The Moltenos of the Cape
Keywords:
Imperialism, Colonialism, Molteno, South AfricaSynopsis
Copublished by Unisa Press (South Africa) & Routledge (rest of the world)
Unisa Press: sales in South Africa (Sales enquiries: morodjm@unisa.ac.za - for hard copy sales only)
ISBN: 978-1-77615-222-3 (print)
Routledge: Rest of the world (e-books and print on sale at The Moltenos of the Cape - 1st Edition - Selina Molteno - Routledge Bo
ISBN: 978-1-0411-2239-5 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-1-0411-2270-8 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-0036-6394-2 (e-book)
The Moltenos of the Cape tells the story of a remarkable family of Anglo-Italian origin, located at the Cape. The commanding figure was Sir John Charles Molteno, the first prime minister of the Cape Colony, who fought fiercely for South African interests against successive British governors. His children included Percy (who was director of the Union Castle Line and a Liberal politician in the
UK), Betty (whose radical opinions put her in touch with many advanced thinkers of her day) and Charlie, who opposed Cecil Rhodes and was instrumental in keeping Bechuanaland out of his hands. The book also features Barkly, who joined the British navy and fought slavers near Zanzibar before commanding a warship at the critical battle of Jutland. In the next generation, Donald earned the
Xhosa name Dilizintaba (‘Remover of mountains’) for his staunch opposition to segregationist policies.
Leading members of the Molteno family sought to bridge the divides between black and white, and English- and Afrikaans-speaking, South Africans. They were anti-racists and anti-imperialists long before their time and their tradition of dedicated public service will inspire new generations of South Africans.
“The Molteno family history tracks all the fault lines of nineteenth-century history. From the rise of the Cape wool economy, to self-governance, to the fate of Cape liberalism, the Molteno family was central to every major development worth remembering. Selina Molteno’s fair-minded, lucidly written account of the Moltenos is a most valuable resource and will be for a long while to come.”
– Jonny Steinberg, prize-winning South African writer
“This engagingly luminous and many-sided portrait of a notable Anglo-Italian family of South Africa’s Cape is a refreshing antidote to humdrum histories which categorise people as this or that group, class or race. Showing the richness that can be captured by a first-rate family history, the accomplished authors of this fascinating story of the influential Moltenos have brought them all to life as flesh-and-blood beings.”
–Bill Nasson, professor emeritus, University of Stellenbosch
“Working on the foundation of research laid by her late, and much lamented, cousin, Robert Molteno, Selina Molteno has produced an excellent history of the Molteno family. This book is an important contribution to South African history and deserves to be widely read.”
– Hugh Macmillan, author of major works on the African National Congress
References
Archival Sources
British Museum, London
Molteno Papers.
South Africa library
Sir J. C. Molteno papers and the P. A. Molteno papers are both housed in the Mss collection.
The main library contains a large amount of biographical/obituary material.
University of Cape Town Library (UCTL)
Manuscripts and Archives, Special Collections (SC), Molteno Murray Family Papers.
Rhodes House, now part of the University of Oxford Bodleian Library
Several volumes of John Molteno’s papers, including Molteno Letter Books (1837–1854).
Knysna Museum
Wisely, Maria (née Currie) (1887–88) Diary of a trip round southern Africa with her father,
Donald Currie, and sister Bessie. Found 60 years after her death by her grandson Findlay
Ferguson, and donated in 1988 to the Museum in Knysna, South Africa (which Sir Donald’s
party had reached by the time the Diary came to an end).
Unpublished works
Hirst, Francis, A Man of Principle: The Life of Percy Alport Molteno MP, unpublished, n.d.
https://www.moltenofamily.net/biographies/a-man-of-principle
Immelman, R. F. M. (n.d.) Sir John C. Molteno, 1814–1886: A Biographical Sketch, unpublished,
n.d. https://www.moltenofamily.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Biography-of-Sir-John-Charles-Molteno.pdf
Molteno, Betty (1914) ‘The Karoo’ (poem, August 1890).
Molteno, Betty (1925) Journal.
Molteno, Caroline (n.d.) Early Recollections, TS, private papers.
Molteno, Caroline (1969) Journal.
Murray, Caroline (1913), ‘Reminiscences of the old Cape’, private papers. https://www.moltenofamily.net/diaries-and-reminiscences/diaries-and-reminiscences-ofthe-
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Molteno, Frank (1913) ‘The history of Claremont House’, Chronicle of the Family, vol. 1, no. 3,
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Molteno, James (n.d.) ‘The Molteno family at Claremont House’, typescript.
Molteno, Lucy (n.d.) How I became a woman prospector and what a strange thing is memory, n.d. – https://www.moltenofamily.net/diaries-and-reminiscences/diaries-and-reminiscences-of-the-molteno-murrary-and-other-related-families/
.
Murray, Kathleen (n.d.) ‘A tour of the Eastern Province and Kaffraria, 1873’.
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Williamson, Carol (n.d.) Recollections, Chapter 1 ‘My childhood’, available at www.moltenofamily.net
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