Lourens (Louw) Geldenhuys was a member of the Second Volksraad of the Transvaal (1896/1899); the Legislative Assembly of the Union of South Africa, and the Johannesburg Municipal Council. In the ‘June 1929’ elections for the Legislative Assembly, Lourens Geldenhuys achieved the very rare (if not unique) distinction in South African political history, by defeating his opposing candidate for the Johannesburg North constituency by a margin of only one vote. He was also a very active supporter of the missionary work carried out amongst the black mineworkers who were housed in the compounds established by the mining house companies in Johannesburg. Louw was against the continuance of the guerrilla warfare during the Anglo-Boer War and was a member of the South African Party (later - United Party) and represented the Johannesburg North Constituency until his death in 1939.
The Louw Geldenhuys school in Linden (established in 1902) was what was then known as a ‘double-medium school’ i.e. it catered for instruction in the home language of children from both English and Afrikaans family.
The De Wet children’s mother had decided that her children were to be brought up in an institution that was more tolerant of her circumstances at that time. As a consequence she chose the Salvation Army whose senior officials at that time were mainly drawn from Europe -more particularly from England where it had been founded in 1878. These officials had not yet managed to master the Afrikaans language in South Africa and as a natural result, English was the language in which that organisation’s affairs were conducted at their children’s homes. The language generally spoken at the Boys’ Home in Linden was English. The reason for this language-medium was two-fold. Firstly, at that time, most of the children taken up in these ‘homes’ were from English-speaking families and secondly, Afrikaners in South Africa were also in general not attracted to the Salvation Army’s style of religious worship. Consequently, all the De Wet boys had also received their tuition (1922/38), in the English medium.
Charles however, when entering into the first grade at school, was placed in the Afrikaans-language stream, through the intervention of his eldest brother Jacobus (Jack). Jack had had misgivings in regard to the person who was responsible for the teaching of the little children through the medium of English in their second Grade of the English-language stream. It was Jack’s perception that this particular teacher had taken a dislike to the succession of De Wet boys that passed through her hands and (although, personally, being of a tough and dauntless disposition) he was not anxious to see his youngest sibling (a very small baby when they had earlier been separated) also being exposed to this particular teacher when only entering his second year at school.
When he reached the higher Grades/Standards at the school, Charles was ‘uncomfortable’ in the Afrikaans-stream because the thoughts and the reasoning of his mind were predominantly in English. He believed that he had been particularly disadvantaged by the decision taken on his behalf when he had barely reached the age of six. It was his considered opinion that he would have done a great deal better at school had he received his instruction in the English language.
At the cessation of the 1939/1945 World war and on his return to civilian life, Charles took a serious interest in the public debates that were taking place at that time in the ‘Mother-tongue/Home language’ medium of education. Regrettably, in his view, these debates were mainly attended and dominated by prejudiced persons (which included learned educationalists) with a distinct ‘nationalist Afrikaner’ political agenda – at the ‘expense’ of the genuine interests of the South African youth.
In a less serious vein; another reason of personal regret for Charles was that, in the Afrikaans stream, he had been denied the important primary (Grade 1) learning, in the class of the very popular and intensely devoted Miss Honey; a person with an abundance of empathy for the very young children placed under her care, and more particularly, the children from the Salvation Army Home. Ironically, when the time came for Charles to be moved to Grade 2, the English and Afrikaans teachers in that grade were interchanged; resulting in Charles ending up under the very teacher that his brother Jack had wanted him to avoid.
In 1938 Charles was elected the captain of his schools', very successful, first rugby team. The attached team-photo reflects the absense of two members from the team - one of them of note being their quality wing-three-quarter (Andrew ‘Tony’ Harris); and the inclusion of their two sportsmasters, viz. A P Minnaar and D J (Mannetjies) Viljoen. Sorry, I need to look for this Photo
Charles always held his schoolteachers in very high esteem. He had however a particularly high regard for Mr Viljoen and is on record for having said that he believed that Mr Viljoen played a very significant part in his upbringing and that he also believed Mr Vijoen to have been one of the most important role-models in his life.
Charles remembered Mr Viljoen once telling his class (which comprised ‘home-boys’ as well as a majority of ‘outside’ children) that, if he ever were to decide to open a business of his own, he would recruit home-boys because these boys had been brought up to do work - regardless of whether or not the ‘jobs’ were in the normal course considered to be ‘dirty’ work.
By way of examples, it must be mentioned that:
In the time prior to the introduction of water-borne sewerage disposal, teams of ‘big boys’ were required to empty and wash out the lavatory buckets at the end of each week. The contents of the buckets were collected into other larger buckets and thereafter disposed of into shallow pits that had been dug out in the large fruit orchard.
