Alexander Merensky (8 June 1837 in

Panten Panten is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russ ...

near

Liegnitz Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 a ...

– 22 May 1918 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a German missionary, working in South Africa (Transvaal) since 1859.

Life

Alexander was orphaned early in life and grew up among relatives. In 1855, he entered the mission seminary of the

Berlin Missionary Society The Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) or ''Society for the Advancement of evangelistic Missions amongst the Heathen'' (German: '' Berliner Missionsgesellschaft'' or ''Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der evangelischen Missionen unter den Heiden'') was a ...

and was sent out on 23 November 1858. Together with a fellow missionary, Karl-Heinrich Theodor Grützner, he travelled by sailboat from Amsterdam to Cape Town and on to Natal. On 14 August 1860, he co-founded the mission station Gerlachshoop, the first mission station of the Berlin Missionary Society north of the Vaal River, together with Grützner. Merensky was ordained as missionary in Gerlachshoop on 11 January 1861. A further mission station, Kgalatlou/ Schoonoord, was dedicated in August 1861. On 15 October 1863 Merensky was married to Marie Liers from Breslau. Seven children were born to this union, among them as fourth child

Hans Merensky Hans Merensky (16 March 1871 – 21 October 1952) was a South African geologist, prospector, scientist, conservationist and philanthropist. He discovered the rich deposit of alluvial diamonds at Alexander Bay in Namaqualand, vast platinum ...

. They lived in Kgalatlou until May 1864 and with the permission of

Sekhukhune Sekhukhune I (Matsebe; circa 1814 – 13 August 1882) was the paramount King of the Marota, more commonly known as the Bapedi, from 21 September 1861 until his assassination on 13 August 1882 by his rival and half-brother, Mampuru II. As the Ped ...

, the leader of the

Bapedi The Pedi or (also known as the Northern Sotho or and the Marota or ) – are a southern African ethnic group that speak Pedi or ''Sepedi'', a dialect belonging to the Sotho-Tswana enthnolinguistic group. Northern Sotho is a term used to ...

, founded the mission station Ga-Ratau, approximately 15 km from the Bapedi capital. This station was dedicated in May 1864. However, shortly thereafter the first persecutions of the Christians started, and Merensky had to flee with his family and congregation in the night of 23 November 1864 from Ga-Ratau. Merensky bought from own means in January 1865 a farm in the district of

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

in the Transvaal Republic (ZAR). Together with Missionary Grützner he built the mission station

Botshabelo Botshabelo, meaning "a place of refuge", is a large township set up in 1979 by the then apartheid government. It is located 45 km east of Bloemfontein in the present-day Free State province of South Africa. Botshabelo is now the largest ...

- a

Northern Sotho Northern Sotho, or as an endonym, is a Sotho-Tswana language spoken in the northeastern provinces of South Africa. It is sometimes referred to as or , its main dialect, through synecdoche. According to the South African National Census o ...

word for "place of refuge". On the hill overlooking Botshabelo, a fort was erected which Merensky called "Fort Wilhelm" in honour of the German kaiser; it in now known as Fort Merensky. During 1869 a blacksmith's shop, a workshop to build and repair wagons and a mill were built, allowing nearby villagers and members of the congregation to learn these skills. The British annexed the Transvaal Republic in 1876 and Sir Wolseley made Botshabelo his headquarters in the Transvaal. During the

First Anglo-Boer War The First Boer War ( af, Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880–1881, also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 betwee ...

, Merensky was conscripted to the Boer forces as military medic. He took part in the battles of

Laing's Nek Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a pass through the Drakensberg mountain range, South Africa, immediately north of Majuba, at at an elevation of 5400 to . It is the lowest part of a ridge which slopes from Majuba to the Buffalo River, and before ...

, Skuinshoogte and

Majuba Hill The Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881 was the final and decisive battle of the First Boer War that was a resounding victory for the Boers. The British Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night ...

and described the battles viewed from afar from his field hospital. After the end of the war, he was mistrusted by both the British and Boer authorities and decided to move back to Germany with his family. In 1883 he was promoted to Inspector of the Berlin Missionary Society. In 1890 he travelled to the northern shore of Lake Njassa (now known as

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

) in the area called Kondeland. Here he founded two further mission stations, Wangemannshöhe and Manow. Being interested in geography, he later also published a map of this area. On his way back to Germany he had another opportunity to visit Botshabelo. He received honorary doctorates from universities in Berlin and Heidelberg for his scientific publications. Merensky died in Berlin and was buried in the cemetery of the

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a regi ...

in Berlin.

External links

History of Botshabelo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merensky, Alexander 1837 births 1918 deaths German Lutheran missionaries People of the First Boer War German expatriates in South Africa Lutheran missionaries in South Africa 19th-century Lutherans