Andrew Geddes Bain

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Andrew Geddes Bain
Born(1797-06-11)11 June 1797
Thurso, Scotland
Died20 October 1864(1864-10-20) (aged 67)
Cape Town
Occupationgeologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer
ChildrenThomas Charles John Bain

Andrew Geddes Bain (baptised 11 June 1797 – 20 October 1864), was a South African geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer.

Life history

Andrew Geddes Bain

The only child of Alexander Bain and Jean Geddes, both of whom died when Bain was still a young boy, Bain was baptised 11 June 1797 in

Grahamstown to Fort Beaufort. Appointed Engineering Inspector by the Cape Roads Board in 1845 he began construction at Michell's Pass near Ceres in 1848, subsequently followed on completion by Bain's Kloof Pass near Wellington in 1853. During 1853 he met with Russian novelist I. A. Goncharov, while the latter was conducting a journey to Japan on frigate Pallada. He was the first man to attempt to build a road across the Limiet Mountains
into the interior for which feat he was presented with table silver and a candelabrum by grateful colonists.

Returning to the Eastern Cape in 1854, he built numerous roads and passes including the

mammal-like reptile dicynodon Oudenodon bainii Owen, which was excavated from the Karoo Beds on the farm Mildenhall south of Fort Beaufort and described in the literature by Sir Richard Owen. Among the specimens sent to Owen was the so-called Blinkwater monster, Pareiasaurus
serridens as well as a variety of mammal-like reptiles.

He was awarded £200 by the British government in 1845 for his researches. Devoting his spare time to geological studies, Bain prepared in 1852 the first comprehensive geological map of South Africa, a work of great merit, which was published by the

Henry de la Beche, prominent geologists of the time, both recommended Bain's appointment as Cape Geological Surveyor in 1852, but since no funds were available, nothing came of it. Bain went to Namaqualand
in 1854 and reported to the Government on the copper mines there.

He was granted sick leave to visit England for a second time in 1864, where he was entertained by Sir Richard Owen of the British Museum and Sir Roderick Murchison of the Royal Geographical Society, and was made an honorary member of the Athenaeum Club. His health at this time deteriorated markedly and he returned to South Africa; he died in Cape Town following a heart attack on 20 October 1864. The Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, Charles Davidson Bell, the Surveyor-General and Sir Thomas Maclear, her Majesty's astronomer at the Cape, were among the pallbearers.

While resident in

Grahamstown he wrote some satirical sketches for local amateur dramatic entertainment and invented the character Caatje Kekelbek or Life Among the Hottentots (1838), also known as Kaatje Kekkelbek (Katie Gossip) who endeared herself forever to South Africans, and held John Philip
and other missionaries up to ridicule. Kaatje, the Hottentot girl, uses Hottentot-Afrikaans in the spoken parts, and sings in Afrikaans-English. She comes on stage playing a Jew's-harp:

My name is Kaatje Kekkelbek,
I come from Kat Rivier,
Daar’s van water geen gebrek,
But scarce of wine and beer.
Myn A B C at Philip's school
I learnt a kleine beetje,
But left it just as great a fool
As gekke Tante Meitje.

Bain's journals were published by the Van Riebeeck Society in 1949. A memorial plaque was unveiled at the summit of Bain's Kloof Pass on 14 September 1953, and a memorial to him was erected at the top of the Ecca Pass on the Queen's Road on 7 September 1964. Bain built eight major mountain roads and passes during his career. His son Thomas Charles John Bain was also a road engineer in South Africa.

Construction projects

  1. Ouberg/Oudeberg Pass near Graaff-Reinet 1832
  2. Van Ryneveld Pass near Graaff-Reinet 1830s
  3. Grahamstown to Fort Beaufort
    (The Queen's Road) 1837
  4. Ceres through the Skurweberg, following the course of the Breede River
    1846–48
  5. Bain's Kloof Pass near Wellington
    1848–52
  6. Gydo Pass due north of Ceres up the Skurweberg
  7. Elgin to Botrivier
  8. Katberg Pass near Fort Beaufort 1860–64
Bainskloof Pass

Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky

Main article: Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky

Distilled at the James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, South Africa, Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky is named after Bain, in honour of his construction of the Bainskloof Pass that connects the town of Wellington to the interior of the country in 1853.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Putting South Africa on the world whisky map". The Drinks Report. 2016.
  • The Romance of Cape Mountain Passes – Graham Ross (David Phillips Publishers, Cape Town)
    ISBN 978-0-86486-663-9

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Bain, Andrew Geddes".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Geddes_Bain&oldid=1213629539"