William Matthew Harries, SV/PROG

In 1830 William Mathew Harries and his newly wedded wife, Anna Maria, youngest daughter of Abel Walford Bellairs of Haverfordwest, immigrated to South Africa.

THE IDENTITY OF W.A. HARRIES by Margaret Rainier.

Who was W.A. Harries? This artist, responsible for the original of the fine lithograph "Southern View of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, taken from the Hill Behind the Cemetery", by T. Picken, and published in London by Day and Son, was, in 1952, when W. A. Gordon-Brown published Pictorial Art in South Africa, still "untraced" (p. 97).

My curiosity was aroused some years ago by seeing this picture, in its uncoloured state, in private ownership in Port Elizabeth, and, shortly afterwards, in another Port Elizabeth home, a small original picture of the homestead at Chelsea farm dated 1855, and bearing his signature [see later.] I had also seen his name, with those of eleven other Port Elizabeth gentlemen, in the inscription on a magnificent silver cup, "Presented to C. Lovemore, Esq., J.P., in remembrance of many pleasant days' sport enjoyed at Bushy Park, Port Elizabeth, 1875." Mr. John Lovemore of Bushy Park still has the cup.

These were all the meagre facts I had, when Miss E.K. Heathcote, owner of the manuscript of Thomas Philipps' letters, drew my attention to a relevant passage. This appears on p. 369-371 of Philipps, 1820 Settler, Pietermaritzburg, 1960, edited by A. Keppel-Jones in consulta¬tion with E.K. Heathcote. The MS. is preserved in the Cory Library, Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

The passage, dated 17 February 1830, from Port Elizabeth describes Philipps' meeting with his young kinsman William Harries and his wife Anna Maria* , who had arrived in Algoa Bay some two weeks earlier. This man was evidently William Matthew Harries, who was to become a notable figure in his own day, but who has been largely forgotten. His name, and that of R. (Robert?)* Harries of Bernard Street, Russell Square, in London, who may have been his father, occur several times in the published text of Philipps' letters, and more often in the manu¬script. It appears from these that William Harries had considered emigrating to the Swann River Settlement in New South Wales, but, largely on account of Philipps' influence, chose to come to the Cape of Good. Hope instead. He had some idea of joining Philipps as a farmer, at Glendour, between the Kowie River and the Kasouga, but on reach¬ing Port Elizabeth decided, wisely as events were to prove, rather to remain, and engage in business there.

W.M. Harries was active in commercial life and public affairs in the Eastern Province from the time of his arrival, playing a part in almost every aspect of its development. For example, in the first issue of the Graham's Town Journal, which appeared in December 1832, he advertised his merchant and auctioneering business. Similarly, in the very first number of the Eastern Province Herald, on 7 May 1845, he advertised again, announcing a sale of valuable property in Port Elizabeth, "in the Assigned Estate of John Norton".

With J. C. Welsford, William Harries was among the first Church¬wardens of St. Mary's Church. His services, however, do not seem to have been wholly disinterested, for the earliest parish document extant is said to be a deed of sale of three plots of church land - the whole of St. Mary's Terrace - for £35 to W.M. Harries, on November 12 1833. The property had to be bought back by the church at an en¬hanced price thirty years later, as is recorded in The Collegiate Church and Parish of St. Mary's, Port Elizabeth, by A.T. Wirgman and C.E. Mayo (London, 1925) p. 11-12.

According to The Eastern Province Directory and Almanac for 1848 (p. 77, 78) Harries was at that date an auctioneer in Port Elizabeth, and was also one of the members of the Port Elizabeth Trust Associa¬tion. A share certificate of the Eastern Province Mining Company dated 1 December 1854, in the collection of Mr. E.L.H. Croft of Port Elizabeth, names him as one of its directors.

While establishing himself in business, Harries had also taken an active part in the defence of the colony. As Captain in command of the Port Elizabeth Yeomanry, he escorted a diplomatic mission to the "friendly" chiefs early in 1835. (See R. Godlonton's A Narrative of the Irruption of the Kafir Hordes into Eastern Province, etc., Grahams¬town, 1835, p. 83.) Subsequently, he engaged in some of the fiercest fight¬ing that year, at Trompetter's Drift and elsewhere in the Fish River bush, against tribesmen who were not friendly at all. (See Godlonton and also vol. 3 p. 105, 114 of Cory's Rise of South Africa, London 1919.)

Peace was restored on the frontier, and during later conflicts Harries does not seem to have taken the field. His business enterprises succeeded, and his leisure was devoted to public affairs. Thus, when the foundation stone of the Grey Institute was laid on 17 January 1856, a box in the cavity of the stone contained a document signed by J. M. Hill, the Civil Commissioner and Resident Magistrate, John Paterson, M.L.A., the Hon. W. Fleming, M.L.C., and W.M. Harries. (See 'Neath the Tower, The Story of the Grey School, Port Elizabeth 1856-1956, Cape Town 1956, p. 7, by J.J. Redgrave and others.)

Soon, and for many years afterwards, Harries was himself a Member of Parliament. In politics he became the spokesman of the Separa¬tionists, those members whose aim it was to form a separate colony of the eastern districts. A Bill to provide for this was first moved in the Assembly by Harries on 16 May 1861, and rated "by far the most im¬portant event of the session". The debate lasted four days, ending in the defeat of the motion by seven votes. On 10 July, 1862, Harries brought forward a similar motion, to be lost by two votes only. (G. McC. Theal, History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872, London, 1919, vol. 4, p. 7, 27.)

Harries' parliamentary career was summarised by "Limner", who wrote that he sat as the representative, "now and formerly, of Cradock", and

"… There is no member taking an active share in party measures who stands so well with all sides of the house as Mr. W.M. Harries. He is a resident, not of Cradock, but of Port Elizabeth and he might have represented it - the chief commercial town in the colony … if he had so willed it … He is known in the House as the Father of Separation; not, I believe, because he is the parent of that measure; but because he has advanced the agitation for it by every means in his power, and is now the oldest member among the Separation Party … He is one of the most accomplished members of the Assembly – a scholar and a gentleman. He speaks with great fluency … Colonial Parliaments would be much more respectable than they now are if more men of Harries' stamp filled seats in them. As our Parliament is at present constituted, Mr. Harries, with all his ability as a speaker, with all his attainments as a scholar, with all his knowledge of Old history - is not qualified to be the leader of a party. He is not sufficiently brusque and uncompromising … He last year was mover of the motion which brought Parliament to the East, …for that alone, the East will be under eternal obligation to him. His speeches never lack vigour nor eloquence, but he shrinks from meeting the personal charges of his opponents with personalities of a like coarse and vulgar character."

Having early in life adopted the motto "Measures, not Men", author R.W. Murray, (Limner), Harries had recently made a notable speech opposed to the introduction of party government. "Too ready to accept compromise, and the fair promises of his opponents, he treats them with courtesy, but is frequently met with outrage." He does retort, but

"quietly turns his back upon those who so forget themselves … Harries is well down the down-hill of life, but has lost none of those powers for public business which distinguished his public career." (R.W. Murray, Pen and Ink Sketches in Parliament, by Limner, Grahamstown, 1864 p. 38-39.)

As I picked up the name of William Matthew Harries here and there in local records and in national chronicles, the picture of an acute, shrewd, yet public-spirited man of affairs became increasingly clear. But had all this any bearing upon the identity of the artist W.A. Harries, the shadowy figure whose story still eluded me?

The essential clue was provided by Mr. J.C. Kemsley, whose assistance I sought on account of his unrivalled knowledge of crumbling gravestones in St. Mary's Cemetery, where so much history is recorded. Unerringly, he led me to the graves of W.M. Harries, his wife Anna Maria, and of Walford Arbouin Harries their eldest son.

The inscriptions read as follows:

Sacred/ to the memory of/ William Matthew Harries/ who departed this life at Port Elizabeth/ on the 10th April 1865 / Aged 68 years.

In Memoriam/ Anna Maria/ Wife of William Matthew Harries/ died at Port Elizabeth/ 21st May 1878/ aged 77 years. / Let her own works praise her.

and, on the same stones as hers,

Also of/ Walford Arbouin Harries/ eldest son of the above/ who died at Port Elizabeth/ on the 2nd January 1881/ aged 49

This is a striking example of the value of gravestone inscriptions as an aid to biographical research. The information so concisely stated establishes the relationship between W.M. Harries the businessman, and W.A. Harries the artist (giving their full names), and hints besides at the philanthropic activities of Anna Maria. (She was in fact one of the earliest members of the Port Elizabeth Ladies' Benevolent Society, which has grown with the city, and remains one of its principal charities. Her name appears regularly in original Minute Books preserved by the Society.)

By recording the dates when father and son died, the epitaphs are a guide to obituary notices, a likely source of more detailed information, although regrettably none for W.M. Harries is available in Port Elizabeth now. Further, the name Arbouin on the tombstones sent me back to Thomas Philipps' letters. Here, after meeting the newly-arrived W.M. Harries, Philipps writes "William ... staid with Mr. Rawlinson at Uitenhage, I remained with Dalgairns, the former is a friend of Mr. James Arbouin's , is much respected I am told …" A footnote adds "Mr. James Arbouin was presumably a relation of Mrs. Philipps". No reason is given for this (p. 371, note 2). However, according to genealogical notes sent me by Miss Heathcote, the name of Thomas Philipps' wife was Charlotte Harriet Arbouin, and his mother before her marriage to a cousin had been Katherine Harries, daughter of the Rector of Begelly, Lampeter and Menach in Wales. There is some account of these family connections in the Introduction to Philipps, 1820 Settler, but they are not made wholly explicit.

On turning up The Eastern Province Herald for January 1881, I found that W.A. Harries' death was advertised twice, on the 4th and 7th:

" Died, - at Port Elizabeth, on January 2nd, 1881, after a long and painful illness, WALFORD ARBOUIN HARRIES, eldest son of the late Wm. Matthew Harries."

On 7 January there was also an obituary notice. This, however, is a disappointingly vague effusion, declaring that "the name of Walford Arbouin Harries was ever associated with all that is bright cheerful and charitable", and recalling a fancy-dress ball in the Town Hall organised by him for his many young friends. It contains several factual errors, such as the statement that he was "the second son of the late Mr. William M. Harries who for many years represented Port Elizabeth in Parliament". More usefully, it continues:

"Mr. Harries health failed him some time ago, and he visited England with a view to taking medical advice. After remaining at Home some months, without deriving that benefit from the change which he expected, he returned to this colony but on reaching Cape Town was in so exhausted a state, that his brother-in-law, Mr. Henry Deare , was telegraphed for, urging him to go to Cape Town, at once if he wished to see his relative alive. Mr. Deare went, and Mr. Harris [sic] rallied a little, so much so that he was able to return to Port Elizabeth, which he reached about three weeks ago … On Sunday morning last, about 8 o'clock, Mr. Walford A. Harries breathed his last, surrounded by his friends, and conscious to the close of his career."

Disconcertingly, there is not a word in the newspaper about his paintings - nor of any activity in business or a profession.

In fact, he was a lawyer, as is indicated by successive entries in contemporary Directories. In 1873, The Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide to the Eastern Province (Port Elizabeth, J.W.C. Mackay, 1872) records on p. 118

"Harries, Walford Arbouin, attorney-at-law and secretary Separation League, Town Hall building."

The same source, in 1874 (p. 202) lists him again as a lawyer, does not refer to the Separation League, but adds that his residence was at No. 40, Havelock Street. In 1875 and 1876 there is merely a repetition of the same facts. Then, in 1877, he is practising as an attorney and notary at 20 Jetty Street. In 1880 (p. 179) he has a partner named Kennerley , an office in the Market Square, and still resides at Havelock Street.

This partnership had been announced in The Cape Hornet during October and November 1879, perhaps before Harries left in poor health for England. On various dates between 9 October and 20 November 1879, appeared this "Partnership Notice" - Mr. William Robert Kennerley, late of Somerset East, Attorney-at-Law and Notary Public, has, This Day been admitted as a Partner in my Business, which, will in future be conducted under the style of Harries and Kennerley.

Walford A. Harries Solicitor and Notary Herald Chambers, Port Elizabeth, 1st Oct. 1879."

In 1881, according to the Directory, the firm was still in the Herald Chambers, Market Square. But Walford Harries was dead. Presum¬ably for some time Kennerley had carried the responsibility for their joint affairs. Harries' home in Havelock Street cannot have survived him very long, for, unless the numbering of the houses has been altered since, No. 40 would have stood on the site occupied by St. John's Methodist Church, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1893.

This, then, is an outline of the public career of W.A. Harries. I have not been able to learn anything about his education, nor his legal or artistic training. However, there are two brief glimpses of his personal life among close friends, in the unpublished memoirs of Jessie Allen, eldest daughter of Charles Lovemore of Bushy Park. These manuscripts were presented to the Historical Society of Port Elizabeth and Walmer by their son, Mr. C.P. Allen. The following quotation is from a typescript copy, by Mrs. E.K. Lorimer. (p. 7.)

Writing with affection of her Aunt Lizzie Ogilvie, she says she "must have been a lovely girl, with soft brown eyes and hair and a sweet expression. Before she married uncle Alfred, there had been another (Walford Harries) anxious to marry her, but she preferred Alfred."

Later, Mrs. Allen writes (p. 20):

"I have a picture of 1867 depicting the results of a Hunt on which are shown, my Mother on her fine horse "Dorwood", Father with the then fashionable Dundreary Weepers … his hat had a paauw feather in it, and beside him were all the men who had been at the hunt. Mr. Walford Harries, Willie Smith, Henry Deare …John Holland, my brother Walter about 6 years old … Brother Willie about 4 years, holding a dog and lying in an uncomfortable position. Then there are Bob Pettit, Alphonse Taylor, Mr. Mitchell, Alfred Ogilvie, and George Hudson, later British representative in Pretoria … "

The names of several of this group of friends are engraved on the Lovemore cup. The Port Elizabeth Museum possesses a later copy of the photograph Mrs. Allen describes, but unfortunately the print is indistinct, and the details of Harries' features cannot be discerned.

