From Preface: Although East London exists today as one of the major ports of South Africa, the city appears to have been forgotten by historians. Little has been done to chronicle its history. In 1932, Bruce Gordon set out to initiate this research and he investigated East London's history to the end of 1865. However, Gordon's thesis, though accurate, is short and inadequate by today's standards. Furthermore, no-one continued from where Gordon left off. Several articles have been written over the previous six decades, each dealing with aspects of East London's past but these, on the whole, are inaccurate and misleading. The time is ripe, therefore, to begin again the research into the history of East London. East London owed its foundation to the state of unrest which existed on the eastern frontier of the Cape of Good Hope between 1834 and 1847. Although the geographic and climatic conditions were in the port's favour, East London remained in a suppressed condition until about 1870. It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the factors which gave rise to this truncated growth. The thesis will examine first the wider perspective of imperial and colonial policy in which East London was conceived and in which it had its early existence. The implications of this policy for East London at the various levels of the port's development will be explored in subsequent chapters. British and Cape colonial policy, however, evolved in a chronological sequence and so the examination of this policy likewise will tend to follow a chronological pattern within each chapter. The establishment of Port Rex in November/December 1836 enters into East London's story in several ways: its political development, the creation and development of the harbour on the Buffalo River, the evolution of trade, the growth of the community and the status of the black population at the mouth of the Buffalo River. It has been found necessary, therefore, to refer often to this beginning of East London's history. Although several theses have already been written which deal with topics related to British Kaffraria, none of these do more than allude to the creation and development of East London. Although, for example, the German Settlers played an important role in the growth of the port, Schnell's thesis hardly mentions the two communities at Panmure and Cambridge. The research for this thesis led me to two important and little known sources of early information, both in Cape Town. The first was the multiple volumed "Unsorted Archives" on East London which consists of reports and letters to the Resident Magistrate. It is a treasure chest of information on East London's early years. The second source was G.M. Theal's newspapers, The Kaffrarian Recorder and East London Shipping Gazette and, later, The Kaffrarian, East London's second newspaper which was believed to have been lost until copies were discovered recently in the South African Library in Cape Town. Theal, later prominent as a historian, had a clear insight into the problems which confronted the community at East London and the editorials of his newspaper make interesting reading. East London's first newspaper is, unfortunately, still lost. It was the East London Times which had its first issue in January 1863, and lasted a mere two months. It consisted of half a sheet of foolscap printed on one side, the other side being left blank, the editor of the King William's Town Gazette wrote, "'for want of room' or from lack of matter."

This thesis is a study in Urban History which explores the development of East London, a port in the Border region of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, through four decades of municipal control from 1873 to 1914. The town had been established in 1847 as a supply route for the British forces during the War of the Axe (7th Frontier War) but the frontier nature of the port led to economic and physical stagnation during its initial 25 years of existence. Indeed, by the time that the municipality was established in 1873, there were still no streets beyond cart tracks, no established water supply, and sanitary conditions were medieval. The Town Council therefore had much to occupy its attention but lack of positive leadership resulted in failure to capitalise on prosperous economic conditions, while a depression in the 1880's led to a further truncation of growth. It was only in the 1890's that a combination of economic growth and vibrant leadership brought about rapid civic advance, with large-scale expenditure on street construction, as well as the establishment of electricity and a tramway system. The outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899 slowed progress, however, and a post-war depression placed renewed stress on the municipality. The thesis examines the progress of the town on a broad front, dealing with the issues of economic fluctuations, the growth of the harbour as the heart of the trading sector, the physical advance of the municipality, the search for a viable water supply, the evolution of public health and sanitation, and the establishment of the port as a coastal resort. In addition, it studies the conflict of social attitudes among the townspeople, the evolution of racial segregation, and the effects of the Anglo-Boer War on the town, with the influx of some 5 000 Uitlander refugees and the establishment of a Boer concentration camp. A final chapter attempts an analysis of the reasons behind the Town Council's inability to make the best use of its opportunities to foster the development of East London.

The flourishing city of East London has received but scant attention from historians. Its importance has been overshadowed by that of Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, each with a foundation bordering on the romantic. The introduction to this thesis indicates traces of the existence of primitive man in these parts. The historical survey will commence with notices taken of the region by nautical and land expeditions in search of either shipwrecked sailors, or news of native races. The first serious notice of East London taken by the white people came in the time of Sir Benjamin D'Urban who sought a seaport for his new province of Queen Adelaide. Our port was opened in 1836 under the appellation of Port Rex, but faded into temporary insignificance, almost oblivion, with the reversal of Sir. B. D'Urban's frontier policy by Lord Glenelg and the abandonment of the new province in 1837. It was not destined to remain forgotten, for Sir Harry Smith at the end of 1847, saw in the mouth of the Buffalo River the same possibilities as had struck the advisers of Sir B. D'Urban. To him it was the future London of the East, and the connecting link between British Kaffraria and the world outside. From that time East London has grown steadily, and of recent years very rapidly. It is not proposed to carry this survey much beyond 1866 in which year British Kaffraria was annexed to the Cape Colony.