The Hare Families and Their Contribution to Cape Town and Kalk Bay

Five Generations of Entrepreneurs in the Cape: 1820–2010

By Derek Stuart-Findlay

The Origins of the Hare Family

The ancestors of the Hares in Britain were said to be members of the Gaelic clan O’hIr, living in the NE of Ireland as descendants of Ir, a legendary ancestor. Some 2,000 years ago a few members of the clan paddled in coracles across the narrowest part of the Irish Sea to Scotland. Later, family members raided England with the Picts and Scots and settled in Cumberland after the Romans had left Britain in 410 AD. In England the name was corrupted to ‘Hare’.

One branch of the family settled in Yorkshire and became the Earls of Harewood at Harewood Castle. A descendant of this branch, Captain Joseph Hare, served in the military at the Cape during the Napoleonic Wars. He married Sally Bird and the couple had 14 children. After he left the army, Joseph was attached to the Department of Customs as the official wine-taster, certifying Cape wines for export. He bought the farm Oude Wijnbergh on the slopes of Wynberg Hill, and his family lived on the estate for almost 40 years, while one of the descendants farmed at Klapmuts. Hawthornden in Herschel Walk, home of the Labia family, was built on the foundations of the Oude Wijnbergh homestead.

Our focus of interest — the Hare family of Woodstock, Mowbray and Kalk Bay — is said to be descended from one of two brothers living in Norfolk, the sons of a local squire, Thomas Hare. In 1580 Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe in his ship the Golden Hind, had created great excitement in England after returning to London laden with spoils from his raid on the Spanish Colonies in the Caribbean. Inspired by Drake, in 1587, with England and Spain at war, a Suffolk squire Thomas Cavendish raised the funds to build another ship, Desire, for a similar raid. One of his shareholders and a fellow combatant was Thomas Hare, who accompanied Cavendish as captain of a second ship, Content. Cavendish and his small fleet captured a treasure ship Santa Ana laden with gold, silver, pearls and silk, and sailed back to England across the Pacific Ocean. On his return Cavendish was knighted by Elizabeth I. Unfortunately, Thomas Hare and the Content did not make it back to England, but his estate received a substantial payout from the spoils of the raid.

With these funds, Thomas Hare’s sons were able to buy baronetcies from Elizabeth’s successor, James I. For his role in suppressing the Irish Rebellion in the 17th century, Thomas’ younger son, William Hare, was granted estates in the SW of Ireland near Listowel in County Kerry and Ballyhooley in County Cork. One of William’s descendants, John Hare, came to South Africa as an 1820 Settler.

The First Generation: John Hare (1773–1857)

John Hare was born near Cork and, as the son of local gentry, was sent to a boarding school in London. An adventurous boy, at the age of 14 he ran away to sea. It was an exciting era as the Napoleonic Wars were soon to follow. He used to tell his children and grandchildren tales of the Royal Navy victories at the Battles of the Nile in 1798 and Trafalgar in 1805. His name does not appear in any Royal Navy records, so he must have served on merchant ships. He appears to have had experience as a ship’s baker, as at the age of 39 he set up a bakery in Whitechapel in London, where he married a young English girl, Esther Andrews (1795–1840), at St Leonards, Shoreditch, on 24 May 1812.

In 1819 the British Government announced an emigration scheme that offered settlers 100 acres of land per family in the Albany District on the eastern front of the Cape Colony. Loans would be granted to cover initial settlement costs, and rent on the land would not be charged for the first ten years. The scheme generated huge interest and eventually some 4,000 applicants were chosen from the 90,000 who applied. It seems that John Hare had appealed to his family in Ireland to support his application.

The ‘1820 Settlers’ sailed in 32 ships, with the majority arriving in the Cape by August that year. Included in these numbers were some 350 emigrants from Ireland. Most of these were members of the William Parker party, some of them indentured to him and the others financially independent. Parker was a restless and turbulent Irish merchant from Passage West, a small town on the Cove of Cork. The British Government agreed to hire a large new ship, East Indian, and a smaller ship, Fanny, to transport the Irish emigrants to the Cape.

