GEORGE NEWS - Have you ever strolled along the jetty at Victoria Bay, across The Black Pearl beach house, while the see sneezes spray in your face and wondered... who was Bramwell Butler? A bronze plaque with his name and the dates 1896 -1977 on the side of the pier honours this interesting man.
Here is the story behind it all.
Sweepstake
The last Calcutta Sweepstake in 1923 was won by Bramwell Edmund Butler, who received a payout of 125 000 pounds. In today's equivalent it would have been R2,72m.
In those days it was a vast sum of money and it instantly made Butler a very rich man.
Bramwell Butler financed the building of the jetty, the harbour wall and the tidal pool. He also bought property stretching from Sea Cottage (near the jetty) along Lands End Road (the paved road along the beach houses at Victoria Bay) for 6 000 pounds.
Bramwel Edmund Butler was born on 20 April 1896 as one of nine children of Frank (also called Francis) Butler and Maria Magdalena Ehlers. Photo: johannclaassen.wordpress.com
The ticket
Before his riches, Bramwell Butler was a young bookkeeper at Amalgamated Motors in Oudtshoorn, who struggled to buy a 10-shilling sweepstake ticket from a Jewish jeweller, by the name of Nathaniel Lipschitz.
He couldn't actually afford the ticket and wanted to sell half of it with the idea that if he wins, the other person would receive half of the winnings. No one was interested in his crazy idea.
But, against all odds, he drew a horse named "Tiga" (odds 22 to 1) and the horse won.
Butler offered the Dutch Reformed Church 10 000 pounds, but they refused the offer on the grounds that "it was gambling money".
The Methodist Church, however, maintained that "life's a gamble" and accepted the offer. He also reached out to his sister who had little money, but a special musical talent.
For her he built a complete music room equipped with everything she needed, including a beautiful piano.
He then paid for her studies at the University of Stellenbosch where she obtained her BMus degree.
Initially Butler continued to work as a bookkeeper, but soon the full reality of his fortune dawned on him. Shortly before the payout, Butler was quoted saying, "I really thought I would be able to go on working, but now that my bankers have told me the money will be due here next month I cannot stick it any more at the office."
It is said that he was more excited about helping those of his people who required help, than about his sudden riches. Apparently his employer was more unsettled by his accountant winning the huge sweepstake than Butler himself.
Bramwell Butler's grave in Oudtshoorn. Photo: www.eggsa.org
Did you know?
- A hundred and eighty years ago, cousins Michael O’Connell and Captain Richard Hamilton Allen each purchased a portion of a farm, now called Kraaibosch, in 1843. A Public Meeting was called by the George Council four years later in 1847, to consider a report by Captain Pilkington on the capabilities of Gunter’s Bay as a harbour, “that goods could could be handled at all times”. In 1857 Pilkington decided that Christina Bay, now Ballot’s Bay (one kilometer west of Gunter’s Bay) was more suitable and drew up plans. Sense, and lack of money, prevailed and the scheme did not come to pass.
- Michael O’Connell, a town Council Commissioner, suggested at the same meeting of 1847 that the name of the bay on his farm be changed from Gunter’s Bay to Victoria Bay, in honour of the 10th Jubilee of the British Queen Victoria.
Sources: Historian Lynne Thompson; a blog on the history of Victoria Bay: www.vicbayaccommodation.co.za; a blog by Johann Claassen on Bramwell Butler's history (johannclaassen.wordpress.com).
The grave of Nathan Lipschitz, the Jewish jeweller in Oudtshoorn from whom Butler bought the ticket. Photo: www.eggsa.org
Photos of Victoria Bay pier and tidal pool, from 1932:
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