Vryheid Gazette, Friday December 31, 1943: “The death has been reported in the Rand Press of Mr. James Arnot Cadle, late partner of Messrs. Foord & Cadle, Attorneys of Vryheid. The report states that Mr. Cadle passed away on December 23, at Johannesburg.”
In the Scottish history, there are only a few names that go further back than Cadle, whose ancestors lived near the “Coillie” (stream), among the Pictish tribes. The Cadle’s arrived on the shores of South Africa, at Port Alfred, in the year 1820, on board the ship the “Aurora”, as British Settlers. James Arnot Cadle was born on a Saturday March 23 1901, in Clocolan in the Free State. His father was Henry Cadle, a General Merchant of Clocolan, and his mother was Annie Mary Cadle who was born Smith in Lancashire in England. James grew up on the family farms Hoba and Dorothea, and there was a time as a young boy that he had lived with his parents in the Mayoral house in Clocolan, when his father was the first Head of the Clocolan Village Management Board.
“Clocolan is located on the grasslands at the foot of the Hlohlowane Mountain, and derives its name from the newcomer’s incorrect pronunciation of the Sotho word ‘Hlohlolwane’ which means ‘stand up and fight’. The majestic Hlohlolwane Mountain dominates the town. Because of the need for a school, a church and business facilities for people living in the area, Clocolan was established in 1906, and obtained municipal status in 1910”. (www.infosa.co.za)
James was the eldest child, and he had four siblings, named: Evelyn Cadle who was married to First National Bank Accountant Maurice Alexander Schepers; William Cyril “Bill” Cadle who was married to Avice Gladys Evans; Henry John Gilbert Cadle who was married to Aletta Cathrina Jacobsohn; and Joyce Ellen Cadle.
After completing school when he was only 16 years old, James went off to Grahamstown where he studied law at The Rhodes University and gained his BA LLB on December 31, 1924.
James’ first marriage was on March 31 1923, on the farm Windhoek, to Hester Sophia Sephton. The Sephton’s owned the farms Windhoek and Alva near Clocolan. At that time Hester was 19 years old, and James was a School Teacher at Kearsney in Natal. James and Hester lived in Grahamstown when he was still completing his LLB at Rhodes and also in Ladybrand for a few years where he practised as an attorney. Two children were born from their marriage. Ann Edette Sephton Cadle was educated at the Convent School in Kroonstad, and she was married to Allan Charles MacFarlane. Ann died in East London, South Africa in 1997. Henry Edward Sephton Cadle, was the Head Prefect of Hoërskool Ficksburg in 1942, and he married Georgia Alida Zondagh. Both Ann and Henry were still teenagers at the time of their parents’ divorce in 1939 when James was an Attorney in Vryheid. After her divorce from James, Hester Sophia married farmer Jurie Johannes Cornelis Richter of the farm Bultfontein at Dewetsdorp in the Free State. At the end of her life Hester owned a green John Deere Tractor, a portion of the farm Bultfontein, and also of the farms Alva and Windhoek near Clocolan, and Hester’s beige coloured Studebaker sedan took her wherever it pleased her to drive to. Hester Sophia passed away in the National Hospital in Bloemfontein in 1960, she was cremated and her remains were placed in a Garden of Remembrance in Johannesburg.
On December 26 1939, James married his then x-wife’s cousin from Pietermaritzburg, Phyllis Mantle, in the St. Johns Church in Pietermaritzburg. Phyllis was born in Ladybrand in the Free State in 1906, and at the time of their marriage she was employed as a Bookkeeper in Pietermaritzburg, and James was then a partner in an attorney’s firm based in Landdrost Street in Vryheid. James’ partner in the firm “Foord and Cadle”, was Robert Gordon “Bob” Foord who was married to Petronella “Mamsie” Meijer neé Burgers, the second wife and widow to the late General Lucas Meijer who was once the President of the “Nieuwe Republiek” who died in exile in Brussels, Belgium in 1902, whose remains was brought home, and buried in Vryheid. Bob and “Mamsie” Foord lived on the corners of Market and Landdrost Streets in Vryheid until Mamsie’s death in 1961. This beautiful stately home is today known as the “Lucas Meijer Museum”.
