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.

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