The decline of the Cape gentry, 1838-c. 1900

This article examines the rural economy of the Western Cape in the wake of the emancipation of slaves. It argues, contrary to conventional wisdom, that the abolition of slavery in I838 marked a radical break in the history of the Cape Colony. While the options of the freed slaves were severely circumscribed, emancipation bestowed upon them a level of mobility that slavery simply did not allow. Thus the freed slaves were able to negotiate the price of labour and conditions of work. Compensation money paid out by the British Crown provided relief to the former slaveowners, but this served merely to delay the worst effects of emancipation as far as the slaveowners were concerned. While most freed slaves probably continued to engage in agricultural labour for the former slaveowning class, they did so in a manner that severely strained their employers' margins of profitability. These conditions prompted an almost immediate interest in mechanization. There is significant evidence to show that farmers mechanized wherever their means allowed. This was particularly true of wheat farmers. Wine farming, in line with wine farming elsewhere in the world, remained technologically backward. Thus, for the greater part of the century, farming remained a highly unstable occupation and a great many former slaveowners came to experience routine insolvency. Yet, the former slaveowners displayed remarkable tenacity. This was because the farmers were heirs to a moral community in which the rules governing the circulation of land and wealth were defined in community and familial terms. Most important was the local nature of the mortgage market in which 'custom' prevented interest rates from floating above six per cent per annum. But the increasing importance of English-speaking merchants in the rural political economy - with their battle cry of 'free trade in money' - sealed the long-term decline of the Cape gentry.