John Dubiel

Albert Johan Ernest Du Biel

(*Geelhoutboom, Mossel Bay dist., 27.10.1884 - †Pinelands, Cape, 3.8.1963), author and pioneer journalist, was the son of Balthazar du Biel, a clergyman from Poland who was later sent to South Africa by the Rhenish Mission Society, and his wife, Annie Mary Brecher. Du B., who had had virtually no formal education, spoke English and German at home but after being introduced to the emergent Afrikaans language through Ons Klyntji he became its enthusiastic champion.

He spent his youth in the Oudtshoorn district. From August 1918 he worked for some time for the SANLAM insurance company. In 1928 he and several partners established the Boereblad Pers in Paarl, publishing a journal Die Boereblad in which agricultural articles and stories in Afrikaans and English appeared. It also contained the 'Afrikaanse debatboek' comprising plays and poems by various authors. During this time Du B. produced plays, mainly to promote cultural activities in Paarl and surroundings and wrote several short plays, but the depression of the early thirties dealt Die Boereblad such a severe blow that it went bankrupt.

Although Du B. was first and foremost a journalist, he also wrote a number of novels, plays, and short stories to promote Afrikaans at a time when this language was struggling for existence and recognition. It was mainly Prof. J.J. Smith* who inspired Du B. to write. His first book, Die misdade van die vaders (Cape Town, 1919), which is regarded as his best and which was reprinted several times, was reprinted once more in 1960. It was used by the theatre group of Paul de Groot* with reasonable success. Getrou (Cape Town, 1921) originally appeared as a serial in Die Huisgenoot. The volume of short stories Die verraaier (Pearl, 1931) contains reminiscences of the people and the environment where he had grown up. Other well-known works are Kain (Stellenbosch, 1922), Oor berg en vlakte, of onder die Vierkleur (twelve parts, Stellenbosch and Wellington, 1922-25), Die eenoog verkenner (Paarl, 1932), and Blomdoorns (Cape Town, 1949).

Du B. married Catherina Johanna Maree and had one son.

E. DU BIEL

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography, Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town.