Tuesday 3 December 1889

SPARGO, Wesleyan Mission House, Salem, Nov 28th, the wife of the Rev. T.SPARGO of a daughter.

COOMBE – LOWSON
Married at Commemoration Wesleyan Church on the 3rd inst by the Rev. H. Cotton, Sarah Annie, daughter of the late Michael LOWSON, Consett, Durham, England, to Martin Henry, eldest son of Richard COOMBE, late of St.Austell, Cornwall, England.

DIED at Grahamstown on Dec 3rd 1889, Mary Jane, beloved wife of John McCABE, aged 66 years. R.I.P.

A RAND ROMANCE
The engagement is announced at Johannesburg of Mr. F. ECKSTEIN to Miss C. MITCHELL, second daughter of Mr. Henry MITCHELL. Miss MITCHELL nursed Mr. ECKSTEIN through a severe illness recently, and tended him with devotion and entire success. Congratulations are universal.

TERRIBLE CALAMITY
A correspondent sends us (Independent) the following melancholy intelligence from Fourteen Streams:- On Sunday afternoon, between one and two o’clock, Miss Maria Elizabeth VAN NIEKERK, and Miss Helena Elizabeth DE BEER, were struck dead by a flash of lightning in a house near Fourteen Streams. The former young lady was eighteen years of age, and the latter six. Two other children were also struck senseless at the same time, all were supposed to be dead, but they afterwards recovered. The calamity has spread quite a gloom over the neighbourhood.

WEDDING AT SIDBURY
The little village of Sidbury is one of the smallest villages if not the smallest in the Eastern Province, consisting of only three (sometimes four) inhabited houses, an Anglican Church and a Wesleyan Chapel, but the numbers which assemble Sunday after Sunday from miles around in these two churches are an example to many who have their place of worship at their very doors. The little hamlet has also its gala days, of which Thursday the 28th inst was one, the interesting event being the marriage of Mr. Quintus BERRINGTON, youngest son of the late Mr. W.H. BERRINGTON of Sidbury Park, to Miss Cora STREET, second daughter of Mr. Thos. STREET, Assegai River. From an early hour flags were flying, and carts arriving in all directions, with friends of the parties concerned. The bride with her parents arrived at the Rectory at 8:30am, but the ceremony did not take place until 10 o’clock when the bride entered the church with her father, her only bridesmaid being her sister, Miss Nina STREET, while the bridegroom was supported by Mr. Walter FOWLDS. The bride was tasteful attired in a quiet travelling dress of crushed strawberry colour with cream bonnet, her sister wearing white nun’s veiling relieved with peacock blue and looking in it sweetness itself. The very simplicity of the dresses and the calmness, yet reverent demeanour of the wedding party, seemed to add a charm to the whole, and many were the good wishes expressed as they left the Church. The bride and bridegroom having lived in the neighbourhood from their early youth were both respected and beloved for their sterling and amiable qualities. The marriage service was impressively read by the Rev. E.Y.BROOKS, Rector of St.Peter’s, Sidbury. After the signing of the register the wedding party with a few relatives and intimate friends drove to the residence of the bride’s parents, where all were hospitably entertained. The health of the bride and bridegroom was proposed by the Rector and the usual toasts given and responded to. The happy couple then left for Grahamstown en route for their new home, Llangollen, near Alice.

Thursday 5 December 1889

DIED at Mesopotamia, Grahamstown on the 3rd December 1889, George Frederick STRUTT, aged 68 years and 5 days.
His end was peace.
Mrs. STRUTT and family tender their sincere thanks to Dr. GREATHEAD for his unremitting attention, and to Dr. and Mrs. HULLAH, Mrs. LEIGH, and the many friends for their kindness during deceased’s illness.

DEATH
Death has removed a valuable public servant at the Fort England Asylum in Mr. Geo. F. STRUTT, at the age of 68. He held a responsible position under the Surgeon-Superintendent, who had a high opinion of him. Deceased was father of Lieut. R.F.A. STRUTT of the G.V.H.A., and leaves a numerous family. We tender our sympathy with the bereaved ones.

