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Subject: {not a subscriber} PORT ELIZABETH'S FIRST HOTEL ... ... ... BY
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PORT ELIZABETH'S FIRST HOTEL - BY MARGARET HARRADINE.


Our very first hotel was established by Richard Hunt at the end of 1821. The
building he used was none other than Captain Fairfax Moresby's house on its
elevated site facing the Bay and with a wonderful view of the river and the
sea, much commented on by later visitors.
Moresby had been granted a piece of land by Donkin in gratitude for his able
assistance in 1820 when the British Settlers were landed here and the
foundation stone of the house had been laid by Donkin himself, the labour
being performed by Settlers still in Port Elizabeth. Moresby named his house
"Markham House" after Donkin's late wife whose maiden name it was and the
name also echoed that section of the Baakens River called "Markham Cove",
down to whose banks the gardens of the house stretched.
Moresby had little time in which to enjoy Markham House, for he was called
to Mauritius in 1821 and the distinguished career which followed and created
of him an Admiral, and never returned to live in Port Elizabeth.
The whole of Moresby's grant is the Rufane Vale, part of the Baakens River
Valley, and the piece on which Markham house stood, and which today is
bounded by the river, Baakens Street, Military Road and Dalgleish Street,
was taken over by Richard Hunt. It is possible that he is the 1820 Settler
of the same name who came out as a farmer in Mandy's party on the Nautilus
with his wife Ann and their children, George and Mary. Hunt was 50 when he
died in 1843 and this agrees with the age of the Settler of 1820.
Hunt ran a store as well as the hotel, but by 1829 he was insolvent and the
Valley land was sold to J.B. Board. Hunt's Hotel seems to have continued for
some years after this, but by the mid-1830's it had become the property of
James Scorey, former captain of the schooner "Flamingo". In 1829 Scorey had
married Ann Robinson in Port Elizabeth and it is of interest that a
traveller to these part in 1832 commented that the best inn was kept by a
Mrs. Robinson. Perhaps the now-settled seaman became part of a family
business.
The hotel became known as "Scorey's" and its popularity with visitors who
admired its fine position and its gardens reaching down to the river,
continued. In 1838 it was offered for sale. William Whybrew, who had been
running the hotel at Somerset (today's Somerset East), had bought Scorey's
by the end of 1839 and moved to Port Elizabeth at the beginning of the
following year. "Whybrew's Hotel" was the venue for meetings of the Turf
Club and was presumably a successful venture, but its owner had become ill
and was forced to sell it early in 1841. In July he died at the age of 58,
to be followed only a month later by his wife, Alice Eliza, aged 42.
Nathaniel Randall was probably the next owner of the hotel, certainly he was
a hotel keeper in 1842 and is listed with E.H. Salmond who had the Phoenix.
Randall was a man of many parts who was later to serve a term as postmaster
here and was also a shopkeeper and boarding house proprietor. Insolvency
forced him to sell and in 1843 William O'Hara, a retired sergeant, announced
that he was now running Scorey's Hotel. It is possible that it was during
his time the hotel took the name which was to stay with it long after the
building was gone: "Hope Hotel". In January 1844 the new name was already in
use and it was announced that Mrs. O'Hara had left the Hope Hotel. What had
become of William is not known. A few weeks later Joseph Jackson advertised
that he now had the Hope or Scorey's Hotel.
Before very long Joseph Avent Jeffery had bought the Hope Hotel, but he too
became bankrupt and over the space of a year =97 October 1846 to September
1847 =97 it was offered for sale several times. Jeffery kept a canteen in
Jetty Street after this and then had one in Rodney Row, but at the same time
he had gone into business with John Glendinning of Humansdorp and by 1849
they had sold their store at Kabeljouw River and built a new one at the
Fishery in St. Francis Bay, and were busy landing goods from ships and
whaling. The partnership was over by 1851, but Jeffery and his family had
settled at the Bay and that part soon acquired his name, though the spelling
changed.
In December 1848 the Hope Hotel was sold, the land having been divided into
seven lots. Moresby's house was never again used as an hotel. The various
parts had various owners over the years, one rebuilt the southern wing of
the house and sold it in 1857, J. Berry offered it for sale in 1865, and in
1866 the site as a whole was owned by John Miller, I. McIvor and William
Jones. Port Elizabeth's first fine house degenerated so, that in March 1899
the Town Council decided to condemn the stone buildings which then belonged
to Henry Nash. Throughout, the area was known as "Old Hope Hotel", "Hope
Hotel Stoep" and "Hope Stoep". A study of the old drawings, paintings and
photographs of the town shows the old, flat-roofed, double-storeyed house
clearly visible above the river. As time went by first the central section
and then the whole building acquired a sloping roof, but its high position
makes it conspicuous even after it had been surrounded by other buildings.
It should be quite clear from this description of the original Markham
House, that the present Markham Hotel is not on the same site. Although the
ground on which the hotel stands is part of the grant to Moresby, it has its
own history. J.F. Comfield's sketch of the small town at the end of 1823
shows a cottage below and to the right of Moresby's house. This cottage
features in all the old pictures and must be the same building which became
known, in its turn, as Markham House. Richard Hunt must have owned it, but
whether he built it, or whether it had already been built when he bought the
land, is not known. In 1838 when Scorey sold the hotel, there was a
"comfortable dwelling house, detached": on offer as well. It doesn't seem to
have found a buyer, for after Scorey's death in 1847 (he died in Cape Town
and his tombstone is now in the Woltemade Cemetery) it was offered again
with the rest of his property. The advertisement stated that the house had
an extensive frontage to two streets and was in the occupation of Mr.
Coleman.
Coleman bought the house and continued to live in it and in August 1848 the
Herald reported that a well was being dug "near Mr. Coleman's residence,
formerly Mr. Scorey's". The house was a convenient one for William Coleman
because in 1848 he built a steam mill on land nearby in Baakens Street. The
mill was something of a wonder in the town and the Herald described it as
"perhaps the most complete in the Colony and offering to every lover of the
science of Mechanics a sight which he would do well to inspect". So well did
the lovers of mechanics respond that Coleman had to close the doors to
visitors unless they came by appointment. The mill prepared flour, pollard,
bran, ground rice and crushed barley and was followed by the addition of a
sawmill.
In 1854 Coleman sold his mill privately and offered "Markham House" for sale
as well, so the house was known by this name then. Coleman was running a
woolwashing and pressing business nearby on the banks of the Baakens and one
photograph shows the raised stages for the drying wool built on the river
bank. In 1856 Coleman moved his business further up the Valley and Kirkwood
and Co. bought his premises, the well-known James Somers Kirkwood living in
Markham House for a few years before buying Hillside House in Bird Street
from the merchant, Joseph Simpson.
As it happens, Simpson bought Markham House, and with the stores next door,
which he leased, ran a wool-pressing business. In 1876 he was bankrupt and,
though the business continued until the store was burned down in 1878,
Markham House was sold to Peter Finlay for =A3650. Simpson played a prominen=
t
part in the mercantile world during a long life, and died full of honours in
1890. There is a fine window given in his memory in the chancel of St.
Mary's Church.
Peter Finlay, proprietor of the Goose and Gridiron in Main Street, lived in
Markham House for a while and then let it to one Herman Werth who, besides m
aking it his home, manufactured cigars there, and in 1883 it was damaged by
a fire. The following year Markham House appears for the first time in the
guise of a hotel, with a new liquor licence being granted to George Nelson
Pell. This was transferred to Loughlin Brennan in September 1885, the month
in which he bought the "newly-built" two-storey Markham House for =A31975.
>From this it seems possible that the re-building actually took place at the
beginning of 1884, after the fire which was said to have gutted the old
house.
A sketch of the hotel made in 1885 shows a building with balustrade and
arched windows and doorways built onto the pavement with a verandah over it.
In a later photograph there is a verandah in front of the upper storey as
well, but the building is the same one which continued in use under various
owners until it was demolished and the present hotel built in 1951.

