Walking through Primrose Cemetery in Germiston

Primrose Cemetery in Germiston dates back to 1893. It is the second oldest cemetery in the greater Johannesburg region, after Braamfontein Cemetery. Its 20,000+ graves tell the stories of the early gold mining days, an Anglo-Boer War battle, the 1914 Rebellion, the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, and the 1922 Rand Revolt. The cemetery includes a military Garden of Remembrance.

R. LAMBERT was the first recorded burial on June 25, 1893. There is no existing gravestone. There is Ettie Fanny Ross RUSSELL, who was born circa 1868 in Cape Town. She married Robert James Ernest LAMBERT (1860 – 1922) on 28 April 1886 in Vrede. She died on 24 June 1893 in Germiston.

On Christmas Day 1896, the CROSBIE family was enjoying a picnic at Primrose Dam when the dam wall collapsed. Six of their children drowned:
Adelaide Jane (1880-1896)
Frances Ellen (1885-1896)
Kate Anne (1889-1896)
Albert (1891-1896)
Francis (1893-1896)
The infant, born in 1896, was two months old.
They were buried in Primrose Cemetery.
Three children survived:
1. James Pierce, born on 23 June 1879 in Kimberley, died on 25 August 1958 at Addington Hospital, Durban.
2. Janet Mary, born on 26 August 1884 in Kimberley, died on 20 May 1979 in Bergville. Married Charles Cummins HAINE on March 3, 1908, in Germiston.
3. William Thomas, born on 15 July 1887, died in 1980. Married Amy Mary ASPELING on 28 April 1914. He was working at Rose Deep Gold Mine, Germiston, in 1914.

The children’s parents, Francis (aka Frank) CROSBIE and Janet FISHER, were married on July 2, 1878, in Kimberley, South Africa. Janet died on 14 January 1904 at the home of Thomas BELL in Belgravia, Johannesburg, and was also buried in Primrose Cemetery. Her last residential address was Rose Deep Gold Mine, Germiston. Francis married Florence Montagu RICHARDS on 10 August 1908 in Durban. She died in 1920. Francis was born in 1857 in Newchurch, Rossendale, Lancashire, England, and died on 28 May 1943 at Germiston Hospital. His last residential address was Hotel Alexander on President Street, Germiston.

The military Garden of Remembrance contains the remains of 544 Imperial soldiers from the Anglo-Boer War, of which 181 died in battle or from their wounds. The remains of soldiers who died at Bakenlaagte, Bethal, Boschmanskop, Devon, Leslie, Nooitgedacht, Oshoek, Elandsfontein and Springs were also reinterred here. Two monuments erected by the National Monuments Council list the names and regiments of the Imperial soldiers buried here.

Gerhardus Hendrikus Johannes GRAVETT was born on 28 June 1858 in Alexandria, Cape Colony. He was the grandson of George GRAVETT, an 1820 Settler from Rustington, Sussex, England. In 1888, he lived in Elandsfontein, Germiston, where he worked as a transport rider and built a successful business. He married Petronella Wilhelmina OOSTHUIZEN. They had two sons and three daughters. When the Anglo-Boer War broke out, Gerhardus joined the Boers as an ordinary burgher. He served with distinction on the Colesberg front, where he was elected field cornet. He was promoted to commandant and led the Boer retreat from the Orange River through the eastern Free State. He took part in the Battle of Donkerhoek in June 1900. His men were known as Gravett’s Guinea Fowls. He was heavily involved in the Boers’ attempts to prevent the British capture of the Eastern railway line. In August 1900 he participated in the Battle of Bergendal and was promoted to a fighting general in charge of the Boksburg Commando. The Boksburg Commando was mobilised on 27 September 1899 and was made up of 1,050 Boers and about 300 black agterryers. Gerhardus saw action in Natal, the Free State, the Cape Colony and the Western Transvaal. He suffered serious shrapnel wounds on October 12, 1900, while on Commando near Roosenekal. A Dr Neethling attended to him, but without much-needed medicines, he contracted bronchitis. He was buried in Primrose. His gravestone also commemorates his son, Richard Edward GRAVETT (15 May 1893–20 October 1903).

