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The following lists events that happened during 1876 in South Africa.

Incumbents

  • Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Henry Barkly.
  • Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
  • State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
  • State President of the South African Republic: Thomas François Burgers.
  • Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West: William Owen Lanyon.
  • Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Charles Molteno.

Events

;January

  • The inaugural Champion Bat Tournament is held, a predecessor of first-class cricket in South Africa.
  • 15 &ndash; Die Patriot, the first Afrikaans newspaper, begins to be published in Paarl.

;February

  • 5 &ndash; The ship Memento sinks off East London and two 2nd Class 2-6-2TT locomotives intended for the Eastern System of the Cape Government Railways are lost.

;March

  • 27 &ndash; The Cape Times, the first daily newspaper in South Africa, begins in Cape Town, Cape Colony

;June

  • 16 &ndash; The railway line from Cape Town to Worcester is officially opened.

;July

  • Construction begins on the Cape Town Central Station as hub to the Cape Government Railways.

;October

  • 19 &ndash; The 2,700 ton steamer Windsor Castle sinks off Dassen Island.

;Unknown date

  • A Dutch Reformed Church is built at what is now the town of Amersfoort in Mpumalanga Province.
  • Prime Minister Molteno travels as plenipotentiary to London to discuss Britain's proposed confederation model for southern Africa.
  • The "Molteno Unification Plan" is put forward as an alternative model for eventual political consolidation in southern Africa.
  • Isigidimi Sama Xhosa, the first Xhosa-run newspaper, is begun in Lovedale, Cape Colony.
  • Britain admits wrongful action in its annexation of Griqualand West.
  • President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State rejects any discussion of Carnarvon's proposed confederation system for Southern Africa.
  • The country's first official archives are created when the Cape Government appoints a commission to assemble, sort and index the records of the Cape.
  • Southern Africa's first railway tunnel, the Hex River tunnel on the railway line between Osplaas and Matroosberg, is completed.

Births

  • 9 October &ndash; Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer, is born near Boshof, Orange Free State.
  • 21 October &ndash; Sir Fraser Russell, Governor of Southern Rhodesia. (d. 1952)

Deaths

Railways

thumb|[[CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 BP|CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 Beyer-Peacock]]

thumb|[[CGR 1st Class 2-6-0ST]]

thumb|[[CGR Fairlie 0-6-0+0-6-0]]

thumb|[[Natal Railway 4-4-0T Perseverance]]

New lines

  • Construction begins on the East London-King William's Town line.
  • In Natal construction begins on the Cape gauge railway line inland from Durban.
  • 1 April &ndash; Cape Midland &ndash; Addo to Sand Flats, .
  • 16 June &ndash; Cape Western &ndash; Ceres Road to Worcester, .
  • A pair of Stephenson's Patent back-to-back 2-6-0 Mogul type side-tank locomotives on the Cape Midland system.
  • A single experimental Fairlie locomotive and a pair of 0-6-0 Stephenson's Patent permanently coupled back-to-back tank locomotives for comparative trials on the Eastern system. The Fairlie is the first articulated locomotive to enter service in South Africa.
  • The first of three 1st Class 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives with domed boilers on the Eastern System.

References