Many of the members of the Parker party, including the Hare family, boarded the East Indian in London. Initially the ship could not leave as the Thames was frozen over, but eventually she was able to sail from Deptford in early January 1820. She sailed to Cork to board the rest of the Irish contingent, and both ships departed for the Cape on 12 February. During the long voyage there were numerous arguments on board the East Indian, mainly between Parker and two of the settlers, Thomas Setor and a preacher, Francis McClelland, who accused him of dubious financial transactions to fund the deposit money for his indentured passengers.

But John Hare was not involved in these altercations, as it appears that the Hare family had changed ship at Cork and boarded the Fanny to join the three other Irish parties led by Captains Thomas Butler and Walter Synnot and a merchant, John Ingram. This indicates that John was not indentured to William Parker and had probably received financial support from his family in Ireland. Eventually both ships arrived in Simon’s Bay after voyages lasting almost two and a half months.

The troubles continued. The colonial authorities in the Cape were totally unprepared for the relatively short period. They were expecting some 2,000 but double that number had arrived. Acting on a vague suggestion from the British Government that it would be advisable to locate the parties from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland separately, it was decided to send some of these groups to destinations other than the Albany District. Most bizarrely of all, the Irish were allocated land in the Clanwilliam District, some 170 miles north of Cape Town. Parker objected strongly and applied for land in Caledon District.

On 16 May the two ships were sent up the west coast to Saldanha Bay where it had been arranged for the settlers and their belongings to be transported to Clanwilliam on wagons. Parker’s party was granted land north of the village at Klein Valley on the east bank of the Olifants River. John Hare must have maintained a reasonable relationship with Parker, as he was allotted one of the three sites bordering the river, whereas others like McClelland had to accept much more barren acreage in the hills further east.

Parker remained a thorn in the flesh for the Cape authorities and, after relocating unsuccessfully to Saldanha Bay, accepted the offer of a free return voyage to Britain.

John Hare, in contrast, eked out a living at Klein Valley for five years and supplemented his income by travelling into Namaqualand to trade. It is virtually certain that he took his oldest son, William, with him on these expeditions. Two sons, Luke and Robert, and two daughters, Hester and Ellen, were added to John and Esther’s family after their arrival at the Cape.

In August 1825 an inquiry into the conditions of the 1820 Settlers led to a decision by the British Government to remit all outstanding balances and John, relieved of these financial obligations, immediately moved his family to Cape Town. He set up a bakery on the outskirts of town at 3 Bloem Street. He must have done well, as two years later he moved to 27 Burg Street in the town centre. A family narrative indicates that after 1830 John and Esther established themselves in Stellenbosch before a final move to Mowbray to spend the last years of their lives with their oldest son William John.

During his time in the Cape, John was visited by cousins from Ireland who invited him to rejoin their elevated social circle but, having been married happily ‘beneath his class’, he declined the proposal. One of these cousins, Colonel John Hare, became Lieutenant-Governor of the Cape Colony in 1837 and was transferred to Grahamstown. Alerted by Dick King after his courageous ride from Congella on the Durban Bluff, Colonel Hare commandeered two ships to sail from Algoa Bay to relieve a British fort under siege from the Boer forces. He later built a line of fortresses to protect the eastern border of the colony, one of which became known as Fort Hare, a name that became well-known when adopted by the university built many years later.

After John ‘Senior’ Hare’s second son John had left school, his father helped him to set up a successful business in Geelong, Australia, SW of Melbourne. Another son, Luke, also went to Australia during a gold rush, and then moved to California where he is presumed to have died. John’s youngest son, Robert, became a wagon maker at Mowbray.

John’s wife Esther was buried in the Hare family vault in the graveyard at St Paul’s Church, Rondebosch in 1840, and he joined her 17 years later when he died at the age of 84. By then their 1820 Settler family was well established at the Cape.

The Second Generation: William John Hare (1813–1874)

John Hare’s oldest son, William John, was a short, powerfully-built, energetic and cheerful man. He commenced adult life as a trader and revisited the NW districts of the Cape and Namaqualand, exchanging merchandise for stock and other produce. He prospered there for copper deposits, and discovered a rich vein of copper on a hill later named Hare’s Kopje. William lived in Mowbray House, an H-shaped Cape Dutch dwelling above the wagon road to Simon’s Town. The short drive leading up to the house was the end of a track which bridged over the Liesbeek River and on to the Klipfontein Road. As the cattle pulling the wagons over the Liesbeek River and on to the Klipfontein Road needed water, the track followed the course of the Vygekraal River. It was a main wagon route from Cape Town to the east over the notorious Hottentos Holland Kloof, replaced in 1830 by Sir Lowry’s Pass.

