Christoffel Brand (1738–1815) was a South African trader, a well-known host at

Simon’s Town Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern si ...

near

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 ...

, welcoming ships using it as a refreshment station and a participant in establishing Freemasonry in South Africa.

Personal life

Brand was youngest child and only son of Burchard Heinrich Brand and Anna van der Bijl. He was born in Cape Town on 29 June 1738. He married Catharina Maria Blankenberg the second oldest child of Anna Margaretha van der Heyde and Johannes Hendricus Blankenberg. He died in Simon's Town on 27 January 1815.

Work life

He joined the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(DEIC) in 1755. His profession was that of a trader in goods. He was one of the partners in an enterprise called Cruijwagen and Company. His other partners were Gerrit Hendrik Cruijwagen, Petrus Johannes de Wit, Adam Gabriël Muller and two accountants

Abraham Chiron Abraham Chiron was a German-born book-keeper and banker who played a key role in the establishment of Freemasonry in South Africa and served as the country's first Masonic Grand Master. He also played a significant role in the early European sett ...

and Hendrik Justinus de Wet. These employees of the DEIC (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) felt their salaries from the Company were too low and therefore used their own enterprise to obtain income. They boarded ships before they docked in the harbour to sell their goods. Cape Town was a refreshment station in these years for ships on their way to India. He was also a prominent player in the slave trade in the Cape Colony. When the Colebrooke ship wrecked at Hangklip, he was granted permission to sell goods retrieved from the ship.

Chief official in charge of the Trading Post in
False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...
, South Africa

Brand was the chief official in charge of the Trading Post in False Bay, situated in Simon's Town. He was employed by the Government of the day. While on duty here, he received the British cartographer

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in 1771, 1772 and 1775. Cook's ship in 1771 was

HMS Endeavour HMS ''Endeavour'' was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Australia and New Zealand on his First voyage of James Cook, first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the Coll ...

, and in 1772 and 1775 was

HMS Resolution (1771) HMS ''Resolution'' was a sloop of the Royal Navy, a converted merchant collier purchased by the Navy and adapted, in which Captain James Cook made his second and third voyages of exploration in the Pacific. She impressed him enough that he c ...

. He befriended the British botanist

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

, who was on HMS ''Endeavour''. Brand had an interest in plant collection. Brand's grandson C. J.Brand was the godson of Banks. British Royal Navy officer

Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...

docked in 1776 with , and was accommodated by Brand. He was sent home after contracting malaria. In 1788

William Bligh Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...

with stopped over before the famous mutiny. Bligh became known as an administrator in the British Colonies. All four of these men had a close friendship with Brand. In 1795 when the British took over, Brand acted as intermediary during the negotiations of the first British occupation of the Cape.

Freemasons

In 1772 a German bookkeeper on a ship from Germany, travelling via the Netherlands, to South Africa called

after being influenced by

Abraham van der Weijden Abraham van der Weijden, a Dutch citizen, was a ship’s captain and the initiator of Freemasonry in South Africa. Personal life Van der Weijden was born in Delft, The Netherlands in 1743. He married Johanna Slegge on 29 July 1764. He died in So ...

started the Freemasons in South Africa. The lodge was called Lodge de Goede Hoop. Brand was one of the founding members elected as treasury. The founding members were, apart from Chiron: Jacobus Alexander le Febre, Johann Coenraad Gie, Pieter Soermans, Jan Adriaan van Schoor, Olof Godlieb de Wet and Petrus Johannes de Wit

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Christoffel 1738 births 1815 deaths South African Freemasons