Early Days in Rhodesia

ISABELLA HARDIE MCKENZIE (NEE REID)

The story of Isabella Hardie Mckenzie comes in two parts, personal and historical. This is her personal story, as written by her daughter, Gwen.

She was a gentle, obliging, non-critical person who raised her family (including from time to time, some nieces and nephews and from the early days of her marriage, her widowed mother-in-law and later, her own widowed mother) always in a sympathetic and loving way. Hers was mostly a life of uncomplaining want, at times bordering on poverty, as my father only earned a mere twenty-five pounds a month, though that was added to by the provision of a house as well as free medical and rail travel for himself and his family. Nor were there any overheads to pay such as electricity (non-existent then) and water (which was collected in a rainwater tank).
She was the oldest child of three, and the only daughter of John Lawrence Reid and his wife Mary Ann Low, born on 13th January 1895 on the family farm Struie in Strathearn, Scotland, and at the age of two her much loved father became so seriously ill that he was obliged to leave Scotland to settle in a warmer climate. Before this was decided upon the family took lodgings in the Blackford Hill area of Morningside in Edinburgh, to be near the Royal Infirmary and the doctors. It was from the upstairs windows of these lodgings that this small girl watched, each day, the soldiers from the nearby Redford Barracks marching past, the memory remaining with her until her death at the age of 93. Another example of her excellent memory was that she was still able to recite a long and complicated verse titled "Deportmental Ditties" which she had learnt at the age of 8. (Copy attached)

In 1898 the farm was sold for GBP3,500, and the family sailed to Cape Town and from there travelled by train to Bulawayo in the newly founded colony of Rhodesia. They were not pioneers, but enjoyed the status of early settlers. The family's movements are chronicled separately, but of her, she was in the main educated by her mother, who had herself received a good education at the Merchant Maidens’ School in Edinburgh. Consequently she had little exposure to other children and only saw her two brothers when they were on school holidays from St. George’s College in Bulawayo, and later Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
She assisted her father in his dairy and with his egg and chicken producing business, and this interest remained with her throughout her life. She also worked for a short spell in a dairy in Bulawayo before joining the staff of a large departmental store, Haddon & Sly, as a book-keeping clerk. When bulk dry goods consignments arrived from South Africa by wagon, all staff were diverted to weighing and re-packing this into brown paper bags for re-sale.
It was through a business associate of her father's, a Mr. Booth, who owned a saddlery business in Bulawayo, that my mother met my father, Willie McKenzie, he being the brother of Mrs. Booth. She married him on St. Patrick's Day 1919 and their first home was a free standing 10ft. square wood and iron room which served as their total accommodation.
From her long years living at home prior to her marriage, her energies were directed into book learning and practical skills, giving her a good all round knowledge, and as a result, her family automatically sought her opinion on most subjects throughout her life.

Although she was seemingly a very healthy and relatively slender woman throughout her life, she did acquire allergies of avocado pears, bananas and eggs, the latter being most tedious as that included such things as cakes, biscuits and some puddings. Nor could she eat Yorkshire pudding or mayonnaise. She also suffered a peculiar sensitivity around her waist by not being able to tolerate elastic in that region, so had to resort to buttoned underwear. When she was in her late sixties, she contracted jaundice, and when admitted to hospital, she confounded the nursing staff with her assertion that this was the first time she had been hospitalised. She broke her ankle whilst climbing kopjies in her eighties (my brother Jack fondly referred to her as a mountain goat). Nevertheless, in her late eighties she walked five miles in a sponsored marathon to raise funds, and was greatly commended for her efforts.

She was an expert at crochet and produced many fine pieces, using sewing thread, but it was only when her children began to arrive, did she learn knitting and sewing, an industry which kept her very busy catering for the needs of herself and her family. In her later years she occupied herself with knitting squares and joining them together to make blankets for charity. She also continued to crochet but, as her sight diminished, with coarser thread such as twine.

