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

Swiss settler, Christiaan Orffer of Bönigen BE arrived 2 June on an English ship 1800.
Only one other Swiss who merits a mention was Lady Anne Barnard’s cook Monsieur
Revel, who arrived from and returned with her to England.
6. SUMMARY OF SWISS ARRIVALS DURING BATAVIAN RULE
1803-1806
The Batavian Governor designate, General Janssens, arrived with the first contingent
of Batavian troops in December 1802. The British delayed handing over the Cape until
20 February 1803 and General Janssens was ceremoniously inaugurated as Governor of
the Cape of Good Hope on 1 March 1803. Scarcely two months later, on 12 May 1803,
the war between Britain and France and its allies was resumed, and Dutch ships could
no longer venture to sea for fear of being captured by the Royal navy.
Several of the high officials who arrived at the Cape with General Janssens had
surnames indicating that they were descendants of officers in Swiss mercenary
regiments serving the Dutch. The most prominent was Baron Rudolph Anthony De
Salis, who acted as Govenor during Janssens journey of inspection to the interior.
Shortly before the war with England was resumed, Georges-François Grand born 1749
in Lausanne, with an intriguing personal history, arrived to take up a nominal second
position in the government. A number of Swiss arrived members of the Batavian
National Battalions. The most noteworthy, Surgeon Johan Jacob Hablutzel born in
Trüllikon ZH, and Cadet George Andreas Werdmuller born Maastricht NL, of Zurich
ZH, both settled at the Cape. As happened during the First British Occupation, only one
Swiss settler arrived, the watchmaker Jeremie Auguste Rouvière of Neuchatel. These
three all have numerous descendants in South Africa.
7. SUMMARY OF SWISS ARRIVALS DURING FIRST FOURTEEN
YEARS OF BRITISH COLONIAL RULE, 1806-1819
After the Second British Occupation of the Cape, a mere trickle of settlers arrived
from Europe. While Britain directed all its resources to defeating Napoleon, and after
Waterloo to the reconstruction of the European political landscape, it paid little attention
to the newly acquired Cape Colony. The first visible change in this attitude was the
arrival of the 1820 Settlers who disembarked in Saldanha Bay and Port Elizabeth.
During the fourteen years, 1806-1920, Only six Swiss arrivals were noted, of who
four settled in the colony: Jacobus Petrus Fredericus Touchon of Neuchatel, who hoped
to join the Regiment Meuron now in British service, and when this failed, remained
here illegally in an outlying district. Louis Balthasar Meurant who gave Basel as his
birthplace, arrived with wife and son as band master in a British regiment and decided
to settle here. Johan George Gass who gave St Gall as his birthplace and settled in the
Oudtshoorn District. Friedrich Schindler of Canton Glarus, a bricklayer who settled at
the Cape. Leonard Brunner, who also married and settled in Cape Town as shopkeeper.
In addition one Swiss came to die here: John Andrew Clason, a Swiss Major in the
British Indian army who like many other British army officers sought to recover his
health at the Cape.
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