A-Z the Origin of Bluff Street Names

AIKEN PLACE: Named after James Burnett Aiken. Although originally a South Coast resident, after his farm was declared insolvent in 1877, he moved to Durban. Between 1881 and 1883 he was a member of the Town Council. He was also Secretary of the Durban Botanic Society for four years. In September 1885, Aiken left Durban and joined his brother, David, on his Ruthville sugar estate near Port Shepstone.

ANCKETILL AVENUE: Henry Ancketill was a member of the colonial Parliament during its final years before 1910.

ANSTEY ROAD: The Anstey family were prominent in the colonial business world owning a large store in West Street as well as property on the Bluff.

ASHBURTON ROAD: Named after its namesake in Devon, England.

ATHOLL CRESCENT: Of Scottish origin. Blair Castle in Perthshire was the home of the Duke of Atholl.

BERKEN ROAD: Named after F Berken, one of the original settlers of Durban in whose hut a meeting was held on 23 June 1835, at which Captain Allen Gardiner proclaimed that the bay settlement would be named Durban after the governor of the Cape, Sir Benjamin D’Urban.

BRIGHTON ROAD: Another reference to England, Brighton being a prominent holiday town on the Sussex coast.

BYNG AVENUE: Named after Lt Colonel Julian Byng who led the South African Light Horse under General Buller during the Natal phase of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902.

CHARTERS AVENUE: Major Charters led a detachment of 80 men of the 72nd Highlanders to occupy Port Natal in 1839.

CHIPSTEAD AVENUE: Named after a village near Sevenoaks in Kent, England.

CLUNAS RD: In an 1878 issue of the Natal Government Gazette, John Clunas was listed as an engineer residing in Reunion. He subsequently relocated to the Bluff where he was a resident for many years.

COLENBRANDER RD: Named after Theodorus Christiaan Colenbrander of Dutch origin. He brought 80 emigrants from Holland in the early 1860s to his sugar farm New Guelderland up the North Coast.

COMPROMISE CRES:  Name of a farm on which much of the Fynnland area was developed.

CRADOCK AVE:  Thought to refer to Admiral Cradock who lost his life in a naval battle in November 1914.

DE JAGER RD:  Named after FS De Jager, a magistrate in Natal during the 1840s

DILLON RD:  John FK Dillon, a colonial magistrate, was Chief Magistrate of Durban during the 1870s.

DOBLE RD: Owned a farm on the Bluff in the latter colonial period. Henry Doble was the last survivor of this old Bluff family. He passed on in the early 1990s.

EDWIN SWALES VC DVE:  Born in 1917, Captain Edwin Swales was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry when he sacrificed his life in order to give the crew of his badly damaged bomber aircraft time to bale out and parachute to safety in February 1945.

Since 2007, the street was renamed Solomon Mahlangu Dve after a deceased ANC cadre.

FINNEMORE PLACE:  Robert Finnemore was a senior Durban magistrate between 1880 and the early twentieth century.

GARCIN PLACE: Named after a French settler, Papa Garcin who owned quite extensive tracts of Bluff land in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. He also served as a postmaster in Durban.

GLENARDLE RD:  No origin traced.

GOODLIFFE AVE:  John Goodliffe was mayor of Durban 1872/73.

GRAY’S INN AND GRAY PARK RDS:  Named after the Gray family who owned most of the Brighton Beach area from the 1890s. Up until around 1950 an inn, situated at the top of what is Grays Inn Rd, provided accommodation. The Bluff Drive-In, on which the current Pick n Pay shopping centre is based, was one of their enterprises. All the land from the Ecopark including the golf course was owned by the Grays and is administered as the Gray Family Trust by the Ethekweni Municipality.

Since 2007 Gray Park Rd was renamed Hoosen Haffejee Rd after a deceased ANC cadre.

GEBRANTZER RD:  Named after the Captain of  a Dutch ship which visited Durban bay in 1705 on a mission to enquire about the reported sale of Port Natal to the Dutch in 1689. The African chief who had agreed to the sale had since died and his son rejected any claim by the Dutch.

HERBERT ANDREWS DVE: Named after Herbert O’Neill Andrews, an old Bluff resident.

HIGNETT RD: Another magistrate from the late colonial era who became Chief Magistrate of Durban and later served as a judge during the Union years.

JACKSON RD: Possibly named after magistrate JJ Jackson who held office in the latter colonial period.

KNYFF RD:  Willem Knyff was Captain of the Stavenisse, a Dutch East Indiaman which went aground near the mouth of the Mzimkulu River in February 1686.

