CHAPTER SIX

WILLIAM QUESTED'S CHILDREN

WILLIAM RICHARD QUESTED

 

William Richard (grandfather), the elder son of William and Martha Quested, was born at Dartford, Kent, in 1845 and was about five years old when he arrived at Port Natal with his parents on the Minerva in 1850.  He was probably too young to appreciate the full dangers of the shipwreck.

His early years were spent at Congella and it is assumed that he went to school in Durban, but no records regarding this have been found.  Whether he continued to attend school when the family moved to Isipingo in 1858 is not known, but since he was about 13 years old by that time he may already have started to work with his father.  It is certain that he took part in helping to develop the farm and the sugar cane plantation which later came into being.  

It is probable that he continued working with his father until at least the time he married in 1873.  William's wife, Gertrude Matilda Pugh  (006) (grandmother), was born in Swansea, Wales, on 20th April 1854 and was a daughter of Edmund John Pugh, the schoolmaster and schoolmistress of the St James Church School at Isipingo.

The wedding was by special licence and they were married by the resident magistrate of Durban, Mr H.J. Meller, on 11th November 1873.  Where the newly-weds lived immediately after their marriage is not known but they appeared to have left Isipingo and to have moved to Durban.

It was about this time that William became a transport rider, carrying goods between the Point at Durban to Barberton in the Transvaal.  These activities continued for about three years.  After that, William returned to Isipingo and took up as a sugar planter once more.  

In 1877 he was appointed Lieutenant in the Isipingo Mounted Rifles, the captain of the unit being Mr Dering Stainbank.  The unit was called up for duty in March 1879 for service in the Anglo-Zulu war but they were engaged in guard duties only, operating from Potspruit and they did not cross the Zululand border.

From about 1877 onwards William (005) and his family lived in the Delta Estate farmhouse, and he appears to have been renter or manager of the estate for some time.  The Delta Estate farmhouse was apparently rebuilt from the original farm cottage owned by Dick King, in which he lived before he married and moved to a new house situated near Isipingo Rail.  

Dick King's first sugar mill was built near the Delta farm house, on the inland side of the Isipingo Bluff but by the early 181970's the 'Delta Estate had passed into the hands of the Glagow and Natal Sugar Company Limited.  This company became insolvent in 1880.

William and his family lived at the Delta Estate until about 1893 except for a period in 1886-1887 when he himself spent some time on the gold fields in the Transvaal with his brother-in-law Edmund Pugh.  In 1886 William had become insolvent and it was perhaps because of this that he went to the gold fields in the hopes of recouping his losses.

What success he had is not known but on his return to Isipingo he continued again as a sugar planter.

Gertrude had five children, all of whom were baptised at the Church of St James at Isipingo:

Florence  (007)    Born 15th August 1875 at St Georges  Street Durban

William Everard (Dad) (037) Born 15th June 1877 at Isipingo.

Clarissa (known as Clarice) (061) Born in 1883.

Evelyn Maude (171)  Born 28th April 1885.  Died young.

Stanley Gloyne (145)  Born 24th May 1892.

Apart from Stanley it is believed the children had part of their education given them at the local church school but then went on to school in Durban.

Gertrude was reputed to be a good swimmer and no doubt she taught her children to swim in the lagoon at Isipingo.  She herself used sometimes to swim in the open sea and on one occasion had a narrow escape from being savaged by a shark while swimming out to a rock some distance from the shore.  Fortunately she spotted the creature just in time and managed to reach the shore before it attacked her.  A frightening experience which she never forgot.

Gertrude had another unhappy experience when she suffered from appendicitis.  No operations for this complaint were carried out in those days and she had to spent about a year in bed while nature took it's course but she did eventually make a good recovery.

On and off for several years William (005) had been getting into financial difficulties.  The fact seems to be that he was somewhat reckless and a bit of a gambler.  According to family legend he continually looked to his father to assist him to get out of his difficulties, and this eventually led to some disaffection between them.  There came a time when his father was no longer willing or able to pay off William's debts and in consequence he became insolvent for the second time in 1893, surrendering his estate with effect from 7th June.  His total assets at that time did not exceed £75 in value according to notices in the Government Gazette in April and May 1894.

What actually caused William to become insolvent on these two occasions is not at all clear but family rumour has it that at one time he had obtained from America some mechanical equipment for the sugar mill.  Unfortunately for William the mill was inundated when an abnormal flood occurred and the machinery was ruined by being submerged in mud and water for several weeks.  This must have been a serious setback.

As a result of the second insolvency William and his family moved away from Isipingo and went up country to Dundee where he took over the running of the Royal Hotel.  Because he was bankrupt, the hotel licence was in Gertrude's name.  They remained at the hotel for about two years.

In a book written by a Miss Southey, daughter of Sir Richard Southey, a good many years ago, she mentioned that her sister, who lived in the Transvaal, wished to make a journey into Zululand to visit some of the historic sites of the Zulu War battlefields.  Miss Southey arranged, therefore, for the landlord of the Royal Hotel at Dundee to take her sister on this expedition.  William Quested was the landlord referred to and in May 1894 he took the lady by horse drawn cart into Zululand, staying the first night at the Swedish Mission at Rorkes Drift.  Then, crossing the Buffalo River, they went on to Isandhlwana where they visited the memorial chapel and the graves of the British dead.  After visiting other spots of historical interest they made their way back to Dundee.