He is also mentioned in the unpublished shooting journal of William Armstrong, in the Port Elizabeth Public Library. This includes regular reports of "The Easter Hunt", a party of friends of whom Harries was one, meeting annually as the guests of James Coltman of Wycombevale, in the Alexandria district. Armstrong writes that in 1879 they presented to Mr. Coltman " … a handsome Silver Tankard, a model of 'Bob' his favourite pointer on the lid with heads of Bushbuck and Tiger at the sides."

This tankard was evidently very similar to that given to Charles Lovemore four years earlier. W.A. Harries participated in the Hunt in 1879, but his name does not appear again, and we now know that his health was failing.

So much it has been possible to trace of the life and family connec¬tions of Walford Arbouin Harries, who has been for so long, forgotten, and whose slender claim to some sort of immortality rests only upon a few landscape pictures, the painting of which he probably regarded as little more than a pastime. It is even likely that none were initially sold (perhaps with the exception of prints of the Port Elizabeth pano¬rama), but given to friends whose hospitality he could acknowledge with a sketch of their homes.

Harries' pictures which are certainly known are only two. The "Southern View of Port Elizabeth" is by far the more important and accomplished of these. The other is the small view of Chelsea in 1855. [See below.]

The former is undated, and has been tentatively set down at 1845 (King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth), c. 1854 by Mr. Gordon-Brown, and 1850, according to a crude post-card reproduction of it by Hallis and Co. of Port Elizabeth, evidently printed early in the twentieth century. Harries, as we now know, was born in 1832, if he was forty-nine when he died in January, 1881.

This picture shows the developing town rising up from Algoa Bay, from much the same viewpoint as Bowler's panorama of 1862. Harries' perspective, however, is more precise, the detail more faithfully repre¬sented, and the composition altogether more firmly and assuredly handled. Harries, then, was an accomplished draughtsman, whose best work can stand comparison with his professional contemporaries. It would be most interesting to know how old he was when he executed his magnum opus. Topographical details indicate that it was executed relatively early, although perhaps it was not reproduced in London until his visit of 1879-80 , and, if he touched it up then (improbable, as he was an invalid), he did not introduce any later landmarks, such as the Town Hall (1860), or the Lighthouse on the Donkin Reserve (1861).

The Chelsea picture, measuring only about 8" x 10", is Harries' original work, and here he has employed an unusual technique. It appears to be sketched in Indian ink, and China white, on tinted paper (probably coloured chalk paper) the foreground a biscuit shade, the sky a light blue wash, with white clouds cut into the surface. This pleas¬ant rural composition is recorded from an "ideal" viewpoint, in mid¬air, for no situation exists from which a corresponding photograph of Chelsea can be taken. Otherwise, however, the sketch is a precise record of the scene. The house is very little changed a century later, although the trees have grown up around it.

If Harries could produce these two pictures, he must have been responsible for others. Where are they now?

In Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days, by J.J. Redgrave (Wynberg, Rustica Press, 1947), there is an illustration of Cradock Place in 1860 on p. 47. This title and the date are written on the picture itself, but it is reproduced in art oval, as if to fit a frame, so that any signature there may have been in either of the lower corners has disappeared. There seems to me no doubt, however, that this is one of the "lost" Harries pictures. Not only is the script evidently by the same hand that signed the view of Chelsea, but a close comparison of the stylistic conventions used, especially in the treatment of the foreground vegetation, strengthens my impression that they are the work of the same man. Regrettably, so far, I have not been able to trace the picture upon which this illustration is based. Mr. Redgrave, in 1964, informed me that the illustration was "merely a photograph of the original," and he had "no idea of the whereabouts of the original nor by whom it was executed". Walford Harries, of course, would have been well acquainted with the Chase family, and their home Cradock Place, built up by their ancestor Frederick Korsten.

In the same volume, on p. 29, is a drawing, very elementary in style, the caption of which also appears to be by Harries, entitled, "Sketch of the Rock selected for the site of the intended Light House at Cape Recif [sic] - 4 Feb 1837 [some words obscured] Durban Rock." This would seem to indicate that the sketch was made in 1837 - therefore impossible to have been by Harries. The likeness of the writing, however, is so strong, that I am tempted to hazard a guess that as a boy and before his technique was developed, he may have copied an older sketch, done, perhaps, by "RH" on 4 February 1837.

W.A. Harries has left no descendants to perpetuate his name. But he did leave us two or three accomplished pictorial records of Port Elizabeth in the middle of the nineteenth century - possibly more. On the strength of this, perhaps we may accord him the distinction of being the city's first artist of local birth.

Sources Africana Notes and News, Vol. 17 No. 8, Dec 1967 – transcript, with additional explanatory footnotes. Source: Iris Allen, Nelson Mandela Metropole Art Gallery (King George VI Art Gallery.)