A find in a drawer - Hadden, White, Johnstone and others

You never know what will turn up in a drawer. In a desk bought by our family the following papers were found. The first is a letter from Canada written by a grateful lady in Winnipeg, the wife of a soldier cared for by Miss White, written in 1917.

 The letter reads:

15 Fawcett Avenue, Winnipeg, Canada

My dear Miss White, 

Ever since my husband Corp. Edwin B. Johnstone, told me of your goodness towards him and your splendid nursing, I have intended writing to thank you for all your kindness, but owing to illness in our home and the death of my father I have been kept pretty busy, with not much time for letter writing, so I hope you will forgive my tardy appreciation, which is none the less sincere on that account.

As you perhaps know, I have a sister in the Q.A's, and on that account have great sympathy with all nurses - especially the conscientious ones, such as I know you are, for my husband tells me the boys all call you "Sunshine", and really from your photo (which I have and shall always prize) I do not blame them - indeed heartily endorse their sentiment. In the weariness and sadness you are bound to experience in the course of fulfilling your duty, I assure you, you can take heart and go on, when you remember how thankful the poor boys all are for your cheerfullness and kindness. Such a disposition as yours cannot be anything but a blessing, and I do indeed wish you success in your work.

Perhaps you know that Mr. Johnstone is now at Folkstone seeing what can be done in the way of getting an artificial eye; I don't suppose they will return him to Canada, but give him light duty of some sort in England, and I am content it should be so, as I am proud to say there is not a man in our family who is not in khaki, and my only wish for them if they get wounded is that they should all be as fortunate as Edwin and fall into the tender care of a nurse who is not in the army for the sake of the uniform or what can be got out of it, but is in it for the sake of humanity and love of the Master who said "that in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren ye have done it unto me."

Sincerely and gratefully yours, 
Ruby B. Johnstone.

P.S. I have sent you a book of views of Winnipeg, but whether or not the postal authorities will permit it to go through remains to be seen. RBQ.

My mother writes:

After the first world war, Miss White came to live and work in Zambia in an African hospital. Here she met and married a lawyer, Mr James Haddon. They had only one son - James Haddon Jnr, known as Jimmy, whose name is in the register of the old school near the Boma. He also became a lawyer, and later Justice Haddon. He did not marry until after his mother's death (in the 1970s?), to a divorcee. Their house, which was in one of the roads off the Great East Road, running towards the Roman Catholic Church, was sold, with most of the furniture. 

I am not sure if this should be Hadden or Haddon, however, the drawer held more surprises: two newspaper clippings from 1936. The first mentions the sale of a property, (perhaps the house in which these papers were found?) to a Mrs Morton for £450, Plot no 62 Fairview, sold by auction by Samuel Haslett at Counsell's Hotel, Lusaka, "lately occupied by Mr. Hadden", with conditions of sale available from Mr John Barklie, solicitor.

Also dated 1936, an article on work being done by members of the Women's Institute, mentioning Mrs Haddon, sister-in-charge at the Native Welfare Clinic, presumably the Miss White mentioned earlier.

The party were met by Mr Kirk, the manager, who gave them a guided tour.

Before leaving, Mrs H. Rich expressed the thanks of the members to Mrs Haddon and Mr Kirk for affording them such an interesting and enlightening morning.
(The reverse side of this clipping has a fragment of an article about Hitler and the Nazis.)

The auction clipping also has the following fragment mentioning Mr and Mrs Susman and their daughter Ella's marriage to Mr Harry Robinson, as well as some news of the Connaught Cup golf tournament, won by Mrs Morgans and Jack Davidson, playing against Mrs Moore and Mr Misplon. A local team plans a trip to Bulawayo, to include Messrs Jager, Burgess and Maxwell.

