The following lists events that happened during

1876 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. * February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs i ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Incumbents

* Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Henry Barkly. * Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal:

Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer, (11 December 1836 – 30 September 1914), the nephew of Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer and brother to Edward Earle Gascoyne Bulwer, was a British colonial administrator and diplomat. Bulwer was educated at Charterh ...

. *

State President of the Orange Free State This is a list of State Presidents of the Orange Free State. List Last election See also *State President of the South African Republic External links Archontology.org: Orange Free State: Heads of State: 1854–1902 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stat ...

Jan Brand Sir Johannes Henricus Brand, (popularly known as Sir Jan Brand and sometimes as Sir John Henry Brand or Jan Henrick Brand; 6 December 1823 – 14 July 1888) was a South African lawyer and politician who served as the fourth state presiden ...

. *

State President of the South African Republic This is a list of State Presidents of the South African Republic (Before 1866 nl, President van de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek and after 1866 nl, Staatspresident der Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek). The country was referred as the ''Transvaal R ...

: Thomas François Burgers. * Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West: William Owen Lanyon. * Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Charles Molteno.

Events

;January * The inaugural Champion Bat Tournament is held, a predecessor of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

in South Africa. * 15 – Die Patriot, the first

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

, begins to be published in Paarl. ;February * 5 – The ship Memento sinks off East London and two 2nd Class 2-6-2TT locomotives intended for the Eastern System of the Cape Government Railways are lost.''C.G.R. Numbering Revised'', Article by Dave Littley, SA Rail May–June 1993, pp. 94–95. ;March * 27 – The

Cape Times The ''Cape Times'' is an English-language morning newspaper owned by Independent News & Media SA and published in Cape Town, South Africa. the newspaper had a daily readership of 261 000 and a circulation of 34 523. By the fourth quarter of ...

, the first daily newspaper in

, begins in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

;June * 16 – The railway line from

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

is officially opened. ;July * Construction begins on the

Cape Town Central Station Cape Town railway station is the main railway station of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located along Adderley and Strand Streets in the city's central business district. Lines Metrorail lines Cape Town station is the hub of the ...

as hub to the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately own ...

. ;October * 19 – The 2,700 ton steamer Windsor Castle sinks off Dassen Island. ;Unknown date * A

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

is built at what is now the town of Amersfoort in

Mpumalanga Province Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

. * Prime Minister

Molteno Molteno (; lmo, label= Brianzöö, Mültée) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a hill-top town in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it h ...

travels as plenipotentiary to London to discuss Britain's proposed

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

model for

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. * The "Molteno Unification Plan" is put forward as an alternative model for eventual political consolidation in

. * ''Isigidimi Sama Xhosa'', the first Xhosa-run newspaper, is begun in Lovedale,

. * Britain admits wrongful action in its annexation of Griqualand West. * President Johannes Brand of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

rejects any discussion of Carnarvon's proposed

system for

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. * The country's first official archives are created when the Cape Government appoints a commission to assemble, sort and index the records of the Cape. * Southern Africa's first railway tunnel, the

Hex River tunnel The four Hex River Tunnels consist of a twin tunnel of and three single tunnels of , and , on the Hexton railway route between De Doorns and Kleinstraat through the Hex River Mountains of the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The line, wh ...

on the railway line between Osplaas and Matroosberg, is completed. (Retrieved on 3 September 2016)

Births

* 9 October –

Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (9 October 1876 – 19 June 1932) was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator and writer. Plaatje was a founding member and first General Secretary of the South African Native Nation ...

, intellectual,

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

, and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, is born near Boshof,

. * 21 October – Sir

Fraser Russell Sir Alexander Fraser Russell, (21 October 1876 – 28 March 1952), publicly known as Sir Fraser Russell, was three times acting Governor of Southern Rhodesia as well as its long-serving Chief Justice. Born at St Andrew's Church, Somerset Road ...

Governor of Southern Rhodesia The Governor of Southern Rhodesia was the representative of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch in the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia from 1923 to 1980. The Governor was appointed by The Crown and acted as the local h ...

. (d.

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

)

Deaths

Railways

New lines

* Construction begins on the

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

- King William's Town line.''The South African Railways - Historical Survey''. Editor George Hart, Publisher Bill Hart, Sponsored by Dorbyl Ltd., Published c. 1978.''Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway'', Statement No. 19, p. 181, ref. no. 200954-13 * In Natal construction begins on the

Cape gauge A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line inland from

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Railway lines opened

* 1 January – Namaqualand – Kookfontein to

O'okiep Okiep is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, and was in the 1870s ranked as having the richest copper mine in the world. The town is on the site of a spring that was known in the Khoekhoe language of the Nama people as ''U ...

, . * 1 April – Cape Midland – Addo to Sand Flats, .''Report for year ending 31 December 1909'', Cape Government Railways, Section VIII - Dates of Opening and the Length of the different Sections in the Cape Colony, from the Year 1873 to 31st December, 1909. * 16 June – Cape Western – Ceres Road to

, . * 14 September – Cape Western – Bellville to Muldersvlei, . * 18 December – Cape Eastern –

Breidbach Breidbach is a neighborhood in King William's Town in South Africa, situated in the Border region of the Eastern Cape province. Breidbach was originally established in 1857 as a settlement for members of the British German Legion. The population ...

, .

Locomotives

;Cape Six new locomotive types enter service on the

(CGR): * The first ten of eighteen 1st Class 2-6-0 Mogul goods locomotives on the Western system. * A pair of Stephenson's Patent back-to-back 2-6-0 Mogul type side-tank locomotives on the Cape Midland system. * The first of eight 2-6-0 Mogul tender locomotives on the Midland system, also designated 1st Class, all later rebuilt to saddle-tank shunting engines. * A single experimental Fairlie locomotive and a pair of 0-6-0 Stephenson's Patent permanently coupled back-to-back tank locomotives for comparative trials on the Eastern system. The Fairlie is the first articulated locomotive to enter service in

.Abbott, Rowland A.S. (1970). ''The Fairlie Locomotive'', (1st ed.). South Devon House, Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, Newton Abbot. pp. 34, 36-38. . What were these, 2-6-0T or 0-6-0T? * The first of three 1st Class 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives with domed boilers on the Eastern System. ;Natal * In January the

Natal Railway Company The Natal Railway Company was formed in January 1859 for the construction of a railway in Durban. The Natal Railway Company made use of broad gauge. The was only adopted in Natal in 1876 when the Natal Government Railways was established. Th ...

obtains its third and last broad gauge locomotive, a side-tank engine named Perseverance.

References

{{Africa topic, 1876 in, state=collapsed

Years in South Africa