Worcester Slave List 1816 - 1838

! Sensitivity : It is crucial to handle this database with care and a strong sense of responsibility. Many of the terms used were originally assigned by the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and often do not reflect how individuals and groups identified themselves. The terms themselves can be misleading, as they oversimplify the complex social realities experienced by people at the time.

This database may also contains terms that are considered derogatory, offensive, or harmful. The concepts within it are deeply connected to a history of colonial violence, enslavement, and racism that persisted both during and after the VOC's existence.

The database mainly consists of records of slave registrations mandated by the British starting in 1816. 

The Worcester subdistrict, established in 1820, is located in the Breede River Valley, nestled between the Du Toits and Hex River Mountains. This area, inhabited since ancient times by the Khoi San peoples, was rich in game and wild birds. It served as a lucrative source of income for the VOC and Dutch Vryburghers through the trade of elephant tusks. By 1709 European farmers, most of them migrants, grazed their livestock in the region, leading to conflicts with the nomadic indigenous peoples.

 The VOC allocated the first farms to white settlers in 1714, and temporary A-frame Hartbees houses, resembling European Long Houses but constructed from reeds and clay with thatched roofs, became common. Slaves, Free Blacks, and smallpox accompanied the settlers. The disease devastated the indigenous population and paved the way for permanent settler farms. Lord Charles Somerset founded the town of Worcester in the subdistrict after purchasing the buildings on the former VOC loan farms Langerug and Roodedraai in March 1819, naming the village for his brother Henry Charles Somerset, the Marquess of Worcester. On the 28 February 1820 the first eighty nine of one hundred and forty four erven was sold at public auction. By the mid-1800s, German farmers began cultivating crops, including fruits and grapes.

From 1881, Worcester gained recognition for its Institute for the Deaf and Blind, which split in 1905 into two specialized schools to cater to the distinct educational needs of each condition. However, these state facilities were strictly reserved for the white Afrikaans-speaking minority, leaving visually impaired children and adults of color without access to formal education or support.

Driven to address this devastating injustice, Isaac Jacobs—a Coloured, an accomplished violinist, singer, and piano tuner who was denied admission to the Worcester school after losing his sight at age 17—spearheaded a campaign for inclusive services. In 1933, Jacobs partnered with Reverend Arthur Blaxall and Eddie Ramsdale to officially establish the League of Friends of the Blind (LOFOB). Their immediate priority was funding and sustaining the Athlone School for the Blind in Bellville, the region's first dedicated school for Black and Coloured visually impaired children.

Following the fall of Apartheid in 1994, South Africa’s special education institutions desegregated. Today, the original Pioneer School serves people of all races, and historically segregated Worcester schools (such as Nuwehoop and De la Bat) have fully integrated their pupils and campuses. Operating from its headquarters in Grassy Park, Cape Town, LOFOB has evolved from an early advocacy group into a major center dedicated to empowerment, skill development, and independence.

Slavery was abolished by the British at the Cape on December 1, 1834, but slaves were required to serve a four-year "apprenticeship." On December 1, 1838, all forms of forced labor ended, marking the official conclusion of slavery. When no exact birthdate is provided, the year of birth is an estimate made by the slave owner.

Source: George McCall Theal: The History of South Africa 1795 - 1872 Vol. 1, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1915

Encyclopedia Britannica

https://journals.co.za/doi/10.63194/samab.2024.46.1

https://lofob.org.za/

https://iol.co.za/capetimes/news/2023-02-03-90-years-on-lofobs-vision-shines-bright/

Slave records - South African National Archives

Archive copying by Lara Seaward

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