Unfortunately for William and Gertrude the hotel business did not prosper in their hands and failed to re-establish the family fortune, with the result that Gertrude became insolvent and surrendered her estate on 27th August 1894.

Because of this further setback William (005) decided to go back to the land and after a while he rented the farm Huddersfield in the Dundee district.  There the family remained until the Anglo-Boer war came along in 1899.  They had to make a hurried evacuation from their home when Boer Commando raided and took over the area and occupied it for some months.  The Boers lived in deserted farm houses, helping themselves to whatever they found useful or valuable, and killing off livestock for food.  It is believed that William and his family saw something of the fighting between the Boers and the British troops before they got away from the scene.  General Lukas Meyer's commando occupied the summit of Talana Hill and were attacked by the British forces on the morning of the 20th October 1899.  Many of the farmers wives and children from the area were evacuated to Dundee by train on 18th and 19th, but some of the men remained behind in the hope that the Boers would be driven off.  However, they had to leave with General Yule's troops when they withdrew towards Ladysmith after the battle of Talana and were obliged then to endure the rigors of the siege of Ladysmith.

Where William and his family spent the time away from the farm is not known.  When they returned to the Dundee area the family lived at the farm Helena, which belonged to William's son-in-law, Newbold Hesom (wife Florrie nee Quested).  In 1902 a move was made to another farm named Smithfield, where they remained until about 1906.  Then, a final move was made to a farm named Beaconskop at Hattingspruit.  The name was later changed to Beacon Hill.

Over the years William (005) became a well known personality in the neighbourhood.  He was recognised as an hospitable and amiable person to deal with and was evidently held in high esteem by those who knew him well.  Because he was too easy going and did not have much financial acumen he never made a great deal of money.  He rented the farms he lived on but he appears to have enjoyed good company and sporting occasions and his family life was a happy one.

William died in October 1914 after suffering for some time from diabetes buried at Dundee.

Gertrude lived until 1936 and died at the age of 82 at her son-in-law's farm Helena.  She was also buried at Dundee.

 

 

 

WILLIAM QUESTED'S CHILDREN

HARRIET SUSANNAH AND THE WHITE FAMILY

 

Harriet Susannah, the only daughter of William and Martha Quested, was born in the Gillingham district, Kent, in 1847.  Almost certainly this means she was born at the Royal Engineers barracks at Chatham where her father was working and living.

As a three year old child she was brought to Natal by her parents on the ill-fated ship Minerva.  She was too young to have remembered much about the wrecking of the vessel and the o

rdeal of waiting to be rescued but she did apparently remember that she and her family lived in tents for some time at the Bluff, Durban.

Her mother died in 1856 when Harriet was about nine years old and it seems probably that she then went to live with her grandmother in West Street, in the premises which later became well known as The Kentish Tavern.  In his 'History of Old Durban', George Russell mentioned that the Widow Quested was assisted in the running of her establishment by two unmarried daughters.  There was however, only one unmarried daughter, namely Eliza Ann, and she married in 1857 but if Harriet was indeed living with her grandmother before that the impression could easily be gained that at some time there were two unmarried daughters.

No mention has been found of Harriet having been at school at Isipingo when her younger brother Frederick was there, and this would appear to confirm that she was in Durban and most probably went to school there.  On finishing school it is likely that she remained in Durban until the time when the Widow Quested retired from actively running The Kentish Tavern and went to live on her property at Umbilo.

In 1875 Harriet's father adopted his deceased brother George's orphaned children and it is reasonable to suppose that she then lived with her father to help to look after these children.

It must have been at Isipingo that Harriet met Alfred Platt who wanted to marry her but she turned him down because she did not like him.  He was about five years younger than she and had attended the church school at Isipingo at the time when her brother Fred was a pupil there.

During the Anglo-Zulu war Alfred Platt was a member of the Isipingo Rifles, together with Harriet's brother William, when he went off to guard the frontier.  In due course Alfred inherited the Prospect Sugar Bush Estate from his father, Laurence Platt.  This was the estate which has now been developed into the industrial complex known as Prospecton.

It has been said that Harriet went off to Australia at one time to visit her aunt and uncle, Caroline and John Webb, at Sandhurst (Bendigo) in the state of Victoria.  Just when she went, and for how long she stayed, has not been ascertained but it was most likely in the latter half of the 181970's, possibly 1877.  It is known that after her return she adopted the baby daughter of her unmarried cousin Fanny Coulter Quested, and that the child was born in 1877.

On 27th August 1881, Harriet married a farmer named Andrew White who was considerably older than she was.  The wedding was at her home Forest Hills, Isipingo, and the witnesses were her elder brother William, her sister-in-law Gertrude and Gertrude's brother, Edmund Glanville Pugh, who later married Harriet's cousin, Eleanor Quested.  At the time of her wedding Harriet was aged 33 but on the marriage certificate it stated that she was 31.  Similarly, Andrew White was shy about revealing his true age because the certificate showed 55 whereas he was really about 59.  It appears probable that Harriet's main reason for marrying Andrew was to ensure a guardian and home for her adopted child.

