Early Douglas and Drysdale migrants to South Africa

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi all,

Following on from William Douglas's recent comment:

https://douglashistory.ning.com/group/drysdale-archives?commentId=3...

The following website contains some very good information on early Douglas (93) and Drysdale (10) migrants to South Arica:

https://www.eggsa.org/arrivals/lists.html

The attached pdfs downloaded from that site give further details for each of the migrants listed

South Africa Passenger lists 1850 to 1911 Drysdale
South Africa Passenger lists 1850 to 1911 Douglas

The earliest Douglas & Drysdale families contained in the listing actually travelled onboard the same ship - the Gipsy Bride:

- Sailed from Liverpool on 2 March 1858
- Arrived Cape of Good Hope 15 May 1858

Details of the families below

No doubt there are other, earlier, Douglas & Drysdale migrants, but most of the Colony in the 1700s & early 1800s was Dutch.

Best regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi all,

Continuing on with early Douglas & Drysdale migrants to South Africa:

The lists of British Settlers in South Africa who landed before 1820 include the Moodie party and the Tait party.

There are no Drysdales in these two lists while there are two John Douglases:

Moodie party

https://www.geni.com/projects/Pre-1820-British-Settlers-in-South-Af...

"The Garland left London for the Cape on 6 May 1817, and arrived in Table Bay at the end of August with about 90 members of the party. The 'Clyde' sailed at the end of May 1817 and arrived at the Cape on 27 September with 49 of Moodie's Party"

- the lists include John Douglas aged 18

Tait Party

https://eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/correspondence/pre-1820-l...

- the list includes another John Douglas

"National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 13

Southampton

April 25th 1819

Sir,

I am honoured with your letter of the 22nd instant, and I have directed Andrew MARSHALL, one of the persons going to my Brother of the Cape of Good Hope, to call at your office on Tuesday next to receive the letter to His Excellency the Governor.

As some of the persons in the List sent to you from Scotland, refused to fulfil their engagements when required to embark at Berwick, it became necessary to engage others in place of them, I beg leave, therefore, to enclose a corrected List of those who have come from Scotland and who are going to the Cape in the Carmarthen.

I have the honor to be Sir,

Your most obedient & very Humble Servant,

Wm TAIT

A list of Persons going to the Cape of Good Hope to Mr. Peter TAIT in the Ship Carmarthen

Andrew MARSHALL 1

Henry AITCHISON 1

James STEVENSON 1

Robert ROBSON 1

Thomas HILL 1

James GRIEVE 1

Edward WAKE 1

John DOUGLASS 1

Joseph McDOUGAL 1

George HAVERY 1

James DONALDSON 1

James FOORD 1

Isaac TAIT & his wife 2

Children (under 12 years) 4

William FOORD aged 14 1

William FOORD & his wife 2

Children (under 12 years) 2

Margaret HAVERY 1

George OGILVIE 1

25

Abstract

16 men – 3 women – 6 Children

April 25th 1819

Wm TAIT M.D."

See also John Douglas of South Africa at:

https://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/articles/john_douglas-ofso...

which discusses these two John Douglases and also mentions a third John Douglas who landed in Natal in 1824

https://shelaghspencer.com/settlers/

Note

The first major wave of British Settlers in South Africa was known as the 1820 Settlers. They arrived in Algoa Bay (now Nelson Mandela Bay) onboard approximately 25 ships (see below), the first being the Nautilus and the Chapman on 17 March 1820.
They numbered about 4500 and included artisans, tradesmen, religious leaders, merchants, teachers, bookbinders, blacksmiths, discharged sailors and soldiers, professional men and farmers.

No Drysdales were found in the shipping lists associated with these first wave 1820 settlers, however, one Elizabeth Douglas was found on the ship Albury, on the website below:

https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I1280...

Best regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi all,

For some reason, Johannesburg, in South Africa in the 1950s adopted a number of place and street names that appear to originate from the infamous 1503 Douglas-Drysdale Brothers story (Brushwood Haugh, Drysdale Road, Douglas Road etc).

This has already been discussed here:
https://douglashistory.ning.com/group/drysdale-a-douglas-sept/forum...

It has also been noted that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of South African Drysdale family settlers decided to adopt the middle name of Douglas, even though there were no apparent Douglas relatives within their family lines (see image below).

In my view the most likely reason for this unnatural preponderance of 'Douglas Drysdales'at that time is that the '1503 story' became known to them and was circulated as fact widely amongst the South African 'Drysdale' community.

Later this appears to have been manifested by the Brushwood Haugh, Douglas and Drysdale place names in Johannesburg.

Best regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

Sorry, number 3 in the above image is a doubler it should have been:

Best regards