Andrew geddes bain biography definition

Cape Colony Geologist, Thoroughfare Engineer, Palaeontologist & Explorer

Andrew Geddes Bain (baptised 11 June – 20 October ), was a Cape Colony geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer.

Life history

The only child of Alexander Bain and Jean Geddes, both of whom died when Bain was still a young boy, Bain was baptised 11 June in Thurso, Scotland. He was raised by an aunt who lived near Edinburgh. Here he received a classical education, but no vocational training.

In he emigrated to Cape Town accompanied by his uncle Lieutenant Colonel William Geddes of the 83rd Regiment, who was stationed in the Cape.

Andrew Geddes Bain baptised 11 June — 20 Octoberwas a Cape Colony geologist, street engineer, palaeontologist and explorer. He was raised by an aunt who lived near Edinburgh. Here he received a classical learning, but no vocational training. He married Maria Elizabeth von Backstrom on 16 November and had 3 sons and 7 daughters.

He married Maria Elizabeth von Backstrom on 16 November and had 3 sons and 7 daughters. In he bought property in Graaff Reinet and carried on for some years the business of a saddler. In he accompanied John Burner Biddulph on a trading expedition to Kuruman, the mission outpost on the edge of the Kalahari and home of Dr.

Robert Moffat (father-in-law of David Livingstone). They explored further north and reached Dithubaruba in Bechuanaland, becoming the first recorded Europeans to return safely from so far north. In they trekked to the vicinity of present-day Kokstad.

They were forced to refund by hordes of Bantu fleeing Dingaan. During these journeys he discovered his talent for drawing and writing and became a regular correspondent for John Fairbairn's South African Commercial Advertiser. Outspoken, he was sued for libel a number of times by Gerrit Maritz, one of the eventual Voortrekker leaders.

He planned a variety of famous passes in the Cape and his drawings of flora and fauna are valuable Africana. He married Maria Elizabeth von Backstrom on 16 November and had 3 sons and 7 daughters. Settled in Graaf Reinet inand from there undertook travels, tried to farm and worked for the army in various capacities. During his early journeys he discovered his talent for drawing and writing and became a regular correspondent for John Fairbairn 's South African Commercial Advertiser.

He was awarded a special medal in for 'gratuitously superintending the construction of Van Ryneveld's Transmit, Graaff-Reinet'. In he made another trip to Bechuanaland where he lost his wagons and collection of zoological specimens during an attack by the Matabele, caused by his Griqua guides' stealing some of the King's cattle.

During the Cape Frontier Wars in – he served as captain of the Beaufort Levies raised for the defence of the frontier. He tried his hand at farming in the newly annexed Queen Adelaide Province, but lost the farm when the land was returned to the Xhosa in Later he was engaged to construct a military road through the Ecca Pass, and displayed engineering talents which gave rise to lasting employment as surveyor of military roads under the Corps of Royal Engineers in During this period he had a part in building the Fish River Bridge, then the largest bridge in the country.

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He constructed the Queen's Road from Grahamstown to Fort Beaufort. Appointed Engineering Inspector by the Cape Roads Board in he began construction at Michell's Pass adjacent Ceres in , subsequently followed on completion by Bain's Kloof Pass near Wellington in During he met with Russian novelist I.

A. Goncharov, while the latter was conducting a journey to Japan on frigate Pallada. He was the first dude to attempt to build a road across the Limiet Mountains into the interior for which feat he was presented with table silver and a candelabrum by grateful colonists.

Returning to the Eastern Cape in , he built numerous roads and passes including the Katberg Go by near Fort Beaufort. This occupation created an interest in geology, inspired in by a duplicate of Lyell'sElements of Geology.

He was friendly with William Guybon Atherstone, who was also a keen geologist and fossil collector and who happened to be present at the discovery of Paranthodon africanusBroom at the farm Dassieklip on the Bushmans River, being about half-way between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth.

