Molteno (F 13)

Name: Molteno

Molteno is a town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, in the Chris Hani District Municipality. It is named for John Charles Molteno, former prime minister of the Cape Colony in the 1870s.[1][2]

Ouma Rusks originated in Molteno.[3]

Contents [hide]

History
Coal was discovered at Molteno shortly after 1859 and it became a major supplier to the Cape Colony.[4] By 1892, 6000 tons of coal were extracted at Molteno,[5] but by the 1920s the railways made access to better quality coal from Natal and the Transvaal possible, resulting in the decline of coal mining around Molteno.[6]

During the Second Boer War, Molteno was used as a mustering point for troops prior to the Battle of Stormberg, as it was the closest railway station to Stormberg


Google count:
Date:

Historic fact:

Sir John Charles Molteno KCMG (5 June 1814 - 1 September 1886) was a politician, British administrator and first prime minister of the Cape Colony, from 1872 to 1878.

Born in London, Molteno emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1831 and settled in Cape Town, where he became an assistant to the public librarian. He bought Claremont house in in 1841 and fought in the Amatola War in 1846.

Molteno was elected as member of the Cape Colony's legislative assembly for Beaufort West in 1854. He was appointed as the Cape Colony's first prime minister in 1872, but was dismissed by the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, on 3 February 1878.

He was married three times and had a total of nineteen children. One of his sons, Percy Molteno, served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Dumfriesshire in Scotland.

Molteno died on 1 September 1886 and was interred at St Saviour's, Claremont, Cape Town.

The town of Molteno in the Eastern Cape of South Africa was named after him.[1]


Other interesting info:

Where to stay: