Page 7 - Bulletin 15 2011

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In 1824 John was involved in a major scandal of the time. He had characteristically come out

at dawn on a June morning clad in his dressing gown and slippers to see whether there were
any signals on Lion’s Rump indicating the arrival of ships in Table Bay. He was the first to

notice a placard on a post at the Heerengracht end of the Parade that contained a ‘malignant
and obscene’ charge against the controversial Governor Lord Charles Somerset. He hurried in

to dress, but on his return it had disappeared.

To quote from the ‘The Scots in South Africa’: “The posters published accusations of a sexual

relationship between the Governor and Dr. James Barry, military doctor at the Cape, who
treated Somerset and was known to enjoy a close friendship with him. It was alleged that

someone passing Government House had observed Somerset and Barry ‘in flagrante’ within.
Barry was the son of an Irish artist, but his formative years had been spent in Edinburgh

where he had studied medicine. Clearly the accusation of what was thought to be a
homosexual relationship was a very serious one for the time, although the story is greatly

complicated by the fact that after his death, Barry was discovered to be a woman (!).” (Figs.

1.5 &1.6.)

On the basis of John’s report, the Governor offered a reward for the arrest of the person

responsible for the slander, but, clearly to avoid further embarrassment, the chief suspect, a
troublesome attorney named William Edwards (the name proved to be an alias), who had

been deported from England to New South Wales for theft but had escaped to the Cape, was
bundled hastily on to a ship departing back to Australia.

John was a staunch Presbyterian and was a member of a committee convened later that year to

raise funds to build St. Andrews Church in Somerset Road, the first Presbyterian congregation

in South Africa. As an example of his conservative outlook on life, as an old Scotch
Covenanter, he objected to any graven image of himself, and the only illustration we have of

him is the surreptitious sketch made from behind. (Fig. 1.2.)

In 1826 John took back the command of the Alacrity from his nephew George and, sailing
from London where Margaret had set up their daughters in school, undertook a voyage to