Andrew geddes bain biography examples
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Andrew Geddes Bain - Road Engineer, Explorer and Geologist
R E MacCallum
Peter Becker's account of the life of Msilikazi (1790-1868), so-called Black Napoleon and founder of the Matabele nation, several times mentions the exploits of a Scots trader Andrew Geddes Bain.
Andrew geddes bain biography examples
The name has a northern ring to it and this led to an enquiry whether he was a native of Caithness. The Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa shows that this was indeed the case; it also shows that he was a man of courage and enterprise, a man of great practical skill, and perhaps even a man of genius.
Born in Thurso, where he was baptised on the 11th June 1797, Bain moved to Edinburgh as a young boy and there learned to be a saddler.
In 1816 he emigrated to South Africa and two years later, in Capetown, married Maria Elizabeth von Backstrom. The Bains moved to Graaff-Reinet, Cape Province, in 1822 where Andrew started a saddlery. In 1825, perhaps looking for a fresh supply of hides, he went on a trading expedit