Andrew White had arrived in Natal before the Questeds.   He came on the ship Aliwal on 14th December 1849 when he was about 27 years old.  Although the passenger list described him as an agriculturist he was by trade a baker.  As a Byrne settler he was allocated 20 acres of land at Vaal Kop, block A 57, Uys Doorns, near Thornville about eight miles or so from Pietermaritzburg.

It does not appear that he did anything with the land and he never took transfer of this property.  It is believed that very few of the settlers took up their allocations at Vaal Kop because the land appeared to be unsuitable for small scale farming at that time.  It was a dry area with very little water.

It is not known whether Andre ever practiced his trade as a baker in Natal.  No indication of this has been found and the first reference concerning him was that in about 1859 or 1860 he was a farmer at Stoney Spruit, a place which was also known as Klip Spruit.  This farm was in the Beaumont area in the Upper Umkomanzi Division which was later called the Camperdown Division.  This farm he rented from the owner G.B. Hayes.  Andrew is believed to have had some land under sugar cane because early records indicate that there was a sugar mill on the property, the mill being driven by a water wheel.  The original Klip Spruit property was a Voortrekker farm of 6,002 acres which was divided in two in the year 1850.  One half became known as the Larger Run while the other retained the name Klip Spruit.  Later it was called Stoney (Stony) Spruit and in more recent times it became known as Powerscourt.  It is now part of the Illovo Sugar Company's estates.

Andrew continued farming there until about 1871 or 1872 and then gave it up for a while to became a transport rider, at which time his address was 'Newlands Farm, Beaumont, in the area now known as Eston.  Newlands was another split off the original Klip Spruit farm and the owner in the early 181970's was James Patullo.

After a spell of transport riding Andrew returned to farming and bought a sub-division of the Larger Run property comprising about 1,068 acres with a cottage thereon which was called Rose Cottage.  This property was purchased from David Rudd who in turn had bought it from a Mr Calverley who had been both a farmer and a transport rider.

It was at Rose Cottage that Harriet went to live after her marriage to Andrew.  She soon became well established.  The property was re-named Roseleigh and this is the name it still carries today.

Harriet had no progeny but she always regarded the adopted girl, Nellie, as her own and showed her great affection.

As well as being much younger than her husband Harriet was an active, practical and knowledgeable person and she was a good horse-woman.  She soon took over a major part in the running of the farm and ever more so in the latter years when Andrew became less competent to do much outdoors because of severe rheumatism and general senility.  In the final years at the farm Harriet was in complete control of all activities.  In those days it was evidently run as a general farm and no sugar cane was grown while the Whites were there, but today under it's present owners, it is almost entirely under cane.

In 1914 the Whites sold the farm and moved to a small property at Malvern.  Roseleigh was bought by Frederick Gurney whose wife, Louisa (Quested) was a cousin of Harriet's.  The Gurney family is still in possession of the farm today.

The Whites then lived at their new home named Deepdene at 17 Third Avenue, Malvern, in the Bellair district.  Nellie, who by that time had been married for some years, lived not far away at 8 Station Road, Malvern.

The White's wood and iron cottage stood upon a four acre plot and Harriet did much to develop it.  She planted many fruit trees, constructed a well and installed a water pump.  It has been told that Harriet herself used to mix cement and mortar and carried out bricklaying when any building or alterations became necessary.

She also grew vegetables and kept chickens, doing very well with eggs which she supplied regularly to Nellie's household.

Andrew died on 3rd August 1915 and was buried in the West Street cemetery, Durban, in the Quested family plot.

Right up to her old age Harriet was active, capable, witty and fearless.  At Malvern, with her shotgun in hand, she saw off an aggressive African from her property when she found him trespassing.  She was quite handy with a shotgun and during her years at the farm and also at Malvern had used her gun many a time for killing snakes and other vermin.  It has been said that she always carried the gun when she made visits to the 'little house' at the bottom of the garden.

People who knew her have spoken of Harriet's kind and generous nature and have said she was a friendly and helpful neighbour.  She sincerely loved her adopted daughter Nellie and saw her almost every day, giving, or sending, home grown garden produce for Nellie's family.

In her later life Harriet declared that she had no time for Dick King, whom her family had known for many years, because she considered that he had done down her father over some business arrangement but what this arrangement was is unknown, and no further information on the matter has come to light.

Harriet evidently made a study of local useful plants and herbs, possibly learning something of the Africans use of them and she relied largely on her own home-made concoctions for the common ailments which afflicted her and her family.  She apparently did not think highly of doctors in general although she is said to have had a high regard for Dr Lloyd of Dundee who had married her nice, Clarice Quested.

At the ripe old age of 93 years and two months, Harriet died on 10th September 1940, and she was buried near her husband in the Quested family plot in the West Street cemetery in Durban.

Harriet left her adopted daughter Nellie as legacy of money and the whole of the immovable property at Malvern,  Legacies were left to Harriet's cousins Everard and Stanley Quested, her niece, Annie Craw and her husbands niece, Annie Crawford.  Nellie's daughter, Colleen McKinnon, was left some furniture and jewellery.

