THE SWISS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 1652-1970 - swissroots-za.ch

and merchant, and served as Mayor. He married the daughter of German
missionary Kolbe by whom he had six children.
The Werdmullers were always proud of their Swiss origin and through all the
generations preserved their Swiss citizenship. The family owns valuable property in
Switzerland, held in a family trust, from which each member receives an annual
dividend. / 1 Weisz & Werdmüller, 1949; 2 KAB, J 41; 3 Men of the Times p. 419.
De Salis, Baron Rudolph Anthony born Arnhem NL 28.12.1761, died The Hague NL
24.12.1851. Possibly a descendent of an officer in a Swiss mercenary regiment in Dutch
service. Compare with Paravicini and Werdmuller. Arrived with General Janssens in
1802 and was installed as First Member of the Council, a post he held until the British
returned to the Cape in 1806. During General Janssens’ absence on a lengthy journey to
the interior in June 1803, De Salis was Acting Governor. He departed 10.11.1806 for
Holland on board the cartel William. While at the Cape, on 4.6.1804, he married Sophie
Adrienne van Rheede Oustshoorn of Cape Town. / SA Dictionary of Biography.
Paravacini di Capelli, Willem Bartolomeus Eduard born Zutphen NL 22.2.1778,
died Rotterdam 21.4.1848. His great-grandfather Johan Caspar Paravacini born Chur
GR 1660 and died The Hague 1761, had been Captain of the Grisons, a Swiss
mercenary regiment in Dutch service, his grandfather Bartholomeus Eduard Paravicini
di Capelli 1724-1810 was General and Weapon-developer of the Netherlands, and his
father Caspar Paravicini di Capelli 1752-1825 Major-General and member of the
Central Comite voor Artillerie en Genie in the Dutch army.
Paravicini was Aide-de-Camp to General Janssens at the Cape 1802-1805. His journal
was published in Vol. 46 of the Van Riebeek Society.
/ S.A. Dictionary of Biography.
Tevener, Jan, born Neuchatel, age 35, by profession chocolate maker, arrived at the
beginning of 1803 as member of the 5 th Battalion Artillery, Company No.3. Deserted
16.3.1804. / Kaapsche Courant, Vol. II, No. 18 (5 May 1804)
Grand, Georges-Francois born Eclubens / Lausanne VD 1749, was educated by
private tutors and in 1765 sent as an apprentice to a paternal friend in London. Finding
the treatment too harsh, he fled to a maternal aunt. His mother’s family was resident in
England, having fled there at the Edict of Nantes. Her husband who was a director of
the British East India Company, helped him to qualify for service in India and in 1766
he sailed for Bengal, where he was employed as a clerk.
1, 2 & 3
In July 1777 he married Catharine Nol Wehrle, the 14 year old daughter of a French
official in Chandenagore. She must have been a very lively person. Grand could not
adjust to her and in December 1778 he accused her of adultery and they parted. Divorce
was not possible as they had married in the Roman Catholic church.
Grand continued to serve the British East India Copany, holding, as he later wrote,
important positions in Hindustan, until for some unexplained reason he was dismissed
in 1799 and embarked for England. The Cape was a regular port of call for the British
Indiamen and during various brief sojourns Grand had come to love it. In a letter dated
April 1776 he described the Cape as a “paradise of climate, in the height of the fruit
season”. This time he stayed seven months before proceeding and after his arrival in
Europe he lost no time in obtaining, with the help of his discarded wife, the appointment
of a prestigious position in the Cape Government.
Catharine had returned to Europe in 1781. Such evidence as could be collected
definitely suggests that she was inncocent of adultery against Grand and in fact loved
him deeply, but he refused to accept her pleadings and sent her away with a small
allowance. Her reputation ruined and unable to remarry, she decided to enjoy life to the
full. While stopping over at the Cape en route to France, she caused a stir with her
beauty and loose morals. Here she met Count Nicola de Barras, a soldier in the French
regiment Pondichery stationed at the Cape who afterwards became a leading figure in
the French Revolution.
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