20 – Second Boer War: Battle of Talana Hill: In the first major clash of the conflict, near Dundee, Natal, the British Army drives the Boers from a hilltop position, but with heavy casualties, including their commanding general Sir Penn Symons.
18 February – Aegidius Jean Blignaut, short story writer and creator of Hottentot Ruiter, is born in Kroonstad.
Deaths
6 June – Sir Henry Binns, sugar cane farmer, founder of the Umhlanga Valley Sugar Estate Company and Natal politician, dies in Pietermaritzburg at the age of 61.
Railways
Railway lines opened
31 January – Free State – Wolwehoek to Heilbron, 30 miles 61 chains (49.5 kilometres).[2]
The Natal Government Railways places the first of 101 Class C 4-10-2T Reid Tenwheeler locomotives in service. In 1912 they will be designated Class H on the South African Railways (SAR).[3]: 31
The New Cape Central Railway places its first Cape 7th Class4-8-0 Mastodon type locomotive in service. In 1925 they will be designated Class 7E on the SAR.[3]: 46–48 [4]: 78 [5]: 10, 15
Rand Mines acquires two narrow gauge0-4-0 tank steam locomotives from Avonside Engine Company.[3]: 114
References
^Measuring Worth, Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount – average earnings, retrieved on 27 December 2010
^ abcdStatement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 184, ref. no. 200954-13
^ abcPaxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. ISBN0869772112.
^Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. ISBN978-0-7153-5382-0.
^Pattison, R.G. (1997). The Cape Seventh Class Locomotives (1st ed.). Kenilworth, Cape Town: The Railway History Group. ISBN0958400946.
