MacPherson family in Ladysmith

John Macpherson travelled to Natal as a Byrne settler with four children, but without his wife Christian Hamilton who had perhaps passed away. They arrived at Port Natal in July 1850, aboard the Conquering Hero from Glasgow. The Conquering Hero was moored in the roadstead off Port Natal on the night that the Minerva was wrecked on the bluff, carrying Mary Ann Richards, the future wife of young Alexander Macpherson. 

John was a teacher of violin and dancing and appears in several Edinburgh Directories between 1831 until he left for Natal and was a member of the Society of Dancers in London. By December 1958 he had a dancing academy at 8 Church St Pietermaritzburg and John and his sons were known to play at dances. 

In 1857-58 John stood surety for the fare of his son William Watson McPherson who had not traveled to Natal with the family – it is possible he is the William McPherson who died in the Harrismith district on 30 June 1876 aged 36.  

It was John’s 3rd child, Alexander Jamieson Macpherson, who would move to Ladysmith and establish a large family there. 

Alexander Jamieson Macpherson, born in Edinburg, was the third child and second son of John Macpherson, who travelled to Natal with his father at the age of 13, on the Conquering Hero. On arrival in Natal, the family was established in Pietermaritzburg, however it is not known when he moved to Ladysmith but he was there in August 1862 when he married Mary Ann “Polly” Richards and the Natal Almanac for 1881 he is listed as a Storekeeper in Ladysmith.   

According to his granddaughter Dulcie, “he was a gentleman of sorts and started the first gentleman’s club in Ladysmith. Shortly after his marriage he bought a 3000 acre farm at Matiwane, just outside Ladysmith, for a bottle of brandy where his son Frederick was born. 

Frederick Macpherson was born in Ladysmith and in January 1891 he married 18 year old Bessie Helen Bamber and lived at Lower Murchison St, Ladysmith where, when the when the Klip River flooded the house would flood. With his share of his inheritance from his father he bought a wagon and oxen and became a transport rider. His cattle died of rinderpest and they had some hard times when he could not find work. Eventually he found work on the railways as a clerk and became a Foreman. He died of Cancer in Ladysmith. 

Henry Macpherson married Aletta Bernhardina Rudolph all four of their children were baptized in Ladysmith. In the 1899 Natal Almanac, an H. Macpherson is listed in Ladysmith, occupation “Carrier” 

Alexander Macpherson was a Cable Layer when he retired but in the 1903 Natal Almanac an A. Macpherson is listed as a clerk in the Magistrates Office in Ladysmith and in the 1906 Natal Almanac, as an Interpreter, which was quite often a dual employment. 

Frederick Jamieson Macpherson was born in Ladysmith in 1893 and became a fitter and turner on the Railways. During WW1 he saw service in Palestine with the South African Field Artillery He moved to Vryheid where he married Daisy Clemitson in 1922 and they had two children.

 

Dulcie Macpherson and husband Hugh Thompson Rose-Innes farmed at “Four Winds” at Besters for many years.