Brookshaw Home for the Aged was founded 50 years ago, but its rich history extends much further into the past than its birthday would suggest. Alan Bamford, a resident in the home since 2003, has compiled this timeline to delve into the who, what, when and why of one of Grahamstown's most historically interesting homes for the elderly.
Brookshaw Home for the Aged was founded 50 years ago, but its rich history extends much further into the past than its birthday would suggest. Alan Bamford, a resident in the home since 2003, has compiled this timeline to delve into the who, what, when and why of one of Grahamstown's most historically interesting homes for the elderly.
1812 Grahamstown was founded and named after Lt. Col. John Graham
1819 George Wood, a boy of 14, ran away from his stepfather to London. He applied to join the settler scheme for the Cape. As he was too young to be accepted on his own, he apprenticed himself to a carpenter, Richard Owen.
1820 4000 settlers arrived from the United Kingdom and were allotted farms in the Albany district. George Wood found the carpenter overbearing. On arrival with Sephton’s party on the ‘Aurora’ in Algoa Bay, at age 15, he waded ashore and hid among the crowds and wagons. He was apprenticed then to a wagon maker, William Thackwray. After completing his apprenticeship, he traded extensively with the Xhosas and started a general dealer’s business, Wood Brothers, in Bathhurst Street. As he proved to be an astute businessman, he prospered and became wealthy. His wide experience and sound judgment did not go unnoticed. He became the first Mayor of Grahamstown, a member of the Divisional Council and then a member of the Legislative Assembly in Cape Town receiving the title – The Honourable George Wood.
1849 Richard Graham Stone built an unusual and beautiful villa at 9 Donkin Street. For splendour and inspired creation, it is a masterpiece and one of the architectural gems of South Africa. It has a semi-circular bow-front graced by three French windows on each floor. A delicate cast-iron Trafalgar balcony further sets off this bow-front above terraced gardens. Further late-Georgian features of the façade are the pavilion-like wings with large paned windows, extremely delicate rails and finely moulded window hoods. The architect had to overcome the difficulty of designing the mansion situated on a hill. It is a measure of his ability that he achieved the height and proportions correctly. The interior contains a graceful staircase ascending under a dome and several large high-ceilinged reception rooms.
1857 George Wood Sr. left his large business in the capable hands of his two eldest sons, George Jr. and John and chartered a ship to take other members of his family and him to England. While in Scotland, he fell into a cellar and severely injured his back. He had to spend a considerable time recuperating before he could return to Grahamstown. Although his sons had built him a house, Greystones, in Worcester Street near their own homes, he declared that he would not be one of a family party and looked for a home across town.
1860 George Wood bought the mansion at 9 Donkin Street from the insolvent Estate of R G Stone for £2890. It had plenty of rooms and a well laid out garden. He wrote to his friend, Robert Godlonton ‘ we have got into our new house but it is a long way from being finished yet. I hope with perseverance we shall get all straight after a short time’. He named his new home ‘Woodville’ and installed a lift because of his back injury.
1861 George Wood founded the Eastern Province Guardian Loan and Investment Company and was a director of several companies until he retired. No one ever sought help in vain, as he gave liberally to all needy causes.
1866 September 30 Laura Elizabeth Chapman was born.
1884 Mother Cecile of the Community of the Resurrection obtained the use of Woodville as an orphanage from its owner, Judge Salomon.
1886 Woodville Orphanage was commenced.
1894 Mother Cecile introduced a training scheme for cooking, laundry and needlework. A laundry was built in the garden.
1895 January a Training School was begun. Mother Cecile had the sisters thoroughly trained in the work. The children performed with zeal and many became first class laundry hands.
1896 George Wood died. Woodville was sold to a Mr. Stanton. The Training School was put under government inspection allowing the girls to exhibit in the Town Hall at Industrial Shows.
1897 A trained teacher opened the Cookery School.
1898 A government inspector visited and was pleased at the responsible way the children prepared dinners for twenty people. A Needlework School was begun.
1899-1901 Anglo-Boer War
1903 Woodville was sold to a Mr. Parker
1905 July 10 the sisters of the Community of the Resurrection purchased Woodville for £2250 with a deposit of £500 and the balance to be paid in annual instalments. It had been an orphanage since 1886. Woodville itself was the home for senior girls. St. Michael’s Lodge, built on land below the old cottage, was for junior girls and babies were housed in the old cottage adjoining Woodville.
1907 October 17 General Lord Methuen unveiled the foundation stone of Queen Alexandra Home, 14a Donkin Street. It was named after Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, King 1901-1910. When completed, it consisted of dormitories upstairs and nuns’ bedrooms and playrooms downstairs. All three houses, Woodville and St. Michael’s at 9 Donkin Street and Queen Alexandra Home at 14a Donkin Street comprised the Woodville Orphanage. Juniors attended St. Peter’s School at the end of Donkin Street and seniors attended St. Peter’s School on the Training College campus. Later on the orphans were sent to Victoria Primary and Victoria Girls High School. The poorest were sent to Murray Gant School near the Railway Station.
