Source

The bulk of the information in this article is summarised from Roger Howman’s article in Rhodesiana Publication No 36 of March 1977 entitled Sir Herbert John Taylor, Kt., First Chief Native Commissioner and supplemented from other sources.

Background

Herbert John Taylor (HJT) was born on 3 Jan 1865 at Greytown, Natal and educated at Hilton College, Natal. His activities are unknown until in 1890 when his two older brothers joined the BSACo Police accompanying the Pioneer Column to occupy Mashonaland.[1]

Chief Mutasa signs a concession with The African Portuguese Syndicate

In 1889 Reuben Beningfield[2] who for nearly twenty-five years had traded in Portuguese territory including the territories of the Shangaan Chief Mzila[3] near the present-day Mount Selinda and Chief Tendai Mutasa[4] in present-day Manicaland bought a mining concession granted by Chief Mutasa in 1888 to George Wise of the Johannesburg Syndicate. The concession gave Wise the mineral rights over the area defined as four miles on each side of the Mutare river down to its junction with the Odzi river for 99 years. i.e. from 3 Nov 1888 to 3 Nov 1987" in exchange for an annual tribute of 200 blankets.[5]

Chief Mutasa is dissatisfied with the Mozambique Company’s authoritarian rule

As H. Bhila points out in his article The 1896-97 Southern Rhodesian War Reconsidered the Mozambique Company held its authority to prospect for gold not from the ruler of Manyika, Chief Mutasa, but from the Portuguese government. It appears the Mozambique Company did not sign treaties or concessions with the African rulers within the areas it defined as its own territory. Effectively the Mozambique Company and other companies ignored the chief’s authority. Chief Mutasa complained about the Mozambique Company to Colquhoun and Selous when they negotiated their 1890 concession and said it encroached upon his authority saying, “They are there and I don't interfere. I don't know the number. I have never given anyone a concession. I am getting nothing. I am sitting watching.”[6]

The BSACo officials also reported Mutasa complained of losing territory saying, “under men formerly indunas of Manica who have rebelled…with the covert support and encouragement of the Portuguese.” Regarding his borders Mutasa was reported to have said, “I have been pressed on all sides by the assegai.”[7]

Bhila writes, “His neighbours, Ganda of Uteve, Chirara of Zimunya and Makoni of Maungwe were apparently on good terms with the Portuguese who encouraged them to be hostile to Mutasa. The Portuguese thought that if Mutasa were isolated from his neighbours and estranged from his subjects, he would concede more mineral rights to them without much resistance.[8]

The African Portuguese Syndicate sends HJT to pay its tribute to the chief

In November 1890 Beningfield employed  HJT with a companion Edward Torgius, "to repair to . . . and pay King Umtassa" the annual tribute of 200 blankets due under the concession. They left Durban on the 11 November aboard the S.S. Lady Wood landing at Chiloane[9] and with some 42 carriers made their way up the Pungwe river to Neves Ferreira camp to arrive at Mutasa's stronghold at Binga Guru Mountain near the Mutare river on the 17 December. There Chief Mutasa signed for the blankets and gave HJT an elephant tusk for Beningfield as a token binding himself, and on his death, his son Chimbadzwa to the contract.

        Photo by Darrell Plowes: Binga Guru, the mountain stronghold of Chief Mutasa

Clash with the BSA Company

Next day HJT returned to his camp where he had left Torgius down with fever where both men were arrested by the newly-arrived BSACo's Police. Torgius was too ill to move, so HJT was brought before the court and Dennis Doyle on a charge of "attempting to bribe Umtassa with presents in order to cancel his treaty with the B.S.A. Company."

On demanding to know since when Manica had been proclaimed British territory, the prisoner (HJT) was told "the 14 September 1890", the date of the BSACo's own concession with Mutasa, and that the blankets would have to be returned. HJT said he would refuse to accept them. He was kept in some kind of custody until Jameson happened to arrive at Fort Hill on the 3 January 1891, on his way to negotiate the Gazaland Concession of March 1891 with Chief Gungunyana and ordered his release.[10]

In October 1890 Beningfield’s lawyer in Kimberley had sought permission from the BSACo in the same town to send the 200 blankets through Mashonaland to the Manica country to comply with the terms of his concession. Rhodes was away at the time so the response was delay and from Kimberley, the BSACo headquarters, came the response, "no official knowledge of the alleged concession." Beningfield thereupon dispatched HJT with the blankets up the coast in November.

