Francis Henry Samuel Orpen

J.P. of "St. Clair"; M.L.A. of Barkly West; Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the Royal Geographical Society.

He became a Land Surveyor after his arrival in 1844, and subsequently Surveyor General of Griqualand West. Shortly after diamonds were first discovered, there was a dispute about the boundary between the Transvaal, the Cape Colony and the Free State, and into which of these the diamond fields lay. Francis Orpen declared that from his measurements, they lay in the Cape and another surveyor, a Mr de Villiers said one of the others. The Cape won, no doubt to the great joy of Cecil John Rhodes and the British Administration. (The whole story of this is well documented in the MacGregor Museum in Kimberly where his camping gear, theodolite and “lappieskombers”(quilted blanket) are on display. He had come to SA in 1844 with his brother Charles having been attracted to the idea of sheep farming in South Africa. They came at first to live with cousins (the Dixons) near Uitenhague and Graaff Reinet and then bought a farm near Colesberg “Taaiboschfontein.” They were so enamoured with the country that Charles (who had spent some time at sea), worked his passage back to the UK to arrange finance to buy the farm. It was as a consequence of this visit that the other brothers followed him and later without the knowledge and somewhat against their wishes, that the Orpen parents followed them to SA some two years later. They subsequently sold the farm and went on to do other things when the harsh climate and droughts made life too difficult. (Joseph to work in a store nearby at £5 a month and Arthur to take charge of a branch store in Burgersdorp).

Sir Charles Warren's book, "On the veldt in the seventies" describes Francis Orpen thus : "He belongs to a branch of the Orpen family living in South Africa and his brothers hold Government positions of trust in the Cape Colony and are shrewd, long-headed men of business, with the reputation of being honest and frank in their dealings."

Francis Henry Samuel Orpen was the eldest son of Reverend Dr Charles Edward Herbert Orpen (MD), member of a family of Irish landed gentry, and his wife Alicia Francis Coane (born Sirr). Two of his younger brothers were Charles S. Orpen* and Joseph M. Orpen*. Francis studied medicine for three years but had to give up because of health problems. He came to the Cape in 1844 to recuperate, accompanied by his brother Charles, and remained in the Colony. During the next few years the rest of the family followed them to South Africa, where Charles senior financed his sons' farming venture on the farm Taai Bosch Fontein near De Aar. In 1849 Francis was admitted to practice as a land surveyor and three years later he and his brother Joseph were appointed as surveyors in the Orange River Sovereignty (now the Free State) under the superintending land surveyor of the territory, J.H. Ford*. When Britain gave up the Sovereignty in 1854 - a move which Francis strenuously opposed - he left the territory and later settled on the farm Sinclair along the Vaal River near present Douglas. On 23 October 1855 he married Sarah Anne Murray (1834-1906) with whom he had eleven children. Two of their daughters, Katherine* (Kate) and Lilian*, were active in natural history and archaeology, while Francis himself presented some marine molluscs from the Cape coast to the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. Read more :

http://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=2076