South African Diary

A fascinating unpublished manuscript account of an 1889 British colonial migrant's journey to South Africa, taking in De Beers' diamond mine at Kimblerley, before moving on to work at Hatherley Distillery in Transvaal. Kemble has a keen eye and a direct prose style 'Kafirs sang for rain, this scene was very unique to me. The songs are very harmonious, also the voices.' An interesting picture of the growing tensions with the Boers emerges, as well as resentment at the discrimination practised by the South African administration, 'No Catholic, Jew nor Kafir is allowed an official appointment under the Government of the Republic.' There are discussions of the ethics of trade restrictions as well as descriptions of brutal confrontations between whites and blacks and the impact of the arrival of the railway. There is a detailed account of the 1890 explosion at Hatherley Distillery as well as newspaper clippings and ephemera relating to Hatherley Athletic Club and concert programmes tipped in. The account of his experiences in South Africa runs to forty pages. The rest of the A5 book is devoted to Kemble's life after he returned to the UK. This reveals his experience at a distance of the Boer War and continues through until his death in 1942 using a mixture of manuscript entries, letters, newspaper clippings. The manuscript is accompanied by a large second album of letters and documents which begins with Kemble's passage to South Africa but is largely concerned with his subsequent life. Both volumes are very worn but would repay further research. (C3)