Nellie White (Quested?) had grown up at Roseleigh and in 1894 had married Edward W. Ryan, a storekeeper who had been running a store at Dering, near Beaumont.  After the wedding the Whites set him up in a store of his own.  This was situated not far from Nellie's home, Highcot, a cottage close to her mother's home at Roseleigh.  The store was known as Beacon Hill Store.

Edward Ryan ran this store from 1894 until about 1914 but by all accounts he was not a good storekeeper and never really made a success of it, much to the distress of Harriet, who had put more and more money into the business to try and keep it on it's feet.  The trouble seems to have been that Edward was a spendthrift and gambler.  It has been said that in the end the Whites had to sell their farm in order to pay off his debts.  Edward proved to be a weak and reckless character and it is understood that Nellie eventually divorced him, but no decisive information regarding this has been found.

At Malvern, Nellie made a living by running a boarding house.  She had three children, two sons and a daughter, Ginty, Allan and Colleen.

Nellie lived to a good old age, passing away in her 91st year, on 28th March 1968.  Her last years were spent at the Village of Happiness, the old peoples home at Margate, on the Natal South Coast.  Her funeral was in Durban on 30th March 1968.

Ginty was in the South African Police and during the1939-1945 war he became second in command of the S.A. Police Battalion.  In later years he lived and worked in Newcastle.

 

 

 WILLIAM QUESTED'S CHILDREN

FREDERICK JOHN QUESTED

 
Frederick John (180), the second son of William and Martha Quested, was born on 15th March 1849 at Brompton Barracks, Chatham, Gillingham, Kent, the headquarters of the Royal Engineers, where his father was employed at the time.  He was brought to Natal by his parents as a one year old child on the Minerva in 1850.

When the family moved from Congella to Isipingo in 1858 he attended the St James Church School.  This school had been built with the balance of the funds left over from money subscribed by local settlers, together with a goodly sum provided by the Bishop of Natal, for the erection of the first Anglican church at Isipingo.  The church and the school were built before the Questeds moved into the district.

At the school,  teaching was provided by Mr Edmund John Pugh, assisted by his wife.  Mr Pugh who also acted as postmaster for Isipingo.  Mr Pugh apparently had had no previous experience as a teacher, but he evidently coped very well for a number of years in giving his pupils a good elementary education.  He was said to have been a  small Welshman of uncertain temper who did not spare the rod but both he and his wife were held in high esteem by the parents of the local community.  The school was never a large one and when Frederick Quested was a pupil the average number of children attending was about 20, there being more girls than boys.

Contemporaries of Frederick were Clara Joyner, Harry and Susan Bailey and Alfred Platt.  In her reminiscences written later in life, Mrs Anderson, the former Clara Joyner, recalled that she first attended the school in 1859.  She remembered that Freddie Quested and Harry Bailey made themselves some stilts to walk on and were the envy of all the other children.

Out of school hours the children no doubt spent a good deal of time at the beach and in later years Frederick said that he had been taught to swim by Dick King.  This is understandable because the families were neighbours and Dick King was said to have been a keen swimmer.  It seems he was insistent that his own sons should learn to swim properly and he undertook to teach them himself.  The best bathing place was the lagoon near the mouth of the two rivers, the Umlaas and the Isipingo, which joined together before reaching the sea.  There was a fine clean sandy beach and plenty of water for swimming in the lagoon near the mangrove trees in those days.  This was before the Umlaas canal was made, which has completely changed the nature of the lagoon.

At the age of 13 or 14 Frederick ran away from home and school after, it is said, having had a violent disagreement with his teacher, Mr Pugh.  It is believed that he hit Mr Pugh over the head with his slate.  By this time Frederick must have just about completed the syllabus of education the school provided because in those days it was customary for boys to leave at the age of 13 or 14 in order to start work.  Having made the break away from home Frederick somehow journeyed up country and got himself a job in a store in Ladysmith.  This must have been about 1862 or 1863.  He remained as a store assistant for some years, but in 1869 he obtained a retail dealers licence for himself and opened up business in rented premises at Opmerkzamheid, Sundays River, on the road between Ladysmith and Helpmekaar.  In the Jury List for the district for the year 1870 he was described as a storekeeper at Sundays River.

He appears to have given up storekeeping about 1871 in order to take up transport riding while the year 1874 saw him established as a farmer on rented land at Opmerkzamheid, and as a carrier at the same address.  He operated from there for a number of years, trekking to the Free State and Transvaal.  

Plaats Opmerkzamheid was originally a Voortrekker farm of some 10,628 acres, first granted to Coenrad Lucas Pieters in 1850 but later it was divided amongst five owners.  Frederick evidently liked this area because it was good cattle country.  In 1881 he purchased his own farm, a property known at different times as Concordia and Palmietfontein, originally granted to Frans Jacob Labuscagne in 1855.  The farm of 4,288 acres was bounded by Doorn Kraal, Waayhoek, Sundays River Poort and Dabankutu's Kraal, and was close to Opmerkzamheid, (Ward 1 Newcastle Division).  

