

It was then that he acquired a plot of land in Illovo Beach and commenced to build himself a house.  From there he travelled daily by train to the school at Umbogintwini, but in 1914 he and Daisy took up residence in the newly built headmaster's house in the school grounds.

They still kept up there private property at Illovo Beach, the cottage which had been built by Billy and his friends during week-ends and school holidays.  By all accounts they found it to be thirsty work and a good many empty beer bottles were dumped into the empty spaces underneath the floors, these being revealed when the cottage was largely demolished and rebuilt by Billy's son Bryan in 1957.

Daisy had two children, Bryan Quested Bates, born on 23rd January 1919, and Agnes Jean Bates, born on 30th August 1920.  The children's early years were spent at the schoolhouse in Umbogintwini, but on 1st March 1921, Billy was transferred at headmaster to the Weston Trades School near Mooi River and the family lived there until the 11th January 1924 when a return was made to the coast where Billy had been appointed headmaster of the Windsor Park School (then known as the Umgeni Road Government School) as from the 4th February.  The family again lived in their cottage at Illovo Beach and Billy commuted every day by train.

A further change was made when Billy left the Windsor Park School at the end of January 1927 to take over the headmastership of the Penzance Road School in Bartle Road.  This was a co-ed establishment and Billy remained there until his retirement from the Education Department in 1933 after 29 years service.

Billy had become a familiar figure to the railways staff at Illovo Beach after a good many years of commuting.  He normally timed his departure from the house pretty closely to catch the train to Durban, but on those occasions when he was a little behind schedule, the train guards delayed their signal for the train to start until they were sure that Mr Bates was safely aboard.  The train crews were apparently more easy going in those days than they are today.

Billy always had a sense of service to the community.  He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in July 1941.  For many years he had taken an active part in Church affairs.  During the time he was at Umbogintwini he was District Warden for the Anglican Parish of Isipingo.  Sunday services were held at first in the school hall, but later a hall was purchased from the Kynoch Company which had a factory close by.  This building became the local Parish Hall, and was used as such for many years.  Billy read the lessons at the fortnightly Sunday services held there and rendered a similar service later on at the Village Hall services at Illovo, near the sugar mill community.

In 1928, while he was headmaster at the Penzance Road School in Durban, Billy was elected President of the Natal Teachers Society.  For some 24 years he was chairman of the Illovo Sugar Estates Miller's Group Planter Association.  He possessed a few acres of cane land adjacent to his house property.  The harvested cane was processed at the Illovo mill.  In 1959 Billy was presented with a silver salver by the Association in recognition of his services to them.  He had been a cane grower in the district for more than 50 years.  Billy remained a busy man.  Even after his retirement from the Natal Education Department his knowledge and experience was still in demand and for some time further he carried on teaching at the Warner Beach School on a temporary basis.  Later, he lectured at the Adams Mission Teacher Training College for Africans at Amanzimtoti where he was appointed Grantee for the Mission Board.  In the period 1934 to 1940, he supervised African schools in an area stretching from Zululand to Port Shepstone.

Eventually Billy's scholastic activities came to an end.  Daisy and he then lived quietly at their Illovo Beach cottage which had been named Homelands, remaining there for the rest of their days, apart from journeys they made to England in 1947 and 1957.  After the 1939/45 war their daughter, Agnes Jean Boden, generally known as Jean, with her husband and family lived in England for a number of years.

Daisy and Billy celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on 3rd July 1963.  Billy was always keen on sea bathing and he had a dip in the ocean at Illovo Beach nearly every day over a long period of years.  He played tennis until he was in his 1980's and he kept very fit until his last few years when cancer took a hold and he became physically incapacitated in some respects, although his mental faculties remained unimpaired and his interest in current affairs was unabated.  He was always a friendly character who showed great interest in what was going on around him.  He was prepared to discuss almost any subject under the sun at almost any time.  Being a good listener he encouraged other people to talk and air their views.

