Jackpot!

Saturday, February 07, 2015
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
The weather on ‘The Sunshine Coast’ is very unpredictable and in between scorching hot days, the wind howls and it lashes with rain. It is probably just as well it has not been wall-to-wall sunshine every day otherwise it would have been hard to leave our little piece of paradise at Fish River Mouth.


The Great Fish River was where the British drew a line between the land they had allocated to the 1820 Settlers and the Xhosa tribes . On our last day at Fish River I walked to the far end of our beach to take this photograph. It is a deep and dangerous river but on the whole, it did not stop the Xhosas attacking the settlers and stealing their livestock.


On Wednesday we drove to Grahamstown to see if we could find out more about John Hougham Hudson, my great-great-great-grandfather. From the records in Port Alfred, we knew that he had been the Agent-General for the Xhosas at Grahamstown in 1836 and in ’38, he was elected to Grahmstown Church Vestry. The records also say that in 1852 he put his Grahamstown property up for sale, so he must have lived there, too.  


We went to the Settlers’ museum and searched through the records but could not find a mention of the Hudson name. We came across the Curries - his eldest son had married one of their daughters - but otherwise, nothing . A little disappointing. However, we did find a street called ‘Hudson’ (see pic) which was probably named after him, because most of the streets in this fascinating town are named after the Settlers.


It is an interesting town with numerous churches, the most important being the cathedral of St Michael &  St George. Amazingly, we found further traces of ‘Mousey Thompson’ from Yorkshire here; the little mouse atop a wooden plaque in honour of the fallen heroes of World War II! The architecture in the town could have been straight out of Tunbridge Wells, with lots of little English-style cottages still on its streets. But it is a predominantly a Black town which we have not come across before.  


We finished our day by going to the ‘1820’s Monument’ on the edge of town. Built in the ’70’s, it was burned down and then refurbished in 1997, when it was re-opened by Nelson Mandela . It is the most extraordinary, enormous and impressive building. Now used as a theatre, it has some superb artwork on display but really, it is totally over-the-top. I couldn’t help but think that John Hougham Hudson would not only smile but probably laugh at such extravagance on his and his fellow travellers’ behalf!


Our final day at Fish River was spent on the beach. Apart from some really interesting birds, we were the only ones there - not even a fisherman. It was idyllic and we had an extravagant day. This is our last ‘home’ at the coast so it was with reluctance we left. 


On the drive down to Port Elizabeth, we called in at Kenton-on-Sea which has a reputation for being a beautiful seaside town. It is just that - quite idyllic! We parked above the beach to look at the beautiful bay only to see whales playing quite close to the shore! There were probably three of them and they gave us quite a show . After our time whale-watching in Australia, we knew what we were looking for but we were surprised that they should be travelling at this time of the year. Denise (McNamara), you will know why?


We knew that Hougham Park (where John Hougham built his final house) was at Coega and we pulled off the N2, about 20k short of PE to see if we could find it. We were immediately delighted to see a sign pointing to ‘Hougham Park’ and full of enthusiasm, headed off into the bush. However, we also knew that Coega is being developed as an enormous industrial park and as we drove further and further on, every road came to a dead end. It seemed that there was nothing there at all.


Disheartened, we headed into PE and booked into a really rather nice Radisson hotel. The view from our 11th floor bedroom window is out of this world and after a fish ‘dinner’ at a little café by the sea, we retired to bed rather early . It had been a tiring day and perhaps we had overdone our last day at Fish River?


After a hearty Radisson breakfast on Friday, we set off to explore PE. We started with St Mary’s Church which is not only the first church to be built in the city, it was also one of the first Anglian churches to be established in South Africa. Confident that John Hougham would have been buried here when he died in 1860, we were disappointed to find that the original St Mary’s was burnt down in 1895 and of course, with it, most records of the 1820 Settlers. So we could not find a grave for poor John.


We climbed up the hill (PE, like many ports, is built on a steep hill above the harbour) to the Donkin Reserve, Lighthouse and ‘The Great Flag’ (the tallest and biggest flag in South Africa). It’s OK but like most of PE, slightly tatty . We went into The Grand Hotel (the oldest hotel in PE) for a beer and a sandwich. As we were leaving, we took a look at the many old photographs on the walls of this tatty old pub, only to find a picture of ‘Hougham Hudson’s house’ in the centre of town, from about 1830! Magic!


