"EARLY Johannesburg" has a specific connotation for me in that I seem to have imbibed a kind of "3D" knowledge of it. My grandfather, Hyman Morris, arrived here in 1887, from Beaufort West. After taking a look round at this amazing camp- town, he travelled back to Beaufort West in order to fetch his family. In 1888 he returned with his wife and children, amongst whom was my mother, his elder daughter. Today, an amazingly lively personality in her eighties, she describes very graphically the Johannesburg of her childhood: in fact, so telling are her memories that they have almost become my own, and her appreciation and admiration of her father have made him very real to me.
Hyman Morris was born in Germany in 1856. As a very young child he was taken to London by his parents. A precocious scholar, he became a teacher at the famous Jews Free School, at the age of about eighteen. Hard conditions at home and current tales of the discoveries of diamonds in South Africa, must have lured him to this country. In 1877 he arrived at the Cape. In order to earn a living he tutored on the surrounding farms. At Durbanville, near Bellville, on the farm "Hooggelegen", owned by Dr. von Kramer and his wife, he met, and subsequently married, Marie, the daughter of the household. Very shortly afterwards the young couple moved to Beaufort West, where they lived for some ten years.
Hyman Morris, energetic and enterprising, acted as a law agent, and at some stage in fact, when he was about twenty-one years of age became the local manager for the Cape of Good Hope Bank. Of some interest is the fact that this Bank-the Cape of Good Hope, was the first Banking House to be established in South Africa. Created by Act in 1836 it had its headquarters in Cape Town at 28 Heerengracht. Here business activities were begun in 1837 and continued until 1890, when the House failed and closed down. In the final report, it was noted that the Beaufort West Branch, managed by Mr. Hyman Morris, was the only one of two competently run members of the whole body.
Apart from his business activities, Hyman Morris took a great part in the early cultural life of the little town. A fine musician, flautist, organist and singer, he founded the local Choral Society. On Sundays he led the Choir in the Dutch Reformed Church, where his friend, the Reverend Teske, officiated testimony to the harmonious relationship which existed between Jew and Afrikaner.
By the mid-1880's, gold rumours and gold activities on the Witwatersrand were an exciting feature of the South African scene. The reader will remember that the two Struben brothers, Harry and Fred, had, by their persistent efforts, established the existence of the Main Reef conglomerates, and that the accidental finding of the actual reef on the Oosthuizen farm at Langlaagte, by George Walker, fired the world with the news of the amazing existence of "payable gold." The rush, the activity, the fever can well be imagined. The news spread rapidly, even to the little sleepy dorp of Beaufort West. Hyman Morris, ever adventurous, arrived by ox-wagon. Very soon, with his friend, Mr. J. J. Symington, he established the famous "Jubilee Coaches", with head- quarters at a small tin building corner Market and Sauer Streets. Their posters read:-
Jubilee Coach Service between Johannesburg and Ladysmith, Natal Improved American Saloon Coaches. Coaches start from the Johannesburg Office every Monday and Friday at 6 a.m., arriving at Ladysmith the third day. No night travelling. Good accommodation. Civil conductors and careful drivers! Special attention paid to Ladies!!"
It will be remembered that on 8th September, 1886, President Kruger signed the proclamation for certain areas to be proclaimed as diggings. Amongst these were Driefontein, Elandsfontein, Doornfontein, Turffontein, Randjeslaagte, Langlaagte, Paardekraal, Vogelstruisfontein and Roodepoort. In Johannesburg life centred in the Market Square. Early photographic albums, eg. "Pictorial Johannesburg, the Golden Centre, by D. H. Davies, Photographer. Pritchard Street", show the Camp growing almost overnight into a town. In 1886 the Transvaal Government in Pretoria determined to lay out the Camp area as a Township, and to that end, on the 20th September a survey and plan were issued and building sites were offered for sale. Prices ranged from 5/- to £200 per plot. Early sales in general were not brisk. Perhaps the idea of a permanent settlement seemed remote, in spite of the fact that within five or six years there was a local population of 50,000 inhabitants, and within two years of the Camp's establishment there were 77 bars, 12 billiard saloons and 43 hotels or boarding-houses. The memories of both my mother and her elder brother, Harry. endorse these figures; the family were housed in rooms on the Market Square and obtained their meals from nearby hotels or boarding-houses.
My mother describes the darkness of the streets at night - there was no street lighting until 1892, the lack of water - they bought their water from passing water carts at 6d. a barrel: similarly wood had to be bought for warmth. The Market Square is etched on her memory - the big waste expanse with here and there a small tin building or a reed and daub homestead, the constant movement of spans of oxen pulling loaded carts of produce - chiefly yellow peaches, she now says, although, of course, all kinds of produce were brought in from the outlying farms, the crowds of purchasers and loiterers, over all, the thick pall of dust, the constant noise of the stamps, the periodic swarms of locusts, and above all, the pervasive smell of beer, beer beer - not at all surprising in view of the preponderance of beerhalls and the early establishment of Chandler's Brewery. A description from Harry Morris' book, "My First Forty Years" (published by Juta's 1948) cannot be bettered.
If you came by one of "Symington's Jubilee Coaches" you would land at the offices of the agent - my father, at the corner of Market and Sauer Streets. If you walked straight ahead from the coach it was a slight shade of odds that you would miss the office door and find yourself in the Sheba Bar.
Bars! bars as far as the eye could reach. Anyone viewing the cosmos through the bottom of a glass would note the "Expanding Universe of Bars". As time went on Commissioner Street became an alcoholic thoroughfare. You could meet your friends at the sign of the "Black Cat", where eyes looked at you from every angle. On the north-east corner of Commissioner and Sauer Streets, stood the "Four Bees" conducted by Forbes. The "Star and Garter", famous in its day, occupied a site next to the Stock Exchange between "the chains". The "Bodega" was where Clewer House now stands. There was also the "Chandos", the "Mining Board", the famous "Broker's Bar", directed by Wilhelmina Brandt, and a host of others.
The combined memories of the five Morris children between the years 1888 and 1897, highlight the steady growth of the town and also most of the spectacular events of the period,
Early schools were really pioneer schools. The girls, when very young - respectively aged eight and four years - attended a school run by an appropriately named Mr. Letters held in a church building in Kerk Street. Later they attended Miss Impey's school in Leyds Street, and still later were scholars at Miss Fanny Buckland's school which was situated near Koch Street, and which was later to develop into Barnato Park School for Girls.
The Morris boys - three in number, Harry, Philip, and Reuben, the youngest who was born in Johannesburg in 1890 - similarly began their education at pioneer schools.
Again, to quote Harry. "St. Mary's School was conducted in St. Mary's Church where now the building called St. Mary's Buildings stands at the corner of Kerk and Eloff Streets (now in process of demolition). The Reverend Darragh was its Head and two of the masters were Nash and Morris. Our playground was the length and breadth of Kerk Street. We played single wicket cricket and drew stumps when a cab came along.
"Morris (the master - no family connection) broke away from St. Mary's, took some of us with him and founded a school of his own in Harrison Street where the Oxford Beer Hall now stands - we had a larger playground - here the whole of the unoccupied territory now covered by the Kazerne. Here one day in the midst of our games came a doorkeeper of the Stock Exchange. He sat down amongst us, placed his back against a barrel and a barrel against his head and shot himself. His trouble was that he went into the Stock Exchange instead of remaining at the door.
"The Highlight of my scholastic career was the Marist Brothers School, a chapel-like structure in Hancock Street near Freda Bridge, which, by the way, is the oldest footbridge Johannesburg. Brother Frederick was its Head. He was assisted by Brother Valerian, Brother Dominic, Brother Cairns and others - the brains, the real head and driving force of that institution was Brother Valerian, a man of fascinating personality - the hero of every boy. He taught us soccer and played a very fine game himself. It was an inspiring sight to see him dashing down the field with his skirts in his hand and the ball at his feet defying both friend and foe to take it from him. He generally scored. We saw to that. It was soccer that made Jimmy Sinclair the great cricketer he was. In 1898, the two younger Morris boys attended the early St. Johns School, situated where the Commercial High School is now. The Reverend J. L. Hodgson was its Head. and the building was a small cramped corrugated iron affair.
There can only be very few pioneers today who remember early entertainment and theatre offered in Johannesburg. My mother has vivid recollections of theatrical enterprise of those times. She remembers. Fillis Circus in Bree Street, Luscombe Searelle (Isaac Israel) with his Opera Company, who performed at the famous Theatre Royal; she clearly remembers seeing Barney Barnato performing in "The Octoroon" at the Globe Theatre, built in 1889, a favourite venue. Later the Gaiety Theatre was built and here our doyenne actress, Amy Coleridge, and her husband, William Haviland, carried on the Old Lyceum traditions of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. My mother remembers seeing them in "The Bells".
And now, what of Hyman Morris' activities in early Johannesburg? Enterprising and many-facetted, he had tremendous faith in the growth of the town. In Henry Longland's Directory of 1892, Hyman Morris is listed as "General and Financial Agent". Box 179. Tel. Add: "Mentor", Market Street West Residence, Pritchard Street East. He had built this early house - one of the earliest, in Pritchard Street at the back of the site on which the Langham Hotel now stands. Subsequent houses built by him for his family, were in Twist Street and finally in Edith Cavell Street, Hospital Hill, which was considered quite a way out of town. He speculated in property and built a very early building on what was then known as Church Square subsequently Von Brandis Square. This area of Johannesburg developed later than Market Square. Ada Morris remembers an early Church built on the Square it was the Dutch Reformed Church she also remembers that the Headquarters of the Mounted Police, the Z.A.R.P.S. was situated here. A school, too, existed on the same square. Amongst the tenants of Morris Buildings were the Silversmiths, Mappin & Webb. The building was subsequently expropriated by the Government to make way for the Supreme Court.
An early map of Johannesburg shows the farm Doornfontein, No. 323, part of which was owned by Hyman Morris. It was called Morristown, and the area is marked 117 Morgen, 241 Roods. Today the area is known as Malvern. Interested in mining and in minerals, he owned seven farms in the Vredefort district, and many farms in the Meyerton area.
But it is as an idealist, a great communal worker, a scholar, and a man of brilliant mental attainment that his daughter remembers him. Probably she is one of the very few who does so venerate his memory, for although he must be considered the founder of the Jewish community of Johannesburg. he is today virtually unknown, unrecognised and forgotten. As early as 1887, a meeting was held at the corner of Market and Harrison Streets in order to organize a Witwatersrand Goldfields Association (a Jew had died and his burial was to be arranged) this was to be the first Jewish Congregation in Johannesburg. (For this information I am indebted to Mr. Gus Saron, "The Jews in South Africa", Oxford University Press, 1953.) At this meeting Mr. Emmanuel Mendelssohn, proprietor of the earliest local news papers, "The Standard" and "The Standard and Diggers News", was elected President, and Hyman Morris, Hon. Secretary. Very active in civic, political and reliqious matters, Hyman Morris was the first President of the early President Street Synagogue, First President of the Park Synagogue, an initiator of Jewish education, an early and ardent Zionist - he was Chairman of the Zionist Federation in 1907 - this is the only date I have been able to ascertain in regard to his Zionist activities, as enquiries made to the Zionist Federation in preparation for this article yielded a blank they had never heard of Hyman Morris.
On good terms with Paul Kruger, he was able to negotiate for ground for the previously mentioned Park Synagogue in de Villiers Street. President Kruger came from Pretoria to open this Synagogue on 16th September, 1892. A photograph now hanging in the Africana Museum, records the opening ceremony. Necessities for the growing community many of these were granted by President Kruger in response to pleas made by Hyman Morris.
For many years he was President of the Wolmarans Street Synagogue, 1890, 1891, 1906, 1907. To sum up his contribution to the welfare of his people, I can do no better than quote from an exquisitely prepared Illuminated Address presented to him by the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation in March, 1897. This commission was carried out by an artist called Earl Robert.
HYMAN MORRIS, Esq.
"Sir, We, the undersigned, the Executive Committee of the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation, are pleased to take the opportunity of your approaching departure on a visit to Europe to express to you the sentiment of our deep respect and regard for the great services you have rendered to our congregation as President to the Community at large. When the history of Judaism in the Transvaal comes to be written, the name of Hyman Morris will loom large on its pages. You have devoted much time and trouble to the establishment of communal requirements, and later have worked with zeal and energy to ensure their complete success.
"You, Sir, were the founder of our Congregation and the builder of our Jewish School, and to your devotion must be attributed the great measure of success we have already achieved.
"But not only have you deserved well by your communal work, but as a member of the Sanitary Board" (the forerunner of our City Council. "You upheld the honour of your Race …”
Hyman Morris died in Johannesburg in 1910 at the age of 54.
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