William’s Mowbray House was close to the Drie Koppen Inn which had been converted from a livery stable, Charley Dixon. He selected the adjoining property for its substantial clay deposits to make bricks. In 1835 he constructed three lime kilns on the lower portion of Table Bay and used wood from the mountain slopes to fire the kilns. He salvaged well-seasoned timber, mainly teak, from ships wrecked in the bay and during the winter months had them sawn into planks in a shed near his house. William traded as Hare’s Lime Kiln and had them sawn into planks, in a shed near his house. William sold his copper claim for £450 to purchase the house and the land adjoining it on the Cape Town side. He bought them from Sybrand Mostert, the owner of the prominent farm Welgelegen, and the person after whom Mostert’s Mill is named. William was a builder and had selected the adjoining property for its substantial clay deposits on the upper portion of the land.

John Hare’s oldest son had a large family — Robert and his wife Maria had a large family of six sons and three daughters.

The Third Generation: William George ‘Billie’ Hare (1851–1915)

Both William George (1851–1915), known as Billie, and Edward John (1857–1932), inherited their forbear’s business talents.

Like his father, Billie Hare was powerfully built, courageous and enterprising. After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, economic activity in the Cape declined severely. Fortunately, diamonds had been discovered on the banks of the Vaal River, 700 miles away, and Billie decided to try his luck on the new diamond fields. He and three assistants set out in a Scotch cart laden with mining equipment and stores, and took 26 days over appalling tracks to reach their destination. He could speak Dutch, which gave him a considerable advantage over the many English immigrants flocking to the diggings. He thrived in the extremely challenging conditions, but as only a few diamonds were found, the venture was not financially successful. After hearing that his father had been incapacitated in an accident, he hurried back to the Cape to take over the running of the family business.

In 1873 Billie married Ellen Dix in St George’s Cathedral. Ellen was the daughter of Daniel Dix who ran a successful restaurant in Longmarket Street. Billie and Ellen went on to have a large family of five daughters and two sons.

After Billie’s father’s death he expanded the brickfields operation at Papendorp, which was soon to be renamed Woodstock. He purchased additional clay-bearing land in the vicinity and built up a huge business, specialising in blue hard bricks. He secured several large contracts from the SA Railways and other government departments and was eventually producing an incredible number of bricks — 250,000 a day. He did particularly well during the Anglo-Boer War due to the increased need for accommodation for troops and the influx of Uitlanders from the Transvaal. His home still stands today at the top of Hare’s Avenue, Salt River.

Billie took a great interest in public life as Woodstock grew rapidly to become the third largest municipality in the Cape after Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. He served as the Member for Woodstock three times. He was a founder of the Woodstock Hospital and was chairman of the Board of Management for many years. During the Anglo-Boer War (WW I) he was appointed Commanding Officer of three guards. During the Great War (WW I) he commanded a squadron of Town Guards and bought the horses and saddlery for two troops of Cape Town guards.

Edward John Hare’s surviving sons, William George (1883–1950) and Percy (1886–1946), both took over the brickfields at Mowbray from their father. Both, in turn, developed strong business instincts. William George, known as Will G, married May Beatch, whose father had been Mayor of Cape Town. Will G took his bride to China for their honeymoon and for many years as a member of the Divisional Council of the Cape, the original controlling body of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Since the 1980s the Brightwaters Estate has been administered by a family trust.

William married Louisa Ruthven and they had a daughter, Ellen, born in 1840. Sadly, Louisa died when Ellen was only two years old and in 1843 William married his second wife, Susan Rapkin, in St Paul’s Church, Rondebosch. Susan’s strong personality matched his character. In 1837, at the age of 14 she had come out to the Cape as a nursery governess. She had been born in London as her mother was employed at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Kent, mother of the then Princess Victoria, had taken an interest in Susan and, under her patronage, had arranged for Susan to attend a boarding school for girls in Kensington. Soon after Susan arrived at the Cape, Victoria became queen. Susan was one of the first congregants to be confirmed in St Paul’s. When they married, Susan was 19 and William 33; notwithstanding the differences in their ages it was a very successful marriage. They had a daughter, Sarah (1848) and sons, William George (1851) and Edward John (1857).