During 1964 Billy suffered a series of strokes, eventually passing into a coma from which he did not recover.  He died at Entabeni Hospital in Durban on 17th May 1964 and was cremated, his ashes reposing in the Stellawood Garden of Remembrance in Durban.  He was in his 91st year when he died.

Daisy did not enjoy the best of health in her latter years, suffering from heart trouble, but she lived on in the cottage at Illovo Beach for another four years after Billy's death and she died at the age of 80 on 21st July 1968.  She also was cremated and her ashes deposited in the Stellawood Garden of Remembrance.

Bryan Quested Bates married Patricia Hope, daughter of a well known farmer in the Richmond district, on 2nd January 1954.  They have three children:

Margaret S. (228) Born on 6th March 1957.  Married  29th  December 1984 to Normal Haylett-Petty.

Sandra Elizabeth (232) Born on 12th December 1958.  Married Michael du Plessis in 1984.

Hugh Walter (236) Born on 9th October 1960.  

Agnes Jean Bates (237) married Eric Boden from Durban on 10th February1945.  They had three children:

David (239)    Born on 11th February 1947.  Married Sonja Schmidt on  9th August 1986.

Barbara (243)    Born on 26th September 1949.

John Ellis (244)  Born on 26th September 1953.  John died tragically in a motor accident on 23rd January 1974.  He was in the back of a Landrover in the Komatipoort area ,  had his neck broken when he stood up just as the vehicle was passing  under a low bridge.  He died instantly.

 

FREDERICK JOHN QUESTED'S CHILDREN

FREDERICK GEORGE QUESTED

 
Frederick George (245) was the second son of Frederick and Agnes Quested and was born in Ladysmith on 13th April 1890.  He was generally known as Fred.

As a young boy he lived at the family home, the farm Woodcote at Elandslaagte and during school holidays he enjoyed all the outdoor activities available.  He learned to become a competent horseman and how to handle a gun.

In October 1899, Fred's father, on learning of the invasion of Natal by Boer Commandos, sent his sheep and cattle down to the Fitty Park farm because he thought they would be safer there and for the time being arranged to obtain the daily milk for the family's requirements from Mrs Brink, wife of  Arend Brink, a neighbouring farmer at Matawan, Elandslaagte.  Young Fred was given the job of collecting the milk every day and this he did on his pony.

On the day when Fred's parents realised that a hurried evacuation of the farm was essential if they were to avoid the likelihood of clashing with the Boers, he was told to go and collect the milk from Mrs Brink and to tell her that they would not be requiring any more for the time being because they were leaving the area for a while.

Fred did this and had just obtained the can of milk when an African pointed out that a party of mounted Boers was approaching and told him he had better get away as fast as he could.  Fred mounted and rode off, but as he was leaving he was spotted by the Boers who straight away started taking pot shots at the departing rider, probably not realising that it was a young boy.  Fred urged his pony and fled as fast as he could while bullets whistled about him as he tried to prevent the milk from spilling.  Fortunately he escaped unharmed.

Fred attended Merchiston Preparatory School in Pietermaritzburg and then went on to the Durban Boys High School.  He started at the latter establishment in standard VI on 3rd August 1903.  The school records show that he was not very interested in his class work and he did not really apply himself to his studies because he spent three years in standard VIII before the left school on 19th December 1908.  His real interest was in sport and in this respect he was an asset to the school.  He played for the first eleven at both cricket and football in the years 1906 and 1907, the latter was his best year.  He headed the batting averages at cricket (18) and held the record for the highest score by a D.H.S. schoolboy (89) against Berea Academy in March 1907.  He played cricket for Ladysmith against Dundee in December 1908 and from the records it is shown that he averaged 29/30 runs per match for the Ladysmith Club during the 1908/09 season.

He showed an interest in farming affairs and in February 1909, with his brother Willie, won prizes at the local horticultural show for white hanepoort grapes and yellow peaches.  These must have been grown at Woodcote.

Some time after leaving school Fred joined the staff of the Standard Bank and was posted to the Harrismith branch.  While living at Harrismith he continued to play cricket and was selected to play for the Free State side in inter-provincial matches.  He played against Natal at Bloemfontein in January 1913, and in Currie Cup matches for the O.F.S. that same season.