Saturday 7 December 1889

DEATH OF MRS. E.B. JAMES
The news of Mrs. E.B. JAMES’s death has come upon her friends very suddenly. The deceased lady was seized with paralysis at Port Elizabeth, and in a short time after the stroke she passed quietly away. When we saw her last in Grahamstown she was apparently in the best of health, and we condole sincerely with the family and relatives thus suddenly bereaved. The body arrived at the station by the afternoon train yesterday, and the funeral procession moved from thence to the cemetery, where the last sad rites were performed.

Tuesday 10 December 1889

BIRTH at Oatlands, Grahamstown on the 7th December 1889, the wife of C.H. ABBOTT of a son.

DIED at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. J.M. HILL, Port Elizabeth, on Thursday December 5th 1889, Frances Amelia, relict of the late E.B. JAMES, Bathurst Street, Grahamstown, in the 49th year of her age.

Thursday 12 December 1889

BIRTH at Grahamstown on Saturday the 7th inst, the wife of A.G. HATCHARD, C.C. and R.M. Mafeking, of a son.

CONCERT IN CHRIST CHURCH SCHOOLROOM
A concert is advertised to take place in Christ Church Schoolroom under the auspices of Mr. Jno. WEDDERBURN’s well-known Sol-fa class. The proceeds will be devoted to the Christ Church Parsonage fund. The programme is a good one and the entertainment should be well supported.

Saturday 14 December 1889

SAD DEATH
We regret to hear of the death of Mr. McGREGOR, who was married to Miss Harriet BRADLEY, daughter of our former townsman Mr. E.D. BRADLEY (of Mr. E.B. JAMES’s). The deceased, who had been engaged in his duties of Civil Engineer for about two years on the Delagoa Bay Railway, contracted a severe attack of malarial dysentery. He was got as far as Durban, where he was laid up finally. Mrs. McGREGOR was telegraphed for to Kingwilliamstown, where she had been staying with her father, and arrived in time to be at her husband’s death-bed.

DEATH FROM POISONING
At last the Tarka paper has evolved a local paragraph. Here it is:
A fearful death from poisoning occurred yesterday. The youngest son of Mr. T. HALLIDAY, while attending the infant department of the Girls’ Public School, obtained leave to go into the yard, where he drank some carbolic acid, mistaking it for water, which had carelessly been left in a bottle on the wall. The poor little fellow died within an hour after taking the fatal stuff. We tender our sincere sympathy to the bereaved and sorrowing parents.

Tuesday 17 December 1889

BIRTH at Rocky House, Upper Hill-street, Grahamstown, on December 16th 1889, the wife of Mr. W.J. CLARKE of Johannesburg, South African Republic, of a son.

MR. DANIEL BARRY
We regret to learn that this gentleman is now in a dying condition. On making an examination of the wound yesterday, Drs. GREATHEAD and FLIGG found that the skull was fractured, and the only wonder is that he has lived so long. (We regret to learn that Mr. BARRY died at 3:30 this afternoon).

Thursday 19 December 1889

HILL – JAMES
Married at Grahamstown, Dec 17th, by the Rev. W. Tees, Tebbutt HILL of Port Elizabeth to Florence Emily, second daughter of the late E.B. JAMES, of Grahamstown.

ENTERED INTO REST on Wednesday December 18th at the residence of her son, John LOCKE, Grahamstown, Emily, relict of the late Rev. John LOCKE, in her 81st year.
To be with Christ
The Funeral of the late Mrs. LOCKE will move from Trinity Church on Friday afternoon at half past 4 o’clock. Friends are invited to attend.

