Page 14 - KBHA BULLETIN 5

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Fig. 1.6: Alpheus Williams. (South African Who’s Who, 1916.)

David Biggs, the columnist, was in residence at UCT with one of the Williams sons. Every now

and again they would ‘phone the chauffeur to fetch them in the Bentley to spend the weekend at

‘Vergenoeg’. They would then throw wild parties and David, himself, played rock-and-roll
music on the antique spinet. One of the things in the house which impressed him most was a

photograph album showing the splitting of the Cullinan diamond step-by-step.

Mr. Rosslyn, the plumber, tells how he was called out at 3 a.m. one Christmas morning when the

water was running down the stairs at ‘Vergenoeg’. He duly rectified the trouble and returned to
bed. When he went to the 7 o’clock early service at St. Saviour’s he was surprised to see the

whole Williams family there, a surprise that was mutual!

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