F.K. Maré

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Full name: Frederik (Frikkie) Korsten Maré

Lifespan: 1821 Uitenhage - 1895 Heidelberg, Tvl

Occupation: Magistrate (landdrost)

Family: He married Johanna Helena Josina van Niekerk (1827 Graaff-Reinet - 1921 Heidelberg) in 1845. They had more than 11 children.


Timeline

House

F.K. Maré was born in the Cape Colony (Uitenhage/Graaff-Reinet area) as one of the youngest sons of Paul Maré. The family trekked to Natal in 1838. Paul died in a Scotch Cart accident. His widow and the children trekker further where they joined the party of Gert Maritz at Klein Tugela. After the Battle of Bloodriver (1838), the Maré family trekked to Pietermaritzburg. His younger brother Dietlof remained in Pietermaritzburg and became a wagon maker and ivory trader. He would later become landdrost of Soutpansberg.

  • Paulus Maré (or Maree) (1767 Stellenbosch - 1838 Bethlehem) was a landdrost of Graaf-Reinet.
  • Dietlof Siegfried Maré (1824 Uitenhage - 1890 Pietersburg).

Frederik attended school in Algoa Bay. In 1842, Frederik and Dietlof fought in the Battle of Congella against British forces.

Maré was appointed as Heidelberg's first landdrost on 10 June 1866 - just a few months after the town was officially proclaimed in March 1866. Heidelberg was a small town, but he was also responsible for Vereeniging, Nigel and Elandsfontein. In 1888 he was 'claiminspecteur' (claim inspector) of Malanskraal. In 1889 he was appointed special landdrost of the Heidelberg goldfields.

During 1877-1878 he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the British after the annexation of the Transvaal. He resigned in March 1878 and was succeeded by H.J.F. Ueckermann (Heinrich Ueckermann’s brother). He was re-appointed landdrost of Heidelberg after the restoration of the ZAR. He served until his death in 1895 (total service: 1866–1878 and 1882–1895).

He founded the first school commission in 1868 and was a lifelong member (sometimes chairman). In 1888 he donated ground for a new school building on the explicit condition that Hollands (Dutch/Afrikaans) would be the medium of instruction. This is the school later known as the dorpskool / Heidelberg Public School. A specific condition of the school was that the medium of instruction had to be Hollands (Dutch/Afrikaans).

In 1867 he formally requested the construction of a proper jail because prisoners kept escaping from the temporary lock-up (one of Ueckermann’s rooms). The jail was built on land volunteered by Heinrich Ueckermann and remains one of Heidelberg’s oldest public buildings.

Active member of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk. He served on the building committee for the parsonage with Ds. N.J. van Warmelo. In 1885 he opposed the local union with the NG Kerk and helped reorganise the NH congregation.

After the 1886 gold discoveries he also served as claim inspector (Malanskraal) and special landdrost of the Heidelberg goldfields (1889). His district included Vereeniging, Nigel, Elandsfontein, and the Witwatersrand diggings until Johannesburg got its own landdrost.

Maré remained actively involved in the Nederduitsch Hervormde (NH) church and community affairs.

House

Maré bought the stand (Erf 161) in 1866. By 1875, he had also acquired the four adjoining properties. "In August 1879, the house was leased to Standard Bank for £7 per month. The bank manager appointed was Frederick Watt Standen, a bachelor who lived in two of the rooms, two other rooms being used for banking purposes, and the remaining two being rented out to a lodger. After the war, business in the Heidelberg area slumped and it was decided to close the Standard Bank’s Heidelberg branch. Standard Bank reopened in Heidelberg on Ueckermann Street in 1886, from where it has traded ever since. After subdivision, the remaining ground, house and stables remained the property of the Maré family until 1984."¹

The house was declared a national monument in 1984, and received a Blue Plaque in 2021.

Maré's house in Strydom St.


Google Street View (2009)

Sources
  1. The Citizen: Maré’s house in Strydom Street receives blue heritage plaque. September 21, 2021. Greyling, L.
  2. Lombard, R.T.J. (1968) F.K. en D.S. Maré.
  3. Frederik Korsten Mare

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