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John was born on 24 April 1778, in Dundee, Forfarshire, Scotland. He is the second son of Robert Graham and Margaret Milne. [1] [2]
He succeeded as XIII of Fintry after the death of his elder brother Robert in 1799, and his father in 1815. [3]
Siblings:
He had many siblings[2] including:
He joined the military at the age of 13 years and at the age of 16 he joined the 90th Regiment, served on an island on the French Coast, later serving under Colonel Graham of Balgowan. In 1799 he was appointed aid-de-camp to the Earl of Chatham. He served with his regiment in Guernsey, until he was sent to Ireland in 1803. In January 1806, as a major in the 93rd regiment, he took part at the Battle of Blouberg, in the British conquest of the Cape, when the Dutch Cape Colony was annexed by the British Crown .[4]
In 1811, he was sent with his Corp with British regulars and Boer commandos from Swellendam, Graaff-Reinet and Uitenhage to clear around 20,000 Xhosa tribesmen who had settled in the Zuurfeld (Albany) area between the Bushman's and Fish Rivers. The Zuurfeld was mistakenly assumed by the British to be part of the Colony, by the misreading of the borders.
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John Graham Image 3 |
He accomplished the task by employing "A Proper Degree of Terror" [5] aka a slash and burn policy.
In 1812 when the clearance was complete, he established Grahams Town, on the site of a deserted farm, as a central Military post with a string of linked forts along the Fish River. He became known as the Founder of Grahamstown. [3] [6] [7] [4]
He married Johanna Catharina Cloete daughter of Roedolph Cloete on 24 July 1812 in Cape Town, Cape Province [8] [9], and had 3 daughters and a son, Robert, who became the Commissioner of Albany
He died on 13 March 1821 and was buried in the Somerset Road Cemetery. [12]
In 1912 a monument was erected in the High Street in Grahamstown, on the site of the Thorn tree, where he decided to establish the settlement.
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John Graham Image 2 |
In October 2018, the name Grahamstown was changed to Makhanda after the Xhosa warrior.
See Also:
Wikipedia: John Graham (British Army officer, born 1778)
Wikipedia:Battle of Blaauwberg
Wikipedia: Makhanda, South Africa
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Categories: Dundee, Angus | Somerset West Main Cemetery, Somerset West, Western Cape Province | Grahamstown, Cape Colony | Clan Graham | South Africa, Notables | Notables