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

7. Possibly a son, William, not baptised in Cape Town, served as Captain of Swiss
troops stationed in Paris.
THE TRAGIC STORY OF SUSANNA NICOLET
When the Swiss Regiment Meuron arrived at the Cape in 1783, Colonel Gordon was
Captain of the Garrison and Head of the Military Establishment. Count Meuron and his
officers must have been delighted to find that his wfe Susanna was a compatriot.
Gordon was of Scottish descent, his grandfather having settled in Holland where both
he and his son, the father of Robert Jacob Gordon, served in the Scottish Brigade.
Robert preferred a military career in the Dutch army and in 1777 was sent out to the
Cape as captain. He spent the first three years there exploring the Cape as far as the
Orange and Great Fish Rivers. A keen observer with a university degree in the natural
sciences, he made botanical and zoological collections and wrote copious notes on his
experiences. These have been carefully preserved, but the letters he wrote to his
betrothed, waiting in Europe to be called to his side, appear to have been lost; they
might have told us how they met, whether during his visit to the Swiss Alps around
1774 to study glaciers, or in Amsterdam where two of her sisters were married to Dutch
businessmen.
Three years after his arrival at the Cape, Gordon was appointed Commanding Officer.
Now that he was to lead a more sedentary life and also do representative duties, he
immediately made travel arrangements for Susanna and a personal maid and within nine
days of her arrival here the marriage took place. In a period when all the principal
people at the Cape entertained lavishly and most gave a ball every month, Susanna
supported her husband most ably, besides bearing him six sons and a daughter. The
French traveller Le Vaillant described her as being very kind hearted and beloved by all.
The Gordons lived at Schoongezicht in Oranjezicht 8 and later, with a view to early
retirement, bought the farm Bouwers Kloof at the foot of the Paardeberg near
Malmesbury. 9
In 1789 France exploded in revolution and waves of unrest spread far and wide. In the
Netherlands the governing Stadholder initially maintained his position with the aid of
Prussian troops until the French revolutionary army overran his country and he fled to
England. The British were eager to grant him asylum. Nine years earlier their attempt to
capture the Cape had been foiled by the early arrival of a French fleet. Now they lost no
time in obtaining a letter from the Stadholder directing the governor at the Cape to
welcome the British as protectors. Although the British made sure no news reached the
Cape of the accord reached by the French with the Dutch people and their rejection of
the Stadholder, the Company officials at the Cape remained distrustful of the British
and kept them at arm’s length with never-ending negotiations.
Gordon, on the other hand, as soldier loyal to the Stadholder, appears to have decided
at an early stage to accept the Stadholder’s letter at face value. He deliberately neglected
to strengthen the defences and during the British advance from Simon’s Town towards
Cape Town withheld reinforcements from the defenders. The only time he is reported to
have faced his troops with drawn sword to issue a command, was when they were
assembled at the Castle and he ordered them to surrender their weapons to the British.
The burgher militia cried treason and the people branded Gordon as a traitor. He was
manhandled and came close to being killed. The British officers present made no move
to save him and throughout the ceremony only the British flag was raised, never the
Stadholder’s standard. Gordon came to realise that the British had misused the
Stadholder’s letter to trick the defenders so as to gain the Cape for themselves. He saw
his honour lost, his family exposed to ridicule and shame. He took his own life in the
garden of Schoongezicht.
Susanna must have shared her husband’s agony as the seeds of doubt grew to
certainty. Now suddenly her happy life at the Cape was shattered. With her children she
returned to Switzerland. More sadness awaited her there. Her eldest son Robert serving
under Napoleon at the defeat of Waterloo, suffered the fate which so nearly overtook his
father at the surrender: his men accused him of treason, maltreated and killed him. The
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