THE SOUTHEY FAMILY HISTORY IN BRIEF

Graham Southey (left) gave an interesting and amusing talk at the April 2009 meeting of the West Gauteng branch of the GSSA.

Southey is a very old surname. This name has been spelt in various ways -- South Hey, Southhey and Sowthey. From 1698 it was spelt as we know it.

Graham gave a broad outline of the early Southey history in England. He visited Wellington, an area in which the early Southey families had settled. The early settlers took a great interest in parish affairs.

At the local parish church he found the names of no less than nine Southeys who had been church wardens in the 1600s.

Thomas Southey (1545-1601) was known as the great clothier of Wellington. He married Joan Budd, a daughter of William Budd, a serge maker of Wellington. They had six sons and three daughters. The eldest son was Robert from whom several famous Southeys were descended.

Robert also lived in Wellington and his son Robert was a poet who became the Poet Laureate to King George III of England. They wanted to honour him with a title but he declined and said he would prefer a pension. There is a bust of Robert in Westminster Abbey.

Henry Herbert (1783-1865) was the King’s physician.

John (1666-1728) was a famous lawyer from Thornton in Somersetshire. He married an heiress, Mary Canon. Their granddaughter married the Honourable Hugh Somerville. She died giving birth to her only son, John Southey Somerville who became the 15th Lord Somerville.

Thomas became the founder of the London Wool Exchange in the 1800s.

George was the eldest son of another John Southey. He married Joan Baker. The 1820s was a bad era in England. At the age of 43 George Southey and his family decided to leave England for SA.

They were allocated land in the Grahamstown area. They were simply dropped off on their allocation. Fortunately they had brought two tents with them!

Graham knows little about the lives of George and Joan Southey.

Their eldest daughter was Sophia (1804-1880). She married Joseph Stark who was a founder member of the village of Pedi in the Eastern Cape.

Their eldest son William had to endure difficult times during the war of 1834/1835. He was an incredible farmer who eventually controlled farms in the Graaff-Reinet and Bloemfontein areas. Misfortune struck when he became ill and he lost these farms along with the finest stud stock.
Richard Southey, the third born, having assisted Sir Harry Smith, developed a lasting friendship with him. He held various positions of responsibility in the Cape Government and later became Sir Richard Southey.

Sir Richard Southey married twice and had 7 sons and 2 daughters.

Two of his sons became farmers. Charles and William began farming together on “Klipgat” in the Middelburg area. They divided the farm and Charles farmed with ostriches during the boom period, later developing his farm as a race horse stud farm.

William, Graham’s great grandfather became known as the “Father of Irrigation’ in SA. He had seen great potential for irrigation in times of flood. He started building weirs across the great Brak Rivier to irrigate his lands. He had 3000 morgen under cultivation.

Frederick William Southey, a son of William became a very successful sheep farmer. He exhibited sheep and took first prize for the grand champ merino ram for 17 consecutive years. In the 18th year Graham’s father took the championship from him. They did not speak to each other for 3 months.

Fred had 24 grandchildren. They held a gathering on the farm in 1995 in order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fred Southey moving to that farm.

Fred owned 12 farms in that area, one in Alliwal North and another in Cradock. Each child inherited two farms and his bookkeeper of 40 years got the 13th farm in Cradock.