The BSACo also negotiated a treaty with Chief Mutasa

Rhodes had given orders to A.R. Colquhoun, the first administrator of Mashonaland[11] and Dr L.S. Jameson to negotiate a treaty with Chief Mutasa prior to them leaving Kimberley. Colquhoun and Selous[12] had negotiated a concession with Chief Mutasa on the 14 September 1890 and a Trooper R. Trevor of the BSACo's Police was left in charge on the Mutare river. This Trooper, heedless of British law or international reactions, issued a circular letter on the 9 October as "British Resident" proclaiming that all the Nyika country for a considerable distance east of Massi Kessi (Macequece) had been brought under British influence.

The concession with the BSACo provided that no one could possess land in Manyika except with the consent of the BSACo; Mutasa also granted mineral rights and permission for the construction and establishment of public works. The BSACo undertook to pay Mutasa and his councillors an annuity of a hundred pounds or its equivalent in trading goods annually and provide 200 rifles and ammunition.

The Portuguese reaction and Lord Salisbury’s quandary

The Portuguese complained bitterly to Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, that the concessions were, in fact, within Portuguese territory. Salisbury was not sure about Portugal's allegations of the invasion of her territory, or Rhodes's actions in signing a concession, not knowing where Mutasa's territory was, nor his status as an independent chief or vassal, and whether there was in fact "effective occupation" by the Portuguese. To aggravate his problems in August 1890 he had signed a convention with the Portuguese agreeing the area east of the Macheke and Sabi rivers was to be considered Portuguese territory and that Portugal would build a railway to give Mashonaland access to the sea.

Chief Mutasa revokes the African Portuguese Syndicate concession

In Kimberley Beningfield’s lawyers informed the BSACo that the African Portuguese Syndicate  had a concession over 240 square miles from Chief Mutasa. Shortly afterwards the mining commissioner at Fort Hill reported that he had interviewed chief Mutasa who now considered that the blankets had only been accepted from HJT as a mark of friendship and that his concession with Beningfield had lapsed. He was willing to honour the concession he had signed with the BSACo through Colquhoun and Selous and concluded his written statement with the words, "I am not a man of two mouths." 

The Portuguese seek to prove they have effective occupation’ of Manicaland

The Portuguese were seriously alarmed by the threat posed to their historical claims across what was then known as Zambesia by Rhodes's Rudd Concession of October 1888 and moved quickly to demonstrate "effective occupation" of Manicaland. In December 1888, the Lisbon Government granted a charter to the Mocambique Company under Major d’Andrada. He in turn encouraged companies and prospectors, mostly British including Harrison, Jeffreys and G.B.D. Moodie to prospect for gold in Manicaland and in particular in the present-day Penhalonga area around the Mutare river.[13] Massi Kessi (Macequece) on the east side of ‘the divide’ became the administrative centre under Baron Rezende and prospectors moved into the Mutare river valley in 1889 – 90.

The diplomatic incident when the Portuguese try to assert their claim to Manicaland

Challenged by both the African Portuguese Syndicate and the BSACo’s concessions with Chief Mutasa   Major Joaquim Carlos Paiva de d’Andrada.[14] through the Mozambique Company[15] decided to claim back Portuguese authority by going to Chief Mutasa’s stronghold at Binga Guru where on the 15 November 1890 they addressed the assembled prospectors and the chief happily flew the Portuguese flag.

Major d’Andrada and his accomplice Manuel Antonio de Sousa[16] {aka Gouveia or Guvheya) who had accompanied him with an armed escort, were arrested by Major Patrick Forbes and a small group of BSACo Police Troopers. Both were sent under escort to Fort Salisbury and then expelled via Fort Tuli.[17]

Herbert Taylor finds himself embroiled in this row

Into this row walked HJT and his colleague Torgius believing the concession between Chief Mutasa and the African Portuguese Syndicate was secure!

Only now did he hear that the BSACo also had a concession and that the Portuguese also believed that the territory belonged to them! Dr Jameson appears to have regarded HJT and Torgius as ordinary prospectors and advised them to prospect under the BSACo laws and promised "pioneer rights" before he left for Gaza.

On their release they found their carriers and food supplies had vanished and they were stranded.

The rains and flooded rivers in 1890 brought the country to a standstill. They managed to hitch a ride on a  police wagon to Salisbury where they complained  of illegal arrest and eighteen days detention and demanded £500 compensation. Colquhoun, the chief magistrate, issued them with rations and £75 to defray travelling expenses via Tuli to Kimberley where he said Rhodes would settle their claims.

Jameson disagreed and told Rutherfoord Harris, the BSACo’s secretary in Kimberley, that the blankets were "a present from Beningfield and nothing to do with a concession long elapsed…Colquhoun knows nothing about the case and his premature opinion re compensation should not be considered."