And to round things out, I would guess that these links refer to the Johnstones in this post:

http://newspaperarchive.com/winnipeg-free-press/1984-09-10/page-33
http://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/cemeteries/Brookside/BrooksideJO_JO.html
http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-77075/name-Barbara_Johnstone/

Aylmer May Cemetery

Aylmer May Cemetery was founded in 1922 next to an old African burial ground, and named after Dr Aylmer May, Northern Rhodesia's first chief medical officer.

According to Gelfand [1], who gives a detailed account of medical services in Northern Rhodesia, the BSAC recognised that the success of their venture depended on their dealing with malaria, sleeping sickness and other endemic diseases facing settlers. At this time (before 1899) there were two administrative regions - N W Rhodesia and N E Rhodesia. When Major Forbes took over administration of the country there were already a few doctors belonging to the London Missionary Society south of Lake Tanganyika. One of the earliest was Dr Chisholm of Mwenzo Mission (Livingstonia, Malawi) and in Fort Jameson was Dr Roberts of the North Charterland Exploration Company. In 1899 Dr John McKenzie was appointed to the men working on the telegraph line from Karonga to Abercorn. Also mentioned is Mr R. Stewart-Wright, who came to Lake Tanganyika in 1887 and was known for his medical knowledge. At this time the population of about 150 Europeans was largely reliant on missionary doctors, who would travel long distances from their stations to treat patients.

In 1899, when Codrington became administrator of the territory, he attempted to negotiate formal payments to the doctors of the LMS to secure their continued help. However, the home society rejected his offers, feeling that their doctors would be diverted too often from their proper mission. Nevertheless they assured Codrington that help would still be on offer and donations were still welcome for these services. Codrington duly sent a donation of £50 to the LMS.

Meanwhile, Codrington worked on builing up the administration's own medical force, beginning with the appointment of Dr Spillane at Fort Jameson. Next came Dr Doveton A. Martin, who arrived in 1900 on the generous salary of £500 with free quarters. LMS doctors continued to treat patients as necessary, given the vast distances to be travelled and scarcity of medical expertise. The administration then required the LMS doctors to pay a £10 licence fee and a regsitration fee, causing a dispute only resolved in 1910, when the registration fee was waived, and the licence fee reduced to £5.

Aylmer May photo inside Murray memorial

By 1909 many more doctors had been appointed, Spillane retired from 7 years medical administration and Dr Aylmer May, the chief medical officer of NW Rhodesia, assumed responsibility for the medical work of both NW and NE Rhodesia. (The two territories were merged in 1911 to become Northern Rhodesia.)

In 1913 Dr May reported on the health of settlers in Lusaka and Chilanga,

'high mortality from climatic diseases among the Dutch immigrants of Lusaka district... Eight of the 12 deaths reported during the last 18 months were due to climatic diseases, four of these to blackwater fever.'

At this time Lusaka's drainage was notoriously bad, which is presumably why May refers to climatic conditions.

Following May's report Lusaka officially became a township and amongst other duties the management board was to supply 'every occupier of a home with a sanitary pail for every five persons'. Regulations were introduced concerning waste disposal.  But by World War I there was still no hospital in Lusaka. That was to come in 1918, consisting of two huts with two beds in each.

[1] Northern Rhodesia in the days of the Charter, M. Gelfand, 1961

Since 1999 a trust has been working on restoration of the Aylmer May Cemetery site and I was impressed by the welcome we received from the caretakers and the effort that has been made.

Although the cemetery was closed to burials in 1952, there is memorial wall for  ashes and I believe that family plots may still be open, as I saw much more recent headstones. Ask me if you want a photo of a gravestone - I got most of them.

Here you can see some photos of the site on Lagos Road ( Google Earth 15°24'30.46"S  28°17'54.25"E).

There are separate sections for Afrikaners, British, Asians, Africans, Polish, Muslim and Jewish graves within the same site!

tomb of Audrey Murray

The most notable grave (at least in terms of its visibility) is that of Audrey Murray, which you can see to the left.  Photos from inside this monument are below. You can read more of the Murray family history here.