1938 November 5, 8.30 pm St. Michael’s burnt down in a disastrous fire. The staff and children were at Rhodes University to watch a fireworks display. As the lodge was empty at the time of the fire, there were no casualties. Twenty-nine children and a staff of three lost all their personal possessions, except the clothes they were wearing. From November 6 onwards, donations of cash and clothes poured in from homes throughout Grahamstown, from friends in England and even from passengers on the ‘Arundel Castle’ sailing by Port Alfred, who heard the news on the wireless! The Insurance Company after careful investigation wrote off the building as a total loss and paid out the full-insured value of £1400.
During the 1950s the National Party Government closed children’s homes because of reduced numbers. Afrikaans children and English children were sent to separate orphanages in King William’s Town and Port Elizabeth.
During the 1950s Queen Alexandra Home was converted into a hostel for boys at Graeme College.
1960 February 2, Laura Elizabeth Brookshaw, née Chapman, died, aged 93, whose inspiration and bequest provided for the establishment of The Brookshaw Home.
1961 Grahamstown Rotary Club offered its services to the Trustees of the Brookshaw Bequest, to enable the terms of the will of the late Laura E Brookshaw to be carried out by the establishment of Brookshaw Home for elderly citizens of Grahamstown.
1961 May 10 Mayor of Grahamstown, Rotarian A K Rautenbach, convened a meeting of churches and community service organisations. An Advisory Council to assist the Trustees was formed. Mr. Espin stated that R20 000 of the R46 000 total should be spent on establishing the home, the residue being retained for subsidising residents, who could not afford the full cost.
1961 June 15 the Advisory Council urged the Trustees to purchase the building known as Woodville and its adjacent annexe, St. Michael’s Lodge. The Advisory Committee was enlarged to include representatives from Rotary, War Memorial Homes for the Aged, NCW, ACVV, City Council, Round Table and Lions International. The Trustees were urged to retain the atmosphere and architectural design of the house. Dr. Watts of the Social Sciences Department at Rhodes University carried out a survey that reported a need for accommodation far in excess of that envisaged for Brookshaw Home.
1961 August 8 Advisory Committee approved plans drawn up by architect advisor, Rotarian L Engels. The Department of Social Welfare and Pensions, Grahamstown Municipality, Rhodes Rag Dispersals Fund, Simon van der Stel Foundation and sundry donors provided a further R3 400. The restoration of Woodville and the conversion of its annexe, St. Michael’s, were carried out by members and their Anns of the Rotary Club of Grahamstown. Local building contractors helped and advised freely. The Reinforcing Steel Company donated reinforcing steel. Murray and Stewart erected a ramp free of charge. Rotary Anns undertook furnishing the home and the garden layout. They hunted for bargains at furniture sales and shops and held sewing parties. Service Products assisted with covering chairs. Round Table contributed built-in cupboards in the servery. Rhodes University donated an Esse stove and provided a large refrigerator at cost.
1962 February 1 the first residents moved in. Mrs. D Whitnall, a relative of the late Mrs. Brookshaw, was engaged as Matron to start the home. She employed staff, cared for the sick, operated within a budget and created a quiet and restful atmosphere. Mr. G Whitnall supervised the capital reconstruction and gardens. Bishop Leonard Fisher, formerly Anglican bishop of Natal, a resident in the home, chaired an entertainment committee. He was the brother of Geoffrey Fisher, archbishop of Canterbury (1945-1961), who crowned Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey in June 1953. Leonard Fisher bequeathed some beautiful pieces of antique furniture for the main lounge in the home. The lounge, commonly called ‘the antique lounge’ is named ‘The Bishop Fisher Room’.
1962 October 4 Department of Social Welfare and Pensions granted registration as a Welfare Organisation.
1962 November 11 Advisory Council adopted a constitution. The Trustees conferred certain powers on the Advisory Council.
1962 September 19 Trustee, Mr. C E Espin, died. Mr. J Forsyth, Secretary of the Albany Board of Executors, became the sole Trustee.
1963 Annual General Meeting. Chairman, Dr. Stanley G Shuttleworth, paid tribute to Treasurer, Rotarian Barry Piers, for the monthly and the audited annual financial statements for the period to 31 December 1962. He announced the Executive Committee’s decision to build an annexe to accommodate another 14 residents. Members of the first Executive Committee were:-
Dr. Stanley G Shuttleworth (Chairman), Dr. E Britten, Messrs. L Engels (Architect), J Forsyth (Trustee), N G Hutton (Trustee’s Agent), Barry Piers (Treasurer), A K Rautenbach (Mayor of Grahamstown), G Whitnall, Desmond White and Miss la Grange and Mesdames Thelma Neville, D Whitnall (Matron), B Rushmere and Mrs. B Shuttleworth (Secretary).
1963 April 21 Espin Lodge was erected in memory of the late Colonel C E Espin, MC, and Trustee of the Brookshaw Bequest for his role in establishing the home.