The waste water from the communal shower and wash rooms which had accumulated in the large cement ‘sump’ during each week, were emptied over the weekends by teams of boys working in pairs, carrying the water in four-gallon tins and emptying it onto the fruit trees in the orchard. Some water would inevitably splash onto the hands and feet of the boys. In the winter months this invariably resulted in painful ‘chapped’ skin which had to be treated by the application of a home-remedy mixture of candle wax and paraffin.
The washing and ironing of the school and play clothes was done by the boys at some of their development and stay at the home.
Incidental ‘jobs’ Charles remembered having done were:
- Intermittently, looking after the cows. This job involved being released from school for a day and an opportunity to look for snakes and lizards - he could not remember ever having milked the cows or cleaning the fresh manure from the cowsheds;
- Cooking in the big copper pot – Breakfast porridge and lunch stew;
- Sweeping the ungrassed areas of the yard;
- Polishing the stoep areas;
- Sweeping, dusting and tidying the dormitory areas;
- Making up the beds of the ‘small’ children;
- Sickle the long grass;
- Hoeing the weeds from between the fruit trees;
- Making Apricot and Plum jam from the abundant harvest of fruit from the orchard, from which other homes and institutions of the Salvation Army were sometimes supplied;
- Doing the duties of the ‘big boys’ e.g. checking, among other things, that the smaller boys’ hands, necks, elbows, ears, feet and legs had been properly washed, including the inspection for slow-healing sores or boils needing the attention of the Matron;
- Etc…. Etc….
Another not to be forgotten incident relating to this particular teacher was when Charles had been chosen as scrumhalf for the trials of the Johannesburg school team to play in schools’ rugby match against their counterparts from Pretoria.
Mr Viljoen had arranged to take the pupil in his car to the venue at which the trials were to be held. Unfortunately, at the pre-arranged time Charles was still searching for his ‘illusive’ togs while keeping his teacher waiting in the car. In order to teach his pupil a lesson in courtesy and punctuality, Charles found that the car and its driver had left without him. At school on the following school day the lesson was resumed with a ‘jolly good talking to’. Charles subsequently sensed the disappointment felt by Mr Viljoen, as the Johannesburg teams’ ‘second-choice’ scrumhalf had a very bad game on the day of the match. However, in the following year, the previously ‘disgraced’ Charles was to redeem himself when the Johannesburg schools turned the tables on their Pretoria opponents in the return match. Mr Viljoen was all the more pleased that it was the turn of the opposing scrumhalf (the same person who had played against Johannesburg in the previous year) to experience an ‘off day’.
It was also during the English-period literature-lessons given by Mr Viljoen to the Afrikaans-stream scholars in the advanced Grades, when Charles was introduced to:
- The romantic story by Richard Doddridge Blackmore of ‘Lorna Doone’ which was set in the wild country of Devon in England –a place that Charles had the privilege to visit during one of his overseas business trips;
- The humanity found in the stories of the ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ by Mark Twain; and ;
- The thrilling adventures of Jim Hawkins in ‘Treasure Island’ by Robert Louis Stevenson;
In addition, the following unforgettable English poems:
The Donkey by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
The Burial of Sir John Moore by Charles Wolfe
The Cloud by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred (Lord) Tennyson
The brass band of the Linden Boys Home
Charles’ first introduction into the brass band was as a very young child, in the percussion section. Charles has a grandson who today is a an accomplished jazz drummer.
His instrument was the triangle that consisted of a steel rod bent into a triangular form open at the one corner. The two ends at the open corner, each bent outwards into a small semi-circle to enable the player to thread a cord by which the instrument is held. It is ‘played’ by striking the triangle with a small straight steel rod. Although Charles’ place in the band was more that of a ‘band mascot’, he was nevertheless able to correctly strike the triangle to whichever ‘beat’ of the music was being played; - whether it be two beats in a bar; three beats in a bar; or, four beats in a bar. From the triangle, he was eventually promoted to a cornet player in the band.
All the De Wet boys were taught to play an instrument in the brass band at different stages of their life at the Linden Boys’ Home:
The eldest boy Jacobus (Jack), played the Euphonium;
The next eldest Johannes (Johnnie) played the Trombone, then;
The next brother, Benjamin (Ben) played the Tenor Horn, and;
The youngest brother, but one, Walter, played the Bass.
With Charles on the cornet, it could be said that the ‘De Wet boys were able to set up their own brass band.
