Henry Thomas Glynn

In 1880, Henry Thomas Glynn (1856-1928), the founder of Sabie (and known among his friends as H.T.), bought the farm Grootvantijn from P. de Villiers. The farm's original name was 'Sabi' but was later changed to 'Sabie'. The Sabie River flowed through the farm. The name Sabi (or Sabie) has an obscure origin.

What we do know is that the indigenous people feared the large river running through Grootvantijn. This could be because some believed that the river was haunted by the ghosts of the many black people that had either drowned in it or by the black soldiers who died in the many tribal clashes and whose bodies were thrown into the river without ripping them open to release their spirits. Sabie could be a derivation of the Shangaan word 'uluSaba', meaning fearful.

It was during 1896 that a 23-year-old H.T. decided to build a new house that would be named Huntington. On a boat trip to England, H.T. met a Miss Gertrude Gilbertson Dales (1876-1970) who would become his wife. They married in 1896 in England and during that same year they moved to Huntington.

During this time geologists and prospectors, who were hired by H.T. and his father, searched Grootvantijn for gold-bearing reefs. Eventually, a gold reef was found. This reef produced the most gold in the district.

In 1895, Alfred Beit and Lionel Phillips started the company Glynn's Lydenburg and appointed A.L. Neale as manager. Between May 1897 and July 1950, Glynn's Lydenburg produced 1 240 646 ounces gold and mined 3 427 784 tons of ore. The company made a profit of R4 234 664.

During 1880 the mines of the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates (TGME) began to exploit reefs and realised that they needed timber. The mines got the timber from the diminutive indigenous forests along the Escarpment. However, these forests were soon exhausted.

In 1895, H.T. was entertaining friends on the banks of the Sabie River. They did target shooting at a nearby waterfall and bullets chipped a rock to reveal indications of gold. Diggers soon rushed to the area and during that same year the Sabie Village was established.