James and Ethel Perkins, Worcester

#11 · April 13, 2023, 12:00 pm

Quote from Steve on April 13, 2023, 12:00 pm
"Did he work for Jane Rennick?" I do not know but I think he was most likely a Royal Navy officer.

Jane Rennick was Postmistress in Simonstown from her appointment on 4th April 1848 untl at least 2nd May 1857 when she wrote and signed a letter to Postmaster General J. A. Le Sueur in Cape Town. Her husband James became the town gaoler in March 1848 and was later Chief Commissioner of Simons Town until he died in 1861. His death would probably have made her need to continue working in order to earn an income. The Simons Town Historical Society claim that she oversaw the start of the Penny Post in Simons Town. If the Simons Town Historical Society is correct, Jane Rennick was still Postmistress in 1867, roughly ten years after your cover above.

Simonstown was small but the Royal Navy base possibly provided the Post Office with more mail than one person could handle alone ie. on days when ships came in or departed. It was also the seat of a magistracy with a consequent flow of regular official legal mail both in and out. By the mid-1850s Simons Town was deemed important enough to have a new Post Office. This was opened during Jane Rennick's tenure as Postmistress. You can see the building in the postcard below. (SAPO, under the direction of the ANC, closed it down in October 2022!) I imagine that only the far right section of the building originally served as the Post Office. Nevertheless, this would appear to be bigger than one Postmistress warranted. So, it is possible that Jame Rennick did have assistance of some sort.

So.... did the 'John' on your cover work for the Post Office? Looking at your cover, it states 'OHMS.'This suggests official Royal Navy or Post Office mail. 'OHMS' would be required for both 'free' Royal Navy and Post Office mail (although PO staff did not always comply). It is addressed to the PMG, Cape Town stating 'Senior Officer' in the same hand as OHMS and the address. The 'John' signature is in a completely different handwriting. The term 'Senior Officer' is a naval one, not something common to the Post Office. Finally, at the base, upside-down, there appears to be 'Admiralty'. On balance, I think this is an item of Royal Navy, not Post Office, mail.

My guess is that the letter was addressed by a minor naval clerk who wrote 'Senior Officer' in anticipation of the cover being signed by such a superior, a ranking person, the 'John' in the top-right corner. It was accepted in the Simons-Town post office and sent to Cape Town. On balance it is likely that the 'John' was not a Post Office employee but a ranking naval officer whose signature was needed to confirm that the letter was indeed official and therefore 'free'. But as per the movie 'Legally Blonde', I would not bet your life on that opinion. As Bas Payne said recently about postal history, "we should not be surprised by how little we know!"

"Did he work for Jane Rennick?" I do not know but I think he was most likely a Royal Navy officer.

Jane Rennick was Postmistress in Simonstown from her appointment on 4th April 1848 untl at least 2nd May 1857 when she wrote and signed a letter to Postmaster General J. A. Le Sueur in Cape Town. Her husband James became the town gaoler in March 1848 and was later Chief Commissioner of Simons Town until he died in 1861. His death would probably have made her need to continue working in order to earn an income. The Simons Town Historical Society claim that she oversaw the start of the Penny Post in Simons Town. If the Simons Town Historical Society is correct, Jane Rennick was still Postmistress in 1867, roughly ten years after your cover above.

Simonstown was small but the Royal Navy base possibly provided the Post Office with more mail than one person could handle alone ie. on days when ships came in or departed. It was also the seat of a magistracy with a consequent flow of regular official legal mail both in and out. By the mid-1850s Simons Town was deemed important enough to have a new Post Office. This was opened during Jane Rennick's tenure as Postmistress. You can see the building in the postcard below. (SAPO, under the direction of the ANC, closed it down in October 2022!) I imagine that only the far right section of the building originally served as the Post Office. Nevertheless, this would appear to be bigger than one Postmistress warranted. So, it is possible that Jame Rennick did have assistance of some sort.

So.... did the 'John' on your cover work for the Post Office? Looking at your cover, it states 'OHMS.'This suggests official Royal Navy or Post Office mail. 'OHMS' would be required for both 'free' Royal Navy and Post Office mail (although PO staff did not always comply). It is addressed to the PMG, Cape Town stating 'Senior Officer' in the same hand as OHMS and the address. The 'John' signature is in a completely different handwriting. The term 'Senior Officer' is a naval one, not something common to the Post Office. Finally, at the base, upside-down, there appears to be 'Admiralty'. On balance, I think this is an item of Royal Navy, not Post Office, mail.

