Important South African & International Art, Decorative Arts & Jewellery
Live Auction, 14 March 2016
Session 3
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
About this Item
each signed, one dated 1904
Notes
Frederick Hugh Barber and his brother, Henry Mitford, were diamond-diggers, big-game hunters, prospectors and, according to Men of the times, 'foremost among the great pioneers of the Rand and prominent in the historical annals of South Africa.' They dug for diamonds at Kimberley in 1871 and made many expeditions into the remote interior, shooting lions, elephants and buffalo. In 1875 Frederick journeyed by ox-wagon from Kimberley to the Victoria Falls and back. In 1884 the brothers explored De Kaap Valley, eastern Transvaal and their discovery of payable gold caused the great influx of diggers to the Barberton area, which was named after them. They emigrated to Kenya in 1915, where they became coffee-planters near Eldoret. Henry changed his name to Mitford-Barberton.
[1906] Men of the times; I Mitford-Barberton [1934] The Barbers of the Peak (Oxford)