Next we moved on to Parsonage House, 7 Castle Hill. The house is one of the oldest dwellings in PE and is now a small museum. It is delightfully furnished and filled with artefacts, mainly from England in the 1800’s. As we were enjoying it all, the curator, Grizel Hart, came to talk to us. When I mentioned us I was the great-great-great-grandaughter of Hougham Hudson, she produced a cornucopia of documents about him and his houses in PE! There were paintings picturing his PE house and evidence that he owned another property, an old mill, which was used by the River Leper Institution from 1839 to 1846. Sadly his house in PE is no more; it was demolished to make way for the Feather Market Hall (where they traded and sold ostrich feathers!) As we were leaving, Grizel gave us the name and number of a Margaret Harradine who has done much research on the 1820 Settlers .


Feeling fairly exhausted and overcome by it all, and after visiting Fort Frederick, we clambered down the hill to take a picture of The Campanile which was erected to commemorate the landing of the 1820 Settlers. 53.5m high, it has the largest bell in the country. Much of the city is dedicated to Nelson Mandela of course, but sadly, the centre is tatty and grim. We finally visited the Horse Memorial which was erected and dedicated to the horses killed in the 1899 Boer War. It is a very beautiful sculpture and we were pleased that we had risked death on the roads on the lower city centre to find it.


This morning, our last day in PE, we had arranged to call on Margaret Harradine and she had even more records about Hougham Hudson. She also assured us that Hougham Park house was still standing, and that he and quite a few of his family were buried there . So it was back to Coega and this time we took a track into the bush which took us straight to the old farmhouse which, although derelict, is indeed still standing! We explored the surrounding bushland and eventually came across the small burial ground which is hidden from view by thick bushes and undergrowth. There we found Hougham’s grave, along with those of his son Thomas Andries, Andries’ wife Wilhelmina, their second daughter Elizabeth Ann and the graves of Elizabeth’s two husbands, Henry Bowler and Malcolm Stewart. Andries’ 7th child, Sarah Sophia, is also there, as well as their eleventh child, Lilian Mabel, who lived until she was 92 and did not die until 1960! Interestingly enough, the records show that Andries was insolvent in 1884 and Hougham Park was sold. Therefore the whole family, with the exception of Hougham and Wilhelmina, were not living there when they died!


So success at last! We have found John Hougham Hudson, the original 1820 Settler, his house and most of his family! It was a magic moment and one I shall never forget . I don’t think we were a moment too soon either because I am quite sure that Hougham Park will be demolished very soon to make way for the huge industrial development happening at Coega. I wonder what will happen to the burial ground, along with those ancient gravestones?


Tomorrow we head north by train to Johannesburg. We will not be staying there however; we transfer from there to a Greyhound bus which will take us some way south again to Wolmaransstad where we have an exchange at Lindbergh Game Lodge. No family history there; just a lovely place to stay and a chance to see some game, hopefully. We will resume the Hudson trail when we go back to Pretoria on 18th February.


Thank you for your comments; we do enjoy hearing from you!

Comments

mvgarside
2015-02-07

Glug... I can't write what that means to me, Gillie. We are both born with the family name Garside but i have for a long time felt I was really a Hudson. All my research led me to Coega but it stopped short of actually doing the job. You've done it, kid. Thank you. I'm whellin' up inside....

mike farland
2015-02-08

It was clearly meant to be, what an amazing outcome for all connected to the Hudson name. Well done, intrepid travelers!

Vicky
2024-02-15

Nearly 10 years later and I am enthralled by Hougham Park. I visited it yesterday. It is has been declared a National Heritage Building and cannot be demolished, by law they are also not allowed to touch the gravesites. So your family's heritage is safe. There are people fighting to keep it that way.

gillie.bowen
2024-02-15

Vicky, How wonderful to hear from you after all these years. It is so good to know that it is a National Heritage Building and the gravesite is safe. Thank you so much for letting me know.

2025-02-11

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