1857 in South Africa

← 1856 1855 1854 1857 in South Africa → 1858 1859 1860
Decades:	1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1857 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Sir George Grey. ^{[1] [2]}
• Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: John Scott.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff. ^[3]
• President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic: Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (from 6 January). ^[4]

Events

January

• 6 – Marthinus Wessel Pretorius becomes the first President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic (Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek). ^[4]

June

• 29 – Act no. 10 of 29 June 1857 grants the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company approval to construct a 57-mile-long (92-kilometre) railway between Cape Town and Wellington. ^[5]

Unknown date

• Robert Moffat completes Old Testament Bible translation into Setswana.
• About 157 Irish women arrive on the ship Lady Kennaway and settle in British Kaffraria.
• The first Legislative Council is selected in the Natal Colony.
• The Union Steam Ship Company wins the first mail contract for regular mail service between Great Britain and South Africa.
• The Cape Point Lighthouse at Cape Point is built.
• Building of the Roman Rock Lighthouse at the entrance to Simon's Town starts and only completed in 1861.

Births

• 2 October – Martinus Theunis Steyn, lawyer, politician and statesman, last president of the independent Orange Free State. (d. 1916)

Deaths

• 15 December – Anna Maria Truter, Cape Colony botanical artist and wife of Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet. (b. 1777)

References

1. "Sir George Grey (1812–1898)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
2. "Botswana". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
3. "Orange Free State: Heads of State: 1854-1902". Archontology. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
4. "South African Republic: Heads of State: 1857-1877". Archontology. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
5. Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1943). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter I - The Period of the 4 ft. 8½ in. Gauge. South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, June 1943. pp. 437-440.