Audrey Murray (O'Brien) wife of
Thomas Murray of Kalomo 

African burial ground

I was told that the African burial ground was centuries old. There are no markers, but the site is within the enclosure of the main site.








The Aylmer May website has a list of burials here. Ask me for a picture of a gravestone - I have photos of many of them.

The names given are:

Aledeirim, Alexander, Allan, Allman, Angier, Anscombe, Anthony, Armitage, Armstrong, Arnaldo, Arnott, Ascott, Atkinson

Badat, Badenhorst, Ball, Bardell, Barkley, Barklie, Barnett, Baxter, Beaman
Cambell, Campbell, Carinus,  Carr, Cartmell, Cartwright, Celinska, Celliers, Cessler, Chavda, Chowles, Cilliers, Clacher, Clark, Clarke, Cloete, Coakes, Coetser, Coetzee, Coetzee, Coker, Collins, Conder, Cook, Cooke, Cooper, Copeman, Cormack, Coulson, Counsell, Cowie, Crause, Crosley, Crouse, Culverwell, Cusack, Czarnecki, Czerniecki

Dahl, Daly, Davel, Davey, Davidson, Davies, de Beer, de Gray Birch, Dean, Dechow, Desai, Diallo, Diew, Digby, Dixon, du Buisson, du Plessis
Earl Spurr, Ebert, Ecksteen, Edwards, Elliot, Ellis, Elridge, Elton, Elvidge, Emms, Erasmus, Erlank, Esterhuizen, Eva, Evans
Fanstone, Fauconer, Faulconer, Faurie, Feger, Ferreira, Fevrier, Few, Findlay Cooper, Fischer, Fitz Williams, Fitz-Henry, Fogerty, Forde, Foreman, Fourie, Foxwell, Foyster, Fredman, Frost, Fuller
Gabb, Gadd, Gair, Garrett, Gaszewska, Geldenhuys, Gelu, Georgopoullos, Gerber, Gerstner, Geyser, Ghumra, Girling, Gomes, Goosen, Gorden-James, Gordon, Gough, Grabowska, Greef, Greenberg, Grey, Griffith, Grindley-Ferris, Grissing, Grosse, Grove, Gunning, Guttmann
Hall, Halsenda, Hamilton, Hand, Hankel, Harina, Harris, Hart, Harvey, Haslett, Hason, Hay, Hayes, Healey, Helberg, Helliwell, Herbst, Hicham, Higham, Hill, Hilton, Hodson, Hoffer, Hogg, Holland, Home, Hopgood, Hornby, Hovbert, Hugo, Hulme, Human, Hutchinson, Hyam
Innes, Isaac, Ismail
Jackman, Jacobs, Jaffray, Jakubowicz, Jarvis, Jay, Jensen, Johnson, Jones, Jooste, Jordaan, Joubert
Kallmann, Kay, Keith, Kelufwe, Keppie, Key, Keyte, Kietzmann, Kimpton, Kirby, Kirk, Kissock, Klein, Kleusch, Klis, Knight, Kohl, Kozak, Kozakiewicz, Krol, Kruger, Krzesinska, Kukne, Kwitkowska, Kwtkowsky
Lad, Ladds, Lajacz, Lamb, Landanski, Landless, Landsberg, Lang, Lapatto, Lazarus, Le Roux, Lean, Lee, Leslie, Letchworth, Lettmann, Lewis, Liebenberg,  Light, Limbada, Lindeque, Lindley, Lineker, Loewenstein,  Logie, Loosen, Lord,  Lovell, Lowe, Lunat, Luzanna
Mac millan, Macfadyean, Macfarlane, Mackenzie, Macrae, Majewska, Mallaghan, Manning, Manson, Maree, Maritz, Marmon, Marrapodi, Marriott, Martin, Masters, Masur, Matheison, Mathews, Mattiussi, Matuk, Maybin, McGaghey, McGregor, McIntyre, McKenzie, McLaren, Melville, Meman, Mendelsohn, Merico, Merry, Merwin, Methuen, Meyer, Meysher, Mieczystawa, Miller, Minnaar, Mistry, Mitchell, Mitchelson, Molyneux, Morris, Morton, Moss, Mostert, Mouritzen, Mroz, Mulla, Muller, Murphy, Murray, Murry, Myburgh