At the start of South Africa’s involvement in the war, James Arnot Cadle was sent to Tanganyika as an Advocate of the General Jan Smuts Government. In November of 1942, James wrote a letter to his son Henry: “Dear Boet, I got your letter ……, it was a pleasant surprise. It would in the ordinary course, be some time before I’d reply, but seeing Xmas is near I’m attending to your correspondence at once….. Tons of good wishes for your Matric exam. I’m sure you’ll get through O.K. I don’t think you’re quite correct in your ideas about the future. Naturally you’ll be joining up, and the Air Force is as good a suicide club as any. This war is not going to last forever……Oom Jannie fixed 1944 as the end…… we are on our way to fixing Hitler… At most it seems that in another two years we will see the show over. You will then only be 19 and just fit for University…. I went to Rhodes as a kid of 17 and I’ve learnt a bit, I think that’s too young an age for varsity. As to farming it’s the best life there is, but I know from bitter experience that without capital a fellow stands very little chance……. I shall be sending you and Edith a little bit extra from time to time …..and perhaps next year I’ll manage a bit more. Besides shooting you get some wonderful fishing here – big stuff which gives you a real tussle at the end of the line…… And now, old man, again my best wishes for the Exam and for Xmas and New Year. In January I’m getting a month which I’m spending at Lake Tanganyika, and partly at Kilimanjaro….. I’m sending two pounds’ cash with tons of love. Dad”
Henry Edward Sephton Cadle did duty in North Africa, and in Italy during World War II. He farmed at Clocolan for more than twenty years, and he lived in Bloemfontein until his death in 1992, where he was also laid to rest.
Late in 1943, whilst he was still based in Tanganyika (Tanzania), James contracted malaria, and black water disease. He was flown to Johannesburg, where he was treated by a Dr. Klass, but sadly he died on December 23 1943 in the Libertas Nursing Home in Hillbrow. The funeral home that undertook his burial, was Hobkirks, and James Arnot Cadle was laid to rest in the West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg. For many years the exact grave site for Cadle remained unknown to his descendants. Then on July 15, 2020 with the help of a member of the “Friends of Johannesburg Cemeteries”, the final place of rest of James Arnot Cadle was found. West Park Cemetery, General Memorial Section, Block A, Grave number 998.
*Blackwater Fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream releasing Hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure, and death.
In June 1953, Phyllis Cadle married Lieutenant John Cheere Emmett “Jantjie” Botha in the Methodist Church in Vryheid. Jantjie’s first wife Amy Violet Dillon Wheelwright died in Durban in 1950, and he had four daughters with her namely: Amy Louise Bambus, Annie Elizabeth “Beth” Wilson, Patricia Meade, and Judy Cheere Emmett “Cherry” Cannon. Jantjie was the son of General Louis Botha, and of Annie Francis Bland Botha born Emmett. Annie was the sister of the Boer General, William Cheere Ayliff Edwin Joseph James Emmett. General Botha went on to become the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. A grandchild of Jantjie Botha, Russell Meade writes: “Phyllis or ‘Aunty Phyllis’ as we knew her, was quite a Huntsman, and she owned numerous animal hides and mounted game trophies, all shot by herself. Our grandfather worked as a motor car salesman for many years and then as the Clerk of Court in Pietermaritzburg until his retirement. Aunty Phyll, and our grandfather ‘Oupa Jantjie’ never owned their own home, and they lived in a double story home in Boshoff Street in Pietermaritzburg for many years. Aunty Phyll was pleasant to the kids although she was a bit scary. At times she used to drink too much, and then she would tell her grandchildren that she could see ghosts, and she would spend hours in her garden talking to her late husband ‘Jimmy’ (James Arnot Cadle). Aunty Phyll worked as a Bookkeeper at the National Co- Operative Dairies (NCD) in Pietermaritzburg for years, and her brothers Norman, Jeffrey and Stanley also lived in Maritzburg. Aunty Phyll could not drive a motor vehicle so she had to walk everywhere, and therefore chose to live in rented accommodation near the NCD, and at her life’s end she lived the life of a recluse”. Jantjie Botha died in 1970 in Pietermaritzburg, and Phyllis Botha ex Cadle neé Mantle died there too in 1991 after she had battled with cancer. Both Jantjie and Phyllis Botha were cremated after their deaths, and their remains were placed into the Wall of Remembrance in the Mountain Rise Cemetery in Pietermaritzburg.
Lest we Forget.
A special thank you to Alda Myburgh neé Cadle, Zonia Ferreira neé Cadle and Sarah Welham Dove.
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