cemetary

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The Great Gale Memorial in South End Cemetery

"Never before in its history has this port suffered under such overwhelming disaster as we record today. On Sunday morning some 38 craft rode at anchor under the leaden sky. Heavy rains had fallen and the wind gradually rose until, as the shadows of evening hid the shipping from view, a fresh gale was blowing in from the south-east, which, as the midnight hour was reached, had developed in to a hurricane. As the turmoil of wind and wave continued,…

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23/02/2015
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South End Cemetery graves

If you go back through my blogs (or is a regular follower), you may notice that for some strange reason I have a peculiar interest in historic graves and cemeteries.  I used to work very close to the South End Cemetery and placed a Geocache there so I visited it quite often to check up on the container.  Since changing jobs a year ago I haven't been back that often but stopped by last week and took a stroll through…

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27/01/2015
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The Grave of Joseph Crowe in Uitenhage

Making my rounds through Uitenhage on a Geocaching expedition a week or so ago I got to visit the MOTH garden for the first time.  The garden is where the grave of Joseph Crow is located.Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Petrus Hendrik Crowe VC (12 January 1826 – 12 April 1876) was the first South African-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and…

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21/01/2015
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Scottish Cemetery for Halloween

Seeing that today is Halloween I wanted to post a scary or Halloween type photo but alas, I haven't done any pictures like that lately.  Clearly I need to spend some time doing some creative shots again.  I do have a picture of old grave stones in the historic Scottish Cemetery in St Georges Park though so it will have to do. St Mary's Cemetery used to be the only cemetery in Port Elizabeth in the 1820s, but an influx of people…

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31/10/2013
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One of the Lovemore family graveyards

he Lovemore surname is closely linked to Port Elizabeth and it's early history, specially out in the western side of the city.  This is all thanks to one Henry LOVEMORE who left England to settle in Port Elizabeth in 1820.  Although he came at the time of the British Settlers who settled east of the city around Grahamstown and Bathurst, Lovemore paid for his passage and purchased Bushy Park, then known as Klaas Kraal, for the princely sum of one thousand pounds.Lore has it that…

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09/09/2013
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Scottish Cemetery

Port Elizabeth has some wonderful historic cemeteries, one of them the Scottish Cemetery in St Georges Park.  The first cemetery in Port Elizabeth was St Mary's Cemetery which started as a military cemetery, but after the arrival of the British Settlers it was assigned to the St Mary's Collegiate Church and opened for the burial of all Christians in the town.  The growth of the town increased the demands placed upon St Mary's Cemetery and allocations of small pieces of land on…

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27/02/2013
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The grave of George Impey

Browsing through the historic cemeteries in Port Elizabeth I often find the graves of people who were prominent Port Elizabeth residents back in its early days.  One of the graves I found in the St Mary's Cemetery belongs to George Impey who died in 1890 and was the editor and part proprietor of the Eastern Province Herald and the first president of the Newspaper Press Union. 

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13/09/2012
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Rev Francis McCleland’s grave

Over the last two years every time I visited the St Mary's Cemetery I've had a look for Rev Francis McCleland's grave without any success.  Grizel Hart, the curator at No.7 Castle Hill, explained to me where to find it and on my last visit - after again walking right past it twice - I found it.  Rev Francis McCleland came to to Algoa Bay in one of the 1820 British Settler parties and became colonial chaplain in Port Elizabeth.  He bought…

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11/04/2012
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St Mary’s Cemetery gate

The entrance into the historic St Mary's Cemetery at the bottom of Valley Road.  I love wandering through St Mary's and discovering all the old graves, some belonging to original 1820 British Settlers.

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18/03/2012