SOMERSET HOSPITAL, CAPE TOWN

#1 · April 20, 2022, 2:34 pm

Quote from Steve on April 20, 2022, 2:34 pm
I have written about this previously but as a 17 year-old in Standard 9, (the second last year of high school in SA), I was dared to go to a nightclub in Cape Town with some pals. The long and the short of it is that a 'ducktail', old South African slang for an anti-social 'teddy boy', broke a half gallon jar, (a 'three-man can'), on my head outside the Whites-only Colony nightclub in Bree Street. I saw stars! This was in 1967. The date is important because the minority White Nationalist government was then aggressively implementing Apartheid's Group Areas and Separate Amenities Acts, the purpose of which was to unfairly divide the country up between Whites and Blacks into separate areas and services, etc. Had a Black or 'Coloured' person wanted to go to the Colony nightclub they would have been refused on account of the fact that it was not zoned for the entertainment of their particular race group. Anyway, there I was, bleeding like crazy but not really badly hurt, mostly just shocked and worried what my Mom would say. My horrified friends made the decision to take me to the nearest hospital, the Somerst Hospital in the notorious Dock Road area, halfway between Cape Town and Green Point. We rushed there by car and my friends helped me inside. I was now quite faint from loss of blood. I recall being met in the entrance by some staff, a doctor and some nurses. They were very polite but said that given the laws of the land they could not treat me because I was White and the Somerset Hospital was for Blacks only. This may shock you today but that was South Africa back then and we were inured to the ugly side of our privilege. Being discriminated against for being White was not unusual but it was far less common than what our fellow Black South Africans had to suffer as the Nationalists built a White South Africa at their expanse. So, it was back into the car and a mad dash across town to Groote Schuur Hospital where I was soon being stitched up.

Here are a three items of historic interest, two from the Somerset hospital.

1]. The first is a postcard that shows the 'New Somerset Hospital' in 1904. It was built in 1864 and was, I believe, Cape Town's second civilian hospital. It was also the first hospital in SA to train 'Non-White' nurses. In the postcard, two White people are seen leaving the hospital. Groote Schuur Hosptal was opened in 1937. I worked there when I was on bail for crimes against Apartheid. It had separate facilities for Blacks and Whites BUT ironically (and most practically) its separate A&E entrances and wards were connected inside by a long corridor that allowed staff, blood and plasma, etc., to move between them and their respective operating theatres.

The postcard is addressed to 'Mafeking Villas, Hendon, London' and dated 'MY 25 04'. The Villas were presumably built after the Siege and Relief of Mafeking during the SA War and named in a fit of imperial patriotism.

2]. When the Somerset Hospital got old and ceased to be 'New' it was zoned for the exclusive use of Blacks. Apparently, about six years after my escapade, a new West Wing opened in 1973 for White patients. According to Wikipedia, the old building was renamed the North wing, not because of its position but because the 'N' meant for 'Non-White' patients while the 'W' of West Wing signified that it was for the use of Whites. This is only too real. For those who don't know, the SA Post Office used similar race-defining 'N' (Native), 'NW' (Non-White) and 'NE' (Non-European) datestamps. I have attached a 1905 example, Krugersdorp 'N', a Transvaal contemporary of these Cape postcards. It shows that segregation was long-practised in SA. Apartheid did not happen overnight in 1948 with the Nats.

3]. The second PC shows the 'Somerset Hospital Christmas Greetings' Label. Although it is not tied to the PC by the CAPE TOWN postmark, the date of the 'DE 4 07' fits with the Label's place of origin and seasonal greetings. One can reasonably expect that this is genuine usage of this scare and attractive label. It was received in London on 21st December in time for Christmas.

I have written about this previously but as a 17 year-old in Standard 9, (the second last year of high school in SA), I was dared to go to a nightclub in Cape Town with some pals. The long and the short of it is that a 'ducktail', old South African slang for an anti-social 'teddy boy', broke a half gallon jar, (a 'three-man can'), on my head outside the Whites-only Colony nightclub in Bree Street. I saw stars! This was in 1967. The date is important because the minority White Nationalist government was then aggressively implementing Apartheid's Group Areas and Separate Amenities Acts, the purpose of which was to unfairly divide the country up between Whites and Blacks into separate areas and services, etc. Had a Black or 'Coloured' person wanted to go to the Colony nightclub they would have been refused on account of the fact that it was not zoned for the entertainment of their particular race group. Anyway, there I was, bleeding like crazy but not really badly hurt, mostly just shocked and worried what my Mom would say. My horrified friends made the decision to take me to the nearest hospital, the Somerst Hospital in the notorious Dock Road area, halfway between Cape Town and Green Point. We rushed there by car and my friends helped me inside. I was now quite faint from loss of blood. I recall being met in the entrance by some staff, a doctor and some nurses. They were very polite but said that given the laws of the land they could not treat me because I was White and the Somerset Hospital was for Blacks only. This may shock you today but that was South Africa back then and we were inured to the ugly side of our privilege. Being discriminated against for being White was not unusual but it was far less common than what our fellow Black South Africans had to suffer as the Nationalists built a White South Africa at their expanse. So, it was back into the car and a mad dash across town to Groote Schuur Hospital where I was soon being stitched up.

Here are a three items of historic interest, two from the Somerset hospital.

1]. The first is a postcard that shows the 'New Somerset Hospital' in 1904. It was built in 1864 and was, I believe, Cape Town's second civilian hospital. It was also the first hospital in SA to train 'Non-White' nurses. In the postcard, two White people are seen leaving the hospital. Groote Schuur Hosptal was opened in 1937. I worked there when I was on bail for crimes against Apartheid. It had separate facilities for Blacks and Whites BUT ironically (and most practically) its separate A&E entrances and wards were connected inside by a long corridor that allowed staff, blood and plasma, etc., to move between them and their respective operating theatres.

The postcard is addressed to 'Mafeking Villas, Hendon, London' and dated 'MY 25 04'. The Villas were presumably built after the Siege and Relief of Mafeking during the SA War and named in a fit of imperial patriotism.

2]. When the Somerset Hospital got old and ceased to be 'New' it was zoned for the exclusive use of Blacks. Apparently, about six years after my escapade, a new West Wing opened in 1973 for White patients. According to Wikipedia, the old building was renamed the North wing, not because of its position but because the 'N' meant for 'Non-White' patients while the 'W' of West Wing signified that it was for the use of Whites. This is only too real. For those who don't know, the SA Post Office used similar race-defining 'N' (Native), 'NW' (Non-White) and 'NE' (Non-European) datestamps. I have attached a 1905 example, Krugersdorp 'N', a Transvaal contemporary of these Cape postcards. It shows that segregation was long-practised in SA. Apartheid did not happen overnight in 1948 with the Nats.

3]. The second PC shows the 'Somerset Hospital Christmas Greetings' Label. Although it is not tied to the PC by the CAPE TOWN postmark, the date of the 'DE 4 07' fits with the Label's place of origin and seasonal greetings. One can reasonably expect that this is genuine usage of this scare and attractive label. It was received in London on 21st December in time for Christmas.

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