Henry Francis Fynn

Last updated

Henry Francis Fynn (29 March 1803 in Grosvenor Square, London, England – 20 September 1861 in Durban, Colony of Natal) was an English traveler and trader. He was among the first Europeans to make contact with King Shaka. Fynn, Coenraad De Buys, John Dunn and Nathaniel Isaacs were among the most famous of South Africa's so-called White Chiefs.

Contents

Early life

Henry Francis Fynn was born in London in 1803. He was the first of five children of Henry and Elizabeth Fynn. His father worked for the East India Company, serving aboard an EIC ship sailing between London and Cape Town, until losing his post in 1806.

By 1807, his father and mother had sold their property in England and had moved to Cape Town. Fynn, however, stayed in London with his aunt, who in 1809 successfully petitioned for his admission to Christ's Hospital. In 1816, Fynn left Christ's and, despite a request from his father that he join his family in the Cape, worked for two years in England as a surgeon's apprentice. [1]

Life in South Africa

Fynn quit being a surgeon's apprentice in 1818 and decided to join his family in Cape Colony. After working several jobs, Fynn ventured to Grahamstown, where he eventually was hired as supercargo aboard Henry Nourse's trading vessel Jane. Late in 1823, Francis George Farewell agreed to include Fynn in a trading venture to the Bay of Natal using the sloop Julia.

By July 1824, Fynn was part of the trading post at Port Natal. During his time at Port Natal, Fynn amassed a group of his own followers, who became known as the iziNikumbi (locusts). [2] He was noted for wearing a blanket and a crownless straw hat after his European clothing had worn out. [3] By 1832, however, he was back in the Cape Colony. He did not return to Natal until 1852, where he worked as a resident magistrate. [4]

Personal life

During his time at Port Natal, Fynn took four African wives, with whom he had twelve children. His great wife was the Zulu princess Mavundlase. She is said to have succeeded to his chieftaincy upon his death. Fynn's son by a junior wife, also named Henry Francis Fynn, attended St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown in 1858 and 1859. [5]

Several years after his return to the Cape, in 1841, he married a European woman, Christina Brown, with whom he had a son, Henry Francis Fynn Junior, in 1846. [6]

Fynn died in Durban in September, 1861.

He was played by Robert Powell in the 1986 television drama Shaka Zulu .

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Pridmore, Julie (2004). "Diaries and Despatches: The Life and Writing of Henry Francis Fynn (1803–61) and Henry Francis Fynn Junior (1846–1915)". Kleio. 36 (1). Routledge: 128–129. doi:10.1080/00232080485380061. S2CID   161936973.
  2. ↑ Wylie, Dan (January 1995). ""Proprietor of Natal:" Henry Francis Fynn and the Mythography of Shaka". History in Africa. 22. African Studies Association: 417. doi:10.2307/3171924. JSTOR   3171924.
  3. ↑ Knight, Ian (1994). Warrior Chiefs of Southern Africa. Firebird Books. p. 11. ISBN   1-85314-106-2.
  4. ↑ Pridmore, Julie (2004). "Diaries and Despatches: The Life and Writing of Henry Francis Fynn (1803–61) and Henry Francis Fynn Junior (1846–1915)". Kleio. 36 (1). Routledge: 130–131, 135–139. doi:10.1080/00232080485380061. S2CID   161936973.
  5. ↑ Laurie 1914, p. 104.
  6. ↑ Pridmore, Julie (2004). "Diaries and Despatches: The Life and Writing of Henry Francis Fynn (1803–61) and Henry Francis Fynn Junior (1846–1915)". Kleio. 36 (1). Routledge: 134–135. doi:10.1080/00232080485380061. S2CID   161936973.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaka</span> King of the Zulu Kingdom (1787–1828)

Shaka kaSenzangakhona, also known as Shaka Zulu and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reforms that reorganized the military into a formidable force.