Shortly after Rhodesia became Independent Zimbabwe, she reluctantly, under pressure from her family, relocated to Cathcart in the Eastern Cape territory of South Africa where she quickly settled into the community and became involved in voluntary work in the workshop of the Callie Evans Old Age Home, an establishment funded and maintained by the residents of that small market town. She, herself, was eventually admitted to this same home at the age of 91, and two years later had a fall and died in the local cottage hospital from complications brought on by a broken sternum.

She was a very good person who endeared herself to all who knew her. Would that I could be even the half of her.

This is part two of Ella's story - the historical bit, told to me by her. I hear that Cheryl also has a very comprehensive account, so I hope these two accounts don't confuse, but will rather add to each other.
John Lawrence Reid, having contracted T.B. of the kidney which settled in his spine, and left him with a large distinctive, and permanent hump on his back, was obliged to move to a warmer climate, so he sold his farm Struie to Charles Calder, distiller in Bo'ness on 12 Nov 1896 for GBP3,500 and rented a house in the Blackford Hill area of Morningside in Edinburgh for a year, whilst undergoing treatment, before he, his wife and daughter left Scotland and arrived in Cape Town in January 1898 bound for Rhodesia, arriving in Bulawayo by train in February 1898, that part of the journey having taken two weeks. On arrival there, they stayed at Butters Building which was a boarding house, before purchasing 200 acres at Rangemoor, west of Bulawayo, with the river as their boundary. He erected a water engine driven by donkeys, and grew vegetables, the first pickings of which were ready when the Boer War broke out. Since communications from the south were cut by the war, the prices escalated with butter being sold for one pound sterling per pound weight. Other than vegetables, he also kept cattle, goats, donkeys, pigs and fowls and supplied chickens, eggs, butter and milk to the Grand Hotel, and he did very well.

They remained there for three years before moving to Bulawayo for schooling for Ella and for the birth of Lawrence. They bought a plot on high ground in Duncan Road in the southern suburbs, and built a small iron house, then John acquired premises next to the Imperial Hotel and started a joinery shop. (He must have longed for his cabinet maker father-in-law's assistance in that) He secured good contracts and through those met Colonel Napier who contracted him to build hay sheds on Springs farm twelve miles out of Bulawayo, as well as overseeing the cutting of the hay for 25% of the farm profits. He closed the shop to devote his energies to this contract, which lasted for two years.

Ella started school at Miss Monary's private school where the Bulawayo Technical College now stands.

After the birth of Lawrence, John's wife was poorly so she and the children left in September 1902 for Scotland and were joined by him in May 1903. They stayed in Dunning with John's sister, Mary Hill, and whilst there Ella attended school with her cousin Lizzie. They all returned to Africa in June 1903.

On their return they rented a house in Queen's Grounds and John returned to carpentry, making furniture. He met Col. Napier again who offered him a house on the farm Springs and 25% of the profits in return for his services. Whilst there, donkey wagons journeyed continuously to Bulawayo supplying fodder to mainly the Police and Army for their horses. They also grew maize. Then, after two years, it seems John made a bad move. He left to go gold mining on Julia Mine as a smallworker, and lost all his money, so the family returned to their original house in Duncan Road, where their second son John was born.

From there John secured a contract to build the Globe & Phoenix Club at Que Que, leaving his family in Bulawayo, but when he returned they were all ill with whooping cough. On expiry of the contract, A.G. Hendrie financed him to return to the mine so he let the house for five pounds per month and spent the next two years on the mine, which once again ended in failure.

In 1909 they sold the house to buy a dairy at Hillside which prospered until the arrival of East Coast Fever six months later when the entire herd was shot by the authorities for which he later received compensation of GBP100. A B.S.A.Co director, Jesser-Cope, heard of the disaster and offered John a job as a stockman on Rhodesdale Estate which was B.S.A.Co. property. They stayed there for two years from 1910, and it was whilst there that their house containing most of their valuable possessions was burnt down by Jack going to bed with a lit candle.