Frederick bought the farm at public auction from W. Kuster and the transfer was dated 22nd July 1881.  He paid £1,075 for the property.

About a year later, Frederick married a girl in Pietermaritzburg named Agnes Boag MacKillican (181).  It is not known when he first met the girl he was to marry but it can be supposed that it was on one of his journeys through Pietermaritzburg with his ox-wagons.  It is possible that he carried corn for milling from the Orange Free State on the return journeys from his over-the-berg expeditions.  Agnes's father was a miller who did milling for the Free State farmers.

Agnes's father, Thomas MacKillican, who was born in the Inverness area in Scotland on 9th July 1833, came to Natal on the ship Cataraqui which sailed from Gravesend on 4th August 1861 and arrived at Port Natal on 4th November, after a voyage lasting just three months.  On the same vessel came a family called Fyfe, consisting of the husband James, together with his wife and eight children, one of whom was Elizabeth Spiers Fyfe, born at Paisley, Scotland, on 27th May 1845.  She was an attractive young lady of 16 years when Thomas MacKillican met her on the ship and promptly fell in love.  

Through the late Robert Fyfe and from an article in the Natal Witness dated 4th November 1911 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the sailing ship Cataraqui at Port Natal, some information is available regarding the voyage of this vessel.  Sailing from Gravesend on the London River, the ship had a full complement of passengers and the journey proved to be somewhat hair raising for them on one or two occasions.

Fog, gales and storms were encountered in the English Channel and when the ship did manage to pass Lands End she was blown all the way back again to the Isle of Wight.  Sixteen days went by before the vessel entered the Bay of Biscay.  In the meantime she had been in a collision with a schooner, causing damage to both ships.  The schooner came off worse, having her foretop mast carried away and her flying jib torn to shreds.  The Cataraqui suffered a torn mainsail and lost a member of her crew who fell from the topmast and had to be transferred to another ship to be sent to Dover for hospital treatment.  There was another occasion when even the captain got a real fright and thought the vessel was going to sink stern first.  Two giant waves had piled up and met together behind the stern just as the ship was brought up by a squall straight ahead.  Tons of water crashed down and enveloped the decks and it seemed the vessel was about to submerge completely.  Somehow she  survived this shock but a further alarming experience occurred later when the ship nearly turned turtle, being flung on her beam ends by a sudden squall during the night.  Her yardarms dipped right into the waves and this incident brought rats and cockroaches swarming out of their hiding places in the holds, thus demonstrating the truth of the old saying about rats deserting a sinking ship.  On 15th September the equator was crossed and Father Neptune came aboard by moonlight wearing a long beard and a large hat.  Some of the passengers were 'shaved' by Neptune and his retinue.

Most of these particulars were the jottings made by a 16 year old boy and continued as follows:

"August 12th Had best dinner today since we came on board - preserved meat, dumplings, pepper, salt and pickles.

August 13th Salt beef, pudding and rice eaten with sugar.  First time we had rice.

August 20th The butcher killed a pig for the first class passengers.

August 24th Had a raisin cake, the best thing on board, eaten with treacle.

October 23rd The South African coast sighted, somewhere near Algoa Bay, and again near the Great Fish River on 29th.

November 1st The vessel came within two miles of hilly country, then went out to sea again.

November 3rd Land was again sighted and country along the Bluff was

Passed.  The ship anchored in the outer Bay at Port Natal ."

On 4th November the passengers were landed.  The ship was met by a tug and all the passengers had to jump from the side of the vessel onto the deck of the tug.  Inside the Bay there was no jetty so the women and children were carried from the tug to the dry land on the backs of natives.

The diary continued "we landed at the Point.  Our first day in Natal.  We saw lots of natives and coolies.  Went to Durban two or three times.  Made a fire and cooked some beef steak.  Saw many wild flowers.  Had some bananas, a white fruit in a green pod.  Heard at night the chirping of cicadas and the croaking of frogs."

In a journey kept by Thomas MacKillican, he mentioned that Mr James Fyfe, his future father-in-law, rendered aid to many passengers, including assistance at more than one confinement during the voyage.

Not all the passengers survived the hardships of the journey.  Two children had been buried at sea, one a girl of 12 and the other a child of two or three  years.

On arrival in Natal Thomas MacKillican separated from the Fyfe family but he and Elizabeth were married within a year by the Reverend William Campbell Prestly at Tongaat on 5th September 1862 where by that time James Fyfe was a schoolmaster.

Thomas MacKillican had first settled at Richmond but what he did there is unknown.  He later moved to Pietermaritzburg and became a miller.  He worked for some years for Messrs Henderson and Scott at the Belvidere Mill on the Umsindusi River near the site of the present Victoria Bridge on Commercial Road.  The mill was on the town side of the river, situated on a five acre plot originally leased from the Borough Council, being lots 19 and 20 of Townlands, Ward 5.  A channel had been cut to carry water from Moodie's Pool higher up the river near the bridge, to drive the undershot water wheel which operated the mill.  There was a granary and a drying kiln as well as a dwelling house and a cottage on the property.

