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Sir Richard Southey, Lieutenant governor of Griqualand West 1872-1875
The idea for using Southey's letters as the basis for a study of his administration or Griqualand West was suggested to me by two historians, one South African and one American, almost simultaneously. Thus inspired, I spent many hours in the Cape Archives where I became fascinated by Southey, his fr...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Historical Studies
2016
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| Summary: | The idea for using Southey's letters as the basis for a study of his administration or Griqualand West was suggested to me by two historians, one South African and one American, almost simultaneously. Thus inspired, I spent many hours in the Cape Archives where I became fascinated by Southey, his friends and his numerous adversaries. Southey was a tireless correspondent, and from his detailed accounts of the day to day happenings in Griqualand West and his definite opinions on people and events, a vivid picture emerges of Southey as a man. Stubborn, irascible, protocol minded and disorganized on one hand, humanitarian and imperialistic to the point of being almost visionary in his dreams for Africa on the other. The difficulty was to present Southey in depth without drowning in detail. Certain aspects of Southey's administration I have deliberately omitted, for instance, the complicated issue of ownership of the land which became Griqualand West and the endless boundary squabbles with the OFS and the SAR. Others, such as Southey's relations with Barkly, Carnarvon and Froude I have only touched upon from Southey's point of view as they have been dealt with in great detail by Mr. Goodfellow and Mrs. Macmillan. I have concentrated on the specific issue of Southey's administration and why it tailed. Southey's attitude towards the natives, which affected his views on the arms trade, complicated the settlement of the land problem, and soured his relations with the diggers was one factor. There were others as far flung as the fluctuation of the world diamond market, and as near as Southey's inability to compromise and his knack of making both warm friends and bitter enemies. |
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