1966 November 20 His Worship the Mayor, Councillor G J Krige unveiled Shuttleworth Lodge. It was a new block of flats comprising of eight flats, four double and four single, built along the Beaufort Street boundary of the Brookshaw Home property. It was named after the first Chairman, Dr. Stanley Shuttleworth.
During the 1970’s a Mr. Bouwer purchased Graeme College hostel. He divided the dormitories with hardboard into separate bedrooms and rented them to Training College and Rhodes University students. During examinations there was a power failure and the oldest part of the building, the former Queen Alexandra Home, caught alight and was burnt down.
1970 Mrs. Di Sonemann commenced a remarkable forty-year association with Brookshaw Home during which she became the Home’s hairdresser, organiser of White Elephant stalls at annual fetes and Secretary and Minutes Scribe on the Council. She served on the Council with ten Chairmen – Mr. N G Hutton, Dr. Stanley Shuttleworth, Mr. Peter van Zyl, Mrs. Peggy Hutton, Mr. Barney Coetzee, Mrs. Ula Cameron, Mrs. Carol Oosthuizen, Advocate Andrew Lang, Dr. Steven Fourie (Registrar of Rhodes University) and Mr. Paddy Page (formerly General Manager of GBS Mutual Bank) until June 2010. She is still the Home’s hairdresser, a task that she performs every Monday and Tuesday mornings.
1971 November 27 Grahamstown Round Table No. 11 converted St. Michael’s Lodge into a sanatorium.
1977 March 29 Department of Social Welfare and Pensions issued a certificate of registration for a home for the aged providing accommodation for forty one white aged persons of the sub-economic group and fifteen white aged persons of the economic income group.
The building of the Dining Room and kitchen complex was made possible by the generosity of three legators – Miss M E Hollings, Professor D Liddell and Mrs. Gore Sellam – and three donors – Grahamstown Rotary Club, Mr. T H Grocott and the Rhodes Rag Dispersals Fund.
1982 John Robert Jansen Van Rensburg bought the property where the Queen Alexandra Home had burnt down. His family still occupies the portion of the house where it had its dining room, kitchen, scullery and sewing room.
Two blocks of four flats, Guardian Lodge, were purchased by the Home. They have added four two-bedroom and four one-bedroom flats to the complex.
1997 November 1 Sister Sozette Scheepers commenced duty in the Frail Care, later became Matron and retired after thirteen years on 31 January 2011.
2000 April 1 J Casper Scheepers commenced duty as Administrative Manager and served for eleven years when he retired on 31 March 2011.
2000 December 11 The Brookshaw Residents’ Association (BRA) was formed. It survived strongly for four years. It prepared and adopted its own Constitution. It declared itself to be in abeyance with effect from 14 March 2005, the anniversary of its fourth Annual General Meeting. This permits it to recommence if and when it chooses under its established Constitution. The Association met every two to three months and about twenty-five residents attended each meeting. As its relationship with the Council Chairman was stormy, it consequently under performed, but it received a reluctant farewell from its appreciative members.
2002 a state of the art Frail Care Centre costing about R1 million was completed and joined to St. Michael’s Lodge, which became a semi-Frail Care Centre.
2004 August 3 the operating name of Brookshaw Home was changed to The Friends of Brookshaw Council. A certificate of registration of non-profit organisation was issued and the new name was entered in the register.
Council members are elected at Annual General Meetings held in June. Council meets monthly and considers reports on the health of residents from the Matron, reports on its Financial Statements compared to Budget from the Treasurer and many other matters that require its attention. Councillors serve in honorary capacities and their work, expertise and valuable time is much appreciated by residents.
2012 during the past nine years of my tenure as resident, enormous improvements have been made to the buildings and garden on the property. Shower rooms have been added to nearly all the rooms in Espin Lodge and their balconies have been enclosed. A row of carports has been erected and the driveway bricked. Both the exterior and interior of Woodville have been thoroughly maintained and two new shower rooms added upstairs. The exteriors of all buildings have been painted. Plumbing in Espin Lodge has been replaced.
2010 September, catering, cleaning and laundry were outsourced to Eastern Cape Caterers, whose manager on the premises now controls those functions.
Brookshaw 300 Club, incorporated in the Constitution, raised large sums that were used to refurbish lounges in Woodville and St. Michael’s Lodge. The Club has now terminated. A generous donation enabled new sick rooms and bathrooms to be erected within St. Michael’s Lodge. Grahamstown Rotary, with financial help from Rotary Clubs in the USA, continued their generous donations of equipment for the kitchen, dining room and Frail Care centre. Annual street collections and incomes from Fetes have added to funds available for ongoing improvements to the Home.
Over the years books have been donated to form a comprehensive library in Woodville. Pastors and priests from various churches take a service in the Bishop Fisher lounge by rotation every Thursday afternoon. Anglican lay ministers take communion services in a chapel on the premises every Friday morning.
2011 April two new young Administrative Managers, Bill and Judy Harvey, were appointed. What they have achieved in the past ten months has been phenomenal. The administration of Brookshaw Home is in excellent hands.
2012 February 29 a cocktail party to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Brookshaw Home will take place.
