The mining of silver, although not as significant as the mining of gold, has a history of money being made and lost, as well as instances of fraud and theft. In the late 1880s, when silver and lead deposits were discovered 100 km south-east of Pretoria, the Barnato family was quick to invest and float a company to exploit the deposit. To the north of Pretoria, Alois Nellmapius, later famous as the founder of the Hatherly distillery, established a company to mine a silver and copper rich deposit. The Strubens, pioneers of the Witwatersrand gold fields, discovered a silver rich copper deposit on their farm ‘The Willows’ east of Pretoria. The successful silver mining companies listed on the Stock Exchange in Johannesburg soon attracted the attention of the Randlords of Johannesburg and specifically that of H Eckstein & Co. The development of the company’s activities in silver mining in the 1880s and 1890s forms a significant part of this study. The relationship between the mine owners and their managers during the nineteenth century is explored, along with local and international events in politics and economics that had an impact on the mining of silver in South Africa over the period from 1885 to 1999. Silver mining in South Africa has had a ‘rise and fall’ life from the 1880s with three significant periods of investment, mining activity and decline. As with most commodities, prices vary over time. The international metals market has been a dominant factor in the life of the silver mines of greater Pretoria. The relationship between rising and falling international metal prices, and the operating lives of the mines, form a theme throughout this dissertation as it will be shown that the operating periods all coincided with periods of strong metal prices. In the one hundred and fourteen years, coupled with large tonnages of base metals – lead, copper and zinc - the mines produced over ninety-three tons of silver. Over thirty silver mines and ventures were revealed during the research, but discussing all of them in this dissertation was not feasible. It is therefore limited to the history of the seven mines that produced the greatest amounts of silver and other metals such as lead, copper and zinc and how their individual and interrelated histories together form the dominant part of the history of silver mining in the greater Pretoria region. / History / MA (History)

This dissertation examines the growth and development of an urban African population in Pretoria from 1902 to 1923. African urbanisation in Pretoria took place within the context of limited industrial development and gave rise to a distinc!ive population, with an important permanently settled component. This study charts the struggles that ensued between the Town Council and the African population. The responses of the urban African population took on two forms: informal, defensive strategies and formal political organisation. In the early twentieth century Pretoria formed the locus of regional African political activity. However, the attempts of formal organisations to challenge the state were essentially conservative. It was rather in the realm of working class culture that real challenges were made to the municipal authorities' vision of an ordered urban environment and a controlled African proletariat. / History / M.A. (History)

This dissertation examines the growth and development of an urban African population in Pretoria from 1902 to 1923. African urbanisation in Pretoria took place within the context of limited industrial development and gave rise to a distinc!ive population, with an important permanently settled component. This study charts the struggles that ensued between the Town Council and the African population. The responses of the urban African population took on two forms: informal, defensive strategies and formal political organisation. In the early twentieth century Pretoria formed the locus of regional African political activity. However, the attempts of formal organisations to challenge the state were essentially conservative. It was rather in the realm of working class culture that real challenges were made to the municipal authorities' vision of an ordered urban environment and a controlled African proletariat. / History / M.A. (History)

The mining of silver, although not as significant as the mining of gold, has a history of money being made and lost, as well as instances of fraud and theft. In the late 1880s, when silver and lead deposits were discovered 100 km south-east of Pretoria, the Barnato family was quick to invest and float a company to exploit the deposit. To the north of Pretoria, Alois Nellmapius, later famous as the founder of the Hatherly distillery, established a company to mine a silver and copper rich deposit. The Strubens, pioneers of the Witwatersrand gold fields, discovered a silver rich copper deposit on their farm ‘The Willows’ east of Pretoria. The successful silver mining companies listed on the Stock Exchange in Johannesburg soon attracted the attention of the Randlords of Johannesburg and specifically that of H Eckstein & Co. The development of the company’s activities in silver mining in the 1880s and 1890s forms a significant part of this study. The relationship between the mine owners and their managers during the nineteenth century is explored, along with local and international events in politics and economics that had an impact on the mining of silver in South Africa over the period from 1885 to 1999. Silver mining in South Africa has had a ‘rise and fall’ life from the 1880s with three significant periods of investment, mining activity and decline. As with most commodities, prices vary over time. The international metals market has been a dominant factor in the life of the silver mines of greater Pretoria. The relationship between rising and falling international metal prices, and the operating lives of the mines, form a theme throughout this dissertation as it will be shown that the operating periods all coincided with periods of strong metal prices. In the one hundred and fourteen years, coupled with large tonnages of base metals – lead, copper and zinc - the mines produced over ninety-three tons of silver. Over thirty silver mines and ventures were revealed during the research, but discussing all of them in this dissertation was not feasible. It is therefore limited to the history of the seven mines that produced the greatest amounts of silver and other metals such as lead, copper and zinc and how their individual and interrelated histories together form the dominant part of the history of silver mining in the greater Pretoria region. / History / M.A. (History)