Fred like being in Harrismith because he got on well with his cricketing friends there and he also played a lot of polo in that district.  Besides which it was not too far from home and he could get down to see his family from time to time.  He still maintained connections with farming matters at Woodcote.  He showed great interest in horses and at the Klip River Agricultural Society show in Ladysmith in 1914, he won prizes for the best riding horse, best gents hack and best ladies hack.

In early 1914 Fred was transferred to the Johannesburg office of the Bank and was promoted to teller.  On the outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914, when many young men rushed to enlist in the fighting forces, Fred applied to his management for permission to job up, but he was refused.  He thereupon tendered his resignation and shortly afterwards returned home to Woodcote where he discussed the matter with his father, stating that he wished to join the British forces to fight in France.  He made arrangements to take a passage by ship to England, his father paying the fare, with the intention of enlisting in the British Cavalry.  He tried to persuade his friend Walter Christopher of Ladysmith to go with him but being unsuccessful in his persuasions went off on his own.

He was fortunate in that be had obtained a letter of introduction to General Landon, of the War Office in London, provided by George Willis of Ladysmith, who was a cousin of the General's and a friend of Fred's father.  On reaching London he presented this letter of introduction and by General Landon's good offices was accepted into the cavalry and was sent off to the Guards Depot at Aldershot to receive his training.  He distinguished himself by coming out top in the mounted master-at-arms competition and was subsequently commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the famous regiment.  The Queens Bays, 2nd Dragoon Guards, a unit of the Household Cavalry.  With this regiment he saw action in France and he served with them for nearly five years, until after the end of the war.

In an engagement with the enemy he was wounded and this necessitated a spell in hospital where, to his astonishment, he found that a fellow officer occupying the next bed to his also had the name Quested.  Although nothing is now known about this particular Quested, it is quite possible that he came from Kent and was a distant kinsman.

In the Officer's Mess of the Regiment, the Queen's Bays, in London, there hangs a painting by a well known war artist of the First World War, Lionel Edwards, depicting an episode in which Fred took part.  The scene shows Lieutenant Quested carrying despatches, leading a mounted patrol of volunteer troopers in a full-speed dash through heavy enemy fire, in an endeavour to reach a unit at Greenland Hill, Famoux, during the battle of Arras, on 11th April 1917.  Only Lieutenant Quested and one of his troopers survived this action and even they had their horses shot under them.  This was the occasion when Fred was wounded and had to be hospitalised.  A print of this painting by Lionel Edwards is in the possession of Peter Quested.

After the end of the war Fred was invited to stay on in the regiment and was offered a permanent commission.  He would very much liked to have done so and was very keen to accept, but upon serious consideration of the 'pros' and 'cons' he reluctantly had to give up the idea because of the expense involved.  No officer in any of the Household Cavalry regiments in peacetime could possibly live on his army pay alone and a considerable private income was an essential.  This Fred had not got.

Having made this decision, Fred returned to South Africa.  He could not bear the idea of resuming his earlier career in banking or of other similar sedentary occupations, but wanted something which offered more physical activity.  For some time he stayed at home at Woodcote, assisting his father and brother to run the two farms.

On 1st January 1921, Fred's father executed a deed of gift, giving the Fitty Park farm to Fred, although the transfer did not in fact take place until December 1923.  From then onwards he became the legal owner of the property.  For transfer purposes the value of the farm was calculated to be £6432.  There were two conditions attached to the transfer.  One was that on his father's death, Fred was to provide his mother with an income of £100 a year, and the other was that Fred's brother Willie was to be allowed to keep up to 16 kraals of Africans at Fitty Park on 400 acres of land.  On Willie's death, however, this right to maintain 16 kraals of Africans fell away.

It soon became apparent to Fred that although he was now the owner of Fitty Park, he was by no means free to farm exactly as he pleased, because his father still continued to have a say in what was to be done and how it was to be done.  This upset Fred and caused him to feel entirely frustrated, so after some time he decided to go off on his own for a while.  As a result he went off to the Transvaal and took over the management of the Hadley Stud Farm for horses near Standerton.