William continued to invest in property along the wagon road and bought and developed extensive new clay deposits from the Roodebloem estate at Papendorp, later renamed Woodstock. He built many houses to accommodate his staff. In the 1840s Bo Dorp was built at Mowbray. The population there was chiefly Malay and many of the men worked in the brickfield as foremen or as independent draymen, delivering bricks in small hand-drawn carts. William assisted in the establishment of St Peter’s Church, built near what was to become the Durban Road Bridge over the suburban railway line. St Peter’s was controversial as it was one of the few Church of England congregations in South Africa founded in opposition to the much larger Church of the Province of SA. Later the Hare family donated land for extensions to the St Peter’s Church burial grounds, located some distance away on a site below what was to become the Groote Schuur Hospital.

Having started with nothing, when he died in 1874 William John was a wealthy man, with an estate valued at £40,000 — a very large sum in those days. He was buried in a sarcophagus at the family burial vault in the St Paul’s cemetery. William left the land at Papendorp to his older son, William, and the properties at Mowbray to his widow Susan, on behalf of his younger son Edward, who was only 17 at the time.

The Fourth Generation

Edward Hare’s surviving sons, William George (1883–1950) and Percy (1886–1946), took over the brickfields at Mowbray from their father. Both, in turn, developed strong business instincts. William George, known as Will G, married May Beatch, whose father had been Mayor of Cape Town. Will G took his bride to China for their honeymoon and for many years served as a member of the Divisional Council of the Cape. Will G’s brother Percy married Irene Falke and they had four daughters and two sons. Percy and his family lived at Harredale, which had been converted into upstairs and downstairs apartments, and his sister Ethel Badenhorst and her family moved into the other apartment.

Desmond (1909), Vincent (1910) and Edward, known as Teddy (1918), had been off the coast of China they had enjoyed visiting. Nanoya, built in Osborne Road, was named after an island their double-storied family home. Will G and May Hare and their four sons until 1921. Demolished early 1970s and replaced with extension of Forest Hill Flats.

In 1920 Will G and May bought their first property in Kalk Bay, the front garden of a cottage on a smallholding in Coenraad Behr’s estate. Like Will G’s uncle, Behr had been a Mayor of Woodstock and after his death his family had subdivided the property into plots accessed by Main and Behr Roads. Will G built a home, initially a holiday house, named Mayville, on the corner of Main and Behr Roads. (Figs. 4.20 & 4.21).

Will G and May’s sons were keen fishermen and owned a rivet-boat which they launched from Kalk Bay beach. In 1923 the Main Breakwater of Kalk Bay harbour had been opened, but as the North Mole was only completed some 20 years later, the harbour experienced considerable range action during stormy periods. In 1923 the Hares salvaged a boat, Mavis, which had sunk. She was the first motorized boat in KB harbour. In 1926 Will G and Percy had a 30ft motorised yacht, Voyager, built in the Cape Town docks. After her launch in the Cape Town docks, Voyager was sold to the Molteno brothers and Desmond and Vincent Hare built a new 40ft motorised yacht, Elegance, in Somerset West.

In 1936 Voyager was sold to the Molteno brothers and Desmond and Vincent Hare built a new 40ft motorised yacht, Elegance, in the Cape Town docks. After her launch, the 40ft yacht Elegance was constructed at the Mowbray brickfield. In the early 1930s the Hares built a block of three apartments, now known as St Vincent, opposite Mayville, on the corner of Main and Behr Roads, Kalk Bay. During the early 1930s the Hares built a block of three apartments, now known as St Vincent, on the corner of Main and Behr Roads, Kalk Bay. (Fig. 4.34 & 4.35).

Will G and Percy Hare were keen fishermen and naturalists and they enjoyed the open veld holidays camping at Cape Point on the farm Blaawberg Vlei owned by a friend, William. From 1927 the brothers and their sons spent their annual December and January holidays camping at Cape Point. (Figs. 4.36–4.40). By 1939 the sprue trees growing in the Tokai forest. After her launch in the Cape Point by the completion of the protection offered by the harbour had been improved substantially by the North Mole, which reduced range action considerably.

Billie and Edward Hare’s mother, Susan, helped her young son Edward take over the management of the Mowbray brickfields. After his marriage she moved to 27 Brug Street, Mowbray, where she became well-known for her many deeds of charity. Mourned by all who knew her, she died in 1914 at the age of 90.

