Indian tenants in Krantzkloof

The first Indians to settle in Natal arrived in 1860 (a fact which has led some of their descendants to coin the term ‘1860 Settlers’!) They were brought here to provide labour on the colony’s sugar plantations. The original arrangement was that, after their initial contract of five years’ service, they should be repatriated. But a cash-strapped colonial government found it cheaper to offer them land-holdings on the remote southern border of Natal.

The colonial government was however not alone in seeking to benefit from the land-hunger of these immigrants. In 1882 the Protector of Indians wrote “they (the immigrants) prefer the independence of a farmer on one acre of land to employment in European service.” A number of white Natal farmers let portions of land to Indian tenants. One of these landlords was John Coote Field, of Tafelkop farm, to which he had come from the Cape with his boeremeisie wife and a young daughter in 1845. He renamed the farm Richmond, and on it, more than fifty years later, the settlement known as Kloof came into existence.

As a result, the annals of Kloof have several references to early Indian settlers in the area. Local historian, Adrian Rowe, has noted reports of an Indian cemetery near York Place, and a temple in Klooflands Road, although no traces of the structure have been found. He has also referred to Indian tenants in the Klooflands area. But very little else has been recorded. It is known, however, that an Indian trading store existed at the junction of Alamein Avenue and Emolweni Road. This business was supported by Indian tenants in the area but also by Africans from the reserves at Inanda and Molweni. The existence of a place of worship, as well as the trading store, suggests that there was a substantial number of Indian tenants on Richmond farm.

Contributing to the economy

Not surprisingly, many white residents recognised the contribution made by independent Indians to the Natal economy. J.R. Robinson, whose family was associated with the founding of the Natal Mercury, wrote of the “frugal and irrepressible coolie*”. Others, however, saw the emergence of an independent Indian peasant class as a threat to the economic future of the white settlers. In 1990, at a history workshop arranged by the University of the Witwatersrand, B. Freund of the University of Natal presented a paper on ‘The Rise and Fall of the Indian Peasantry in Natal’. He referred to a publication in 1907 by L.E. Neame entitled ‘The Asiatic Danger in the Colonies’. Independent Indians, farming on a small scale, were seen as a threat to the economic future of the entire white population. It may well have been that this fear of competition contributed to the passage of a law in the old Orange Free State, which banned Indians from settling there, even making an overnight stop illegal.

Indian tea-pickers on Liege Hulett’s Kearsney estate, 1887. Hulett sold tea in Natal for many years before he started growing sugar.

The reality was, of course, that Indian peasants were willing to work hard. Liege Hulett, who used Indian labour on his Kearsney estate near Stanger, observed that “a free Indian makes his wife and children work as well as himself.” Freund reports further that in the early 1880s even indentured Indian workers could return home at noon to cultivate a private garden and that they tried to raise produce and poultry for private sale. Some white settlers bought plots of land to receive an income from renting small lots to free Indians. Indeed, early in the 20th century there were several companies which profited by selling small-holdings to Indian market-gardeners.

The mysteries of Krantzkloof

Nothing is known of the economics of the Richmond farm tenantry. Perhaps, like bywoners on Boer farms, they paid their rents with a portion of their harvest (the ’sharecropping’ system widely practiced in North America). Many tenants elsewhere in the colony, however, preferred to pay their rent in cash so that they could sell more of their produce for profit. Connecting this story with the one about Major Apperley (published in the last issue of The Leopard’s Echo), it seems very likely that the major’s buying expeditions outside the white settlement were to the Indian gardens in the Krantzkloof, and one presumes that he paid for his purchases in cash.

Certainly, this would fit comfortably with the explorations in Ronaldskloof conducted by our Editor. He discovered several areas where narrow shelves had clearly been cut on steep hillsides and one concrete slab which was plainly the foundation of a dwelling. A scrutiny of aerial photographs for the period 1936 to 1948 shows a number of very small households scattered over a broad area from close to the area near the Lingwood Trig Beacon (now part of Krantzkloof Nature Reserve) through to the area now known as the Msinsi Grassland on Klooflands Road. When this is added to the report of a trading store and particularly a temple, then the evidence for a substantial Indian population in the area is hard to discount.

Concrete slab at the Msinsi Grasslands – possible remnants of Indian Garden Market farmer’s home

Birth of a village

John Coote Field died in 1896, leaving Richmond farm to his wife, Elizabeth Catrina. In terms of his will, when Elizabeth died, the land was divided among their children. Her death occurred in 1901. The sons received 561 acres each and the daughters 400. By this time, however, there was a demand among well-to-do white Durbanites for property on the cooler high ground west of the port and the village of Kloof had begun to take shape. It is reasonable to suppose that that the resultant land sales soon put paid to the settlement in the area of any Indian tenants who may have survived.

Unfortunately, it has proved impossible to trace anyone in the area whose ancestors were tenants on Richmond farm. Enquiries were made through contacts in Wyebank and among senior residents of Stockville without success. But the circumstantial evidence is hard to discount and a few more pieces are added to the jigsaw puzzle of the past of the Krantzkloof.

Notes

J.R. Robinson, whose family was associated with the founding of the Natal Mercury, wrote of the “frugal and irrepressible coolie*”.

*Kloof Conservancy and the writer recognise the offensive nature of this word but it is included here in its historical context which highlights the prejudices of the period.

About the author

Robin taught History for many years at Kearsney College. Since 2004 Jean and he have lived in a hillside complex at Waterfall, daily enjoying the quiet, the views and the wildlife. Robin is also a regular contributor of historical articles to a number of magazines.