Because he was passionately fond of horses and had by this time acquired a very good knowledge of them, the move suited him well and he stayed at Standerton for some years, gaining experience which was to serve him well in the future.  During this period Fred made a good many visits to Johannesburg and other centres, not only for social purposes, but also to attend race meetings where some of the bloodstock he bred competed in the races.

It was while he was living at the stud farm that Fred met his future wife, Jean Hanna Patricia (Pat) Muller, who was then teaching domestic science at a girls school at Standerton.  Pat was a daughter of Dr Charles Herold Muller and his wife, Isobel Nivison Muller (nee McKeand), who was also a doctor of medicine.  They lived at  Montagu in the Cape province.

Dr Muller was born at George in the Cape province on 18th April 1878, the son of the Reverend Professor C.F.J. Muller of the Theological Seminary, Stellenbosch.  He was educated at the South African College and at Edinburgh University, where he read medicine and obtained his M.B. and Ch.B. degrees.  It was there that he met his wife to be, Isobel Nivison McKeand, who also obtained her medical degrees at that centre.  They were married on 5th November 1903 and settled in Montagu in 1904.

Dr Muller was a member of the Montagu Rugby Club and played international rugby against a visiting England team.  He served with the South African forces in the First World War, both in German South West African and in German East Africa.  He was  on General Botha's staff and rose from captain to lieutenant colonel.  He was awarded the D.S.O. for his outstanding services in the East African campaign.  Like so many others who took part in the East African theatre of war, he suffered badly from malaria and this caused him much trouble in later years because he never got it out of his system.

Pat Muller was born on 18th October 1906 and was educated at Wynberg School, Cape Town, and then went on to the Cheltenham School for Young Ladies in England.  During school holidays from Cheltenham she spent much of her time with her mother's family in Scotland.  After leaving Cheltenham, Pat spent a year or so in Italy learning appreciation of art and culture before returning to South Africa when she was about 20 years old.  She undertook a course in domestic science which led her to take up the teaching post at Standerton.

The marriage of Fred and Pat took place at Montagu on 29th April 1930.  She was 24 and Fred was 40.

After the wedding and honeymoon Fred and Pat went to live at Fitty Park farm where they had to build up a home almost from scratch.  Previously, there had been only an old rondavel and one or two tumbledown mud brick outbuildings, all in a very poor state of repair.  It is believed the rondavel had been built by the original owner of the farm, possibly 80 years earlier.  The roof timbers contained not a single nail but all had been joined together with wooden pegs.  This old rondavel was thoroughly renovated and became one of the features of the new home which was built adjacent to it. Fred and Pat settled down and developed a stud farm for thoroughbred horses which, over the years that followed, became well known for the fine quality bloodstock it produced.  Some fine racehorses came from Fitty Park and Pat played a big part in looking after them.

When his brother Willie died in 1934, Fred and his sister, Natalie, arranged to rent Woodcote farm from their sister-in-law, Rona Quested, and Fred with a young manager then farmed it up to the end of 1939 when Rona sold the property to Edward Merrick.  Fred had been a founder member of the Elandslaagte Farmers Association and over a period of many years he made worthwhile contributions to the progress of land conservation, stock farming and general good farming practices in the district.

A large native reserve adjoined Fitty Park and at the beginning of 1965 the farm was taken over by the Department of Bantu Affairs because they wanted the land in order to extend the reserve.  Thus, after nearly 35 years of hard work building up an efficiently run and well developed farm, Fred and Pat had to remove themselves from their home and find another.  They disposed of their bloodstock and never went in for horses again.  They were fortunate in being able to purchase another farm not many miles from Fitty Park and a little nearer to Ladysmith.

The new property was named Doornkraal.  This was originally a Boer farm of 8043 acres which had a common boundary with the farm Plaats Opmerkzamheid, Sundays River, where Fred's father had run a store at the end of the 1860's.  Doornkraal was owned by George Frederick Dannhauser in 1866, but was later divided into two farms of equal size which, in 1877, were owned by C.L. Pieters and J.A. Pieters respectively.  One farm then became known as Wembley while the other retained the name Doornkraal.