DEATH OF MRS. LOCKE SEN.
The mournful anticipations in regard to Mrs. LOCKE’s condition were only too fully realised, for that lady died yesterday afternoon at the residence of her son, Mr. Jno. LOCKE. Her end was remarkably peaceful, and was attributable rather to general exhaustion of the faculties by old age than to any actual malady. Mrs. LOCKE was the relict of the late Rev. Jno. LOCKE, first Independent pastor of Trinity Church, which owed its erection in 1842 largely to his efforts. The deceased lady, who has resided in the Colony for more than half a century, came out with her husband in 1839. She had reached the age of 81 years and her memory will be long respected. The funeral takes place tomorrow (Friday) afternoon and the body will be taken into Trinity Church, where part of the service will be conducted, and the Rev. W. TEES will deliver an address. Friends are invited to be present. To those bereaved we would offer our sincere sympathy.

Tuesday 24 December 1889

DIED at Grahamstown, December 19th, Stephen Henry, youngest son of D. and H.S. BOSWELL, aged 1 year and 6 months.

A DREADFUL RUMOUR
It is rumoured that a change is to be made in men’s evening dress, in the abolition of the dress waistcoat. To take the place of the discarded waistcoat, a crimson or black silk sash is wound four times round the waist. The sash looks picturesque enough, worn with one of the new lounge coats or smoking jacket. But only younger men can do in for this buccaneering costume and yet not look foolish.

Saturday 28 December 1889

NUPTIALS
We hear rumours of several marriages projected for the holiday season, which will heighten the festivities in certain homes. One has already been celebrated yesterday. Miss Amy BERTRAM was united in the bonds of wedlock to Mr. W. DRENNAN, the Rev. M. NORTON performing the ceremony in Christ Church. We wish the young couple every conceivable happiness in their dual state.

Tuesday 31 December 1889

DIED suddenly at Sunrise Farm, East London District, on Nov 22nd, Ann, the beloved wife of John BOWLES, and eldest daughter of William MOUNTFORT of Manley’s Flat

ANOTHER WEDDING
At St.Bart’s on Saturday morning Miss MULLINS, daughter of the Rev. Canon MULLINS, was united in the bonds of wedlock to the Rev. Basil HAMPDEN-JONES MA. The visitors and invited guests were legion, and the festivities at the West Hill residence of the bride’s father were appropriately accentuated. We are rather behindhand in our good wishes, but we send a hearty word of congratulations after the happy couple, and hope they will experience all the joys of life and none of its sorrows.

A SAD OCCURRENCE
Alternations of joy and sorrow are not infrequent in this world of ours, but seldom have we heard of a more rapid transition from the former to the latter than in the case of the wedding between Miss Amy BERTRAM and Mr. William DRENNAN, alluded to in our last issue. Amongst the many congratulatory expressions and telegrams, none was more valued by the newly wedded pair than a telegram from Mr. Walter DRENNAN (of East London), brother of the bridegroom. A few hours later the young people’s joy was suddenly converted into acute sorrow by the intelligence that he whose cordial wishes for their happiness had so recently gladdened their hearts was dead, having been struck by lightning. The news seemed almost incredible, but it proved only too true. The Dispatch gives particulars of the melancholy event, from which we gather that the deceased, who belonged to Messrs. Lance and Wakefield’s establishment, was the son of the much respected [Resident] Maintenance Engineer, formed one of a merry picnic party who were returning by ox wagon from an excursion to a favourite resort of holiday-seekers, known as Cove Rock. As they came near home a fierce thunderstorm broke over them, and Mr. DRENNAN, who rode near the wagon, was suddenly struck by the lightning, which passed from his head through the saddle to the horse. Rider and horse were killed on the spot. A rush was immediately made to the spot but the only movement observable was a slight quiver of the lips. A Mr. KNOWLES was riding beside him and felt something like a shock. Deceased had just called to his sister in the wagon, asking her to throw him a wrap of some kind as the rain was saturating him, when he was struck. We would add our sympathy with those across whose pathway this gloom has suddenly fallen.