Eliza Bessie Georgiana Thesen

C.W. Thesen’s first wife and the mother of his ten children,

Eliza Bessie Georgiana Harison, was a member of an old English family who had lived at Sutton Place, Seaford, Sussex, for many generations. Her father, Captain Christopher Harison, had fought in the Cape Border Wars of 1850-1853 (Queen Victoria’s 73rd Black Watch Regiment) as a regular officer and having been favourably impressed by South Africa, he returned to England to resign his commission in order to settle in the Cape Colony.

Having tried his hand at farming, he eventually joined the - then fledgling - forestry department and rose to become the first Chief Conservator of Forests for the southern region in 1874. Based in Knysna for the last years of his life, it was not surprising that C.W. Thesen, , with mutual timber interests, was to meet and eventually marry one of his two daughters.

Captain Christopher Harison’s fourteen years of dedicated service to this region left an enduring mark on systematic forest management. He was the, first to apply a scientific approach to the problem of conservation, regeneration and controlled felling and was the first official to endeavour to bring some measure of protection to the elephants and buffalo, which even then were under threat in the Tsitsikamma forests. Apart from his military rank it is possible that he had had some estate and forest management training as a result of his family’s land holding interests. His daughter, Bessie Thesen, writing to her sister Katie in England in 1896 remarks as follows:

“Your letter came this morning with the tidings of poor Aunt Louisa’s death - dear old lady, I always felt more warm towards those two than any of the others and am always sorry that you did not see them. I suppose Sutton will also have passed out of Harison hands before you ever see it as it seems inevitable at present they say.”

“I don’t think Papa will be much distressed as he can scarcely take in such things nowadays much.”

As a reference to the life of those times and the upbringing of Bessie Thesen’s children, extracts from her letters to her sister are an interesting reflection on this first generation of English-speaking South Africans. The following refers to the Boer War, then in progress: the first of the three wars which were to have their inevitable effect on the history of the family.

“Knysna, March 2nd, 1901

        “My dearest Katie,

“I have been hoping to give you a long letter but don’t know now if I shall manage it tonight.”

“ It is strange to see that all our latest war news reaches you at the  same time (and possibly much more reliable news) as it does here in our district. We are again in comparative quiet, the  commandos have split up and scattered northwards mostly – I am hoping great things of the next few weeks.”

“General Louis Botha, one of the  most sensible and one of the best of the Boer generals is being interviewed as you know and one cannot but hope that the wail of his country may soften his heart and those of his misguided advisers. For it is an undoubted fact that most of the better class Boers are ready to give in now. Poor Reitz - his mind has long been cranky on the subject so one cannot say with any confidence what he will advise.”

It will be remembered that Reitz had been her brother -in-law (Blanca died in 1887), which probably accounts for her wry puzzlement concerning his

hitherto unrevealed loyalties! (He was at the time the South African Republic’s State Secretary).

During the Boer War, the army depended greatly upon the goodwill of Thesen and Company who offered special rates for freight on the Agnar. Agnar also transported prisoners of war and labour recruits and on one of her voyages, she was to carry no less than 187 mule drivers at very little cost.

Agnar was due for a major re-fit in Norway and it was decided that Leonard, Charles’s and Bessie’s eldest son, would go with the ship and then on to England to stay with his aunt Katie’s family.

 “Knysna, May 4th, 1901:

           “My dearest sister,

“… Since the boys came back from Keurbooms River at the beginning of April I have been more or less busy getting my big son ready for his trip. You see the outward voyage will take over 40 days, no short journey! I have to provide him with clothes sufficient for that length of time without washing. Of course many things he must necessarily get on landing and I shall trust to you to tell of any obvious want in his wardrobe. You know Colonial boys are not brought up on the same lines quite as English ones, and he may not need in Norway quite the same as he will in England. He is particular enough about his clothes but dreadfully careless in wearing them, and being tall is obliged to have tailor suits always. I hope he will fatten a little and get over his great trouble, a weak digestion, which boy-like he will not treat respectfully and consequently suffers for. I have an idea he will pull well with your Theodore, though I could wish he was older instead of younger that the lads might do a little sightseeing together…”

The outward journey in fact lasted forty-eight days, the last three under sail while the Agnar’s engineers made running repairs to her boilers. But she returned triumphantly refurbished and re-fitting with electric light to add to her lustre.

Sadly, two months after her last letter was written, Bessie died of complications as a result of her final pregnancy. She was only thirty-eight years old.

The letters from which these extracts are quoted are given in full in Part II of the Thesen history which follows, together with the many written to Bessie by various members of her family.

• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees via son Charles Eric Thesen by SmartCopy: Jun 11 2015, 15:50:49 UTC