Having now given up the breeding of bloodstock, Fred went in for cattle farming and in this he was assisted by his son, Peter.  The only child of Fred and Pat, Peter Charles Frederick Quested was born on 13th August 1941.  He was educated at Clifton Preparatory School, Nottingham Road, and then went on to Michaelhouse School at Balgowan.

At  Michaelhouse Peter showed great interest and ability in sport, particularly in cricket and rugby football.  In these games he proved outstanding and he continued playing them after leaving school, achieving great success both at club level and when representing Natal in inter-provincial matches.

On finishing school, because he was going to follow in his father's footsteps and become a farmer, Peter was sent off to England to do a two year course at the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester in Gloucestershire.  After completing the course and obtaining his diploma, Peter returned to Natal and settled down to assisting his father and learning the day-to-day problems of farming in Natal as opposed to the conditions he found in England.

Fred died at his home at Doornkraal on 12th January 1968 at the age of 77.  He had been active right up to the end and died in his sleep with no forewarning, after a day of normal routine on the farm around the house.  He was cremated at the Mountain Rise Cemetery in Pietermaritzburg.

After Fred's death Pat and Peter ran the farm between them, but some time after Peter married, Pat moved into a townhouse in Ladysmith.

Peter was married on 23rd July 1971 to Paula Alexandra Argo at St Thomas Church, Musgrave Road, Durban.  Paula was the only daughter of Ivan and Barbara Argo of Durban.  Peter and Paula have two daughters, Karen Alexandra and Nikki Leigh.  In 1978 Peter and Paula were divorced.  Paula and the girls went to live in Durban.

Doornkraal farm was taken over the authorities who required it to add to the native reserve and after Peter was paid out he obtained a smaller farm in the Cato Ridge area.  In September 1978 he removed his farm machinery and livestock to the new farm.

Pat Quested died in the 2nd February 1979 at the La Verna Hospital in Ladysmith after a heart attack.  She had not been in the best of health for some time and had suffered from angina in Durban over the Christmas and new year period when she had been staying at Peter's house there.  She had decided to sell her townhouse in Ladysmith and to live in future with Peter, going back to Ladysmith towards the end of January to organise the move, but fate stepped in before she could carry out her intentions.  Pat was cremated in Pietermaritzburg and a memorial service for her was carried out at All Saints Church in Ladysmith.

Pat left her household furniture and effects, together with her new Ford car and a sum of money to Peter.  For her grandchildren, Karen and Nikki, she set up a trust of something over R21000 and also left them, in equal shares, jewellery valued at R2815.  Peter eventually sold the Cato Ridge farm and his house in Durban and bought another farm in the district between Estcourt and Weenen.  The farm is bordered by the Buffalo river from which water is pumped for irrigation purposes and a good deal of development of the farm is going ahead.

 

FREDERICK JOHN QUESTED'S CHILDREN

NATALIE JESSIE QUESTED

           

Natalie Jessie (252), the third and youngest daughter of Frederick and Agnes Quested, was born at Ladysmith on 14th November 1895.  She lived at the family house Woodcote farm. Elandslaagte, and attended her first school in Ladysmith.

From February 1907 to June 1913 she was at St Anne's Diocesan School for Girls at Hilton where, in due course, she became a prefect.  Although she was said to have been strict in her duties she was apparently well liked by her fellow scholars.

Natalie was very keen on sports and she became a good shot with a rifle, winning the 'Bell Medal' for shooting in 1911.

Some time after leaving school Natalie returned to St Anne's for a period as sports mistress or gymnastics instructor.  She became a member of the Old Girls Guild and was a member of the committee for a number of years.