Nandi KaBhebhe was a daughter of Bhebhe, a past Elangeni chief and the mother of Shaka kaSenzangakhona, King of the Zulus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durban</span> Third largest city in South Africa

Durban is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South Africa, on the Natal Bay of the Indian Ocean, Durban is South Africa's busiest port and was formerly named Port Natal. North of the harbour and city centre lies the mouth of the Umgeni River; the flat city centre rises to the hills of the Berea on the west; and to the south, running along the coast, is the Bluff. Durban is the seat of the larger eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which spans an area of 2,556 km2 (987 sq mi) and had a population of 4.2 million in 2022, making the metropolitan population one of Africa's largest on the Indian Ocean. Within the city limits, Durban's population was 595,061 in 2011. The city has a humid subtropical climate, with hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mfecane</span> 1815–1840 period of civil conflict in southern Africa

The Mfecane, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane, was a historical period of heightened military conflict and migration associated with state formation and expansion in Southern Africa. The exact range of dates that comprise the Mfecane varies between sources. At its broadest, the period lasted from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, but scholars often focus on an intensive period from the 1810s to the 1840s. The concept first emerged in the 1830s and blamed the disruption on the actions of King Shaka, who was alleged to have waged near-genocidal wars that depopulated the land and sparked a chain reaction of violence as fleeing groups sought to conquer new lands. Since the latter half of the 20th century, this interpretation has fallen out of favor among scholars due to a lack of historical evidence.

Dingiswayo was a Mthethwa King, well known for his mentorship over a young Zulu general, Shaka kaSenzangakhona, who rose to become the greatest of the Zulu Kings. His father was the Mthethwa King, Jobe kaKayi. It was under King Dingiswayo that the Mthethwa rose to prominence, mostly employing diplomacy and assimilation of nearby chiefdoms to strengthen his power base. According to Mthethwa (1995), the Mthethwas are descended from the Nguni peoples of northern Natal and the Lubombo Mountains, whose modern identity dates back some 700 years.

The following lists events that happened during 1823 in South Africa.

Francis George Farewell (1784–1829) was the founder of the Port Natal Colony in South Africa.

Nathaniel Isaacs (1808–1872) was an English adventurer who played a part in the history of Natal, South Africa. He wrote a memoir spread over two volumes called Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa (1836). This book subsequently became one of the principal sources quoted by writers of the history of Natal, including Morris , Ritter and Bulpin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1820 Settlers</span> British colonists in South Africa

The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piet Retief</span> South African Voortrekker leader (1780-1838)

Pieter Mauritz Retief was a Voortrekker leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he later assumed command of punitive expeditions during the sixth Xhosa War. He became a spokesperson for the frontier farmers who voiced their discontent, and wrote the Voortrekkers' declaration at their departure from the colony.

Henry Melville Taberer was a South African cricketer who played in one Test match in 1902. He was the son of the Revd C. Taberer and was born at a mission station in Keiskammahoek, Cape Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colony of Natal</span> British colony from 1843 to 1910

The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its provinces. It is now the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Butler (poet)</span> South African writer

Frederick Guy Butler was a South African poet, academic and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Fisher</span>

Leonard Noel Fisher was an Anglican bishop in the second quarter of the twentieth century. After parish work in England and military service in the First World War, he served as bishop in two African dioceses, Lebomo and Natal, before retiring in 1951.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Rawden Maclean</span>

Charles Rawden Maclean, also known as "John Ross", was born on 17 August 1815 in Fraserburgh and died 13 August 1880 at sea on the RMS Larne while en route to Southampton. In a tribute to him during the re-dedication of his grave in Southampton in 2009, the Zulu War author and broadcaster Ian Knight said:

Maclean was a champion of liberty and his stone will be one of the few inscriptions in a British cemetery which commemorates a positive interaction between the British and Zulu people; most existing memorials commemorate individuals who were involved in Anglo-Zulu conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebenezer Ntlali</span> South African Anglican bishop (born 1954)

Ebenezer St Mark Ntlali is a South African Anglican retired bishop. He was the fourteenth Bishop of Grahamstown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Cory (historian)</span> South African historian and chemist

Sir George Edward Cory, was an English-born South African chemist and historian, best known for his six-volume publication "The Rise of South Africa".

Christopher Michael "Zithulele" Mann was a South African poet.

Peter Bingham Hinchliff was a South African Anglican priest and academic. He was the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford from 1992 to 1995.

Ivan Mitford-Barberton (1896–1976) was a South African sculptor, writer and authority on heraldry.

References

This article draws heavily on the de:Henry Francis Fynn article in the German-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 19 July 2011.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.