Introduction

This is a brief history of the Aliwal Voysey family, prepared by John Voysey in 2007. It was intended to set out as fully as possible, with the information available at that time, the history of the family so that all descendants might have some knowledge of their origins. Maybe in time someone will be about to trace the family back before 1788.

In the 1950’s Aliwal Edward traced the origins of the family to the small village of Kenton in Devon, England. The graves of John and Mary can still be found in the grounds of the Kenton parish church. The vicar of the time allowed Aliwal to peruse the register of births, deaths, and marriages held by the Church, which dated from a from about the late 1600’s, but he was unable to establish any connections prior to the birth of John in 1788. This might suggest that his family came from another village in Devon or from a nearby county.

In 2005 John Aliwal and Maria made a visit to Kenton. Prior to this they had contacted the then Vicar of Kenton by letter requesting assistance in attempting to trace other ancestors of John and Mary who might still have been in the area. The Vicar placed a notice in several Post Offices in the area stating that John and Maria would be visiting, and hoped t contact anyone with a connection to a Voysey. It transpired that a young couple with the Voysey name were actually living in a cottage adjacent to the Church. John and Maria were put in touch with this man’s father Eric, who was then living across the bay in a village called Topham in Devon. John and Eric corresponded for some time, and the latter sent John a copy of his family tree that had been researched f him by a professional genealogist. This stretched back to the early 170’s. John attempted to contact this person in the hope that more research would enable our family tree to by established to an earlier date that we know it to be. Regrettably the person did not respond to letters sent to the address given by Eric.

Kenton, Devon, England

Kenton is a small village on the Dawlish coast of Devon, south of the City Exeter. The All Saints Parish Church is the centre piece of the village, dating back to 1360/70.

John Voysey (1788 – 1878)

John Voysey (1788-1878) is the earliest Voysey in our family tree that has been identified. Little is known of him, other than that he was a cobbler. The grave of John and his wife Mary (1791-1844) is on the right side of the path leading to the south side entrance to the All Saints Parish Church, Kenton.

One of their children John Payne Voysey (1824 – 1869), was married to Sarah (nee Pidgeon). It was this couple who emigrated to the colony of Natal (now the Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa).

The Byrne Settler Scheme

In the late 1840’s the closure of tin mines in the West Counties of England caused severe unemployment, and many people emigrated. One such scheme was the Byrne Settler Scheme to Port Natal, in the British Colony of Natal (now Durban in the Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa) during the years 1848 to 1853. This scheme was devised by an entrepreneur Mr. Byrne in conjunction with the then Governor of the Colony of Natal, which ultimately involved some 3000 persons. For the fee of 10 Pounds paid to Mr. Byrne, each family was transported by sailing vessel to Port Natal, having been required to provide their own food and water for the entire three month voyage, and upon arrival were granted a parcel of land in the Colony where they hoped to make a living by farming.

John Payne Voysey (1824 – 1869)

John Payne and Sarah decided to join the Byrne Settler Scheme, and departed from Kenton village in late 1849 to board the 200 tonne sailing vessel the “Aliwal” in London bound for Port Natal. The ship had been named after a battle at the town of Aliwal in India. It was from the bridge of the ship that the then captain first noted the presence of a shoal of the coast about a days sailing south of Port Natal, and named it the Aliwal Shoal. And it was on board the “Aliwal” that Sarah gave birth to their son on 8th December 189, to be christened Aliwal Emanuel. The ship arrived of Port Natal on 10th December and mother and child were carried ashore from a lighter through the surf by a Zulu worker.

John and Sarah were allotted a plot of land on the north bank of the Umgeni River, north of the small settlement of Port Natal, where they had to build a Zulu type hut as their first home. They established a fruit and vegetable farm, which successfully supplied the folk of the settlement and the ships calling at the port. They had two daughters, Fanny and Elizabeth, and another son Henry Payne. Today there is a large super market, the Pick and Pay Hypermarket by the Se, on the land farmed by John and Sarah.

John Payne Voysey died in 1869 aged 45 years and was buried in what became a family burial plot in the West Street Cemetery, Durban.

Aliwal Emanuel Voysey (1849-1931)

The young Aliwal was sent on horse back to school in the nearby town Verulam, later at Durban High School, and then studied accountancy. He married Eliza Field, who had emigrated to Port Natal as a governess, in January 1884, and they had a daughter Beatrice and son Aliwal Edward.

Aliwal Emanuel was attracted by the Barberton Gold rush, and went there and set up as a general dealer. The business was destroyed in a fire and Aliwal returned to Durban having lost all in the fire. In 1893 he joined a firm in Durban managing their land department. In 1908 he started a business as an estate agent, auctioneer, and land valuer, in partnership with a Mr. Fernie; the business was called Voysey and Fernie. He became well known in Natal as a property man, and built several houses on the Berea in Durban. He was a member of the Central Methodist Church and was a lay preacher, and regarded as one of early Durban’s prominent leaders.

Towards the end of his career, a partner in the business absconded with the funds of the business, and he vowed to repay all the debts he was left with. He was joined in the business by his son Aliwal Edward in about 1927, and died on 22nd September 1931, having worked until a few days beforehand. During Aliwal Emanuel’s lifetime, Durban had grown from a collection of huts to a modern city with the largest harbour in Africa.

A feature of colonial life in the early 1900’s was to send ones children to school in England. Thus Eliza and her tow children spent many years in England while they attended various education institutions.

Eliza was something of an artist, and enjoyed pottery. She was instrumental in getting a pottery class started at the Technical College in West Street, Durban.

Aliwal Edward Voysey (1902-1988)

Aliwal Edward was born in Durban on 8th August 1902. By then his father had become a prosperous business man, and the family lived in a large home built by his father on Ridge Road, Berea, overlooking the growing city.

He was however soon to be taken to England by his mother for his schooling, and became head boy and played first team rugby and cricket. He then attended Glasgow University and studied civil engineering. At the home of Rev. and Mrs. Stocker, to whom he had been referred by the Methodist minister in Durban, he met their daughter Edith Kathleen. Kath as she was known was then studying medicine at Glasgow University in the post WWI era (an early woman’s libber). The two fell in love, and before Aliwal returned to Durban in 1925 they became engaged to be married. Aliwal returned to South Africa, and worked on railway construction in Zululand, and when the project was completed during the great depression he was retrenched and joined his father in the property business.

Kath having qualified as a doctor and having worked for a year in the slums of Glasgow, departed alone for Durban to be married to Aliwal in the Central Methodist Church on 14th May 1928. The couple moved into a flat near the beach front, and as each of the children were born moved to another and larger home – Jean Beatrice 29/07/1929, John Aliwal 16/12/1933, Roger William 17/12/1939, and Margaret Kathleen 24/03/1943.

The property business flourished in the late 1950’s, becoming “VOYSEYS” in the 1960’s and known as major property developers. Aliwal; was responsible for the development of one of the first major shopping centres in South Africa, the Musgrave Centre in Durban.

Kath started and ran a weekly clinic for black mothers and their young children, held in a Methodist Church Hall in central Durban for many years. The couple were active in the Musgrave Road Methodist Church where they are commemorated with a plaque. Aliwal retired from business in 1968, and they bought a 10 acre farm in the Natal midlands. Aliwal and Kathleen celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1978. Aliwal died on 16th June 1988. Kathleen continued to lead an active life, and when well into her nineties continued to hold a monthly tea party for the old ladies of the church! She died at the age of 99 years and six months on 11th November 2000.

John Aliwal Voysey (1933-)

John was born in Durban on 16th December 1933 (then known as Dingaan’s Day after the massacre at Blood River during the Zulu War). He was educated at Duran Preparatory High School, Kearsney College, and Natal University, and in his final examinations for the BSc (Eng) degree, was awarded first prize for his design thesis. He met Maria Louise Della Rosa (28/12/1935) shortly after leaving school, when both were Sunday School teachers at Musgrave Methodist Church. This soon developed into a serious romance, but many years were to pass while Maria completed her nursing sister training. John moved to Johannesburg to work on the low cost housing project which become Soweto. John and Maria were married in Durban on 20th September 1958, and the couple lived in Johannesburg for a year, during which Robert Aliwal was born – 04/11/1959. The family moved to Swaziland for 18 months while John worked on a construction project and Donald William was born – 24/02/1960. Another move - to Mauritius for a cyclone reconstruction project for 4 years, and PeterJohn was born.

In 1965 the family moved to London where John studied at Imperial College and obtained an MSc degree in Public Health Engineering from London University. During this time Maria worked as a nursing sister at Bromley Cottage Hospital. In 1966 the family returned to Durban and settled into a house in Durban North which would be the family home until 1978.

John entered the consulting engineering profession specialising in waste water engineering, which spanned some 5 years. He became managing partner of Horne Glasson Partners, which practice merged into the international firm Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick in 1993, and two years later when that organization incorporated John become Chairman of Scott Wilson African and a Board Member of Scott Wilson International.

Maria had meanwhile attended Natal University, obtaining a Masters Degree in Psychology, and then practicing for many years as a child psychologist.

John and Maria retired to Simon’s Town, Western Province in 1997 where they made a new life and involved with Probus Clubs.