My guess is that the letter was addressed by a minor naval clerk who wrote 'Senior Officer' in anticipation of the cover being signed by such a superior, a ranking person, the 'John' in the top-right corner. It was accepted in the Simons-Town post office and sent to Cape Town. On balance it is likely that the 'John' was not a Post Office employee but a ranking naval officer whose signature was needed to confirm that the letter was indeed official and therefore 'free'. But as per the movie 'Legally Blonde', I would not bet your life on that opinion. As Bas Payne said recently about postal history, "we should not be surprised by how little we know!"

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#12 · April 14, 2023, 5:52 am

Thanks for your analysis. I tend to agree with you that the John is probably someone related to the Navy rather than the Post Office. I have another wrapper dated 1869 from a ship anchored at Simons Bay (probably a coaling hulk), named Seringpatam, addressed to the Post Master General at Cape Town, regarding a refund for an overcharged letter, so it does appear that there was direct communication between the Naval Base and the PO at Cape Town albeit, via the Simonstown Post Office who would transmit the letter. The story of Seringpatam can be found in the wikipedia and hoping to research this piece in detail when I get a chance.

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#13 · April 25, 2023, 12:45 pm

Nice. I'm jealous. Both my PMG CT and Simonstown displays could benefit from that. I think that somewhere I have correspondence that refers to the Seringapatam. I cannot confirm that she was a coaling hulk - but if you say so, even probably, it's good enough for me. Your research is excellent.

The Simons Town Post Office was always vital to the Royal Navy. Both parties worked closely together. Long after the single line telegraph arrived in May 1860 the Navy's official and personal communications continued to be written on paper and transported by postcarts, (trains after 1891). The Post Office was the means by which the Royal Navy communicated with the colonial government in Cape Town and accessed Table Bay where mail ships called to take its letters to the Admiralty. It would take years for telegraph and wireless communications to replace letters. For the average sailor / civilian letters would remain the only affordable and practical way to communicate.

Below is a letter from 1904, from Effie (Ethel) who is in Cape Town having a jol, shopping, going to the theatre, etc., doing what Edwardian ladies of leisure did, (probably not go to Clifton Beach to sunbathe), while James has to remain in Worcester holding the fort. Most of her eight page letter is one long apology for not having written sooner. "Goodbye again darling, my own Sweet, Sweet Heart, my Heart's Love. Sweet Long Kisses from Your Own Loving Sweetheart."

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#14 · June 25, 2023, 1:59 pm

Quote from Steve on June 25, 2023, 1:59 pm
Here are two interesting covers that tie some of the preceding correspondence together.

We have established that the wife of James 'Jim' Perkins (Jnr.) was Ethel May RAINIER, born 16 Nov 1873 in Malmesbury and that she lived in the Drostdy (magistrate's residence). I have ascertained that she was the seventh child of George Garrett Rainier and Maria Adriana van Breda of Cape Town. This makes the van Bredas Ethel's grandparents and explains her Cape Town sojourns at the Oranjezicht address. The van Bredas were an old Cape Dutch family, previously owners of the Oranjezicht estate above Cape Town.

There are some differences among genealogical sites as to whether the Raniers had seven or eight children, also their names and their dates of birth. These are George and Maria's children as listed in 'Ancestors South Africa'.

1. John Henry RAINIER, born 17 Mar 1861, Cape Town, died 1 Jul 1936, De Aar.
2. George Dirk RAINIER, born 19 Sep 1862, Cape Town, died 21 May 1928, Fish Hoek.
3. Harvey D'Urban RAINIER, born 23 May 1864, Cape Town, died 29 Sep 1947, Port Alfred.
4. Susanna Hendrina Wilhelmina RAINIER, born 27 Sep 1866, Malmesbury, died 30 Nov 1934, Cape Town.
5. Percy RAINIER, born 30 Sep 1868, Malmesbury, died 12 Oct 1926, Cape Town.
6. Hester Antoinette RAINIER, born 16 Nov 1870, Malmesbury, died?????
7. Ethel May RAINIER, born 16 Nov 1873, Malmesbury died?????
8. Lilian RAINIER, born 29 Apr 1876, Malmesbury, died 3 Mar 1958, Worcester.

Ethel's father, George, was like his father before him, a Civil Commissioner and a Resident Magistrate. Many of Jim's love letters to Ethel are addressed to the 'Drostdy, Worcester', suggesting that after a perid of being Resident Magistrate in Malmesbury, George was transferred to Worcester where the younger children grew up in the Drostdy built by their grandfather. Jim and Ethel must have met in Worcester as young adults, if not children. George died on 20 Aug 1913 in Cape Town. Wikitree states George was "living as a retired employee of the CC&MR (sic) at his home "Mayhew" Villa, 18 Hofmeyer Street in Cape Town when he passed away in 1913".

