First British Conquest of Cape Colony

Seldom has a British battle been fought amid more picturesque surroundings.

Continuing Great Britain Acquires Cape Colony,
our selection from A history of South Africa, from the first settlement by the Dutch, 1652, to the year 1903 by Henry A. Bryden published in 1903. The selection is presented in five easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Great Britain Acquires Cape Colony.

Time: 1795
Place: Cape Town

The French Revolution had been creating mighty changes in Europe; its peoples were aflame. In Holland a considerable party were in favor of the French and their new principles, and against their Stadtholder, the Prince of Orange. In 1793 the French declared war upon England, and upon the Government of Holland at that time in alliance with Great Britain. During the hard winter of 1794—1795 the Prince of Orange was compelled to fly to England. It was recognized that the seizure of the Cape by a power hostile to Great Britain would be fatal to her position in India and her trade with the East. The Stadtholder, fully recognizing the weakness of the Cape garrison, was willing that England should hold the place, and gave written orders to the Cape Town authorities to hand over the castle and fortifications to his allies. Armed with this authorization, a fleet and military forces, under Admiral Elphinstone and General Craig, were rapidly fitted out and dispatched to the Cape.

In June, 1795, the British fleet sailed into Simon’s Bay and dropped anchor, and as speedily as possible the Stadtholder’s letter of command was presented to the acting governor of the Cape, Commissary Sluysken. Sluysken was in an extremely awkward position. Personally, it is probable that he and certain members of his council would have preferred to obey the Stadtholder’s mandate. But the Prince of Orange was in exile, and Sluysken and his council had already received orders from the “Chamber of Seventeen,” representing the Netherlands East India Company, to oppose any landing such as the British proposed to make. Elphinstone and Craig acted with extraordinary forbearance, considering the nature of the times and the chances of a French descent, and actually waited eighteen days before taking action. Finally Sluysken and his council hardened their hearts, declared themselves determined to oppose any invasion, and took measures of defense. They withdrew their forces from Simon’s Town and stationed all the troops and burghers they were able to muster at Muizenberg, where a strong and easily defended position, which has been compared with the Pass of Thermopylae, guarded the road to Cape Town.

Still the British, who expected reinforcements, were very lei surely in their movements. A fortnight after the Dutch had withdrawn from Simons’ Town, Craig landed eighteen hundred men and took possession of the quarters abandoned by Sluysken and his military advisers, General de Lille and Colonel Gordon. Sluysken had made a call to arms, and, notwithstanding the disaffection existing throughout much of the colony, had got together sixteen hundred burghers of the Cape and Stellenbosch districts, who, with the Dutch troops stationed at the Cape and a small commando of Hottentots, brought up his available forces to three thousand men. The pass of Muizenberg was strengthened by a battery of artillery, and the formidable heights looking over the serene waters of False Bay were covered with burgher marksmen.

On August 17th General Craig with sixteen hundred men quitted Simon’s Town and marched along the seashore for Muizenberg. His force consisted of four hundred fifty men of the Seventy-eighth Regiment, three hundred fifty marines and eight hundred seamen landed from the fleet, under the command of Captains Spranger and Hardy of the Rattlesnake and Echo.

Seldom has a British battle been fought amid more picturesque surroundings. False Bay, with its grand mountains, its sea of glorious blue, and the splendid curve of its shores, stands almost peerless along the African coast. From Muizenberg (the Mountain of Mice), as you look across the bay, the towering sierras of the mainland, arrayed by turns in lovely hues of purple, blue, and brown, terminate in the bold and jutting cape called Hang klip. Southward beyond Simon’s Town stretches the rugged mountain backbone of the Cape Peninsula, which terminates, a score of miles away, at its very extremity, in the Cape of Good Hope, fearful to early mariners as the Cape of Storms. As the British general advanced to the attack he was supported by a heavy fire from the British fleet, which had taken up a position commanding the Dutch encampment. The Dutch, notwithstanding the strength of their position, made but a poor stand. It is probable that internal doubts and dissensions had something to do with the matter. De Lille, who was in command of the Cape forces, threw out mounted skirmishers, and opened with his artillery. The skirmishers were quickly driven back, the mountainside commanding the pass was seized by the Naval brigade and part of the Seventy-eighth Regiment, and the Dutch were quickly in flight. The artillery was silenced with no great difficulty, its position was won, and the whole Dutch force, abandoning camps, stores, guns, and ammunition, retreated toward Cape Town. The entire British loss in this action amounted to no more than nineteen killed and wounded. Craig forthwith encamped at Muizenberg and awaited reinforcements.

Early in September an English fleet, bound for India with troops, came into Simon’s Bay. Three thousand soldiers were diverted for the completion of South African operations, and on the 14th General Craig, with nearly five thousand men, marched upon Cape Town. The enemy made little further stand. The burgher skirmishers fired at the troops on the march and inflicted some slight loss, but the main Dutch force stationed at Wynberg exhibited but a faint show of resistance. Cape Town lay at Craig’s mercy, and within twenty-four hours was formally surrendered. The capitulation was completed at Rondebosch, and the long rule of the Netherlands East India Company had come to an end.

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