KESTON CRES: Named after a village in Kent by the developers of the Marlborough Park area.

KING AVE:  In all probability named after Richard (Dick) King, who having crossed the bay on the night of 25 May 1842, scrambled up the Bluff slopes in the Marlborough Park area accompanied by Ndongeni and began his epic 10 day ride to Grahamstown to fetch help for the British forces beleaguered by the Boers  at Port Natal.

KING’S REST RD: Named after Lieut JS King who died in 1828 at his camp on the Bluff.

LANDMAN RD:  Karel Landman was part of an expedition to Port Natal headed by Piet Uys in 1834. He was deputy Commandant to Andries Pretorius in putting together a commando of 500 men to do battle against Zulu king Dingane.

LEINSTER RD:  Leinster is a province of Ireland. This road is among several in the area which were given Irish names.

LEN WHITELEY AVE: Named after a member of the Natal Provincial Council 1936-1948 who was subsequently a member of Parliament.

LLOYD AVE:  Named after Rev William Henry Lloyd, an Anglican cleric, who was the first Vicar of St Paul’s church in the early 1850s. He died in 1881.

LUCAS CRES: Gould Arthur Lucas served a Resident Magistrate in Umzinto from 1876 until around 1889 when he was transferred to Durban. He retired after 1895.

MARSHALL AVE:  Following the discovery of traces of gold in 1868 in three South Coast rivers, the Fafa, Mthwalume and Mahlongwa, Marshall accompanied George Parsons in a prospecting venture. Unfortunately, the gold was of such small quantities that the venture was abandoned.

McTAVISH RD: Named after Mrs AEJ McTavish, a Durban City Councillor from 1953 until her death in 1956.

MERTHYR RD: Named after the birthplace (in Glamorganshire, Wales) of the chairman of the company which laid out Marlborough Park.

MOFFAT RD: Possibly named after Robert Moffat of the London Missionary Society who was associated with Dr David Livingstone. Moffat left South Africa in 1870.

MOSS RD:  Possibly named after Eva Moss, a Durban thespian who was apart of an enterprising group of entertainers in the 1930s.

MUNSTER RD: Like Leinster Rd in this neighbourhood, Munster derives its name from a province of Ireland.

NICOLL RD:  Pamed after Robert Nicoll who was a Durban Town Councillor  from 1911 to 1919 and who was prominent in shipping circles.

NOORD RD: A Dutch East Indiaman vessel which visited Durban bay in 1689 and 1690 as a result of which favourable reports of our area were given to Governor Simon van de Stel in Cape Town. The Noord  was wrecked off Algoa Bay on a subsequent voyage.

ORIEL ROAD: No particular link to local history found, but possibly named after Oriel College, Oxford.

PARSONS RD: George Parsons was the leading prospector in the short-lived mini-gold rush that occurred on the South Coast during 1868 and 1869. He claimed to have panned traces of gold in most rivers between the Mphambanyoni and the Mzumbe.

PAXTON PL:  A possible explanation of the origin of this name is that it refers to Sir George Paxton. A warehouse, which was shipped to Durban in 1851, was originally  erected by him at the Great Exhibition in London.

PEARCE RD:  Named after Mrs Jean Robson-Pearce who was a member of the Durban City Council in 1935-36.

PICKMAN RD: Charles Pickman was one of 30 British settlers living at Port Natal who was appointed secretary of the embryo town council founded by Captain Alan Gardiner in 1835.

PITMAN RD: Named after VA Pitman who was a member of the South Coast Junction Health Board  which incorporated the Bluff before it was absorbed into the Durban Council area in 1932.

POLKINGHORNE RD:  A pioneer Natal family: John Trevenen was Colonial Treasurer in the 1880s; James was the Protector of Indian Immigrants during the first decade of the twentieth century.

POSTLOOPER ROAD : Name of a Dutch ship captained by Gerbrantzer which visited the Bay of Natal in 1705.

RICHARDSON RD:  Named after Lionel Richardson who was a member of the Durban City Council from 1951 to 1956.

ROGALY ROAD: Named after Dr JM Rogaly, a Durban City Councillor 1945-1946.

SHORTT RD: Portland Bentinck Shortt settled on the Bluff in 1869 with his wife Jane and named his property ‘New Brighton.’ He made a living from fish-curing, a salt works and making jams. He died on 28 February 1885.

SINGLETON RD: Takes its name from an old family which owned property in the Fynnland area.

