Quote from Steve on August 31, 2025, 9:32 am

The Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town.

1901. Postcard. Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. GPO CAPE TOWN '28 AUG 01' to Germany.
Posted just two-and-a-half years after it opened, this is an early view of the Mount Nelson in its original form.
The garden appears bare in places and has yet to establish itself compared to later views.

No article or display on South African Hotels would be complete without a lengthy mention of the Mount Nelson. It deserves to be first on any list. For many years it was the first choice of premier hotel for the well-heeled, First-Class Castle line passengers visiting Cape Town. By the 1970s its age had made it a home to the largest cockroaches in Cape Town, according to one who visited its kitchen. Today it blends colonial heritage with contemporary elegance as it continues to host prestigious global elites within its nine-acre gardens.

Circa 1907. COGH Postcard. Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. (GB Budricks, No 220.) SALT RIVER 'FE 27 07' to GB.
This postcard was posted some 7 years after the Mount Nelson was built ie. this is probably its original appearance.
This is a view of the front of the hotel.

The Mount Nelson Hotel nestles at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. Its history is rooted in the Cape Colony, its relationship with the sea and imperial power. The land was originally granted in 1743 to Baron Pieter van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, who died before assuming his governorship of the Dutch colony. As early as 1806, the start of the second British occupation of the Cape, the property was dubbed "Mount Nelson" in honor of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Sir Hamilton Ross acquired it in 1843, transforming it into a magnificent estate with gardens featuring deer, fountains, and ornamental elements that partially survive today.

Circa 1912. Union-Castle Line Booklet Postcard. 'Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. (Copyright.)
This is a distorted view of the front of the hotel, possibly using a fish-eye lens.

In 1890, shipping tycoon Sir Donald Currie bought the site to create a luxurious haven for his Castle Line's First-Class passengers,. Currie's aim was to rival leading London hotels. He succeeded. The hotel opened on March 6, 1899 as South Africa's first with hot and cold running water, earning acclaim for its opulence. The thistles in the Mount Nelson logo below refer to Currie's Scottish ancestry.

1900. Mount Nelson Stationery. (ex the Strakosch Mount Nelson correspondence.)
Inset. Henry Strakosch, left, Chairman of the Ango-Austrian Bank and the imperialist Winston Churchill, right.
These two met in the Mount Nelson Hotel in 1900 where Strakosch was a wealthy Uitlander refugee.
In the 1930s, Strakosch gave the bankrupt Churchill a large amount of money, perhaps as much as £30,000.
Strakosch was alarmed by the rise of the Nazis while Churchill worried about German rearmament.
This 'gift' from one associate to another led to the charge that Churchill was in the pay of Zionists.

In October, the simmering hostility between the two Boer republics and the British Empire exploded into the full-scale South African War (1899 - 1902). In the early days of the war the Mount Nelson Hotel was briefly the British military headquarters. Generals Buller and Kitchener and Lords Roberts were frequent guests, as was the young war correspondent Winston Churchill who stayed there before his capture by the Boers and after his escape from them. Churchill lauded the Mount Nelson as "a most excellent and well-appointed establishment." Today the Writing Room continues to be named after him.

1900. Letter. PRETORIA (FPO 36) 'JU 27 00' to Cape Town.
Pretoria had fallen on 5th June 1900 - Lord Roberts was keen to go home.
A senior British officer, perhaps Lord Roberts' ADC, is writing to the Mount Nelson.

Post-SAW, the hotel symbolized peace when it was painted in its signature pink in 1918 to mark World War I's end, a hue that became iconic, trademarked as "Mount Nelson Pink." The 1920s brought royal glamour with the Prince of Wales' 1925 visit, prompting the palm-lined driveway and the "Prince of Wales Gate" During Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1928 stay he held controversial séances. Doyle  regarded himself not as a Christians but as a spiritualist. This rather disturbed the guests and the hotel's management. 

Circa 1928. 'Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. Main Entrance'.
This is probably the back entrance, not the 'Main Entrance'.

The hotel was expanded with the Oasis wing in 1973. The Garden Cottage Suites were restored in 1990, Historic buildings like Helmsley (site of Cape Town's first Jewish service) was acqured  in 1996. An electrical fire in 1993 led to a six-month closure for repairs. The hotel has attracted royalty, writers, musicians, and world leaders since its opening in 1899. Among its famous guests are Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill, and Queen Elizabeth II, and cultural icons such as Agatha Christie, John Lennon, the Dalai Lama, David Bowie, and Oprah Winfrey. 

Circa 1930. By this time the Mount Nelson has been decorated in what would become its trademark pink.
This sketch shows the front of the hotel much as it is in the first PC, top above, in 1907.

Among modern celebrities, John Lennon stayed incognito as "Mr. Greenwood" in late May 1980, shortly before his death, meditating on Table Mountain, making his own bed, practicing yoga in the gardens (once mistaken for a vagrant), and exploring the city with a local taxi driver. Today, as Belmond Mount Nelson, it endures as an iconic five-star luxury hotel, earning Forbes accolades in 2023 and celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2024 with grand events like a massive cake-cutting ceremony. (Marie Antonette would have approved!)

1956. Union -Castle Line Year Book & Guide to Southern Africa.

If anyone can advise about the 'mystery' of these postcards peculiar views, please do so.

Quote from Steve on September 5, 2025, 3:23 pm

The Wilderness Hotel - The Pearl of the Garden Route.

Circa 1955. Baggage Label. The Wilderness Hotel - The Pearl of the Garden Route.

Nestled in the heart of the Cape’s Garden Route, The Wilderness Hotel in Wilderness, Western Cape, is a historic gem that blends old-world charm with modern amenities. Within easy walking distance of golden sand beaches and surrounded by lush indigenous forests and lagoons, this 150-room hotel sits in a prime location, just a 45-minute drive from Mossel Bay and or Knysna. The nearby Garden Route National Park offer endless outdoor adventures from hiking to birdwatching. I attended a weekend conference here in the 1980s. I made an excuse to leave the meeting and popped outside for some fresh air. It was the only time I ever saw the famous Knysna Loerie.

Quote from Steve on September 24, 2025, 12:24 pm

Free State Hotel, ORC

Our thanks to Richard Stroud RDPSA, President of the Orange Free State Study Circle, for the mysterious gem below. Very little is known about 'The Free State Hotel', Brandfort and its proprietor H.P. Basson. Your advice is welcomed. Please!

Circa 1903. Postcard. "Free State Hotel," Brandfort, ORC. (Prop. H. P. Basson.)

The OFS republic was formally annexed to the British Crown and renamed the ORC (Orange River Colony) on the 28th May 1900. However, a guerrilla war persisted for a further eighteen months and it was not until the 31st May 1902 that the war was formally ended by the signing of the Peace Treaty of Vereeniging (in Pretoria). This postcard places the hotel in the ORC era (1900 - 1910). I would suspect that its date is a little later than the end of the war. There is a soldier in full kit in the photo behind the sitting children.

As can be seen the hotel was busy with many guests. It had its own coach which was presumably used to convey its guests to and from Brandfort Railway Station. Most 'better' hotels provided such a service. While the '1956 Union Castle Line Year Book and Guide to Southern Africa' mentions Commercial and Grand National hotels in Brandfort it does not list a 'Free State Hotel' there.

Brandfort was established in 1866 on the farm Keerom. It sits pretty much in the centre of the Orange Free State, some 60 km northeast of Bloemfontein to which it is connected by railway. It was once the heart of a small but thriving rural farming community. During the Apartheid years Nelson Mandela's wife Winnie was banished to Brandfort where she was appallingly treated by the Security Police. Her apologists argue that it was this racial cruelty that caused her to change into an embittered and violent activist.

In 2020 the ANC government officially renamed the town 'Winnie Mandela' despite some of her actions during the liberation struggle being reprehensible. South African graffiti of the time read "Winnies in the Pooh'. She never quite cleaned up her act post-Apartheid. Today, Brandfort / Winne Mandela is a shadow of its former self, a ghost town with a dwindling economy where only 3% of its people are in full-time employment, the majority living on government grants. Well done Apartheid, its Security Police, Winnie Mandela and the ANC!

In the book, 'Winnie Mandela: A Life', she described Brandfort as: "A drab and dusty rural hamlet with unimaginative houses, an old-fashioned two-storey hotel, small shops lining the main street and a pervading atmosphere of lethargy and inactivity." This reference to "an old-fashioned two-storey hotel" almost certainly does not refer to the 'Free State Hotel' which seems to have disappeared years earlier. This is all the information I have been able to find out about this a hotel through cursory research. Your help please.

Stop Press
Further to reseaching the next postcard, I found a reference to a Harry Jacobson being the proprietor of the Frankfort Hotel in "circa 1915". As it is unlikely that this postcard shows a time after 1915, I must assume that it is from the time-frame 1903 - 1915.