Nagdi, Naik, Naismith, Neethling, Nefdt, Nel, Nell, Nimmo, Noyce
Oberholster, Oberholtzer, Ogilvie, O'Gorman, Old, Omar, Omions, Oosthuizen, Ormsby, Osborne, Ousthuizen
Paduchowski, Palciwitz, Palmary, Pandor, Parekh, Parmar, Parr, Parsons, Patel,  Paul, Payne, Peacock, Penfold, Pentz, Peplow, Perfect, Perrin, Philips, Pickering, Pienaar, Pience, Pipenic, Plenkel, Poilly, Popiel, Posesisyna, Potgieter, Pottinger, Pratt, Prentice, Price, Prime, Prosak, Pukliez, Pullen, Pullock
Quinche,
Raaths, Radcliffe, Ralph, Rautenbach, Rex, Reynolds, Richardson, Rickett, Roberts, Robertson, Rocher, Roderick, Romans, Roos, Roper, Rose, Ross, Roux, Rutkowska, Ryan,

Salene, Salgueiro, Santos, Schafers, Schmid, Schoeman, Schwagel, Scmickerling, Scott, Scotten, Scott-Hayward, Senekal, Sergeant, Shapiro, Shardlow, Shawe, Short, Sialafyaka, Simon, Sivewright, Skinner, Skobie, Skwanek, Slement, Slusarewicz, Smit, Smith, Smith, Sola, Soloman, Sonnekus, Spain, Speck, St??, Staislawa, Staley, Stander, Stanislaw, Stanley, Stecko, Steer, Steirer, Stellon, Stephens, Sterk, Sterley, Steyn, Stols, Strauss, Strydom, Stylianos, Suchocki, Suleman, Swanepoel, Swanepool, Swarbreck, Swarmers, Swart, Sweet, Swiegelaar, Swiegers, Sykes, Szelpuk, Szezzpek, Szkwarkowski

Takarozyk, Tapson, Tattis, Tavares, Taylor, Teagle, Tee, Terblanche, Ternieseh, Thomas, Thompson, Thomson, Thornicroft, Thornville, Thorpe, Tillett, Timmins, Tregaskis, Triveda, Trivedi, Trundle, Trytsman, Turner, Twilley

Uys,

van Biljon, van Blerk, van der Heever, van der Merwe, van Deventer, van Heerden, van Niekerk, van Rensberg, van Schalkwyk, van Staden, van Tonder, van Vuuren, van Werkhoven, van Werrhoven, van Zyl, Vaughan, Venter, Verinder, Vermeulen, Viljoen, Virgin, Visagie, Vlotman, Voges, Vos, Vozos

Wackrill, Waddell, Wade, Waldman, Walker, Walton Waring, Wassermann, Wasziewicz, Waters, Waugh, Wdowa, Webb, Weber, Wells, Wessels, Wheeler, Whittaker, Wienand, Wilks, Willans, Willey, William, Williams, Williamson, Wilson, Wiltshire, Wisnieska, Wisniewski, Wood, Wright, Wroe, Wulfsohn, Wulpowitz

Yarborough, Yeats, Young,
Zajaczkowski, Zambori, Zaverdinos, Zbiginien, Zofia, Zunckel

If you would like to add or correct any information for any relatives or friends interned at Aylmer May Cemetery there is a contact address: Mrs. Carrol Fleming (scksflem@gmail.com) who runs the Ayler May Cemetery website.