Te mill buildings were substantial and commodious.  The mill contained three pairs of the best French buur stones and it was the largest mill in the district.  It had been built by Paul Anstie at a cost of nearly £5,000 and it was the first opened on 24th May 1854.  In a couple of years, however, Anstie had gone through all his money and became insolvent.  As a result of this the property reverted to the Borough Council.  The mill stood empty for a long time but was then sold to Henderson and Scott for the very low sum of £186 and was put back into commission.

Thomas MacKillican became miller at the Belvidere Mill about the middle 1860's and was there for many years.  A wool washing machine was installed in 1870 as an addition to the grain milling business.  In 1872 Joseph Henderson terminated his partnership with Daniel B. Scott, selling his share for £1,500.  About a year later Thomas MacKillican took a lease on the mill and ran it on his own account in conjunction with a corn and flour merchant's shop at 25 Church Street.  He ran the business for a number of years and lived in a house on the mill property.  The house was known as Belvidere House.  In 1879 Thomas advertised for a miller to run the mill, probably with a view to easing up from the day to day working of the business to attend to other matters.  He was elected a town councillor for Ward 1 on 22nd March 1880 and served for about six years.  Thomas had obviously worked hard and became reasonably well-to-do, owning several properties in Pietermaritzburg and Richmond as well as a property in Ladysmith, farm of 3,103 acres at Umlaas and at one time a farm known as Waverly at Sweetwaters.  From the middle 1860's until about 1873 the MacKillican family lived at 5 Burger Street but from then onwards lived at Belvidere House which was near the river bank and bordering Commercial Road.  There was a judicial separation between Thomas and Elizabeth in 1887.  Thomas died from cirrhosis of the liver, after having been in weak health for a year or more, at the age of 56 on 20th January 1890 and was buried by the Reverend John Smith.  The funeral was from Belvidere House.

The mill was sold by D.B. Scott in 1893 for the sum of £4,500 to the Natal Tanning Company.  The original mill buildings are still standing and are used nowadays as furniture storage warehouse.  Belvidere House remained as a residence until March 1973 when it was demolished to make way for new development.

Agnes Boag (181), the first of the six children of Thomas and Elizabeth MacKillican and was born in Pietermaritzburg on 30th May 1864.  She was baptised on the 10th of the following month.  She attended the Girls Collegiate School and in the year 1880 passed her examinations for the Government Certificate in subjects which included arithmetic, English grammar, geography, Greek history and history of the British Empire.

At the age of 18, on 8th August 1882, Agnes married Frederick Quested (180) who was then 33 years old.  The wedding was at St John's Church, Pietermaritzburg, and the service was conducted by the Presbyterian minister, the Reverend John Smith.

After their marriage Frederick and Agnes set up their home at Barlow House on lots 11 and 12 Lyell Street, Ladysmith, just behind where the Royal Hotel is situated in Murchison Street.  They lived at Barlow House for a number of years and that is where five of their six children were born.  

 

The children were:

Annie (182)  Born on 16th August 1883.

William Thomas  (210) Born on 6th December 1885.

Daisy Muriel (224) Born on 20th May 1888.

Frederick George (245) Born on 13th April 1890.

Aubrey Montforte (251) Born on 27th May 1892.  Died aged four years at Woodcote farm on 3rd July 1896.  Buried in the Ladysmith cemetery.

Natalie Jessie (252) Born on 14th November 1895.

While Agnes and her children lived comfortably at Barlow House, Frederick carried on with his business as a transport rider and as a farmer at Palmietfontein.  The farm was about 20 miles or so out of Ladysmith and was in good cattle country.  No doubt the trek oxen were put out to graze there and recondition between treks.

In those days it took seven or eight days for a loaded ox-wagon to travel between Durban and the Van Reneen Pass into the Free State.  A good horseman could do the journey in three days but the rate did not exceed about six miles an hour because of the hilly nature of the route.  The railway line reached Pietermaritzburg by the end of 1880 but there was a great demand for ox-wagon transport onwards to the Free State and Transvaal before the railway reached those parts.

The line did in fact reach Ladysmith in 1886, Charlestown in 1891 and Johannesburg in 1895, but for a good many years ox-wagons had plenty of work to do.  In the year 1890 an average of 2,500 wagons passed through Ladysmith every month, and Ladysmith, which had about 2,000 inhabitants, was the most bustling town in the Colony after Durban.  For a number of years the railway did not do at all well financially because of the cheaper competition from ox-wagon transport.

In the period around 1878 to 1882 an ox-wagon with accessories cost approximately £50 and a span of oxen about £80.  Once these had been obtained, transport riding could be a worthwhile business, affording the owner of a good wagon or two the means of a reasonable livelihood if properly organised.  That is not to say that the practical day to day working of the wagons on trek was comfortable.  Far from it, it was a hard and wearing life most of the time, calling for great patience, endurance, determination and skilful management of the oxen and their drivers.  It was also necessary to be something of a carpenter and a mechanic in order to repair the wagons after breakdowns and accidents, which were not at all uncommon.

Once he had got to know the ropes, Frederick decided he would specialise in carrying light goods and parcels up country, and after gaining experience he guaranteed the date of delivery at destination, presumably charging a higher rate of cartage because of this.  He appeared to have met with considerable success in so doing.  There were not many small parcels to be carried on the homeward treks and it seems likely that carried corn from the Free State for milling at the Belvidere Mill in Pietermaritzburg.