SLOANE RD:  Thomas Sloane was a Durban City Councillor 1920-1922.

SMITH DRIVE: Although there have been several councillors bearing the name Smith, in all probability this road is named after Sydney J Smith who had a long and varied innings as a public representative. He was a Durban City Councillor on three occasions: 1922-1926; 1935 –1946 and 1953-1956 representing the Bluff. He was Mayor in 1945-1946. He also held office in the Natal Provincial Council and in the Union parliament as a Senator.

SORMANY RD: The Rev Dr Leo Sormany, a Catholic cleric. As an enthusiastic promoter of higher education, he was a member of the Natal University Council from 1925. He passed away in 1951.

SPANIER MARSON ROAD:  Named after a member of the City Council 1948-1956.

STAVENISSE ROAD: A Dutch East India ship captained by Willem Knyff which ran aground near the Lovu River south of Amanzimtoti on 16 February 1686. Knyff was asleep in his cabin when the ship came ashore in calm conditions.

STOTT ROAD:  Clement Stott owned property in the Fynnland area. He was a City Councillor from 1932 to 1938, Deputy Mayor 1935-1937 and a member of the Provincial Council 1933 –1943.

STUBBS PLACE:  John Stubbs was one of 19 settlers from Port Natal, under the command of Robert Biggar, who were ambushed by a Zulu impi on the banks of the Tugela and massacred along with 200 Africans in April 1838.

TARA ROAD:  Inspired by the name of a village in County Meath, Ireland where ancient kings were crowned and assemblies took place.

THOMAS BOWER AVE:  An original Bluff settler who cemented and inscribed the stone marking the grave of Lieut James Saunders King in Marlborough Park.

THOMPSON ROAD: Possibly named after WR Thompson, a Grahamstown merchant, who purchased a farm known as Clairmont, south of Wentworth, in the early 1850s. However, the records show that he did not plant any cane. Thompson returned to Grahamstown and Clairmont was sold in 1861.

TOMICH DVE:  In all probability named after a village in the Scottish Highlands.

TORQUAY AVE:  Named after the popular holiday resort on the coast of Devon.

TREVOR GROVE: Named after a member of the company which developed Marlborough Park.

TURNER STREET: Between 1876 and 1885, Sidney Turner was a resident on the Bluff. Restless in spirit, he sought adventure from Port St Johns to the Barberton goldfields. Among his exploits was the salvaging of ‘treasure’ from the Grosvenor, a British East India vessel which was wrecked off the Pondoland coast on 4 August 1782. Turner died aged 55 on 15 September 1901 at Port St Johns.

ULSTER ROAD: Like Leinster and Munster Rds, another reference to Ireland, specifically Northern Ireland.

VIMY ROAD: Although John McIntyre in his 1956 book on the origin of Durban street names claims that Vimy refers to  a geographical ridge in France around which fierce fighting took place in World War I, in all likelihood Vimy Rd is named after an early settler of Port Natal who along with George Cato and HF Fynn received grants of land for  “services rendered to the Colony.”

WADE ROAD: Charles Wade was a structural engineer from Birmingham who set up the engineering firm initially called Wade and Dorman in 1903, later known as Dorman, Long.

WAHLBERG ROAD: Professor AJA Wahlberg was a prominent Swedish naturalist who was invited by the Boer government of Natal in 1839 to make scientific collections in the district.

WARBERSON AVENUE: Origin could not be traced.

WATERHOUSE ROAD: Professor Waterhouse was a member of the Natal University Development Foundation set up in 1925 to raise money from the private sector. Within five years it raised £32,700.

WELFREER ROAD: Name derived from a combination of Welfare and Freer roads which it replaced in 1942. The Freers were an old Bluff family.

WENTWORTH ROAD: Another name which has British origins.

WHITEHOUSE ROAD: Named after a former general manager of South African Railways.

WITHERNSEA AVENUE: Named after a seaside resort on the Yorkshire coast, not far from Hull.

WYHAM AVENUE: Named after a village in Lincolnshire.

WOOLLEY AVENUE: Possibly named after a British officer which George Christopher Cato names Wolley in his account of the coronation of Cetshwayo as Zulu king in 1873.

WYLIE ROAD: Captain James Wylie commanded the Durban Light Infantry during the Anglo Boer war. Later became a Brigadier-General and served in World War I. He was a member of the Natal Provincial Council from 1911 to 1919.

Where traceable, names which were alphabetically omitted will feature in the January issues of the SUN.

 

 

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