Page 48 - KBHA BULLETIN 3

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Before the arrival of the railway in 1883 Kalk Bay was an exclusive suburb very similar to St.

James. Wealthy families had built holiday homes here and the likes of Dr. Bickersteth
(Surgeon-in-Charge, Somerset Hospital), Sir John Molteno (first Prime Minister of the Cape

Colony), Bishop Robert Gray (first Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan), Lt. Colonel

Henry Ashton of the Bombay Native Command, T. J. Anderson, a shipping merchant, and
Oloff Truter, a leading ship chandler in Cape Town, were but a few to mention.

In 1851 William Gillman opened the first hotel in Kalk Bay aptly named Gillman’s Hotel. It
was apparently an adequate hotel but more in the class of Farmer Peck’s in Muizenberg,

which was described in 1844 by traveller Alfred Cole as a hotel “where the household

furniture was rough and plain but a goodly show of plate was produced”. Gillman, besides
running this hotel, also ran a horse and cart hire business from the premises, 5/- for a horse

for the day and 7/6 with buggy. He plied his trade along the South Peninsula roadways from

Mowbray to Kalk Bay. His most regular clientele were church elders who used to hire the
horse with buggy when making their visits to attend to the religious needs of their flock.

King’s Hotel

Circa 1870 Charles King (born 1839) entered the hotel trade in Kalk Bay with the

establishing of King’s Hotel and General Store.

The land on which King’s Hotel and General Store stood was originally part of a large

property which was granted in quitrent on 31 October 1818 to the Cape of Good Hope
Fishing, Whaling and Sealing Co. Mr. Johan Hendrik Wicht was a director of this company.

On 26 August 1851 Lot 3, on which later King’s Hotel and General Store were to be built,

was sold by the Cape of Good Hope Fishing, Whaling and Sealing Co. to Johan Coenraad
Wicht, son of the director Johan Hendrik Wicht. He built a thatched roof residence and

general store. Charles King, at the age of 31, bought these premises in 1870. He upgraded the
property and established King’s Hotel and General Store. (Fig. 4.11.) King was an astute

businessman and ran a popular and well-accepted hotel. He had 4 sons (Charles, William,

George and Horton) all of whom were railwaymen, and 5 daughters, 4 of whom worked at the
King’s Hotel as waitresses. He also ran Hirsch’s Hotel (Farmer Peck’s) in Muizenberg where

he had taken over the proprietorship in 1895. He died on the 14 May 1914, aged 75, and a