Johan Struben

Full name: Captain Johannes Hermanus Marinus Struben

Lifespan: 1806 Netherlands - 1869 Pretoria

Occupation: Politician, former naval officer, businessman

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Timeline

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Biography

Johan Struben married Frances Sarah Beattie (1818 England - 1854 Ladismith) in 1838, and Catherine (Anderson) Brooks (1832 Scotland - 1914) in 1855 - they had four children. He had a total of nine children, including Harry Struben, Fred Struben and Edward Struben. All his children save Fred were born in England.

• Frances died shortly after they arrived in Natal in 1850. Her father was a Scottish shipowner.
• Catharine's father was the well-known transport rider, Robert Anderson.

"Johan Struben was born in Oosterwijk Castle in Holland in 1806, but became a naturalised British citizen in 1846 when he married Frances Sarah Beattie. He was known as Captain Marinus Struben because he commanded a small squadron of vessels employed by the VOC. Due to his wife’s health the family travelled to the Cape where they stayed for a short while, before moving to Natal upon the invitation of Sir Benjamin Chili Pine, the Governor of Natal. Captain Struben became the Chief Magistrate and was known for harmonising forces of Boers and British settlers in Natal. He arrived in Pretoria with his family in 1855 and built a cottage on the corner of Church Square and Market Street." (Van der Vyfer, 2018)

• Sir Benjamin Chilley Campbell Pine (1809 England - 25 February 1891 England) was administrator of Natal from 1857-58.

Johan was a retired Dutch naval officer and ship's captain who emigrated to South Africa in 1850. He was appointed to Klip River Division magistracy (Natal) in August 1850. In 1854 he unsuccessfully stood as Presidential candidate for the Orange Free State, and absconded to the Transvaal in 1856.

"Captain Struben was the State Secretary and he was instrumental in getting the Lydenburg Republic (founded 1856) to join the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (in 1860)."

Church Square house

Property ownership on Church Square is complex - Van der Vyfer did a thesis on it in 2018. We will discuss Church Square in a separate post. Here are Church Square properties that were owned by Johan Struben.

• With Arthur H. Walker’s re-measurement of A.F. du Toit’s original layout in 1875, the erf numbers changed.

Early in 1857, Johan purchased erf 320 on the north-western corner of Church Square, on the northern side of the current post office. It is not clear whether he built the house on the erf or if there was already a house on the erf when he bought it. In 1859, he also bought the two adjacent erven in Vermeulen Street.

Government printing

"Rondom die Kerkplein het daar nie veel woonhuise gestaan nie behalwe aan die Noordelike-kant waar Ds. Begemann se pastorie en Struben se huis was. In 1863 toe die drukpers van die Republiek na Pretoria oorgebring is, het Struben sy huis waar die Reserwebank tans staan aan Moll, die staatsdrukker, afgestaan en die drukpers van die staat was tydelik daar gehuisves. In 1864 is die drukpers verskuiwe en het H v d Linde sy intrek in die huis geneem tot 1870 toe James Brooks, die landmeter, daar gaan woon het." (Peacock)

• Cornelis Pieter Moll Jr (1836 Cape Town - 1917 Brits) was a Cape Town-trained printer who followed in his father's footsteps. He assisted with early printing ventures in the Cape and Natal before moving to the Transvaal. Cornelis Pieter Moll Sr (1815 - 1880) was a Cape Town printer and businessman. In 1863, when the ZAR government's printing press was relocated from Potchefstroom to Pretoria, Moll Jr was appointed as the State Printer.
• James Brooks (1841 - 1901) was a British-born land surveyor in the ZAR who worked on various projects in the Transvaal, including Springs and the route of the Pretoria to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) railway line. He married Catherine Anderson Struben (widow of JHM Struben) after his death in 1869. This made him stepfather to the Struben brothers (Harry and Fred).

In 1863 het Pretoria dus sy eerste koerant gekry. "De Staats Courant", die naam is toe weer van "Gouvernements Courant" na "Staats Courant" verander was voorlopig uitgegee in die ou Struben-huis, waar die Reserwebank tans is, maar in 1864 is die drukpers na die kantoor van advokaat Hollard wat vermoedelik in die huidige Bureaulaan was en later weer na 'n gebou in Kerkstraat Oos verskuiwe. Die drukkers was CP Moll Jnr. en Daantjie Immelman en die drukpers nog een wat die regering in 1859 can Moll gekoop het."

Erven owned by J Struben up to 1866.

In 1858 he was briefly appointed State Secretary of the ZAR (during constitutional adoption and union talks with the Orange Free State). He served as Orphan Master (Weesheer) in Transvaal government service during the early 1860s.

Cnr of Church St West and Church Square. Struben's house on the right. The house on the left belonged to JF Schutte. Drawing by Marian Churchill in 1857. Over time Schutte's house was used as shops, Magistrate's Office, and Post Office.

Struben's house on the right. (Marianne Churchill)

In the 1860s, Johan held positions such as Volksraad member, State Secretary, and Orphan Master in the Transvaal government service, but he also operated a shop on his erf until 1866. In 1866, he advertised a house on Church Square for rent: zinc roof with eight rooms, kitchen, shop, and office. There was a wall around the erf and a garden with fruit trees. Struben, due to insolvency, sold the property in 1866 to William Munro, and it later passed via auction in 1874 to Pieter Johannes Marais (Lang Piet), before going to Hermann Eckstein in 1889.

• William Munro also acquired Struben's farm Kaalfontein (around 40 km from Pretoria) around the same time.
• Petrus Johannes "Lang Piet" Marais / "Ryk Piet" (c.1838 Cape - c.1818) was a businessman in Pretoria during the mid-to-late 19th century. His nickname came from his notable height - he was reportedly the tallest man in Pretoria at the time. He was a prominent early settler, property owner, and businessman in the ZAR. He was the uncle of writer Eugène Nielen Marais (1871–1936).
• Hermann Ludwig Eckstein (1847 Germany - 1893 Germany) was a mining magnate, financier, and one of the early Randlords. He arrived in South Africa around 1882, initially managing diamond properties in Kimberley.

School

Having moved to Pretoria in 1856, he started the first school in Pretoria in the outroom of JJP Prinsloo's house. Joggem's house was on the corner of Boom Street, Du Toit Street, and Soutpansberg Road. The school was later moved to the Commandant-General's residence of MW Pretorius, which became the 'Oude Pastorie' of Rev. Begemann and Bosman on the site where the Palace of Justice stands today.

• Jochemis Johannis Petrus "Joggem Tweeduim" Prinsloo (1807 Cape - 1877 Pretoria) was a prominent early Voortrekker settler, farmer, and community figure. In 1853, he sold part of his land to Commandant-General M.W. Pretorius specifically for the establishment of a town (Pretoria was officially laid out in 1855).
• Ds Adriaan Jacob Begemann (1831 - 1925)
• Ds Hermanus Stephanus Bosman (1848 - 1943)

The arrow points to the "Gouvernements Schoolgebouw" (Government School Building), which was erected in 1860 and where Stiemens taught school. In the 1860s it also served as a government building and later housed the Staatsbiblioteek (State Library) for a time. The building on the right was one of the first houses erected on Kerkplein (Church Square); built in 1856 as residence for Komdt.-Genl. M.W. Pretorius; from October 1856 Struben's private school was housed there; from 1857 to 1862 it was the landdrost office and government building, and thereafter the parsonage for Rev. Begeman and after him for Rev. Bosman; government offices and the Staatsgymnasium (State Gymnasium) were housed there for a time in the 1890s. In 1896 the Palace of Justice was erected on these two erven.

"Voor sy koms was daar vir 'n tydlank deur JHM Struben skoolgehou in 'n buitekamer op die nabygelee plasie, Prinshof, wat aan JJP Prinsloo, een van die oorspronklike eienaars van Daspoort, behoort het. Hierdie huis was gelee ten ooste van die huidige Nasionale Dieretuin. Toe die buitekamer van Prinsloo gedurende Oktober, 1856, nie meer beskikbaar was nie, en die kerkgebou op daardie tydstip nog nie ver genoeg voltooi was om daarin skool te hou nie, het Struben - in werklikheid die eerste onderwyser van die eerste privaatskool van Pretoria met ouderling JF Schutte raadgehou. Struben se skool kon dus toe vanaf 25 Oktober 1856 in 'n ander tydelike lokaal voortgesit word. Hierdie tweede skoolgebou van Pretoria was gehuisves in een van die vertrekke van kommandant-generaal Pretorius se woonhuis wat kort van te vore vir hom voltooi is en wat bedoel was as die woonhuis van die Kommandant-generaal van die Zuid Afrikaansch Republiek. Hierdie huis was gelee op die perseel van die huidige Paleis van Justitie, op die hoek van Paul Krugerstraat (destyds Markstraat) en die Kerkplein. As gevolg van die swak ondersteuning het Struben sy skool aan die begin van I857 gesluit." (Pretoriana, 1960)

