John Bate

John Osborn Bate was born in Fashersham (Kent) in August 1820 and took up the architectural profession. He emigrated to South Africa in 1859, spent three years in Fauresmith and then moved to King William's Town where, together with C.H. Caldecott, he ran the Commercial Advertiser and Agricultural Gazette.

He lived for a time in Grahamstown, then returned to England for 13 years before coming to East London in 1893 where he served as an architect and senior partner in the firm Bate & Jones .

Those were prosperous days for East London. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 saw trade mushroom through the port. After a very conservative start, the town launched into what can only be called a golden age. More road construction was undertaken than ever before, the harbour underwent an evolution, and the town saw the introduction of both electricity and a tramway system.

John Bate joined the Town Council in March 1899 when, at the age of 79, he was elected for Ward 2, representing the East Bank. He was re-elected unopposed in 1900 but resigned in February 1902 because of ill health. He served as Deputy Mayor in 1901.

He died on 21 July 1909 at the age of 88, and was buried at East London.

See also: Knowledge4Africa.com Encyclopaedia East London The Really Useful East London Page

If you were to hunt for information on one of your ancestors who died at East London in the 19th or 20th century, where would you look?

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The best place to start your research would be at the Cape Archives where all birth and death certificates are housed through to about 1928. Thereafter, you would need to go to the Master's Office in Cape Town where documents later than 1928 are to be found. The death certificates usually present interesting facts like surviving spouse, children, and information on the estate. Of course, once one knows the precise date of death, one should look in the local newspapers where an obituary might have been published. These obituaries present an interesting synopsis of the person's life and career. If, on the other hand, you need information on the history of East London itself, then you will have to hunt far and wide, but mostly within the archives as well. But the best place to start, of course, would be on Knowledge4Africa.com.