Dynamite Factory, Somerset West
In my Matric year my class visted the Dynamite Factory, Somerset West, then run by AECI (African Explosives and Chemicals Industry, I think). AECI provided explosives to the mines and no doubt the military also. It was a PR exercise that aimed to encourage one of us bright young things to eventually work for them.
I remember two things about that day. The first was being told that AECI stood for "Africans, Englishmen, Coloureds and Indians". Sadly, no mention of Afrikaners! It was a comment based on our divided society, our history and Apartheid, all of which our guide unfairly blamed on Afrikaners. The second was being told that the site housed the largest roofed building in the southern hemisphere. This sheltered an impressively vast heap of yellow sulphur something like a quarter or half mile long. Sulphur is one of many ingredients in dynamite.
Started by De Beers Consolidated Mines, the De Beers Explosive Works was intended to supply dynamite to the Diamond Fields of Kimberly in order to break the high-priced monopoly of the ZAR's Modderdam Factory in Johannesburg. An American explosives expert, William Russell Quinan, oversaw the establishment of the works. Construction began in 1901 during the SAW (South African War) which had suspended gold mining activities through a lack of labour and explosives. Production began in 1903 with 72,022 50lb cases being made in the first year and 175,281 in the second. The plant traded under the name of De Beers Explosives Works until 1906, when the name was changed to Cape Explosives Works Limited, a subsidiary company of De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd.
Putzel's 'Encycolopedia of SA Post Offices' tells us that the Dynamite Factory Somerset West Post Office opened on '1 7 1902'. If you have his 'The Postmarks of South Africa', the DYNAMITE FACTORY postmarks appear on the last page of Volume 2, (C-D). Putzel illustrates 11 DYNAMITE FACTORY datestamps. Alex Visser's Addendum lists 7 including a cachet. This suggests that there are some 18 different postmarks, negative seals and Registered cachets, making this datestamp a mini-collecting area worthy of a small display.
The postmark on the De Beers Explosive Works cover below is an early Type 1 DYNAMITE FACTORY SW (Somerset West) dated 'SP 17 2', the year presumably 1902 ie. during the construction phase of the Explosive Works. It was common practice during the SAW to drop the '0' in the date - why I do not know, perhaps to confuse the Boers about which century they were living in. The SAW had ended on 31st May 1902, some 3½ months earlier. This DYNAMITE FACTORY datestamp showing just Month, Day, Year is unrecorded by Putzel. While early, the earliest recorded DYNAMITE FACTORY datestamp is from July. It could be Type 1c described in Alex Visser's Addendum - "As No. 1, but no time code letter. Month before day at top" - but without an image I am reluctant to say it is .
The reverse shows the De Beers Explosives Works monogram and a faint MOWBRAY CGH Squared Circle datestamp. The MOWBRAY CGH Squared Circle datestamp is unrecorded by Putzel, a variety of his Type 7 or Type 8 without Year. It does not appear to be recorded by Alex Visser either.
The postcard addressed to Park Smith shows a DYNAMITE FACTORY '10 JUL 35' postmark Type 5. Park Smith was an early postal historian with an interest in postmarks. The dealer who sold me the postcard told me that Park Smith worked in the PR (Public Relations) Department of De Beers as suggested by the address. I have a few more of these DYNAMITE FACTORY datestamps tucked away. Bob Hill has a postcard showing the entrance to the Dynamite Factory which I will try and post some time. If you have a DYNAMITE FACTORY datestamp, please share it with us. It is the name that makes these datestamps so collectable.
1]. Early DYNAMITE FACTORY SW cover from 1902 when Explosive Works was being built.
2]. Cover reverse showing De Beers Explosives Work monogram with unrecorded MOWBRAY CGH Squared Circle.
3]. The power station, De Beers Explosives Works, Somerset West. Chris Snelling.
4]. Postcard to Diamond Factory from top of TABLE MOUNTAIN.
5]. Postcard reverse showing SAR & H STRAND 157 and DYNAMITE FACTORY Type 5 datestamps.
To read more about the Dynamite Explosive Works, see: https://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=9382
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Steve you posted very helpful information on the Dynamite Factory at Somerset West. I have just acquired a postcard with that cds on it and you asked Members to submit copies of such cds images. Mine is upside down and on the picture side of a postcard on its way to Tasmania in 1906 (17 October) where a cds of Bream Creek was applied on November 13. Copy below hopefully. Malcolm Judd
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Thanks for the post, Malcolm!
Your postcard shows a part of the ancient volcanic area that provides hot water to a variety of nearby towns and settlements, the most prominent being Caldon and Warmwaterberg. The steam from the spring was probably the 'smoke' from the burning vlei. (Afr. brand vlei).
Your Brandvlei is described as being situated "nine miles from Worcester". It shares the same name as the place (town was probably too grand) with the post office nearest to Verneukpan where Donald Campbell attempted to break the land speed record in the late 1920s.
See: https://southafricanphilatelyclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Verneukpan-Skeletons-2.pdf
Further to my comment above that Park Smith worked in the PR (Public Relations) Department of De Beers and that he was an early postal historian with an interest in postmarks, I attach the cover below from the 'Strand Publicity Association' posted on '12 FEB 37'. It now appears more likely to me that Park Smith was a PR consultant and that De Beers Dynamite Factory was among his clients. This letter appears to confirm that he was a relatively early South African practitioner of the dark art of Public Relations spinning.
'The Strand Wants You!' printed cover below appears to be addressed in the same distinctive handwriting as the bottom postcard addressed to Park Smith at the start of this topic where he was mailing himself, presumably as a collector of postmarks and probably also as a dealer. He has used the cover below to promote both the Strand and himself, adding his own promotional handstamp - PARK SMITH, AERO-PHILATELIST, THE STRAND, CP, SOUTH AFRICA' on the reverse. Like most good PR consultants he has not missed the opportunity for a spot of self-promotion!
The Empire Exhibition label is another interesting embellishment. It is contemporaneous with the date the letter was posted. The Exhibition ran from 15 September 1936 to 15 January 1937 and had just three days left to run in Milner Park, Johannesburg, when this letter was posted. Given that this cover went to New York via surface mail and arrived there after the Empire Exhibition had ended, this label served no promotional purpose whatsoever other than to embellish the cover as a more attractive item of postal history. For which I am grateful!
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