So no compensation was paid and they returned to Durban. In July 1891 Beningfield's lawyers demanded £200 compensation each for injuries sustained by illegal arrest, apparently with no result.

Another row follows the 1891 concession tribute being paid to Chief Mutasa

In 1891 HJT repeated his journey to Binga Guru with the tribute in the form of blankets that were  again handed over to Chief Mutasa on 3 September 1891. When the BSAC’s civil representative, P. McGlashan, queried this with the chief, he denied he had received any blankets, or had received HJT at his kraal! A BSACo memo records, "this renewed attempt by Taylor to convey presents to Umtassa while their principals are laying their case before Home Government will surely justify strong measures…"

The BSACo clearly found themselves the losers at this stage, the acting resident at Fort Hill describing chief Mutasa as, “greedy, venal and double dealing because he knowingly granted the same concession to two parties; he received presents from each and always leaned to the side which piled him with presents and soft speeches…” Presumably this is a reference to the Taylor brothers who by now were exercising a major influence on the chief.

Magistrate Seymour Fort also observed that with the Taylor brothers, “the Manyika had become exceedingly independent and even insolent, saying that the English had no business there and that the BSACo had no right to govern them.”[18]

The BSACo takes strong measures against the Chief

In early January 1892 HJT was summoned by the chief when a kraal was raided by the BSACo; six villagers were burnt when their huts were fired and another two had bullet wounds. The Chief asked for help against the BSACo. HJT wrote a letter to Beningfield that was taken by two headman to Beningfield in Durban and he complained to the High Commissioner, Sir Henry Loch, in Cape Town.

Loch’s response is not known, but Charles Metcalf Gordon, Rhodes’ private secretary at the time, rejected any mistreatment of Mutasa’s subjects and asked Rutherfoord Harris, the BSACo secretary to reply to Beningfield saying that the chartered company’s concession with chief Mutasa had been approved by the Colonial Office on 12 March 1892 and that Chief Gungunyana, ruler of Gazaland and Manicaland had agreed the chartered company’s mineral rights in Manicaland.

Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, had ruled in favour of the BSACo’s concession because he believed a strong administration was required to maintain law and order. Declaring in February 1891, "private rights endure whatever sovereignty may be…nothing will interfere with private rights duly acquired by either individuals or companies." This was followed in June 1891 by the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty that awarded the Manica plateau and "crest of the slope" as far as the Sabi-Lundi confluence to British influence, while Portugal was confirmed in the low-lying coastal area and gained the wedge of land on either side of the Zambesi river as far as Zumbo. This also confirmed that Chief Mutasa was in British territory.

Beningfield’s lawyers wrote another complaint letter to Sir Henry Loch supported by an affidavit from the two of Mutasa’s headmen. The chartered company’s response was that “bogus indunas had been taken out of Manica by Taylor." Additionally, the BSACo persuaded Matika, "head induna" of Mutasa to give a new affidavit dated 12 September 1892 stating that the two headmen in Durban were of no importance and merely employed by HJT. All this time the BSACo had been consolidating its position in Manicaland.

The BSACo made the decision to move from Fort Hill[19] (the original Umtali) in Penhalonga to Old Mutare[20] (today the site of the Methodist Church) in December 1891 where a magistrate and mining commissioner were based and a hospital opened. At the same time there was promising gold prospects from the Rezende and Penhalonga Mines.[21]

View from Fort Hill towards Penhalonga and the Rezende Mine. St Augustine’s Mission on the left

Taylor revives the African Portuguese Syndicate concession

In 1892 HJT, still in Manicaland, was joined by his brother William.[22] When the Kimberley newspaper on 9 April 1892 advertised the sale of stands at Old Umtali, Beningfield’s lawyers protested that they were infringing on the land covered by the African Portuguese Syndicate’s concession (i.e. within four miles of each side of the Mutare river)

In addition, HJT erected beacons demarcating the concession area and told the local magistrate Graham "to vacate and forego any claims illegally held in this part of the country." Graham ordered him to remove the pegs or face prosecution for trespass and when he did not, had HJT arrested. However he was released on bail while Graham asked Dr Jameson what he should next do. Jameson’s reply was, “I should not search for pegs to justify your action. Charge him with trespass and since you have no proof, and I do not want you to have any, you can discharge him for want of evidence" and then added, "it was a mistake to raise any question of a rival concession and the idiotic demands made by Taylor ought to have been ignored."

HJT appeared in court on 13 May; the court register (D4/3/I) recording, "Trespass. