TOPIC:

I first saw this medal many many years ago. In subsequent years I was fortunate to handle it many times and when it finally came up for sale at auction I put in a very determined bid.

Neither the medal nor the recipient has any connection to the Anglo Boer War however the recipient commands a special place in South African history and I therefore felt that the fruits of my labour today may be of interest to forum members!

Single – SAGS 1877-79 bar: 1878: (Comdt. L.H. Meurant, Riversdale Md. Bgrs.)

Louis Henri Meurant was born in Cape Town on 19 February 1812. He was the first son of a Swiss immigrant father, Louis Balthazar Meurant (1773 Basle, Switzerland – 1826 Cape Town) who had arrived at the Cape at the end of 1809 as bandmaster of a British Regiment from Chester with his first wife Eliza Humphries (b.1792 London) and their daughter Louise Eliza (1808 – 1888).Louis’ mother died when he just 3½ years old and in consequence thereof he became greatly under the care of his father’s neighbours the architect Marten Johannes Smit and his wife Francina Carolina Hillegers. Tragically his father also died when he was fourteen. Even before then his father had apprenticed him to George Greig the first independent printer in South Africa and with his competence in English, French and Afrikaans laid the basis for a remarkable future career in South Africa and he subsequently became a very well-known and influential journalist, publisher, editor, magistrate, commander(military), interpreter and linguist. Today he is often referred to as being the father of the modern Afrikaans language. He was clearly quite a remarkable man.

His military experience and service is succinctly quoted in a Civil Service List for the Cape of Good Hope as follows:

“Served in the Frontier Wars as follows: - With Graaff-Reinet burghers, 1829; captain, Grahams Town volunteers, 1934-5, and Dutch interpreter to Sir Benjamin D’Urban, commandant Graham’s Town native levy, 1846-7; commanded relief column to boer laager at Fish River, July, 1846; in command of Lower Albany; served with Olifants Hoek burghers, 1851-3; appointed by Sir Harry Smith to raise native levies; interpreter to assistant high commissioner, present at battle of Berea, 1852. …… commandant, Riversdale and Oudtshoorn mounted burghers 1878 (Kaffir (sic) war medal).”

When the teenaged Louis was orphaned in 1826 the good neighbourly architect / master builder Marten Smit and his wife Francina Hillegers became his foster parents. He was of course already close to their family and they continued to introduce him to the Afrikaans language of the time. When his new family moved to Graaff Reinet he became fluent in frontier country Afrikaans and comfortably mixed with Afrikaner society of that era and it was through that association that he accompanied the Graaff-Reinet burghers and saw action with them during a Fecani raid in 1829. On 3 March 1831 he married his foster sister Charlotte Cornelia Johanna Smit in Graaff Reinet. Theirs was to be a lifelong bond their marriage producing 8 children.

It was now in Grahamstown that Louis really began to make his mark. His father’s earlier foresight in financing the £300 purchase price of George Grieg’s printing press on the condition that his son Louis Henri would serve an apprenticeship with him was the foundation of his future life’s work and influence for which he is especially remembered today. Years before, soon after the young lad had joined Grieg as an apprentice, the Cape Governor Lord Charles Somerset, due to his objection to the political line touted by Thomas Pringle and John Fairbairn, suppressed the Commercial Advertiser which they edited and which was printed by Greig. This action precipitated the famous struggle for the free press in South Africa.

A few years later Robert Godlonton and Thomas Stringfellow brought an old wooden printing press to Cape Town in 1820. Once again the civil authority of the era reacted and it was confiscated by the authorities who feared that the press and their editorials would foster political discontent. This press was later sent to Graaff Reinet and for several years it was used for the printing of Government notices. In 1831 it was put up for auction and Louis, now newly married, seized the opportunity and purchased it and moved to Grahamstown with his young wife. There he established his own printing business and newspaper, “The Graham’s Town Journal” on 30 December 1831. He rapidly gained much influence in Grahamstown and served as a Captain with the local Grahamstown volunteers during the Sixth Frontier War of 1834-36. Interestingly, he also continued to play his part during the subsequent Frontier conflicts in 1867/47 and in 1851 -1852, serving as Commandant of the Grahamstown Native Levy and later in command of Lower Albany. Significantly, although he served in notable military roles during the 6th, 7th and 8th Frontier Wars of 1834-35, 1846-47 and 1850-53, he was not awarded the South Africa 1853 medal for those early campaigns. In 1860 he evidently approached Colonel Montague Johnstone who had earlier commanded the 27th Regiment in South Africa and had served as Commandant of Grahamstown during the 7th Frontier War to gain his support for his claim for a medal. In responding to him, his old Colonel wrote as follows:

“With pleasure I give you all I can to help you to your object. I bear hearty and full testimony to your character as an able and brave man whose services were freely given as they proved of surpassing value to the Cape Colony during a crisis of great peril in 1846 when invaded by of Kafir (sic) savages. I trust that my testimony to this effect may be useful to you and obtain for you the acknowledgement you seek for. I fear much however that war medals are given only to soldiers enrolled in Her Majesty’s Army. If there is any instance to the contrary, I trust that you will quote it and bring a record of your services to justify your name being added to the roll of those thus honourably decorated. Probably no man living has more right to speak of your service than myself – for under me they were first undertaken and under my eye some of your early successes were gained. Never probably was the Frontier of the Cape in so much danger as when by your energy a force of hotentots (sic) was embodied for it’s defence and skilfully handled.”

A strong advocate for the recognition of written Afrikaans, Louis regularly wrote contributions for his newspapers in Afrikaans. Robert Godlonton soon joined Meurant at the Graham’s Town Journal becoming a partner in 1843. Six years later Godlington took over the business and bought out Meurant in 1849.

Louis Meurant was present as an interpreter at the Sand River Convention and the establishment of the South African Republic. He served as a Magistrate from 1853 at Kat River and Cradock. Postings followed a Fort Beaufort, Clanwilliam and finally at Riversdale in 1877. While at Riversdale he raised the Riversdale Mounted Burghers and served with them as Commandant during the War, his war service of many years finally being rewarded by the award of the South African General Service medal with clasp 1878 which he so richly deserved. Archival records reflect that in mid February 1879 he offered to “Bring his old men at arms to the Zulu border” to assist the British in their fight against the Zulus but that “due to doubt and uncertainty at that time” his patriotic offer although acknowledged was not accepted.

Louis retired from his position as Civil Commissioner at Riversdale on 31 December 1881. Subsequently, in 1884, he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape Colony and continued to serve in that capacity until his death in 1893.

No write-up for Louis Meurant can be considered complete without additional reference to his role in fostering the development and promotion of Afrikaans as a modern written language. He became a trusted and close friend of the famous early Boer leader Piet Retief and after he published Piet Retief’s Mainifesto of the Emigrant Farmers in his Graham’s Town Journal on 2 February 1837, he accompanied Retief from Grahamstown as far as his farm in the Winterberg. It is recorded that he gave Retief a large quarto volume of Roman Dutch Law while Retief Meurant entrusted his private papers to Louis for safe-keeping.

Between 1844 and 1850 he worked as the editor of the “Het Kaapsche Grensblad” in Grahamstown, in which he published two series of letters and dialogues on mainly topical political issues, these being written by himself in frontier Afrikaans under the pseudonym of Klaas Waarzegger. These writings unintentionally fostered the use and development of Afrikaans and many people were inspired to express their opinions in Afrikaans in other newspapers.

Along with another friend, Frederick Rex (the son of George Rex) and the well-known early South African road builder Andrew Geddes Bain he was most likely also the co-author of the satirical piece Kaatjie Kekkelbek during his sojourn in Grahamstown. This work is usually considered to be the earliest and first example of written Afrikaans.

In 1861 The Cradock News published his series of dialogues as “Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waar-zegger en Jan Twyfelaar” (Conversation between Klaas Soothsayer and Jan Doubter). Focussed on the split between the Eastern Frontier and the Western provinces, these dialogues were later assembled and published in book form in 1861 and today they are considered to be the first published book in Afrikaans. His nom-de-plume Klaas Waarzegger practically became the symbol of Afrikaans consciousness and played an important role in the first Afrikaans language movement.

Following his retirement in 1881 he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Council representing the North Eastern Cape from 1884 to 1890. The political and parliamentary reports in Afrikaans which he continued to write during this period are journalistic gems.

Throughout his life Louis Meurant was also an activist for freedom of the press and drawing on his experiences as a young apprentice in Cape Town he was the author of the acclaimed historical treatise Sixty Years Ago, or, Reminiscences of the Struggle for the Freedom of the Press in South Africa and the Establishment of the First Newspaper in the Eastern Province (Cape Town, 1885).

Always involved in community affairs, he laid the corner stone of the new church at Cradock on 15 June 1864. He was an avid gardener and he laid out the beautiful public parks in Fort Beaufort and Riversdale. He passed away at Riversdale on 29 March 1893.

RobM

ADDITIONAL READING

For those interested the 1957 publication “They were South Africans” by John Bond published by the Oxford University Press has been published on the open Web (WEB Reference: They Were South Africans.pdf - 1820 Settlers www.1820settlers.com › Media › documents) and includes a well written chapter about the life of Louis Meurant.

Thanks for posting that comprehensive account, very interesting and an excellent record
Clive

Very good research culminating in a well written history . Well done , Rob !

Hi Rob,

That was very interesting insight into a key figure in the South African history and development of the Afrikaans language. I must admit I had not heard of him before, so very educational.

A thoroughly researched and fascinating account of this important figure in linguistic development. Many thanks for documenting and sharing.