Edward and his wife Catherine Ellison married in the early 1880s and lived in Mowbray House, the home inherited from his father William John. In the 1890s Edward rebuilt their home in a Victorian style, incorporating a bay-windowed front with a wooden lattice-work veranda and a roof of patterned slate. Next door he built a large double-storied home named Harredale, adding a garage behind it in 1915. Edward and Catherine had four sons: William George, Fred, Percy and Edward John, and two daughters, Ethel and Jessie. Fred moved to Canada where he died in 1925 and Lt. Edward John Hare was killed in action in Flanders on 24 March 1917. Ethel married Caspar Badenhorst and Jessie married Robert Mitchell.

Edward continued to expand the brickfields business at Mowbray and bought large tracts of adjoining land for residential development. He built many houses in streets such as Osborne, William, George, Vine, Hare, Belmont and Falmouth Roads in Mowbray. Edward was a keen hunter and took his sons on many expeditions into the veld. The Mellish family, who farmed at the Welbeloond estate in the Durbanville Hills, were friends and in 1925 Edward took his sons and grandsons hunting on the estate. He was not as civic-minded as his brother Billie, but for a short period acted as a Councillor for the Municipality of Mowbray.

Edward died in 1932 at the age of 75. Harredale still stands today and one of many oak trees planted by his father William John still stands in front of it. But unfortunately, Mowbray House was demolished c.1978 when the site was rebuilt as the Mowbray Baptist Church.

The Hares and Kalk Bay

Will G and Percy Hare were keen fishermen and naturalists and they enjoyed the open veld holidays camping at Cape Point. The Hare brothers built a shack, Brightwaters, above the beach and close to a fresh water stream. The brothers used a truck from the brickfield to transport their families to Cape Point, which at the time consisted of about eight farms. The Hare brothers bought Blaawberg Vlei from Malherbe’s estate in 1932 and introduced a small game to start a private game reserve. (Fig. 4.42). They converted and enlarged the beach shack for Will G and built a separate cottage, Spindrift, for Percy. Convinced that the whole of Cape Point should be preserved, Will G and Percy were key players in the founding of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. In 1939, after considerable pressure from the public, the Divisional Council of the Cape was persuaded to buy Smith’s Farm, the southernmost pasturage at Cape Point, to preserve it as a nature reserve for the nation. In 1941, in a magnificent gesture, the Hare brothers donated the adjoining 1,000 ha. (10 sq. km) Blaawberg Vlei, with the proviso that 4.25 ha along the coast would remain owned by the family in perpetuity. When Percy died in 1946, Will G bought his half share of the brickfield and property businesses. When Will G died in 1950, he left the Cape Point farm to Percy’s estate.

The Hares and World War II

Prior to this, South Africa had become deeply involved in the conflict of WW II. The supply of bricks from the Mowbray quarry was considered crucial to the war effort, so while Desmond and Vincent remained behind to run the brickfield, Neil Hare, who was a Major in the Cape Town Rifles Regiment (The Dukes), served in North Africa together with his youngest brother Teddy. Both Desmond and Percy served in the Kalk Bay section of the Civilian Protection Services that operated from the SAWAS Hall, Kalk Bay.

As the Mediterranean Sea was closed to Allied shipping, all supplies for the troops in North Africa had to be shipped around the Cape. There had been a massive build-up of military material prior to the Allied counter-attack at El Alamein in November 1942. It was crucial that reinforcements continued as the Allied forces advanced westward across the desert. On 18 December the SS City of Hankow, an Ellerman Line cargo ship, ran aground on an almost inaccessible part of the coast between Saldanha Bay and Cape Columbine. She was carrying vital military supplies from Liverpool, including complete aircraft engines, radio equipment, ten Crusader tanks and £2,500,000 in bank notes to be paid out as salaries for the front-line troops.

