1896 in South Africa

Template:Short description Template:Use South African English Template:Year in South Africa The following lists events that happened during 1896 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Hercules Robinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Pieter Jeremias Blignaut (until 4 March), Martinus Theunis Steyn (starting 4 March).
• State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Cecil John Rhodes (until 13 January), John Gordon Sprigg (starting 13 January).
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: .

Events

January

• 2 – Leander Starr Jameson and his forces surrender at Doornkop near Krugersdorp.
• 6 – Cecil Rhodes is forced to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony for his involvement in the Jameson Raid.

February

• 19 – A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.

May

• 13 – The Franchise Bill is passed by Natal's Legislative Assembly, disfranchising natives of other countries.

June

• 5 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi embarks from Durban for Calcutta en route to Bombay.

August

• 6 – Cape Town's first electric tram service begins operation along Adderley Street to Mowbray Hill.

December

• 18 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrives back in Durban with his wife and two sons, but the ship is placed under a 5-day quarantine because Bombay was declared a plague-infected port. Quarantine will later be extended to 13 January 1897.

Unknown date

• South Africa's first school of mines is opened in Kimberley. It will later form the core of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.Template:Fact

Births

• 1 February – Stephanus Le Roux Marais, organist, teacher and composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in the district of Bloemfontein.
• 1 February – Ivan Mitford-Barberton, art teacher at the Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town and sculptor of several monuments in South Africa, is born in Somerset East.
• April – Clements Kadalie, trade unionist, is born at Chifira, Nkhata Bay District, Nyasaland (now Malawi).
• 3 May – Petrus Johannes Lemmer, composer of Afrikaans songs, is born in Hartbeesfontein, Transvaal.
• 27 October – Edith Haisman, RMS Titanic survivor, is born in Worcester, Cape Colony (d. 1997)

Deaths

• 17 September – Nicholaas Waterboer, Griqua chief and eldest son of Andries Waterboer, dies in Griekwastad.

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 1 February – Cape Eastern – Sterkstroom to Indwe, .
• 1 April – Transvaal – Kaapmuiden to Barberton, .
• 2 November – Transvaal – Krugersdorp to Frederikstad, .

File:SAR Class 6A 444 (4-6-0).jpg

SAR Class 6A

File:Metropolitan & Suburban 4-6-2T Greenpoint.jpg

Metropolitan & Suburban Pacific

File:PPR 26 Tonner 0-6-0ST Pretoria.jpg

PPR 26 Tonner

Locomotives

Cape

• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Cape Government Railways (CGR):
  • The first of a second batch of fifty 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6A on the South African Railways (SAR).
  • The first of a second batch of forty-six 7th Class 4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotives on the Midland and Eastern Systems. In 1912 they would be designated Class 7A on the SAR.
• Two 4-6-2 Pacific type tank locomotives enter service on the Metropolitan and Suburban Railway that operates a suburban passenger service between Cape Town and Sea Point.

Free State

• The Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwerment-Spoorwegen places the first of twenty-four new Cape 6th Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives in service. In 1912 they would be designated Class 6C on the SAR.

Natal

• The Natal Government Railways (NGR) rebuilds one of its Class G 4-6-0 tank locomotives to the first 4-6-4 Baltic type locomotive in the world. It was later designated the NGR Class H.

Transvaal

• The independent Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal Republic) places the first of three 26 Tonner saddle-tank locomotives in service.