In July 1912 John received a letter from Mr. Sly of Haddon & Sly offering him the manager-ship of his farm Denver near Bulawayo, for GBP150 per month plus a free house and produce. Ella started chickens and incubating, but the venture was not very successful because of predators. John erected a solid stone built house where they lived until 1923, when Sly's son took over the farm.

(Here is an overlapping note: In 1916 Ella went to Bulawayo as assistant in a Bulawayo dairy for 5 pounds per month. She boarded with Mrs. Square (a friend of her mother's) all-in for four pounds ten shillings leaving her with nine shillings for herself out of her salary. (This was the usual sort of distribution of one's funds) She was expected to start work before light and arrived one morning to find the place had been burgled, and that is what decided her to leave, and she got employment in Haddon & Sly in 1916/1917, and stayed there until she married. The association her father John had with Mr. Booth was not only because of supplying harnessing for Col. Napier's donkeys, but he also had an interest in the Ella Gold Mine, named after Ella Reid).

In 1923 John bought a portion of the farm Denver which was near Pasipas siding and called it Newlands. There they did dairy and chickens. We used to travel down annually from Zambia to visit them at this farm, and because the train only momentarily stopped there, we had to start throwing our luggage off the train well before we reached the siding as there was only enough time to get all of us children off, despite being lined up and waiting ready to alight. Then we had to backtrack to collect our luggage and make our way to the farm, which wasn't very far from the siding.

This farm was sold in 1935 for the now elderly couple to be able to relocate to Macheke to be near Ella, where they bought No. 10 Springfield, renaming it Dundee. He died there 18 months later and we as a family moved in with his widow until the house was sold, after which she moved in with us until her death in 1945. Dundee was later re-purchased by Ella's youngest son Jack.

Whilst John was still the proprietor of Struie, he had a dispute with his neighbour, Mr Halden, about damaging right of way for Mr Halden's cattle through Struie which ended in litigation, and although the court found in his favour, the cost to him was crippling. Separately, I have a printout of the case notes.

This is the poem which Granny learnt as a child of eight, and recited from memory in her eighties.

On the question of behaviour when at table
There is much that proves perplexing to the mind.
Should we eat, that is, as much as we are able
Should we drink as much as nature feels inclined.
Is it right to use a spoon to swallow curry
Is it wrong to use a knife for eating cheese
There is scope for much embarrassment and worry
In such knotty points as these.

On the processes of eating and of drinking
Which are separate, distinctive, well defined
There is no-one who must acquiesce in thinking
That these functions must in any way be combined
For the man who fills his mouth with beef or pheasant
And proceeds to sluice it down with bitter beer
Is a person who, at table, 'tis not pleasant to sit near

And then, no-one needs be instructed
That our vitals must not ever be inhaled
And that no-one who is properly conducted
Would be guilty of the scandal thus entailed
When a burst of unpremeditated laughter
Sends a glass of rare old port which you imbibe
Coursing lung wards, well the scene that follows after
Were not fitting to describe

Let me tell you of my favourite Aunt Anna
Who though 80, is alert and full of fun
Inhaled the greater part of a banana
When at luncheon, once, I chanced to make a pun
All in vain the doctors probed and ordered massage
My relation is deprived of half a lung
For the plantain in her pulmonary passage
Is embedded like a bun

If asparagus or artichokes be handed
Do not view them with a terror stricken eye
Nor allow yourself a coward to be branded
By allowing such a dish to pass you by
Each leaf, or stalk, when dipped in melted butter
Should be held between the finger tips with grace
And then flung, without a tremor or a flutter
Through the porthole of your face

Do not scatter bits of food about your clothing
Do not harbour mashed potatoes in your beard
You will find that people gaze at you in loathing
If some spinach to your eyebrow has adhered
Last of all, I mean it kindly, gentle reader
If you cannot keep your fingers off a bone
If in fact you are a gross and careless feeder
You had better feed alone

A favourite chastising saying of Granny's when we complained about others, was,

All the world is queer but thee and me,
And even thee's a little queer!