Rossmore is a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, around 5 km northwest of City Hall. It borders Langlaagte to the north and Homestead Park. The name comes from the village of Paarlshoop, the oldest private township on the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

. Rossmore covers 1 km² and borders

Westdene Westdene is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. It is an affluent northern suburb of the city, west of Patcham, the A23 road, A23 (London Road) and the Brighton Main Line, London to Brighton railway line, north of Withdean ...

on the northwest, Melville on the north,

Auckland Park Auckland Park is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It lies on a gentle slope, and is in close proximity to the suburbs of Melville, Brixton, Westdene and Richmond. Auckland Park is one of the few suburbs close to the Johannesburg city c ...

on the east,

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

on the south, and

Hurst Hill Hurst Hill is a location on Anglezarke Moor, within the West Pennine Moors of Lancashire, England. Despite a modest height of 317 metres (1040 feet), the summit provides excellent views towards the Irish Sea. Of more note, however, is its ...

on the southwest. The majority of Rossmore consists of the

Kingsway Campus Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Auckland Park, also known as APK, is the largest and most populated of the four campuses of the University of Johannesburg. It is also the seat of the administration and governance body of the university. The campus was formerly t ...

of the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

Helen Joseph Hospital Helen Joseph Hospital is a public hospital based in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to 1997, it was known as the J.G. Strijdom Hospital. As a teaching hospital, its affiliated to the University of Witwatersrand's Medical School. H ...

, and Hoërskool Vorentoe. Just east of Chiselhurst Drive and north of the southwestern end of St. Swinthin's and Auckland Avenues, in the latter case very old ones. Rossmore was founded on September 9, 1925, and was laid out on

Braamfontein Braamfontein (English: ''blackberry spring'', or more prosaicly ''blackberry springs''; also known as Braam) is a central suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa, seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and some of South Africa's major c ...

Farm. The suburb is named in honor of Lord

Derrick Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore (7 February 1853, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland – 31 January 1921, Rossmore Park, County Monaghan, Ireland), known as The Hon. Derrick Westenra until March 1874, was an Anglo-Irish noble, sold ...

's only daughter, Dame Mary Bailey, the second wife of the mining magnate, Sir

Abe Bailey Sir Abraham Bailey, 1st Baronet (6 November 1864 – 10 August 1940), known as Abe Bailey, was a South African gold tycoon, politician, financier and cricketer. Early years Bailey's mother, Ann Drummond McEwan, was Scottish by birth while his ...

. In the early years, it had a largely even balance between

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 ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

speakers, but the transition from

Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It has since merged with the Technikon Witwatersrand ...

to the University of Johannesburg shifted the population toward a largely black, English- and Zulu-speaking one.

Sources

* Potgieter, D.J. (ed.) (1972). ''

Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa The ''Standard Encyclopædia of Southern Africa'' (''SESA'') is a 12-volume encyclopaedia that is principally about the Republic of South Africa and nearby countries. About 1400 people contributed to the encyclopaedia. The first two volumes we ...

''. Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou). * Stals, Prof. Dr. E.L.P (ed.) (1978). ''Afrikaners in die Goudstad, vol. 1: 1886 - 1924''. Cape Town/Pretoria: HAUM.

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, communities Suburbs of Johannesburg