Frederick was a very independent character and it has been said that on at least one occasion, when other transporters had their wagons completely bogged down in mud after heavy rains on the Standerton flats, he managed to haul his own wagons through on to firm land but refused to stay and help the stranded wagon crews when they asked for the customary assistance because, he explained, he had to deliver his goods on time.  It seems probable that he was not too popular with some of the other transport riders.

The general charge for carriage of goods by ox-wagon was about 1/9d per ton-mile and, depending on size, wagons could carry between three and five tons but all the camping gear and foodstuff, etc., was included in the total weight carried.  In the mid 181970's transport riders were obtaining £80 to £100 for loads from Durban to Pretoria, and half that amount for return loads to Durban.

For the general business of transporting, ox teams comprised between 12 and 18, or sometimes even 20 cattle, and a well matched team, under reasonable conditions, could travel about three miles an hour and cover about 20 to 25 miles in 24 hours, sometimes trekking at night to avoid over-tiring the beasts during the heat of the day.  On many occasions, however, because of the weather, the state of the tracks and the condition of the rivers after rain, the distance travelled was very little.  Sometimes, because of heavy mud and rivers in spate, no progress was made for several days.  There was no bridge over the Klip River at Ladysmith until 1882 and transit was by means of a ferry.  When the river was in flood there was much delay and in 1881 one transport rider said his wagons had been held up for 18 days.

Because Fred Quested carried goods through the Free State and the Transvaal, and also into Zululand, he must have got to know the country very thoroughly.  On his journeys he hunted game for the pot and shot many animals in Zululand and in the Berg area.  He appeared to have made a success of his transport business which he carried on until about 1896.  

At the outbreak of the Zulu war of 1879, the Imperial authorities were offering £80 a month for every wagon and ox-span available for entry into Zululand, the authorities holding themselves responsible for 'all risks' insurance.  The transport riders attached to the military forces were designated 'wagon conductors'.  Fred Quested took part as a wagon conductor during this war and after the disaster at Isandhlwana he had to ride as quickly as possibly carrying military dispatches from Helpmekaar to Pietermaritzburg.

The experience he gained in the care and handling of his oxen and his African drivers during his transport riding days stood him in good stead when he turned his attention to full time farming.  When the epidemic of the Rinderpest disease raged through the country in 1896/1897 and wiped out thousands of beasts in all parts of Southern Africa, Frederick managed to save his stock by quarantining his herds in secure kraals at isolated spots on the farm, feeding them well and ensuring that the African herdsmen remained at the kraals and did not allow others to come near.  No other animals were allowed near the kraals and by strict quarantine measures until the epidemic was over the entire stock was brought through this difficult period without loss.

Fred Quested was a good organiser.  He was also a bit of a martinet with a fiery temper and an individualist who liked to do things better than the next man.  In this he often succeeded.  He was a good judge of horseflesh and a competent rider.  Being a slightly built man, though wiry, he was not too heavy on a horse and it was said that he once jumped his horse clear over a span of oxen hitched to a wagon, though it is not claimed that he made a habit of doing this.  At the Ladysmith Sports, held on 27th December 1886, he won the 'Owners-Up' race on his horse Mermaid.

He had learned to speak fluent Zulu and because he treated the Africans firmly but fairly, and because he was able to show them that he understood cattle management better than they did themselves, he gained their respect and got the best out of them.  He was, none-the-less, a disciplinarian, and was not above beating them on occasions, probably only when they deserved it, or when he felt they did.

In 1894/1895 Frederick and his family moved from their Ladysmith house to live on a farm near Elandslaagte which he had purchased in 1893.  This was a farm of 1,834 acres, known as The Junction, at Elandspruit, north-east of Elandslaagte station.  It was in Ward 4 of Klip River Division.  He bought the property at public auction on 27th March 1893 for the sum of £917-3s-10d.

This became the home farm and the family lived there for many years, renaming the property Woodcote a name quite common in Kent and Sussex in England.  The other farm, formerly known as Palmietfontein had been renamed Fitty Park.  It is believed this name was suggested by Agnes Quested, after a place in Scotland, which, it is assumed had some significance for her.  This farm was about one day's trek by ox-wagon from Ladysmith and about the same distance from Woodcote.  Fitty Park appears to have been rented out to other persons from time to time including Frederick's brother-in-law, John MacKillican, in 1900/1901 when he was running a store at Sundays River.  Could this have been the same store that Frederick himself ran a good many years before?

Apart from the two farms, Woodcote and Fitty Park, Frederick also owned a small property of about 468 acres of land, this  being a sub-division of the original Boer farm Zondag Riviers Poort adjacent to Fitty Park.  When he acquired this property has not been ascertained but it is quite possible that this was the first farm he owned, perhaps when he first started as a storekeeper and later as a transport rider operating from Sundays River.  This land was never developed but was used entirely in the later years for the accommodation of native labour.