Like her sister Annie, Natalie played cricket from time to time and is recorded as having played in a match at the Pietermaritzburg Oval in 1916 when the ladies took on a men's team.  In two innings Natalie scored 15 and 11.  In December 1917, Natalie wrote a letter in which she said that as a  result of a bazaar, cricket match and entertainment organised by a few ladies of Ladysmith and district, she handed the secretary of the Governor General's Fund a cheque for £219.9s.6d which was to be for the use of the South African Army Hospital in France.

Natalie was always keenly interested in farming and horticulture and in later life described herself as a farmer.  At some stage she undertook a course in horticulture at a nursery at Winterskloof near Hilton.  Then she worked in partnership with Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Sutton of Howick, with whom she travelled extensively around South Africa gathering items of indigenous flora to send to Kew Gardens in England.

Betty Sutton was the daughter of Sir George Sutton of Fair Fell, Howick.  She had attended St Anne's School at Hilton and this is probably they first met.  She and Natalie were close friends for a number of years.  Betty Sutton took a great interest in the Girl Guide movement and was Provincial Commissioner of Girl Guides in Natal for a number of years from 1917 onwards.

Natalie was always fond of travelling to new places and with Betty Sutton she motored to the Rhodesia's in August and September 1929, and to East Africa in the early 1930's.  They camped at night in a tent while journeying to Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Livingstone, Gwelo and Salisbury, where in some places Betty Sutton had to attend to Girl Guide matters.

Such journeys were quite adventurous undertakings in there was little traffic.  At the best of times the roads were dusty, corrugated and potholed, but after rain they often became treacherous with mud, sometimes axle deep.  Dongas and spruits with no bridges over them often became impassable because of raging torrents and conditions were much the same as they had been in the days of ox-wagon transport.

There were few petrol stations or garages outside the main towns and on the road running repairs had to be carried out on the spot with no outside assistance.  Car drivers had therefore to learn something about the mechanics of their vehicles and usually they had to learn the hard way.

On the death of her elder brother, William, in 1934, Natalie and her younger brother, Fred, rented their old home farm, Woodcote, from their sister-in-law, Rona Quested, and Fred, with a manager, then farmed it on behalf of Natalie and himself until the end of 1939 when Rona sold the property and  it passed out of the hands of the Questeds.  For some time before the 1939/45 war, Natalie and a friend, Mrs Peter Baumann, ran a smallholding and restaurant named Abbotsham on the road outside Pretoria on the way to Johannesburg, but some time after war broke out they both decided to give a hand to the war effort and for this reason they made the journey by road to Kenya in East Africa with the intention of joining the forces.

They left Abbotsham on 23rd August 1940 and motored north in Peter Baumann's car, travelling to Salisbury in Rhodesia, then across the Mozambique border to Tete, across the Zambezi river by pont into Nyasaland, stopping at Blantyre, Mzimba, Lilongwe and Fort Hill.  Passing through Tanganyika they called at Mbeya, Sao Hill, Babate and Arusha before arriving in Nairobi on 6th September.  The journey had taken a fortnight and most nights they had camped out by the roadside.

That same day, the 6th September 1940, they enlisted into the W.T.S. (F.A.N.Y.) Corps and the next day reported for duty at the F.A.N.Y. mess which was at the former Loreto Convent School for Girls and which had been taken over by the authorities at the outbreak of war.,

The W.T.S. (E.A.) (F.A.N.Y.) Corps was commanded by Lady Sydney Farrer.

After a couple of weeks initial training Natalie was posted to a V.R.D. Unit, a motor transport repair depot, where she was engaged on driving and on telephoning duties.  She was promoted to lance-corporal in April 1941 and full corporal in September.

In September 1941, Natalie and Peter Baumann managed to get leave to South Africa, leaving Mombassa on the troopship Sontay and arriving in Durban on 7th October.  Natalie visited her brother Fred and her sisters Annie and Daisy.  She also spent some time with her old friend Betty Sutton at Maryland, Howick.  She called on cousin Carrie (Caroline Whittaker) at Umbilo and was presented with a cheque for £10 as a parting gift.

