Henry Nourse

Henry Nourse was born 23 April 1857 on a farm in the district of Uitenhage. As a child he trekked with his family to Natal, attended Maritzburg High School and at the early age of 13 went to the Diamond Fields to seek his fortune. While on the Fields, he messed with Cecil John Rhodes and assisted in raising the Kimberley Light Horse, under the captaincy of Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Robinson.

At the suggestion of the Administrator of Griqualand West, Owen Lanyon, he moved to the Transvaal, arriving in Pretoria in 1877, shortly before the annexation by Sir Theophilus Shepstone. During the Zulu War, he commanded 'Ferreira's Horse' and in the first South African War he raised and commanded 'Nourse's Horse'. In 1882 he was sent by Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of the Cape Colony, to Bechuanaland, to report on the troubled situation there and, if possible, to reconcile the warring chiefs.

After the first South African War, Nourse and Ignatius Ferreira ran a profitable mail coach service from Kimberley to Pretoria, Lydenburg, Barberton and Newcastle. Nourse also did some prospecting at Barberton but in 1884 returned to Pretoria to take up the government postal contract, trading under the name of Dow & Company. His interest in prospecting persisted and in 1886 he was able to secure claims on the Witwatersrand from which he founded the Kambula Gold Mining Company on which the first 10-stamp battery on the main reef was erected, later sold to Robinson Gold Mining Company) and the Henry Nourse Gold Mining Company (which later became part of the Central Mining group) and many others. He was prominent in various speculations and investments, floating several gold and coal mining companies.

During the ascend South African War (1899-1902) Nourse, as a lieutenant colonel, served as chief staff officer of Colonial Forces at the Cape and was mentioned in despatches by Lord Kitchener. After the war he went into horse-breeding on a large scale thus indulging his passion for horses. His stud was said to be one of the largest in the world and he was reputed to be one of the best judges of thoroughbred horses. He was a keen racing folower and did much to improve the standard of horse-racing in South Africa. Having been a keen athlete in his youth, he took a leading part in encouraging sport, being Chairman of the South African Amateur Athletic and Cycling Association, Chairman of the Olympic Committee and executive member of the Jockey Club of South Africa. He married Jacobs Petronella Preller, daughter of Advocate J.C. Preller, first Mayor of Pretoria.

There were no children of the marriage. He died on October 6, 1942.

Source: http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/inventory.php?iid=6779