SOURCES:
Local newspapers, Port Elizabeth directories, and numerous sources in
the South African Collection of the P.E. City Libraries.
______________________________________________________________________
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Elizabeth Donkin, wife of Sir Rufane Shawe Donkin, maiden name was
Elizabeth Markham, descending from the Archbishop of York. See "TW"
for more details and pictures. This chapter was written by Margaret
Harradine, PE, RSA, and submitted by Len Stratford. The complete
article with pictures is found in my section of the main "TW" menu
called "PORT ELIZABETH'S FIRST HOTEL".
______________________________________________________________________
MARKHAM WORLD NEWS:
http://members.xoom.com/kenmarkham/zim/news/
[You may feel free to send me items you feel may be of interest to
others relating to news items in your local area, around the world,
for other Markhams to read. This does not have to be Markham
genealogy related at all. Items will NOT be references to the sender
of the information, nor indexed. Items should be scanned in either
greyscale or colour, depending on the original document. A scan
resolution of 144 DPI and saved in .JPG format is suitable, depending
on how you scan your pictures, etc... If pictures are too large etc.,
I will adjust items myself etc. These items MUST be sent directly to
myself. Depending on content, some items will not be uploaded here,
and no reason will be given, not necessary here to do so, etc. This
section of "TW" should NOT spill over on to this list for any reason
whatsoever. I am looking items to add here that might catch an eye
or the interest of others, and relating to the current affairs in
your part of the world. This link above is NOT linked into any menu
of "TW" as yet. Intended to use the space we have on the website
until it is required later for Markham books etc.]
______________________________________________________________________
O'GRADY / EDWIN MARKHAM:
http://members.xoom.com/kenmarkham/zim/ogrady/
[I am looking for some-one to type out the texts here so they can be
placed into chapters in "TW" in web format in
HTML.]______________________________________________________________________
Yours Sincerely,
Capt. Columbus & Super Ken,
[Phenomenal Researchers In The Mists Of Time]
[Genealogists Extra-Ordinaire]
______________________________________________________________________






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