It is interesting to find that the first Scotsman in South Africa William Robbertson (sic) of Dundee former surgeon was stationed at the Castle around 1660 shortly after the arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck and that the Scots presence was found in local taverns as well as which often doubled up as brothels, of which one was called the Schotsche Tempel.
The first Scots regiment the 98th Highlanders arrived on the 3rd September 1795 in Simons Bay and while still serving at the Cape it changed its designation to the 91st Highlanders and later united with the 93rd Highlanders to form the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders which were then stationed at the castle.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Scottish Universities churned out new graduates by their hundreds but due to economic crisis and living conditions few of these people found jobs in their home towns and were forced to look to greener pastures for a better life. The climate of Cape Frontier posed in some aspects ideal for the Scots as their harsh climate and weather conditions made the Cape look rather attractive. These hardy families could endure more than many other immigrants who settled here.
Scottish Ministers
The Scots were significant in the spread of Freemasonry as well as Presbyterianism but one of the most important facts to remember was the Scots ministers who preached in and alongside the Dutch Reformed Pastors in the Dutch Reformed church and virtually saved their church from collapse. They were made to feel very comfortable and at home and were accepted wholeheartedly into the DRC church. Much of this was due to the language policy of the early British governors, whose object it was to introduce the English language among the older established population with the least possible delay, and the scarcity of ministers of religion. After a short stay in the Netherlands, where they learnt Dutch the Scots ministers were assigned to various synods. Among them were Andrew Murray, Colin Fraser, Andrew McGregor, William Robertson (formerly a schoolmaster), Henry Sutherland, George Thom, etc., all of whom became the progenitors of great Afrikaner families.
In 1817 the first organised immigration under the British administration came about when Capt. Benjamin Moodie, with the assistance of the British government, brought out 200 Scots to South Africa. Most of them were artisans who easily found employment in Cape Town. The rest settled mainly in Clanwilliam; Moodie himself at Grootvadersbosch near Swellendam. They were followed by the 1820 Settlers when 4 000 men, women and children from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were brought to the eastern parts of the Cape Colony.
Scots in Natal
In 1841 the British government replied to enquiries that ministers `can neither assist nor permit emigration to Port Natal’. Six years later this attitude was modified to allow Patrick Maxwell to send a few settlers, who reached Natal on the Gwalior on Christmas Eve, 1848. But the first major scheme was that of J. C. Byrne, whose emigration plan, with the smaller enterprises of rival companies, brought some 5 000 immigrants to Natal. They were mainly English settlers, with some Lowland Scots and a handful of planters from the West Indies.
The Great Trek (1836-38) was of far-reaching significance as a national movement which carried a great many church members into the interior, beyond the boundaries of the Cape Colony. The synod of 1837 raised a voice of warning against the Trek, whereby a great many members of the Church `had left their homes and altars to trek into the wilderness, without a Moses and an Aaron, in search of a Canaan without a promise or a definite direction’. This warning added to the tension concerning some Scottish ministers. Eleven of the 22 ministers in the synod of 1837 were Scots, mostly stationed in the border districts.
The Scots have played an immense role in the culture and traditions of many South African’s today.
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