The family had to evacuate their home at Woodcote for some months during the early part of the Anglo-Boer War, when Boer commandos invaded the district and the battle of Elandslaagte was fought in October 1899.  When this invasion of Natal became imminent, Agnes Quested and her two younger children, Freddie and Natalie, were packed onto a cart with their essential belongings and sent post-haste into Ladysmith en route for Pietermaritzburg, from whence they went on to the farm Roseleigh, at Beaumont, where they remained with Frederick's sister, Harriet White, until in due course it was safe to return home once more.

During the battle of Elandslaagte, the Boer forces moved across the valley at Woodcote farm in an effort to outflank the British troops  and some cavalry action took place on the farm, almost in the front garden of the homestead.  After the battle, the British forces withdrew into Ladysmith and the farm was then occupied by the Boers.  The house was used by some of them as their headquarters.  When the siege of Ladysmith was lifted some four months later, and the Boers had withdrawn from the area, one of General Bullers generals is believed to have used the house as his divisional headquarters for a while before proceeding further on his advance towards Helpmekaar and Dundee.

After the war was over, Frederick was given a memento, a silver cigarette box, by the British general staff in token of having made use of his property.

How much was lost to the Boers during their occupation in the way of livestock, fowls and crops is not known.  The story goes that before vacating the farm, Frederick was wise enough to hide his whiskey, port and silver in a pit dug in the floor of the cowshed, the ground being well filled in and trampled down by the cows so there was no trace of any excavation.  By doing this he saved these possessions from being looted. He is also said to have sent his cattle down to Fitty Park farm with his native herdsmen and to have kraaled them in the big Kloof where they could be kept without detection.

For years afterwards it was possible to pick up empty cartridge cases on the farmlands where some of the fighting had taken place.

After seeing his family off to Pietermaritzburg and safety when the Boers were invading Natal, Frederick was asked by the military authorities to assist them by acting as a guide, but he was unwilling to do this because some of his best friends were Boers.  Where he actually spent the months of the siege is not known but it does not seem that he stayed in Ladysmith.

In his earlier days Frederick had seen service with the military forces at the Langalibalele rebellion, when he acted as a quartermaster with the volunteers.

Frederick was a member of the Klip River Agricultural Society for a number of years and was elected as an honorary vice-president in 1912 after a long period of service on the executive committee.  He acted as a judge of stock at a number of agricultural shows.

About the year 1905 records show that Frederick had a stock of roughly 250 mixed cattle including some shorthorn bulls he had imported from England and a few cattle from Australia.  With the imported beasts his intension was to upgrade and improve the local stock.

Also at this time he had some Persian sheep, four cape rams and 20 horses, mainly brood mares.  He had imported poultry from England, mainly White Leghorns, and did very well with his birds at local shows, winning many trophies for his exhibits.

At Woodcote, about 100 acres were under cultivation, chiefly mealies and kaffir corn.  There was a good orchard on the farm, plenty of water for the stock and some irrigation was possible.

Frederick was appointed Field Cornet for the Elandslaagte district for a time which indicates that he took an interest in community affairs.

Most of Agnes's married life was spent in the Ladysmith district but during their last 20 years or so she and Frederick spent considerable periods at the coast where they had a property at Illovo Beach.  They first had a cottage named The Gables but later sold this and built another which they called Forest Hill after Frederick's father's home at Isipingo.  

Frederick and Agnes celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their beach cottage Forest Hill, on 8th August 1932 where they were surrounded by their family and their grandchildren.

After a series of strokes Frederick died at Woodcote on 17th November 1932, aged 83 years and eight months.  He was buried in the Ladysmith cemetery the following day.

Frederick had ceded the two farms Woodcote and Fitty Park 'donatio inter vives' to his two sons some years before his death and from his will it became evident that he wished these farms to remain in the family because he imposed a restriction that should either of his sons sell their respective farms during  their lifetimes they should be required to pay a sum of £1,000 into their father's estate as a penalty.  On the other hand the small property at Sundays River Poort was to be sold, first offer to his elder son William, and second offer to Frederick junior.  In the event that neither of them wanted it, then it was to be disposed of at the best possible price and the proceeds to go to his wife Agnes.  As things turned out, Agnes had the property transferred  to herself.  At some time Frederick had owned a small property in Johannesburg North Township, Lot 247 of the farm Witkoppen comprising 138 square roods and 128 square feet.  This was number 141 Ward Witwatersrand, district of Pretoria.  It is presumed this was disposed of before he made his will.

All of Frederick's other assets, livestock, agricultural implements, farm vehicles, cash, share dividends, mortgage bond investments, movable and immovable effects, etc., were left to his wife Agnes and his three daughters, Annie, Daisy and Natalie.  Moreover, Agnes was to have full and unfettered use of the dwelling house at Woodcote for the remainder of her life.  This she did and she carried on farming operations, keeping livestock at both farms.

Agnes lived for another year and a half before she died on 10th April 1934 aged 69 years and ten months.  She was also buried in the Ladysmith cemetery.

Agnes left a sum of £100 in trust for her small grandson, John Quested, capital and interest to be paid to him on reaching the age of 21.  Her piano she left to her granddaughter, Agnes Jean Bates while the remainder of her estate was left to her three daughters, Annie, Daisy and Natalie in equal shares.