Provenance

The “View of the World” which Cecil John Rhodes selected as his burial place in the Matopos Hills near Bulawayo, in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), was not the easiest of places in which to construct a grave site – or to conduct a burial!

The grave itself, atop a massive granite hill, had to be hewn out of the solid rock, and a specially constructed road had to be built along which the gun carriage transporting the coffin, and drawn by a team of specially trained black oxen, had to be manoeuvred –  in many places at precarious angles.

Overall responsibility for the organisation of the funeral, in 1902, was entrusted to H Marshall Hole, Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo at the time, assisted by a small team of men about whom Hole wrote, in a letter to his father dated 13 April, 1902:

“That I brought it off successfully is due largely to the splendid way in which I was assisted by the different people to whom I relegated the details of the proceedings, viz. Col. Chester-Master, Major Straker and Mr Douslin. Among the main difficulties were… the remoteness of the spot where Mr. Rhodes had elected to be buried (and) the terrible nature of the only road leading to that spot…”

The Mr. Douslin referred to was H.B. Douslin, Director of Public Works in Bulawayo, to whom fell the particular responsibility for constructing the last section of the road from Rhodes’ farm, Westacre, to the grave site at World’s View.

The clock on auction was acquired by Douslin as part of a package commemorating his part in the funeral arrangements, and is offered by his great nephew, who received it by descent.