The building of Bainskloof Pass (Part 2): Andrew Geddes Bain (baptised 11 June – 20 October ), was a Cape Colony geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer.

Bain discovered many fossil remains, including the herbivorous mammal-like reptile dicynodon Oudenodon bainii Owen, which was excavated from the Karoo Beds on the farm Mildenhall south of Fort Beaufort and described in the literature by Sir Richard Owen.

Among the specimens sent to Owen was the so-called Blinkwater monster, Pareiasaurus serridens as well as a variety of mammal-like reptiles.

He was awarded £ by the British government in for his researches. Devoting his spare hour to geological studies, Bain prepared in the first comprehensive geological map of South Africa, a work of great merit, which was published by the Geological Society of London in Sir Roderick Murchison and Sir Henry de la Beche, prominent geologists of the time, both recommended Bain's appointment as Cape Geological Surveyor in , but since no funds were available, nothing came of it.

Bain went to Namaqualand in and reported to the Government on the copper mines there.

He was 19 years of age in October when he first establish foot on Cape soil. As of yet there is no consensus as to what Bain was up to during these early years in the Cape. It has been assumed that he received training in the trades of tanner and saddler, but even this is pure speculation. Although he received initial teaching in Edinburgh, there were no specially oriented instruction involved.

He was granted sick exit to visit England for a second time in , where he was entertained by Sir Richard Owen of the British Museum and Sir Roderick Murchison of the Royal Geographical Culture, and was made an honorary member of the Athenaeum Club.

His health at this hour deteriorated markedly and he returned to South Africa; he died in Cape Town following a heart attack on 20 October The Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, Charles Davidson Bell, the Surveyor-General and Sir Thomas Maclear, her Majesty's astronomer at the Cape, were among the pallbearers.

While resident in Grahamstown he wrote some satirical sketches for local amateur dramatic entertainment and invented the character Caatje Kekelbek or Life Among the Hottentots (), also known as Kaatje Kekkelbek (Katie Gossip) who endeared herself forever to South Africans, and held John Philip and other missionaries up to ridicule.

Kaatje, the Hottentot girl, uses Hottentot-Afrikaans in the spoken parts, and sings in Afrikaans-English.

When Andrew Geddes Bain was born in May , in Thurso, Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom, his father, Alexander Wright Bain, was 20 and his mother, Jane Geddes, was He married Maria Elizabeth von Backstrom in They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 10 daughters.

She comes on stage playing a Jew's-harp:

My identify is Kaatje Kekkelbek,

I come from Kat Rivier,

Daar’s van water geen gebrek,

But scarce of wine and beer.

Myn A B C at Philip's school

I learnt a kleine beetje,

But left it just as great a fool

As gekke Tante Meitje.

Bain's journals were published by the Van Riebeeck Society in A memorial plaque was unveiled at the summit of Bain's Kloof Pass on 14 September , and a memorial to him was erected at the top of the Ecca Overtake on the Queen's Road on 7 September Bain built eight major mountain roads and passes during his career.

His son Thomas Charles John Bain was also a road engineer in South Africa.

Construction projects

1. Ouberg/Oudeberg Hand over near Graaff-Reinet
2. Van Ryneveld Transfer near Graaff-Reinet s
3. Ecca Pass from Grahamstown to Fort Beaufort (The Queen's Road)
4. Michell's Pass neighboring Ceres through the Skurweberg, obeying the course of the Breede River –48
5. Bain's Kloof Pass close Wellington –52
6. Gydo Pass due north of Ceres up the Skurweberg
7. Houw Hoek Pass from Elgin to Botrivier
8. Katberg Pass near Fort Beaufort –64

Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky

Main article: Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky

Distilled at the James Sedgwick distillery in&#;Wellington, South Africa, Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky is named after&#;Bain, in honour of his construction of the Bainskloof Pass&#;that connects the town of Wellington to the interior of the country in ^[1]

See also

References

• The Romance of Cape Mountain Passes – Graham Ross (David Phillips Publishers, Cape Town) ISBN&#;

External links