It appears that after his father's death, Percy, the youngest son, acquired the house in Hofmeyer Street. See cover from Germany '8 11 21'. Posted to Percy in 1921, we can see the start of the inflation in Germany that would wreck the economy of the Weimar Republic.

Additionally, I have found a letter from Hester Antoinette RAINIER, the sixth child and second daughter of George and Maria, written from Kimberly 'MY 14 93' to her parents in Worcester. Much of the letter is about her children but she does enquire about the health of her father, suggesting (as we now know) that James (Snr.) was not a well man. Additionally, she signs the letter "from your loving daughter, Esther", suggesting that her name was not 'Hester', or if it was she preferred 'Esther'. The front of the letter has been dated '14/5/93 (from Est - Kimberley.)'. I wonder if this is Esther's family arranging and archiving her correspondence.

The cover and writing paper are monogrammed. The motto is 'Patientia et Animus', (Patience and Courage). I am wondering if this is a standard, off-the-shelf item of stationery as possibly sold in her father's Worcester shop or does it refer to an institution or other.

Here are two interesting covers that tie some of the preceding correspondence together.

We have established that the wife of James 'Jim' Perkins (Jnr.) was Ethel May RAINIER, born 16 Nov 1873 in Malmesbury and that she lived in the Drostdy (magistrate's residence). I have ascertained that she was the seventh child of George Garrett Rainier and Maria Adriana van Breda of Cape Town. This makes the van Bredas Ethel's grandparents and explains her Cape Town sojourns at the Oranjezicht address. The van Bredas were an old Cape Dutch family, previously owners of the Oranjezicht estate above Cape Town.

There are some differences among genealogical sites as to whether the Raniers had seven or eight children, also their names and their dates of birth. These are George and Maria's children as listed in 'Ancestors South Africa'.

1. John Henry RAINIER, born 17 Mar 1861, Cape Town, died 1 Jul 1936, De Aar.
2. George Dirk RAINIER, born 19 Sep 1862, Cape Town, died 21 May 1928, Fish Hoek.
3. Harvey D'Urban RAINIER, born 23 May 1864, Cape Town, died 29 Sep 1947, Port Alfred.
4. Susanna Hendrina Wilhelmina RAINIER, born 27 Sep 1866, Malmesbury, died 30 Nov 1934, Cape Town.
5. Percy RAINIER, born 30 Sep 1868, Malmesbury, died 12 Oct 1926, Cape Town.
6. Hester Antoinette RAINIER, born 16 Nov 1870, Malmesbury, died?????
7. Ethel May RAINIER, born 16 Nov 1873, Malmesbury died?????
8. Lilian RAINIER, born 29 Apr 1876, Malmesbury, died 3 Mar 1958, Worcester.

Ethel's father, George, was like his father before him, a Civil Commissioner and a Resident Magistrate. Many of Jim's love letters to Ethel are addressed to the 'Drostdy, Worcester', suggesting that after a perid of being Resident Magistrate in Malmesbury, George was transferred to Worcester where the younger children grew up in the Drostdy built by their grandfather. Jim and Ethel must have met in Worcester as young adults, if not children. George died on 20 Aug 1913 in Cape Town. Wikitree states George was "living as a retired employee of the CC&MR (sic) at his home "Mayhew" Villa, 18 Hofmeyer Street in Cape Town when he passed away in 1913".

It appears that after his father's death, Percy, the youngest son, acquired the house in Hofmeyer Street. See cover from Germany '8 11 21'. Posted to Percy in 1921, we can see the start of the inflation in Germany that would wreck the economy of the Weimar Republic.

Additionally, I have found a letter from Hester Antoinette RAINIER, the sixth child and second daughter of George and Maria, written from Kimberly 'MY 14 93' to her parents in Worcester. Much of the letter is about her children but she does enquire about the health of her father, suggesting (as we now know) that James (Snr.) was not a well man. Additionally, she signs the letter "from your loving daughter, Esther", suggesting that her name was not 'Hester', or if it was she preferred 'Esther'. The front of the letter has been dated '14/5/93 (from Est - Kimberley.)'. I wonder if this is Esther's family arranging and archiving her correspondence.

The cover and writing paper are monogrammed. The motto is 'Patientia et Animus', (Patience and Courage). I am wondering if this is a standard, off-the-shelf item of stationery as possibly sold in her father's Worcester shop or does it refer to an institution or other.

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#15 · June 27, 2023, 10:07 am

Nice research. It adds another piece to the jig-saw puzzle.