Because of the growing debate over this important point we have added
this extract from the book (shown in purple below). Subsequent notes linked
to symbols placed in the article are added at the end of this extract from
the book:
It was at this same meeting with
the Bastards (Griquas), and probably more as a celebration of the name change
that the idea of minting South Africa's first coinage was discussed. Campbell
notes in his 1815 book
"Travels in South
Africa" on page 256: "It was
likewise resolved that as they had no circulating medium amongst them by
which they could purchase any small article, such as knives, scissars (sic)
etc, etc. supposing a shop
to be established amongst them*
which they were anxious there should be - they
should apply to the (London) Missionary Society to get silver pieces of different
value coined for them in
England, which the Missionaries
would take for their allowance from the Society, having the name of Griqua
Town marked on them. It is probable that if this were adopted in a short
time they would circulate amongst all the nations about, and be a great
convenience".
* NOTE: No shop was established at Griquatown or in the
region until many decades later.
Campbell returned to the United Kingdom in 1814 and,
apparently acting on his own, ordered the minting of a set of four coins.
(See
Coins Here) In the booklet
"The Coinage of Griqualand"
by H Alexander Parsons (1927 reprint of the Spinks and Son Numismatic
Circular)*, he states, "Campbell seems
to have acted on his own initiative in the matter
without consulting his fellow directors of the London
Missionary Society… no correspondence or resolutions on the
subject have been discovered in the archives of the Society".
An insight into Campbell, the man reveals a deceptive personality.
The coins were allegedly struck by the die sinker Thomas
Halliday and claimed by Parsons to have been sent out to the Griquas in 1815
followed by a second mint in 1816 - unsubstantiated evidence coming from
correspondence by Halliday.µ
In his booklet Parsons describes the difference between
the two strikings thus: The slight difference lies mainly in the form
of the olive branch held in the beak of the dove, and it also occurs on the
farthing, the obverse die of which is the same as that of the five pence
(sic). The author refers to the use of pence
as (sic) because the type of currency is the first mystery about this "coinage"
with the "values" in Roman Numerals not referring to "d" for pence. The
currency of pounds, shillings and pence was far too complex for a remote
and uneducated people to
grasp.¢
In fact any form of currency, however noble in nature or formation,
was doomed to failure among the Griqua people who had very few in their number
who could count. In the best case scenario the values of ¼, ½,
(in bronze) and the five and ten (in silver) reflect Campbell's attempt to
ease the Griquas understanding of and use of money. But then why were
so few "¼" and "½" coins struck - consider the number of these
required to make up change for a single "5" or
"10"?
ß
Personally the author has well-placed reservations
as to whether the Griqua town token coins were, in fact, ever used by the
Griqua community. The book
"From Barter to
Barclays", compiled by Eric Rosenthal for Barclays National Bank
refers to the Griqua town token coins and states that at this time "the entire
commerce of the Griqua nation totalled just £50 per annum" (supported by Prof Arndt) while Campbell
notes on page 256 of his book that there were only 291 men in Griqua
Town (in 1813)!
The words of Robert Moffat (pictured right) in the 1820s, repeated
in the opening paragraph of Parson's own book produced for Spinks and Son
in 1927, kills the very idea of the Griqua town token coins ever being
used as currency by the Griquas.
"they
(the Griquas) showed but the slightest traces of civilisation, were unclothed
and unhoused, wretched in appearance, disgusting in their habits, and with
no moral or religious beliefs or conceptions".
#
Moffat (1795-1883), originally a gardener from Manchester
in the United Kingdom, was accepted by the London Missionary Society as a
missionary in June 1816 and accepted a post in South Africa arriving at Cape
Town on 13th January 1817. He was destined for Namaqualand, but permission
for his evangelical mission was refused by the Governor of the Cape for political
reasons so Moffat went to Stellenbosch to learn Dutch instead. On 22nd September
1817 permission was given for Moffat to travel north of the Cape Colony.
He stayed in Namaqualand for a little over a year before travelling for a
lengthy stay at Griqua Town in August 1819 at the very time Campbell was
visiting the Griquas for the second time.