A similar description:

"In 1856 het JW (?) Struben 'n skooltjie in die buitekamer van JJP Prinsloo begin. Later toe Prinsloo sy buitekamer vir ander doeleindes nodig gekry het, is dit oorgeplaas na 'n kamer in die huis van M.W. Pretorius op die plein. Maar die volgende jaar, 1857 moes die skool gesluit word. Du Toit het gemeen dat dit die owerheid se Goddelike plig is om te sorg vir die opvoeding van die jeug. Die gevolg was dat die skool in 1859 heropen is. Die huis van Zagarias Pretorius is tydelik gebruik as skoollokaal en op 1 November 1859 is die eerste Goewermentskool op die dorp geopen met 26 leerlinge. In 1860 is 'n skoolkommissie vir Pretoria benoem, te wete JW (Harry) Struben, JJ Prinsloo, JF Schutte en AF du Toit met Dr BG Arnoldi as sekretaris. En so het die onderwys in Pretoria stapsgewyse gevorder tot 1862 met die uitbreek van die Burgeroorlog in Transvaal."

• Bernardus Gregorius Antonius Daniel Arnoldi (1824–1912). A Dutch-born medical doctor who was Pretoria's first qualified physician, arriving around 1859. Arnoldi practiced in Potchefstroom (1862), Pretoria (1863), and Waterberg, contributing to early Transvaal healthcare and community development.
• Johannes Francois Schutte (c.1832–1895). 'Ouderling' (elder), Boer farmer, field cornet, and community leader in the Pretoria district. Later a commandant in the First Anglo-Boer War (1880–1881) and Volksraad member.
• Andries Francois du Toit (1813 - 1888). A Boer leader and land surveyor who became Pretoria's first landdros (magistrate) in 1857. Surveyed the town's streets with his son and a helper. Involved in ZAR politics during the burgeroorlog (civil war) outbreak in 1862. From his arrival in early 1857, he pushed for school provision, temporarily teaching children himself (including his own) when no school existed.

Johan Struben also owned 231 Vermeulen Street, which he sold to Pieter Waldeck in 1865.

He was appointed Transvaal State Attorney in 1867.

Johan Struben was buried in the "Ou Begraafplaas" in Pretoria.

"In 1861 het Carl F. Preller, een van die vroegste ingesetenes, die owerheid genader om 'n kerkhof aan te lê. Die regulasies vir die kerkhof is opgestel en in 1868 bekragtig. Dit sou twee blokke erwe met strate en al beslaan. Elke familie sou teen betaling van £5 'n perseel van 21 voet vierkant kon bekom. Kronologies is die Ou Begraafplaas blykbaar uit die westekant gevul. Daar Ie die oudste grafte: kaptein J.H.M. Struben, 'n Hollandse mariine-offisier wat in 1869 in die ouderdom van 63 jaar oorlede is." (Pretoriana, 1960)

• Carl Friedrich Preller (1809 Germany - 1870 Kroonstad) was one of Pretoria's earliest residents.

Struben Street was named after him.

His sons Harry and Fred later pioneered the Witwatersrand gold discoveries.

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Sources

• Toeka se dae. Bronberger, 21 Jan, 2010.
• Johannes Hermanus Marinus Struben
• Die Geskiedenis van Pretoria 1855-1902. 1955. Peacock, R.
• Die stigting van Pretoria en die voorsiening van Gewone en Godsdienstonderwys tot 1 November 1859. n.d. Rex, H.M.
• Pretoriana 72. Dec, 1975.
• Pretoriana 32. Aug. 1960.
• A critical interpretation of the temporal impact of landscape, space and power on the built environment of Church Square, Pretoria. 2018. Van der Vyfer, E.Y. (thesis)