Fingo Location
1874 - 1877

The Fingo Location was the first Black township on East London's Eastern Bank. It was created in 1874 by the Harbour Authorities as a residential area for its labour force who were involved in the construction of the new harbour. It was situated at a spot to the east of the Quigney River, above the railway reservoir. This was probably the site on which Burmeister's Hardware Store today stands.

See also: More about this subject The township community Seaside Location, 1876

The location, however, did not survive for long as it was in the middle of future town expansion. In 1877, therefore, the residents were moved to a spot near the sea, thus creating what was known as the "Seaside Location". The Fingo Location was thereupon torn down.

Dr Keith Tankard

The Fingo Location
1874 - 1878

Although there had always been a Xhosa village on the western side of the Buffalo River, official sources listed no such township on the eastern bank during the period before 1874. Even when the German military and peasant settlers arrived in 1857 and 1858 respectively, and thereby created a ready market for servants, no "locations" were established.

There was nevertheless a considerable Black population on that bank of the river, as Reverend William Greenstock testified in his journal of 1858. It is probable that they were mostly accommodated as servants by the Whites, although it is also possible that some scattered huts escaped the "clean up" which affected their West Bank colleagues.

In 1874 the Town Council was confronted for the first time with problems caused by the absence of a location on the East Bank, because employers of large labour forces were allowed no place within the municipal boundary in which to house their labourers. An issue arose in February that year when the Town Ranger reported a hut on the Panmure commonage which was occupied at night, he said, by at least 50 people, but the case was seen to be a difficult one because they were not simply illegal squatters. Chairman John Gately pointed out that some spot at Panmure should be assigned as a location for servants. The suggestion was not pursued, however, because the ambiguous legal status of the existing West Bank location made it unwise to establish another one. It was eventually resolved, therefore, that the hut in question simply had to go.

The deciding factor in the above case was the lack of authority on the part of the offending party but soon another case of an illegal location arose in which the Council was powerless to act. In July 1874 Municipal Commissioner Alfred Webb brought to light the fact that the Harbour Works had established a location for its Fingo (Mfengu) workers on the Panmure commonage and, although prior permission ought to have been obtained, Chairman Gately was adamant that the authorities had not done so. It was decided therefore to write to the relevant person and demand an explanation but the Council quickly discovered that it could take no action other than protest.

The problem lay in two areas. First, the municipality had no control over an established location because of confusion as to whether or not locations were included in the municipal regulations. Because of this legal hitch, the Council could neither relocate nor close the Fingo village. Second, the complication of the commonage dispute meant that the municipality had technically no commonages and the Town Council was therefore unable to prevent a Government agency from establishing a location where it wished. The Fingo village therefore remained and so the first location on the East Bank had been unexpectedly thrust upon the municipality.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact position of that village. It was referred to by the Town Council in April 1877 when a site was chosen for the new cemetery on the East Bank. The cemetery, the commissioners stated, was to the rear of the "present native Location" which would have to be moved in the event of the adoption of that site. In 1880 the Chairman of the Council described the location as having been "near the Gwygney River", while a report in the East London Dispatch of 1892 placed it on the banks of that river, "immediately above the . . . railway reservoir". It probably lay on the land that is today occupied by Burmeister's Hardware Store , opposite the railway station.

In June 1876 the commonage dispute was settled and the locations finally fell within municipal jurisdiction. Attention was then immediately given to the Fingo Location which had been situated on the main route of town expansion. By 1877 the East Bank community was growing rapidly as a result of the construction of the railway line to Queenstown, with its terminus at Panmure, and the Town Council planned that the land to the east of the Quigney River

See also: The township community Seaside Location, 1876

would be set aside for future suburban development. The Fingo Location conflicted with the Council's scheme and, in May 1877, it was decided to move it to a spot near the sea and so created what it called the"Seaside Location".

Dr Keith Tankard