1870 in South Africa

← 1869 1868 1867 1870 in South Africa → 1871 1872 1873
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1870 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:
  • Sir Philip Wodehouse (until 19 May).
  • Charles Craufurd Hay (acting from 20 May to 30 December).
  • Sir Henry Barkly (from 31 December).
• Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: Robert William Keate.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.[1]
• State President of the South African Republic: Marthinus Wessel Pretorius.[2]

Events

May

• 20 – Charles Craufurd Hay becomes acting Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa.

July

• 30 – The Klipdrift Republic is proclaimed by a group of diamond miners with Stafford Parker as their president.

December

• 31 – Sir Henry Barkly is appointed Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa.

Date unknown

• The Alfred Basin in Table Bay Harbour, named after Prince Alfred, is completed.[3][4][5]

Births

• 24 May – Jan Smuts, South African soldier and statesman. (d. 1950)

Deaths

• 11 March – Moshoeshoe I, King of Lesotho. (b. c. 1786)

Railways

Locomotives

• A second locomotive is at work on excavation and breakwater construction in Table Bay Harbour, a 0-4-0 saddle-tank engine believed to have been built by Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works and delivered to the Cape at some time between 1863 and 1870.[6][7]

References

1. Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices, Orange Free State: Heads of State: 1854-1902 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
2. Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices, South African Republic (Transvaal): Heads of State: 1857-1877 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
3. Holland, D. F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. pp. 115–117. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
4. "History of Cape Town: The growth of the city and the port". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
5. South Africa’s Yesterdays, The Reader’s Digest Association South Africa (Pty.) Limited, 1981, (Editor Peter Joyce), p171, ISBN 0 620 05019 5
6. The Cape Argus of 19 July 1870.
7. Dating the opening of Hughes Works