MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN

(1886 - 1887) (first term) (1888 - 1889) (second term)
(1893 - 1894) (third term)
(1896 - 1897) (fourth term)

https://www.woodheads.co.za/about-us

John Woodhead

mentioned in the record of Lawrence Woodhead

• Name: John Woodhead
• Sex: Male
• Wife: Margaretta
• Son: Lawrence Woodhead
• Other information in the record of Lawrence Woodhead from England Births and Christenings
• Name: Lawrence Woodhead
• Residence Place: Southampton, Hampshire, England
• Gender: Male
• Christening Date: 1861
• Christening Date (Original): 09 DEC 1861
• Christening Place: CHRIST CHURCH, SOUTHAMPTON, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND
• Father's Name: John Woodhead
• Mother's Name: Margaretta
• Images Available To view these images you must do one of the following: Access the site at a family history center Access the site at a FamilySearch affiliate library Citation "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J7CP-BV3 : 10 February 2018, John Woodhead in entry for Lawrence Woodhead, ); citing - 2:2FJTT1K, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society ... More

  ---

Est no. 110/774

The Gifts of a Gentleman, Sir John Woodhead

https://earthwormexpress.com/part-3-honouring-legends-from-the-indu...

5 November 2014

Sir John in his mayoral robes. These particular robes were donated to the city by Sir David Graaff. Sir John can be seen wearing the same robes at the laying of the last stone of the Woodhead Reservoir in 1894. The picture is below in this post.

One of the most colourful contemporaries of David Graaff was John Woodhead. He was not directly involved in the meat industry but had a business that closely linked him with organisations such as Combrinck & Co. John Woodhead’s business has been around the corner from our famous butcher friends business for many years.

EARLY LIFE Sir John was born in 1832 in Huddersfield Holmfirth, Yorkshire. (Gordon Woodhead)

At a very early age, he was apprenticed in the Earle’s shipbuilding yard, Hull. He was employed at the P. & O. Company as a marine engineer. He saw some active service when his vessel, the S.S. Rajah was engaged in supplying the British in the Indian Mutiny. After leaving the P. & O. Company, he was employed in the Union Line Company. It was during this employment that he started to think about making South Africa his future home. (Hampshire Advertiser, 20 Jan 1897)

In 1854 he married Margaretta Maynard. (The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1898) In 1861 he made up his mind to remain in South Africa and John and Margaretta immigrated and made Cape Town their new home. (Hampshire Advertiser, 20 Jan 1897) So began an illustrious relationship with the Cape of Storms. One where Sir John gave of himself generously.

“NOTHING LIKE LEATHER”
In Cape Town, he found employment in the tannery business of M. J. Louw, M.L.A. The transition from marine engineer to tanner came naturally to John. To him, there was “nothing like leather.” (Hampshire Advertiser, 20 Jan 1897)

John was an independent thinker with an entrepreneurial spirit. He started his own business, J. Woodheads & Sons in 1867. He was described as having a benignly autocratic spirit in all affairs. (Hampshire Advertiser, 20 Jan 1897)

A newspaper report on his life puts it well, that in his private and public life, he “saw clearly enough what must be done, and while others talked and moved resolutions, he planned and forced the talkers to give their attention.” (Hampshire Advertiser, 20 Jan 1897)

MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN
He was elected mayor of Cape Town in 1886 and was re-elected in 1888, 1893, and 1896. (The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1898) His great-grandson, Gordon Woodhead, currently living in the UK, told me that Sir John came from a family of civil engineers who were known for many road and other construction projects. Gordon writes that “in Huddersfield, there is a place called Woodhead, as well as a reservoir and a pass named after the Woodhead clan.” Sir John’s home in Cape Town was called Holmfirth. (Gordon Woodhead).

“Among other projects, he was responsible for the Woodhead dam, on the top of Table Mountain, the widening of Sir Lowry Road and the modernisation of the sewerage and water system that Cape Town relies on today. In recognition of these efforts, he was knighted, Sir John Woodhead.” (www.woodheads.co.za)

LOYALTIES
He was invited to become a member of the colonial Cape