A prominent Mowbray-based builder, Norman Kennedy, was asked to tender on salvaging the cargo. He put together a syndicate with his building contractor colleagues Desmond and Vincent Hare and their tender was accepted. The City of Hankow was upright but stuck on a rocky bottom a couple of hundred yards from the beach. They secured the services of two coasters, Clara from the SA N.F. and Swazi from the Theseit Line, to assist in taking off the heavy cargo. On 31 December Kennedy and two others were taken out on a fishing boat in calm weather to access the salvage of the cargo. While on board a heavy swell came up but they could not return to shore as the rigging for a bosun’s chair had not been completed. They spent an extremely uncomfortable night in the forecastle and by morning all the aircraft which had been stowed on deck had been swept away. At considerable risk, Vincent Hare pulled himself along the aerial wire in the bosun’s chair to rescue his colleagues. The salvage work was completed and all ten Crusader tanks, individually onto the deck of the Swazi which was brought alongside at considerable risk. Off-loaded, they were found to weigh 18 tons and had to be loaded before being shipped on to North Africa. All of the £2,500,000 in banknotes was salvaged and loaded in Cape Town, the water-damaged tanks were thoroughly overhauled by engineers. Settler’s Way was officially opened in December 1961.

John was born two years later. In February 1947 Will G. Hare bought the historic farm, Geelbek, built at the southern end of the Langebaan Lagoon, some 50 miles north of Cape Town. (Fig. 4.50). However, he found that the sandy soil was ill-suited to agriculture other than as sparse grazing for sheep. He had always been a heavy smoker and his health deteriorated so his sons took turns to stay for a few months to assist with the farm-work. Will G had to return to the city for treatment, and the farm was sold when he died in December 1950 at the age of 67. Many years later Geelbek, dating from about 1860, became a focal point of the West Coast National Park. During restoration the shape of the historic gables were simplified.

The Fifth Generation

When Neil and Teddy returned from service with the SA Forces after WW II, they took back the operation of the Mowbray brickfield, while Desmond and Vincent focused on their building company D & V Hare (Pty) Ltd., based in the brickyard. Their widowed mother, May Hare, focused on the construction of Forest Hill Flats on the site of the former brickfield on the Mowbray end of the site. Consisting of some 340 apartments, at the time it was to be the largest residential complex in Cape Town. Amazingly, at least one of the historic lime kilns on the lowest part of the site had survived until the 1950s. Sadly this landmark structure and its surrounds were the first portions of the site to be demolished. They were replaced by an office block, Forest Hill Court, which incorporated a tunnel giving access to the brickfield. The Forest Hill Flats complex was to be bought by UCT in 1993 as office space and residential accommodation for students.

After four generations of excavation, the disused clay quarry was, at three acres, staggeringly large and 150 ft deep. Enough bricks had been produced to build a paved road to Johannesburg. An opportunity to fill the hole evolved when the construction of Settler’s Way was approved. Settler’s Way was to be the vital link between De Waal Drive north to the city, Rhodes Drive and the N2 national road to the east. The link eliminated two playing fields donated to the south and the Hares to UCT Medical School attached to Groote Schuur Hospital. As Settler’s Way needed to run beneath both the Main Road and the suburban railway line, a vast amount of fill had to be excavated to run beneath them. Conveniently, the quarry pit was situated right next to the Main Road and the suburban railway line, a vast amount of fill had to be removed. Conveniently, the quarry pit was situated right next to the Main Road.

A few years prior to this the Hare brothers had been driven to go deep-sea fishing, but realized they needed a much faster boat than Elegance to get out to the tunny-fishing waters miles south of Cape Point. Most boats of the time travelled at 10 knots, but if the speed could be doubled to 20 knots the angling time, based on a 12-hour day with the fish some 40 miles out to sea, could be increased by a substantial 100%. Desmond liked the article and contacted the designer, an Italian aeronautical engineer named Renato ‘Sonny’ Levi, at his boat-yard in India. His craft was a type of fast, deep-sea sports fishing craft. Desmond liked the article and contacted the designer, an Italian aeronautical engineer named Renato ‘Sonny’ Levi, at his boat-yard in India. His craft allowed to reach 20 knots with ease, over 14 knots, their monohedron stepped-hull design allowed could reach 20 knots with ease, as over 14 knots, their monohedron stepped-hull design could be increased to make the design more suitable for deep-sea fishing.

