1918 in South Africa

	1918 in South Africa
1915 1916 1917 « 1918 » 1919 1920 1921
List of years in South Africa

Events

• An estimated 500,000 people die from the Spanish flu epidemic in South Africa, the fifth hardest hit country in the world.^[1]

January

• 8 – The Koöperatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika (KWV), Co-operative Winemakers' Society of South Africa, is founded in Paarl, Western Cape.

April

• 2 – Victoria College becomes the Stellenbosch University.

May

• 14 – The Three Minute Pause, initiated by the daily firing of the Noon Gun on Signal Hill, is instituted by Cape Town Mayor Sir Harry Hands.^[2]

June

• 4 – RMS Kenilworth Castle, one of the Union-Castle Line steamships, collides with her escort destroyer HMS Rival while trying to avoid her other escort, the cruiser HMS Kent.
• 5 – The Afrikaner Broederbond, a confidential cultural organisation, is founded in Johannesburg.

Unknown date

• The University of Pretoria Faculty of Law is formally established.

Births

• 16 July – John Everitt (Jack) Frost, World War II fighter pilot is born in Queenstown, Eastern Cape.
• 18 July – Nelson Mandela, activist and president, is born in Mvezo, Eastern Cape. (d. 5 December 2013)
• Bernard Gcwensa, artist, is born in Pomeroy, KwaZulu-Natal.

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 2 February – Cape – Kootjieskolk to Calvinia, 43 miles 47 chains (70.1 kilometres).^[3]
• 16 September – Cape – Kootjieskolk to Sakrivier, 27 miles 21 chains (43.9 kilometres).^[3]

Locomotives

• Three new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):
  • Eight Class MJ1 branchline 2-6-6-0 Mallet articulated compound steam locomotives.^{[4]:36–37[5]:88}
  • The first of seventy-three Class 14C 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives.^{[4]:34[5]:58–59}
  • The first of thirty Class 15B 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives.^[5]:60–61

References

1. Colds and flu 1918 - South Africa's death toll
2. Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 138."2-Minute Wave of Silence" Revives a Time-honoured Tradition. Accessed on 5 June 2014.
3. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 188, ref. no. 200954-13
4. Holland, D.F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
5. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 0869772112.