His private letters,
printed in a book in 1951, clearly reflect his
negative views of John Campbell.
In his
detailed records of this trip by Campbell
"Travels in South Africa,
A second journey" published in 1822 Campbell makes absolutely
no reference to the Griqua town token coins. In fact on page 56 of
vol. one he refers to a Griqua teacher, Jan Hendrik, going to the market
at Beaufort to barter ivory for articles that he wanted. In vol. two he discusses
the use of rix dollars by the Griquas (pages 231, 264).
Furthermore in Campbell's personally abridged
book of his visit to South Africa in 1813 ("Journal of travels in South
Africa" published in 1834 - see this link)
he omits any
reference to the minting of coins being discussed
with the Griquas in 1813 - as transcribed and originally claimed in his journal
(Travels in South
Africa - see diary extract in the opening paragraph above). This is not surprising as historian Karel Schoeman notes from London Missionary Society records of this time that the Griqua only accepted Rijksdaalder
and (in 1820) that the "Griqua money" was still unused and held by Helm, the missionary, who asked what he should do with them. (This is the only known reference of this period to the Griquatown token coins). Supporting references
Campbell also states in this 1834 work that
"Regular trades cannot be said yet
to exist in Griqualand". On page 283
(of his book covering his second trip in
1819) Campbell suggests that it would take
just a few pounds to establish a system of education for the Bushmen. Campbell
is not alone as Moffat makes absolutely no mention of the existence or use
of the Griqua town token coins either in his many journals and
books!
@
The mystery that is the Griqua town token coins
is not their origin but their history following their minting circa 1819 by
Halliday (did he actually do so?) There
is no record of the numbers of Griqua town token coins minted just the occasional
coin being put on sale through auctions linked to the fallacy that they were
South Africa's first coinage in circulation. And was it Campbell who brought them to Griquatown during his second trip to South Africa - much later
than the official version of a discredited 1815-16 circulation date.
According to well-known S African
numismatist
Dr
Frank Mitchell only one Griqua town token coin has been reported
as being "found in South Africa".
The
collection of Richard J Ford auctioned by Spink and Sons in May 1985 lists
several pattern Griqua town token coins struck in copper while Parsons refers
to gold specimens of the five and ten and a ½ and ¼ in gilt metal.
The variations referred to by Parsons only further support the author's view
that the Campbell coins were never actually used by the Griqua population
as general usage coinage.
The assertion that the Griqua town token coins were
never circulated is further supported by the small number of largely illiterate
Bastard adults who at best, "displayed the slightest traces of civilisation"
following their expulsion from the Cape by the white man.
Furthermore how could Campbell's coins,
like
the doomed 1868 Griqua note, even with the most romantic of notions,
be introduced as currency as there was no basis on which the first coins
could have been circulated and there was no store or outlet for them to be
used in.
Latest research reveals that
they were nothing more than token coins struck in about 1819.
We should therefore, not rely on Campbell's romantic
ideals noted in his diary of his first trip in 1813 to jump to the conclusion
that the Griqua town token coins were used, even for one day, as currency by the Griquas. The
lack of reference to the Griqua town token coins by Missionaries Philip, Campbell, Anderson and Moffat and others
who stayed at Griqua Town during this time reflects the futility of the ideal and the truth
of the matter. And Helm's comment, the only reference at that time (1820) to the Griquatown coins, that they were not in circulation puts the final nail in the coffin.
The author has no doubt that
the beautifully plain design with the dove of peace flying with an olive
branch in its mouth on one side and the words "Griqua Town" and the value
displayed on the other side were never used as coinage but they did inspire
other die makers - as you will see.
|
Notes to article above:
*
Perpetuating the myth of the Griqua Town currency:
The myth of the Griqua town token coins being used
by the people at Griqua Town can be linked directly to
this article by Alexander
Parsons - all references by researchers supporting the claim refer
directly to it without any adequate research to check the facts. For
example, J T Becklake in
"From Real to
Rand" accepts and quotes H A Parsons' flawed reasoning without
question as does Verner Scaife in his 1962 work
British Colonial Coins
and Tokens (reprinted from the American Numismatic Association's "The
Numismatist"). However well respected South African
numismatist Dr Frank
Mitchell in his article in "Antiques in South Africa"
(1978) headed "The coinage of Griqua Town" notes
that the Griqua town token coins
never circulated and were not used as coins by the Griquas.
µ No proof of the
Griqua town token coins circulating in Griqua Town
A very serious South African numismatist, Daniel van der Laan, who has
an extensive web site
spent 2004, following the release of this book, "The Griquas of South
Africa and their money", trying to find any evidence of the existence
of the Griqua town token coins - this included researching old news papers
and visiting Griqua Town. He reports
Have been trying to find any evidence that the
Griqua town token coins been used in and around Griqua Town for more than
a year now and could not find any.
Looks like old Campbell was just a
dreamer.
Even more significant is the London Missionary Society's own 1817 report on Griquatown - which notes that there "was no coin" in Griquatown during 1815-16.
More at this link.
¢
The lack of education among the Griquas Even one
hundred years later in the late 1920s, as can be
seen in the scan of a copy of a
testimonial by the Griqua John Dawes at this link, the Griquas could
not read nor write - let alone count. Moffat in his letters published in
"Apprenticeship at Kuruman" states
on many occasions that there was no school for the Griquas and that they
were, without exception, totally uneducated.
ßThe rarity of the bronze
pieces
Matthy Esterhuysen in her book "Munte en die
Mens" (pg 11) claims that the silver coins were "melted down" when
the attempt to circulate the coins was not a success and that the bronze
coins are rarer than the silver coins because the Griqua preferred the shiny
silver pieces. How she arrives at these conclusions is not explained or supported
by any references. In short, gobbledygook.
# The
"Griqua reality" - the rise and fall of
Griqua Town in the 1800s at this link
-
This description by Moffat reflects a transient people
who, if anything, had gone backwards in all respects as a direct result of
their displacement from the Cape by the white settlers, a tiny population
in no position to use or have purpose for coinage. See relevant extracts
of earlier comments describing the Hottentots in the Cape at these links
Henry Secreta Zevorzit in
1673 and Gysbert Hemmy in
1767. What occurred was the continuing decimation of the Hottentot culture,
firstly through the influence of the settlers and later through the
influence of bandits who used Griqua Town as a base for attacks on the African
people to the north. As you will see below the offspring were without direction,
true leadership or desire to participate in any form of labour. They embraced
the bad habits of the settlers while not adopting their work ethic to support
the enjoyment of those weaknesses.
In October 1811 Burchell in vol one of his book
Travel in the interior of South
Africa states on page 361, The Koras and
Bushmen (included in the missionary count of men, women and children living
in Griqua Town) cannot be considered as belonging to the establishment, since
they show no desire to receive the least instruction from the missionaries,
nor do they attend their meetings, but continue to remove from place to place,
a wild independent people. He states further on page 365,
Hunting is the only employment at which they
(the people at
Griquatown) show any eagerness; and it,
therefore, occupies the greatest part of their time.
Burchell goes on to describe how the spoils
of hunting such as ivory and other valuables were bartered for brandy and
goods with the boers to the
south.
-
Burchell also notes at this time the run-down state of Klaarwater/Griquatown,
The trees of my imagination vanished, leaving
nothing in reality but a few which the missionaries themselves had planted;
the church sunk to a barn-like building
of reeds and mud; the village was merely a row of half a dozen reed cottages;
the river was but a rill; and the situation an open, bare, and exposed place,
without any appearance of a garden, excepting that of the
missionaries.
It would be very unfair towards those who have devoted themselves to a
residence in a country, where they are cut off from communication with civilized
society, and deprived of all its comforts, to attribute this low state
of civilization and outward improvement, to a want of solicitude on their
part. Their continual complaint, indeed, was of the laziness of the
Hottentots, and of the great difficulty there had always been in persuading
them to work, either on the buildings or in the garden; and in this complaint
there was too much truth.
Burchell's fuller description of Griquatown and a detailed drawing by him
of the small village just before Campbell arrived
can be seen at this
link.
-
Burchell describes the Griqua Town outpost of Ongeluks (Unlucky) Fountain
and ALL other Hottentot settlements,
thus...
Its size, and the number of its inhabitants, are, like those of all
Hottentot outposts, so fluctuating that sometimes the spot is quite
deserted: nor does it seem that at any season, the least attempt at
cultivation is ever made here; as the ground nowhere appeared to have been
broken.
Clearly Griqua Town, apart from the presence of the missionaries, was no
different - hardly a community in which to "circulate currency".
-
Nothing changed over the next thirty years - in the 1840s
white hunter Cumming sung the same
tune about their slothfulness stating on page 91,
They are, without exception, of an indolent
disposition, and averse to hard work of any description; much of their
time is spent in hunting, and large parties annually leave their homes
and proceed with their waggons, oxen and horses on hunting expeditions into
the far interior, absenting themselves for three to four months at a
time. They are remarkable for their
disregard of the truth, a weakness which I regret to state I found very prevalent
in South Africa; they are also great beggars, generally commencing by soliciting
"trexels", a trexel being a pound of tea or coffee.
-
Even in the early 1860s an observer who visited Mt Currie
(after the Griquas moved to Nomansland)
reflected that the plight of the Griquas had not changed when he reported,
To our disgust and disappointment we found it (the
laager) a very dirty place, consisting of about 200 mud huts, a few old wagons,
and a lot of dirty Griquas sitting or lying outside their dens. A small church
and a Fort in the middle of the village and Adam Kok's house at one end.
Adding to the miserable appearance of the laager a number of the houses
are only half built and allowed to remain with their four walls standing.
It is indeed, as one of our party called it, a village in ruins before it
was built. Source: A F Hattersley in the book "Later Annals
of Natal"
-
The Cape Coloured People 1652-1932
by J S Marais notes that the influence of the London Missionary Society resident
Griqua Town missionary, W Anderson, declined in 1814 and that there was no
leader in the small settlement - Adam Kok II and Barends, the leading families,
leaving to set up home at Campbell and Daniel's Kuil. Marais, the Professor
of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, states that
during this time 1815-1820 Griquatown became
a ghost town with the few nomadic Griquas using the station as a temporary
camp before moving on.
@
Campbell's other pertinent comments Campbell's
own abridged work on his first visit
in 1834 OMITS any reference to the issue of coins being discussed with the
Griquas - as claimed in the transcript of his journals published in 1815.
Campbell also notes that the entire Griqua "nation" in the district (including
Lattakoo, Hardcastle and Campbell) in 1813 consisted of just:
-
291 men,
-
399 women,
-
310 boys and
-
266 girls
 under 700 adults in the nation while the whole
“Church or Christian Society” consisted of only 26
men and 16 women. This (very) largely illiterate “nation” possessed
just 24 wagons with most of them are nearly worn out by use. The community
had no trading store and was highly transient, embarking on lengthy hunting
trips - their only form of "employment". Hardly a community ready for the
introduction of circulating currency! The image right shows a typical
Griqua house and family in Griqua Town in 1834 (nearly 20 years after
their alleged introduction of the Griquatown token coins) - hardly a
people ready to use or understand coinage. It is important to note that
the Griquas did not have "pockets" and therefore the unholed Griqua town
token coins were impractical and would have been easily lost if they had
ever been used. It was for this reason
that S Africa's first widely circulating currency
(1874-1932), the trade
tokens of Strachan and Company, were sensibly holed - so that
the Griquas and Africans in Nomansland could string the coins around their
necks with their beads. In fact, the Strachan and Co trade tokens were the
first token coins to be holed - many "holed" tokens followed later. NOTE:
The author, Scott Balson, now firmly believes that the
"Griqua town token
coins" were minted between 1817 and 1820. In
a letter (transcribed in "Apprenticeship
at Kuruman" pp 193 and 194) to Moffat the Directors of the
London Missionary Society make a pointed remark to Campbell's earlier folly
over the "Griqua town token coins" when telling Moffat not to "embark
on any costly projects without first getting their sanction" - their
reference to the "former decisions made" and Campbell's forced resignation
from his position as a Director of the London Missionary Society follow this
aborted fanciful and costly escapade. In the extracts from letters by
Moffat below from the same source he makes many references to Campbell's
flights of fancy...
Moffat's private letters transcribed in
"Apprenticeship at Kuruman" reveal a side
of Campbell not well publicised... (note this book is widely available
on the Internet for under US$100 if you have
any doubts over the quotes listed below buy the book and see for yourself.
The letters are held by the famous Oppenheimer
Library). to Rev J Philip, Cape Town dated 19 September
1820 - states (pp6): Campbell has a drinking problem:
But I have also to add that when Mr Campbell used
such harsh assertions, he had made to freely with Mr Wine or Mijn Heer
Brandy. He is very quarrelsome at such seasons, and alas! such seasons
are not few. and, to Mr J Melville, Cape Town, January 1821
states (pp 13):
Campbell's claims
are not to be taken
seriously: I may add that it is
a pity that Mr Campbell does not know the present state of Lattakoo. It would
save him building so many castles in the air about the Maharootze
nation... and, to Alexander Moffat, Inverkeithing, 25th February
1822, states (pp 57) Campbell tells lies:
Mr Campbell, I see, in a Missionary Chronicle
asserts that they have acquired correct notions of God etc.. etc.. Let me
assure you that the authority he has it from is
false. and, to James and Mary Smith, Dunkinfeld,
20th August 1822, states (pp 61) Campbell is foul mouthed, weak and
a drunkard: The leading subject in your
last letter was highly amusing to us especially, who knew the man, and who
have been his associates both in company and retirement, or, in other words,
the city and the wilderness. It was not at all surprising; and it was
often a matter of surprise to us how he came to be exalted to the high offices
he filled. He is unquestionably a weak man, and from some paragraphs
in yours we have no doubt but you have discovered his weakest part(getting
drunk). It was no uncommon thing with him, when travelling with us, at
certain seasons to get on his "Highland horsey and be lavish of foul
names", but at those seasons all took flight, or was forgot after a good
night's sleep. We had indeed much to bear, but maintained silence to our
English friend, for the sake of the cause he has so prominently
represented. Rev John Campbell, by
his own admission, often writes fantasy, not fact - source:
Walks of Usefulness. He states in the
introduction: Though I have presented these
Walks of Usefulness to the public , I have to confess, with shame, that they
describe in many instances, what
might have been
done, rather than what, in many
cases, I have really done. On his second trip to South Africa
Campbell wrote to the LMS suggesting "that as beads
were the circulating medium in Mashaw and Kurrechane, two Tswana villages
in the north, the LMS should send the Missionaries a quantity of beads that
might be exchanged for a 'great many elephants teeth' at both places."
The LMS refused his request saying that to do so would be
mercantile-like. Campbell was openly ridiculed in letters by
Robert Moffat (the missionary who stayed
at Griqua Town when Campbell made his second visit).
Relevant extracts from Moffat's Letters - source:
"Apprenticeship at Kuruman" (Oppenheimer
Series):
to Rev G Burder, London dated 17 January 1820 states (pp 3): (pp3)
The 600 Rixdollars of arrears, which the Directors
were kind to present to those brethren who had not drawn their allowance
(at Griquatown), I accepted, though with reluctance. I have also to add that,
since I came to Africa, I have only had 805 Rds including the sum of 145
Rds for cattle.
The Griqua town token coins were supposed to have been used by missionaries
at Griqua Town in payment of their services - they never were. At no
time does Moffat make any comment about "Griqua Town" coins - either in his
private correspondence or in his published works. The omission is the final
nail in the fallacy of South Africa's first circulating indigenous coinage
being the Griqua town token coins claimed to be used in 1815/16
Theal (South Africa's most eminent historian) states this about
Campbell's book: "This book contains
some information on general subjects, as well as a complete account of the
missions of the London society. But the author's simplicity and credulity
were so great that little reliance
can be placed on anything that he describes which did not come under his
own eyes. It is difficult to make
out his Dutch, Korana and Setshuana proper names, as his ear was not good
at catching sounds. There is a kindly tone throughout ... which compensates
for many defects." [Theal's Catalogue of Books and Pamphlets
relating to Africa]. |
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