The brothers bought Levi’s plans and decided to build the craft themselves in a shed behind the new office block at Mowbray. Unprecedented skills had to be mastered as the plans incorporated several unique new building techniques, including the use of epoxy resins, fibre-glass matting and exotic woods. The hull was to be built of mahogany strips, steamed and bent to shape in criss-crossed layers which gave it incredible strength. The frames had no joints and the deck beams had to be constructed to form an integral part of the frame, again adding strength and reducing weight. Sonny Levi visited the site twice during the build and became a firm friend of the Hares, giving his blessing to name her Speranza, after his own boat. Twin Perkins marine engines were mounted in the hull. On her completion in May 1961 she was hauled out of the shed by a bulldozer and launched by the matriarch of the family, May Hare, at the docks in Cape Town.

The brothers put Speranza through her sea trials in False Bay and were delighted with her performance in stormy conditions. Skippers of competing boats, however, were skeptical about her ability to deal with local wave and wind conditions. They challenged the Hares to a race from the Roman Rock lighthouse to Cape Point in a very strong 25-knot southeaster. Her competitors were amazed: Speranza‘s ability to plane over rather than through waves meant that she arrived at her destination in half their time. She had proved to be a game-changer in the design of sports fishing craft in the Cape. Later, Speranza‘s Perkins engines were replaced with more powerful Volvo marine units and her top speed increased to an impressive 27 knots. Teddy took on the responsibility for keeping her and her engines in peak condition.

On many occasions Speranza went to the aid of boats in difficulties. In December 1965 a 32ft SA Navy cutter with eleven on board was becalmed near the reef outside Kalk Bay harbour. Suddenly a set of steep waves came up, the boat capsized and was swept onto the reef. Desmond, Vincent and three volunteers could spot three men struggling in the water. Vincent, at the age of 55, dived in with a rope tied around his waist and eventually managed to get all three hauled back and into the boat. Sadly, despite intensive artificial respiration, one of them died before they could reach shore. Seven men lost their lives in the tragedy that day and Desmond and Vincent were presented with SA Red Cross Gold Medal awards for bravery.

Desmond had always been an extremely enthusiastic fisherman. In 1964 he improved the All-Africa record for Bluefin tunny twice in one month. One weighing 273.4kg was caught on December 13th and the other of 303kg on December 26th off Fish Hoek. He captained the Springbok Deep Sea Angling team several times, representing South Africa in international competitions in Cairns, Australia. Speranza was one of the craft commissioned when these competitions were held in South Africa.

Vincent Hare and their tender was accepted. The City of Hankow was upright but stuck on a rocky bottom. At Cape Point it was agreed that Desmond’s family would have the use of Brightwaters, and Vincent’s family that of Spindrift. To compensate the other two brothers, Langa Longa was built for Neil’s family in 1957, and Drift Inn for Teddy’s family two years later. Neil served on the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve for many years as a member of the Divisional Council of the Cape. Since the 1980s the Brightwaters Estate has been administered by a family trust.

Moving to Kenilworth in the 1950s, Teddy and Betty lived with her for a few years before moving back to Mowbray in Kalk Bay. Vincent and Eveleigh had moved into Treelight and two semi-detached houses, Quarries and Rockleigh, were built in front of it on the Main Road. (Figs. 4.30 & 4.31). Will G’s sister Ethel Badenhorst and her family moved into Quarries and Desmond and Muriel moved into Rockleigh. Later a large, high garage was built at Rockleigh to house a motorized caravan that the family used for hunting trips into the Kalahari. Over the years the family owned four of these heavy-duty caravans.

In 1937 a vacant plot was bought opposite Quarries and Rockleigh that was said to have been the Treelight tennis court. Desmond and Muriel built a house, Sea Spray, on the plot to house their family which grew to sons Neville and Anthony, and daughters Dawn and Colleen. (Fig. 4.34). It was an extremely busy time for Desmond and Vincent. They had constructed many houses. It was an extremely busy time for Desmond and Vincent. They had also built large projects like Cormack Park, an apartment complex next to the circle on the Main Road at Fish Hoek. Later they were to build the Blue Route Centre, the shopping centre off Tokai Road, the predecessor of the Blue Route Centre.

Meanwhile, by the early 1960s, the clay deposits at Mowbray had come to an end and clay for the brickfields had to be brought in by truck from the Tygerberg. (Figs. 4.56 & 4.57). The brickfields had to be brought in by truck from the Tygerberg. Eyeleigh moved into the small cottage behind The Hermitage. It had been the original home owned by the Behr family. A gate was built so she could visit Eyeleigh next door at The Hermitage. Hannah Brooke’s mother moved from Avalon into Homeleigh, a cottage at 4 Behr Road behind Mayville. It had been the original home. And by 1961 they had moved in. (Figs. 4.51–4.55).

