The Chronicle 2022

for the well- attended service of another school supporter, Eugene Eybers, when the School Chaplain Alan Smedly came to officiate at that funeral. Harry and I were appalled at the apartheid policies of the former government. When you meet so often on Mondays, and drive together, your knowledge of each other extends. That gave us much time to complain about the unjust laws and regulations, which affected the poor and needy. We both expressed our shock each time the government introduced more vicious enactments. Being lawyers, I invited Harry to join our Lawyers for Human Rights Committee in 1980, when we listened to speakers like Justices Chaskalson and Goldstone. We were delighted when Archbishop Tutu came to address our overflowing church and he explained his actions with the calls for disinvestment, and boycotts. His revelations and speech were accepted very cautiously at firs, but as he warmed up, the mood changed, and he received a tremendous ovation. In our travels we felt good that with the new government, the face of St Francis had changed. There were many newer face, of all races. Also, the arrival of young parishioners, even at the 7.30am service, was welcomed. And I must thank Judy Hancock for all the care and love she showed for Harry. When Judy became hospitalized, Harry would visit her each day. There is therefore no doubt that Judy reciprocated later and took care of him, once he became ill. Our association was strengthened when we discovered links between our ancestors. It seems that we were joined at the hip by our great grandfathers. In his case, his ancestor was the first Bishop of Pretoria, Bishop Bousfield. In my case it was through my great grandfather, Revd Henry Adams. The Church in England had decided to cut in half, the Diocese of Transvaal, which previously extended over the whole Transvaal. The new Diocese, the Pretoria Diocese, started from a line drawn from Halfway House—all the way to Messina, with the East end stretching beyond Nelspruit, and further than Rustenburg in the West. The Church had decided to send the first

Bishop to establish the church buildings in Pretoria, like a rectory, a school, a cathedral, and to create further churches elsewhere. An Englishman, Dean Bousfield was chosen. He had been the Dean of St Mary`s Church in Andover, Hampshire. He had never before set foot in Africa, let alone South Africa. He set sail from Southampton with his wife and children, and a huge pile of luggage to help him to start and establish the church in Pretoria. Harry lent me his book written about Bishop Bousfield. He was a hard working priest; imagine coming to the little village of Pretoria, cottages standing around in open veld. No water. No lights. Tracks for roads. He invited a young 22-year-old Henry Adams to leave his home in Andover and accompany him to Pretoria. In turn I lent Harry the book written by my niece Fiona Adams, bound for Pretoria, describing the travels and tribulations of Bishop Bousfield and young Henry Adams. Apart from many stories, it mentions the gold rush in Barberton where Henry established the church, the rectory, and the origins of the first hospital. With rough diggers around, it must have been a terrible ordeal. Revd Henry Adams died leaving his widow, Millie Adams, to look after the five children ranging from the eldest at ten years old, down to the youngest, only two years old. The church had no money, and so there was no pension for widow Adams. So she started doing the next best thing. She started a first boarding house for the many English soldiers who, after the first Boer War, stayed on in South Africa. After a while she started a second boarding house; and then a third. So much so that she was able to educate her three boys at public (private) schools in England and then at Cambridge University. The two daughters went to Swiss finishing schools. Two of her sons were the founders of the firm Adams and Adams. Her eldest daughter married the founder of the MacRoberts firm. But they all came from hardy stock. Harry Savage had those same hardy genes. But the one story which bears mention is that of Bishop Bousfield and his party which took six months to travel from Durban to Pretoria. Why? you might ask. Well. On disembarking from the steam ship Danube in Durban, the Bishop ordered two big wagons to be drawn by

spans of oxen. That was to make sure that their belongings and chattels were safely stored for the journey to Pretoria. But they got no further than Pietermaritzburg. The drought was so bad that they had no grass or fodder to feed the oxen. So they had to wait for the next year`s storms to arrive, and the grass to cover the veldt all the way to Pretoria.

Tough times.

Tough people.

Harry Savage has those same genes in his make-up.

Rest in Peace, good friend

SHAW, VICTOR Born 1955, Died 2022 Michaelhouse, 1968-1973 SIMKIN, SIDNEY Born 1935, Died 2022 Michaelhouse, 1950-1954 SMITH, BRUCE Born 1939, Died 2022 Michaelhouse, 1954-1957 SYMONS, MARTIN Born 1937, Died 2022 Michaelhouse 1950-1953

Martin and I came to South Africa in 1941 from the London Blitz via a perilous steamer (SS Largs Bay) voyage down the Atlantic with our mother: our mining engineer father joined us from the Gold Coast and was appointed to a reserved position at State Mines. I went to Cordwalles in 1944 followed a year later by Martin who did rather better than myself at school, to the extent of being offered a scholarship to Michaelhouse: (this benefit was given to another boy). I had the great privilege of attending Michaelhouse in close concert with Martin as we were placed in the same school year: he loved the school and played in the tennis and swimming teams. I believe that we enjoyed advancing through all that a great school can offer in four years but thereafter we

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