SOUTH-AFRICA-L Archives

From: "Jon Seagers" <>
Subject: Cecil John Rhodes
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 12:51:22 +0200

A note received from one of my colleagues..........

Here are answers to the questions you raised. I have not gone into detail
but have indicated the sources.

John

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. On 22 December 1889, Cecil Rhodes opened negotiations with Frank Johnson
for the formation of a body of pioneers to implement the Rhodes-Rudd
Concession by marching into Mashonaland with a view to beginning mining
operations. In his book Great Days Johnson has given a full account of the
arrangements made from the moment of his interview with Rhodes at breakfast
in the Kimberley Club (Great Days, pp 95-107) until the flag was hoisted at
Fort Salisbury. This period is well documented.

2. In Great Days (p. 148), Johnson wrote: “It was on September 10 that we
reached the Hunyani late in the afternoon. All next day we were occupied in
making a drift between its steep and difficult banks (it will be remembered
that in my first expedition I had been held up by this river) and
'corduroying' a road across its sandy bottom. As all the 117 wagons had
then to be double-spanned, the day was a very trying one both for the men
and the oxen.”

3. Pioneers were recruited from Cape Town and Kimberley (by Rhodes) and
from the Eastern Cape (East London, Port Elizabeth and Queenstown) by
colleagues of Rhodes. Johnson had wanted to recruit time-expired men from
the Cape Mounted Rifles but Rhodes would not allow this and instead
insisted on recruitment of sons of British gentry. (Great Days, pp
109-110). Recruitment commenced in 1889.

4. Names of the pioneers can be found in Pioneers of Rhodesia by E.C.
Tabler. Records kept in the National Archives of Zimbabwe contain the names
of those who were entitled to the Rhodesia Medal of 1893 (the Matabele
War).

> >Mashonaland - the Pioneer Column of July 11, 1890
> >
> >Does anybody have more information about the crossing of the Hunyani
> >river and the contract between C J Rhodes and Frank Johnson to occupy
> >Mashonoland?
> >
> >When and where were the Pioneers recruited? Is a list of the Pioneers
> >who took part in the occupation and the resulting clash with the
> >armies of King Lobengula available anywhere?

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• Cecil John Rhodes by "Jon Seagers" <>