Beneath the house they built a huge, high garage to house another of their motorized caravans. To build a single-story home, Fairwinds, designed for easy access for Desmond and Muriel to enable Desmond and Muriel to back to The Hermitage, a thatched homestead dating back to the 1860s. They subdivided a plot in front of the house to enable Desmond and Muriel to build. After his marriage she moved into the downstairs apartment facing Main Road. Frank was the son of Archdeacon Richard Brooke, Rector of the Holy Trinity Church in Kalk Bay, 1900–1926. Hannah was the mother of Eveleigh Hare’s father, Frank Brooks, in 1938 in the downstairs apartment facing Behr Road. After the death of Eveleigh’s father, Peter Farr of Voyager in Somerset West.

Tragically, Desmond and Muriel’s daughter Dawn severed her spine while driving off the Olympia Cinema in Kalk Bay for the featured film. Desmond and Vincent both had four children and life in Kalk Bay was filled with activities involving cousins and friends. On Saturday evenings the family always booked row N at the Treelight tennis court.

It became clear that the family could not continue to live in their home Sea Spray with its many steps. Eveleigh and Desmond worked out a solution to the problem. Vincent and Eveleigh sold Mayville on the corner of Main and Behr Roads, Woodstock, and after this his family had subdivided the property into plots. Desmond and bought a large property close by, The Hermitage. Eyeleigh’s younger sister, Elizabeth (Betty) Brooke, a teller in the Standard Bank, was given the task of reconciling them. John was born two years later. Their daughter Carol was born in August 1943. Teddy was given compassionate leave from the army when their daughter Carol was born in 1945.

Final Years and Legacy

All four of the Hare brothers lived long and productive lives. In 1988 Desmond was the first to pass on at the age of 78. A year later Neil died at 82. For 21 years he had acted as Honorary Colonel of The Dukes. Vincent died at 86 and in 1996, Teddy died at 92 in 2010 at his apartment in Rondebosch.

Their mother, May Hare, had lived longer than all of her sons. When she died in 1979 at the age of 94, she left an impressive number of descendants: four children, 16 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren. Many of those in the later generations have displayed the family’s talent for enterprise, while others have qualified as successful professionals.

Despite enormous hurdles, one of May’s grandchildren, the wheelchair-confined Dawn, devoted her life to enriching the lives of others living with disabilities. When she died in 2017 she left an indelible legacy. Undaunted by challenges, she had established housing and a thriving protective workshop in Ocean View for the physically and mentally disabled. She was widely mourned for 43 years of service to the community.

Do any of the members of the family still live in or near Kalk Bay? It’s clear that the village has retained its attraction, as the families of all four brothers are still represented locally: Teddy’s son John, Emeritus Professor of Shipping Law at UCT, has retired to his home in Duignam Road, while Vincent’s daughter, Colleen Ricketts, lives in the Evergreen Retirement Village in Muizenberg, and Neil’s son William lives in the Fish Hoek Valley.

Both of the Hare brothers’ self-built craft, Elegance and Speranza (now equipped with an extended deck canopy), continue to ply the seas of the Southern Cape. They survive and thrive as examples of the consistent quality built by five generations of this dynamic family.

Five Generations of Entrepreneurs — Summary

THE HARE FAMILIES AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO CAPE TOWN AND KALK BAY

FIVE GENERATIONS OF ENTREPRENEURS IN THE CAPE: 1820–2010

JOHN HARE: 1820 Settler: London and the Cape (1773–1857)
WILLIAM JOHN: Woodstock and Mowbray (1813–1872)
WILLIAM JOHN: Woodstock and Mowbray (1851–1915) & Edward John: Mowbray (1857–1932)
WILLIAM GEORGE: Mowbray and Kalk Bay (1883–1950) & Percy: Mowbray and Kalk Bay (1886–1946)
NEIL: Mowbray and Rondebosch (1907–1989) | DESMOND: Mowbray and Kalk Bay (1909–1988) | VINCENT: Mowbray and Kalk Bay (1910–1996) | EDWARD (TEDDY): Mowbray, Kalk Bay and Wynberg (1918–2010)

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