1899 in South Africa

	1899 in South Africa
1896 1897 1898 « 1899 » 1900 1901 1902
List of years in South Africa

Events

April

• The Transvaal government orders Asiatics to move into Locations specified by the government before 1 July.

May

• 4 – Cape Town based food packaging company Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company is founded in London.^[1]
• 5 – Sir Alfred Milner, High Commissioner of South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony, sends a telegram to Joseph Chamberlain urging him to intervene in the South African Republic.

October

• 1 – Jan Gysbert Hugo Bosman, aka Bosman de Ravelli, a concert pianist and composer, leaves South Africa for London.
• 11 – The South African Republic declares war on Britain and launches the Second Boer War which only ends in 1902.
• 13 – Second Boer War: Siege of Mafeking begins.
• 14 – Kimberley comes under siege by the Boers.
• 20 – Second Boer War: Battle of Talana Hill: In the first major clash of the conflict, near Dundee, Natal, the British Army drives the Boers from a hilltop position, but with heavy casualties, including their commanding general Sir Penn Symons.
• 30 – The Siege of Ladysmith begins.

Births

• 30 January – Max Theiler, a virologist and the first South African to receive a Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria.
• 18 February – Aegidius Jean Blignaut, short story writer and creator of Hottentot Ruiter, is born in Kroonstad.

Deaths

• 6 June – Sir Henry Binns, sugar cane farmer, founder of the Umhlanga Valley Sugar Estate Company and Natal politician, dies in Pietermaritzburg at the age of 61.

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 31 January – Free State – Wolwehoek to Heilbron, 30 miles 61 chains (49.5 kilometres).^[2]
• 12 April – Cape Central – Roodewal to Swellendam, 41 miles (66.0 kilometres).^[2]
• 1 May – Transvaal – Potgietersrus to Pietersburg, 39 miles (62.8 kilometres).^[2]
• 25 October – Natal – Pietermaritzburg to New Hanover, 29 miles 51 chains (47.7 kilometres).^[2]

Locomotives

• The Natal Government Railways places the first of 101 Class C 4-10-2T Reid Tenwheeler locomotives in service. In 1912 they will be designated Class H on the South African Railways (SAR).^[3]:31
• The New Cape Central Railway places its first Cape 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotive in service. In 1925 they will be designated Class 7E on the SAR.^{[3]:46–48[4]:78[5]:10, 15}
• Rand Mines acquires two narrow gauge 0-4-0 tank steam locomotives from Avonside Engine Company.^[3]:114

References

1. Measuring Worth, Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount – average earnings, retrieved on 27 December 2010
2. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 184, ref. no. 200954-13
3. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 0869772112.
4. Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 1: 1859-1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
5. Pattison, R.G. (1997). The Cape Seventh Class Locomotives (1st ed.). Kenilworth, Cape Town: The Railway History Group. ISBN 0958400946.