On 10th November Natalie had to report for duty in Durban to assist in the recruiting campaign for the W.T.S., but this did not last long and with Peter Baumann she embarked again for Kenya on 19th November and arrived at Mombassa on 26th of that month.  On returning to Nairobi, Natalie was put in charge of the training depot, being promoted to sergeant in April and to C.S.M. in June 1942.  In the meantime, Peter Baumann had been released from the W.T.S. on urgent private grounds and departed for South Africa on 26th February 1942.

Natalie again got leave to visit South Africa, leaving Nairobi by air on 11th December 1942.  The aircraft took her as far as Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, and from there she travelled by train to Johannesburg.  During this leave she arranged to go into partnership with Peter Baumann on a new smallholding venture at Rivonia near Johannesburg.  This property was named Beauquest Acres.

The holiday was spent visiting her brother and sisters and Betty Sutton.  Then she returned to Nairobi again by train to Ndola and aircraft to Kenya where she arrived on 24th January 1943.  There she resumed her training duties.

Natalie proved to be good at her job and in due course was promoted to the rank of captain.  She remained in the W.T.S. until being released from the Forces on 30th June 1945, but did not leave Kenya until more than a year later.  At some time in the meanwhile Peter Baumann had returned to Nairobi and had had a cottage built in the suburb of Spring Valley.  She and Natalie then lived together in this cottage until they left Kenya for good in the latter half of 1946 when they returned to South Africa by car, retracing their footsteps of 1940.

At some stage during the time she was in Kenya Natalie had a tame cheetah given to her.  This she kept as a pet.  It was kept under control by a collar and lead and it accompanied her on many occasions when she travelled around in army trucks and cars, arousing a good deal of interest among the local populace wherever she went.  The cheetah served as a good watchdog at the cottage Natalie shared with Peter Baumann.  Although burglary was rife in the neighbourhood, their cottage was never bothered.  Natalie gave the animal away before leaving Kenya.

On arrival back in South Africa, Natalie and Peter Baumann settled on their smallholding Beauquest Acres and went in for the production of flowers and vegetables.  Natalie also bred dogs and this eventually led to trouble.  One day she was attacked by some invading dogs from an adjacent property.  In trying to separate the intruders from her own animals, she was bitten severely on the hands and as a result she lost a finger.  Her health suffered from the shock of this unpleasant experience and during her indisposition, which was prolonged, the business at the smallholding began to run down because the brunt of the work there had in fact been done by Natalie.

She did not feel up to starting all over again and for this reason decided to give up both the smallholding and dog breeding.

After a period of rest, Natalie was offered the job of laying out and supervising the maintenance of their gardens at the new high school for girls in Pretoria.  She gladly took up this offer and for some years thereafter worked at this job and lived in a cottage at the school.  During school holidays  she often stayed with Peter Baumann at Arcadia, Pretoria.  At other times they went off together, making a number of visits to Europe, touring around and staying at places off the beaten track of most normal tourists.

On the death of her father, Natalie had inherited the family beach cottage named Forest Hill at Illovo Beach.  The property was a one acre plot on which a wood and iron cottage had been built.  As was usual the dwelling was raised off the ground on brick pillars.  In 1932 the property was valued at £440.

Natalie did not use the cottage very much because she preferred to live up-country.  She eventually sold the place and it changed hands a number of times over the years until in more recent days, the cottage was knocked down and a block of flats was built on the site.

Having been persuaded by Peter Baumann, Natalie was for many years a vegetarian after the war, although in her younger days at the farm, she had been brought up in a family whose diet included normal quantities of meat.  However, she seemed to keep fit on a meatless diet.

In her later years she suffered from cataracts in both eyes, but successful operations restored her failing sight and with the aid of suitable glasses she was enabled to resume driving her car and to continue visiting game parks such as the Kruger National Park where she found much enjoyment in watching the animals and studying the birds and flora.

On 26th March 1967, Natalie died peacefully in her sleep after having been in apparent good health and spirits on a picnic the day before with her niece, Jean Boden, and family.  She was then in her 72nd year.  She was cremated in Johannesburg and her ashes were later interred in the family burial plot in the cemetery at Ladysmith.