Lieutenant-Colonel George BENSON is the highest rank buried in Primrose. He was killed at the Battle of Bakenlaagte on 30 October 1901, which was the last major battle in the Eastern Transvaal. He was the commander of No. 3 flying column based at Middelburg in the Eastern Transvaal. His unit was tasked with burning farms and taking Boer prisoners to Brugspruit station (present-day Cluwer) for transportation to concentration camps. Eight hundred burghers ambushed the rearguard of the column on 24 October 1901, resulting in the deaths or injuries of 14 of Benson’s men. On 30 October, various Boer commandos under the command of General Louis BOTHA gathered to attack Benson’s unit near Bakenlaagte. Benson’s men suffered seventy-seven deaths and 161 injuries. The battle resulted in the deaths and injuries of 52 Boers. Captain Eyre LLOYD of the 2nd Coldstream Guards was also killed after leaving the Imperial camp to go save his commander, despite being wounded along the way.

There is a monument to the Queen’s Bays Regiment in memory of the soldiers who died in battle on April 1, 1902. The battle involved 312 Queen’s Bays soldiers and 40 National Scouts stationed at Springs. The Imperial soldiers planned to raid what they thought was a small Boer laager but instead came across a large Boer laager consisting of about 800 men near Boschman’s Kop (near present-day Devon). Other Imperial forces monuments are the 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery Memorial and the King’s Royal Rifles Mounted Infantry Memorial.

Germiston’s first mayor, James BLANE, is also buried here. He was a mining engineer/manager and died on April 10, 1909, at home at New Goch Mine of stomach cancer. He also owned Bultfontein farm in Kroonstad district, on which he kept cattle. The farm was sold at auction after his death. He was born on 01 March 1866 in Louden Kirk, Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Robert BLANE (1834 – 1896) and Agnes McLAUCHLAND (1835 – 1886). He married Isabella Mary RYAN on 13 April 1891 in the Presbyterian Church, East London. They had six children:
1. Agnes Elizabeth BLANE (born 1892)
2. Gladys Beryl BLANE (born 1894)
3. James Starr BLANE (1897–1961).
4. Robert BLANE (1900–1993)
5. Gordon John BLANE (1902–1902, Glencairn Gold Mine)
6. Isabella Marrion BLANE (born 1904)

A monument commemorates the Germiston men who died while serving in World War I. An obelisk commemorates Knights Deep Gold Mine employees who died in World War I. Private James COWARD of the South African Infantry 1st Regiment died on April 9, 1917, at the Battle of Arras. He was 25 years old and was the son of Anne COWARD of 10 Long Street, Germiston. Someone stole the Dead Man’s Penny memorial plaque from his gravestone. The British Empire issued the Dead Man’s Penny to the families of soldiers who died in battle during World War I. The round bronze plaque was engraved with “He died for freedom and honour” and the soldier’s name.

Captain Jacobus Everhardus NOLTE was shot and killed at Treurfontein (present-day Coligny) in October 1914 and was buried in Primrose. He was married to Francina Stephina GROBLER, who died in 1976. He had served with the Boksburg Commando in both Natal and the Transvaal during the Anglo-Boer War. After the war, he became a successful lawyer in Heidelberg and owned the farm Driefontein in the Heidelberg district. He joined the Heidelberg Commando, and by 1914 he held the rank of captain. He was on active service fighting the 1914 rebels in the Western Transvaal. While near Treurfontein, a group of six mounted rebels approached the commandos under a white flag. The commandos were under Commandant Louwrens NOLTE. The rebels stopped about 500 yards from the commandos and signalled with their hats. Commandant NOLTE wanted to fight, but his brother Captain NOLTE called for calm. The captain penned a note expressing the commandant’s desire to understand the rebels’ intentions and explore ways to prevent bloodshed. Captain NOLTE took off his revolver and, unarmed, walked towards the rebels with the note held high in his hand. He gave the note to someone on his left, just before someone to his right fired three shots, instantly killing him. The government forces charged the rebels and captured a few hundred, killing 13 and wounding 36. A rebel, Field Cornet Hendrik Cornelis Wilhelmus VERMAAS (aka Hennie Natreen), was charged with the murder of Captain NOLTE but was acquitted because the State could not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Dr Herbert John ORFORD of Klerksdorp had Nolte’s body exhumed and examined. Vermaas was charged with treason for his part in the rebellion and sent to the Fort in Johannesburg. He died on 23 August 1948 at Witpoort, Ottosdal district.

In the Dutch Reformed section, there are two gravestones noting the cause of death as myntering (silicosis). Petrus Cornelis Johannes POTGIETER died on 22 September 1918, and Johannes Andreas SWANEPOEL died on 14 October 1911. Petrus was married to Martha Maria LANDMAN. Johannes was married to Jacomina Christina POTGIETER. Myntering was known as miners’ phthisis. Underground miners were exposed to silica dust.

Some gravestones name the mine where the deceased worked, such as Simmer and Jack, Village Deep, Glen Deep, Jupiter, Glencairn Main Reef, New Rietfontein, May Consolidated, Witwatersrand Deep, Bantjes, Rose Deep, and Ginsberg. Forbes MERVYN-SMITH died in a mining accident at Knights Deep Mine in 1917. He was married to Lilian BROWN, who died on 22 October 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic.

Dr Howard Charles SPAULDING nursed Germiston’s sick and dying during the Spanish flu pandemic, before he too died on 14 October 1918 at the government hospital in Germiston. He was buried in Primrose. He came from the coal mining town of Virden in Illinois, United States, having arrived in South Africa before the Anglo-Boer War. He offered his services as a doctor to the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek government. He married Annie Rhind STUART in January 1904 in the Presbyterian church in Germiston. Annie was born in Scotland. Three of her brothers also settled in Germiston. Her older brother Alexander, who was a builder, married Petronella Wilhelmina, the widow of Boer commandant General Gerhardus Hendricus GRAVETT. Another brother, John, became a Germiston town councillor. By 1918, Howard and Annie had five daughters and one son. After the death of her husband, Annie married George MATHERS, an electrical engineer, and had another daughter.

Privates George Brown and Albert Vernon Higham share a gravestone, both of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment, who were killed at Dunswart Railway Crossing on March 10, 1922, during the 1922 Rand Revolt. The gravestone was erected by the regiment in 1970. George was a clerk in civilian life. Albert, the son of Gertrude HIGHAM of Germiston, was a commercial traveller by occupation. On 12 March 1922, Tjaart Johannes VAN DER WALT, serving with the Railways and Harbours Brigade, lost his life in action at Brixton Ridge. He was married to Theresa Allan Jane SHOOTER. Sergeant James TANNER of the South African Railways died on 10 March 1922 from gunshot wounds. He was a guard inspector with the railways. He was married to Annie BEITH. Lance-Sergeant Paulus Petrus JOUBERT of the South African Police was shot during the night of 11 March 1922 when on his way to Germiston with colleagues to arrest suspicious men in Germiston. He was married to Maria Magdalena SMIT.

There have been many instances of vandalism and neglect at the cemetery. In mid-2020 one of the cemetery gates was stolen, and the main gate was damaged while being forcibly opened. There was a fire in the cemetery storeroom in June 2020, and the cemetery office in a separate building had a bonfire in the middle of the room. The fire destroyed all pre-1970 burial records kept in the storeroom. Both cemetery buildings had been broken into, and all equipment stolen. The Jewish Ohel experienced a break-in, and the palisade fence suffered systematic theft. In the past, the Jewish community had a garden service clear the Jewish section of overgrowth, weeds, and litter. The Jewish section was consecrated on 11 August 1907.

In January 2023, the city council did a clean-up at the cemetery. In April 2025, the city of Ekurhuleni blamed the cemetery’s unkempt state on recent rainfall and a lack of manpower to maintain it after residents raised concerns. They found the cemetery had overgrown grass and bushes covering the graves. Some of the tall headstones were only partially visible. Other complaints included overgrown trees, missing gates, and broken palisade fencing. Vandalism at facilities is one of the biggest challenges that the city is confronted with. The deteriorating condition of the cemeteries raises significant safety concerns. I recently drove past Primrose Cemetery and was saddened to see that it was again overgrown and unkempt.