Quote from Steve on September 25, 2025, 11:52 am

Ficksburg Hotel, Ficksburg, OFS.

This is another postcard emailed to us from Richard Stroud RDPSA. At first, there was not much readily available information on-line.

Circa 1898 - 1920. Postcard. Ficksburg Hotel, Ficksburg, O.F.S. J. Jankielsohn, Proprietor'.
With a little research I was able to narrow the date of this photo down to about 10 years.

This interesting postcard was difficult to date. I did not have a copy of its reverse.  The postcard describes Ficksburg as being in the OFS (Orange Free State), an independent republic until the SAW (South African War) saw it become a British colony, the ORC (Orange River Colony) in 1900 until 1910, (Union), when it became a province of the Union of South Africa called the Orange Free State.  So, there is no specific clue to the date of the photo in its address. The brick and corrugated iron construction is typical of 1900 - 1920.

There are some clues in this postcard to its date which are not conclusive by themselves. The first is the sign for Castle Beers. Today, this thirst-quencher is usually referred to as 'Castle Lager'. (A lager is a type of beer.) Its history began in 1886 when Charles Glass established the Castle Brewery in Johannesburg. His 'Castle Beer' (not Lager) quickly became popular with the mining community. By 1889, 'The Digger’s News' described Glass' enterprise as a "success". In 1895, South African Breweries (SAB) was formed and two years later it was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (1897) ie. Castle Beer was popular before the SAW / ABW began in 1899. You can expect such a listed company to have an active marketing and promotions department producing advertising signage, etc..

In these early years SA Breweries' flagship product was 'Castle Beer'. This suggests that this photo could have been taken before the South African War of 1899 - 1902.  Supporting this are the bicycles and two mule and or horse-drawn coaches that you can see and the absence of motor cars. Does this show that the photo was taken befor the arrival of motor cars?. Not really, all we can determine is that at this time in Ficksburg horse and carts remained the hotel's main means of transport. Given the devastation of the war it is possible that at this time few could afford motor vehicles. However, thirdly, the people gathered on the hotel's stoep (verandah) seem to be an affluent lot. Is this a happier time before the war? Perhaps. However, the hotel's name which is painted on its roof, a common practice, one which pilots in the early days of aviation in South Africa used as locational markers.

So, my first cautious guess was that the photo in this postcard could equally be from anytime between 1898 to 1920.

I now decided to research  the proprietor of the Ficksburg Hotel, J. Jankielsohn. I should have started there. I found two references to him, the first a court case JANKIELSOHN v. REX of 7th July 1904 when he was the properietor of the Grand Hotel, Bloemfontein.  This was a criminal procedure in which the charge was 'Permitting drunkenness.-Ordinance 8 of 1903, sec. 51, sub-sec. I.'

J (Jankielsohn) was charged with permitting drunkenness to take place upon his retail liquor licensed premises. He was the holder of a liquor license. There was some evidence that J or his barmen had knowledge of a drunken man in the bar, if not they were culpably ignorant of his presence there. J was charged with permitting drunkenness to take place upon his retail liquor licensed premises known as the Grand Hotel, Bloemfontein. The appellant was found guilty. The facts disclosed by the evidence show that on the night of the 10th June, 1904, 'a man went into the bar of the Grand Hotel in an intoxicated condition. He was staggering and being watched by two policemen who went into the bar a few minutes afterwards and found him sitting over a table with a bottle of Castle Beer to his lips'. Ha!

Okay, so now we know that J was the proprietor of the Grand Hotel, Bloemfontein, in 1904. In addition to this, I found this reference to J on-line, posted in 2005. entitled 'Hotel Proprietors in SA  circa 1915'.  This was cited in a ROOTSWEB List and names some hotel owners, apparently taken from the magazine ON THE ROAD (about 1915), one intended for South African commercial travellers, not proto-beatniks. Under 'F', it lists "Ficksburg Hotel, Ficksburg: J. JANKIELSOHN ("late proprietor Grand Hotel, Bloemfontein").

So there we have it, this postcard dates from some time after 1904 and "circa 1915". Let's say, 1920.

Please submit your thoughts., Thanks.

Footnote:
Dr Roy Jankielsohn (born 3 December 1967) is a South African politician who has been the leader of the opposition in the Free State Provincial Legislature since 2014. He has been the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Free State since 2020.