Thomas Stubbs, 1820 Settler

Out the Box and into the Bush

Authors

  • Julia Wells Rhodes University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21504/1wzhjv09

Keywords:

Thomas Stubbs, Xhosa (African people) -- History, Harry Rivers

Abstract

A Xhosa oral tradition claims that the great warrior, Chief Maqoma, once asked why Thomas Stubbs fought against them, when he had been raised as one of their own? Even Stubbs’ biographer, Robert McGeoch, believed that he spoke the Xhosa language fluently. Yet, on such things, Stubbs remained silent when he wrote up his Reminiscences. He only told the story of the hunting trips in private to close friends.  In Stubbs’s published memoirs, the most solid evidence of his special relationship to the Xhosa people is a map that he drew in 1847, showing all the Xhosa trails through the thick Fish River bush. Where else could this knowledge have come from, but those who showed him? Stubbs also mentioned that one time, just as a battle was about to start, his Xhosa adversaries shouted out and called to him by name.

Author Biography

  • Julia Wells, Rhodes University

    Julia Wells, Head of the Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit (IAHU) at Rhodes University, is an Associate Professor Emeritus in History. IAHU specialises in community history activities using creative arts to tell unrecorded stories from the past, and has developed the course Introduction to Creative History. Wells’ interest lies in how past work contributes towards positive change in society, such as inter-cultural friendship and cooperation during and since colonialism. She has published on the role of Public History practice in SA today. Her recent book, The Return of Makhanda, Exploring the Legend (2012) provides an alternative analysis of the 1819 Battle of Grahamstown. Previous publications deal with the historic inter-racial marriages of Krotoa/Eva in the 1660s and missionary, James Read in the early 1800s. She has also served as a founding member of the National Heritage Council and as an ANC councillor in Makana Municipality.

References

An earlier version of this article was originally published in the Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa 76, 1 (June 2022): 33-54 and is reproduced here with the permission of the BNLSA Editor.

Young Thomas Stubbs, 1847

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Published

2025-10-26

Issue

Vol. 56 (2025): Toposcope

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Julia Wells

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In compliance with the South African Copyright Act 98 of 1978, the copyright of published articles resides with the authors. The Society retains to right to distribute articles as published within the journal.

How to Cite

Thomas Stubbs, 1820 Settler: Out the Box and into the Bush. (2025). Toposcope, 56. https://doi.org/10.21504/1wzhjv09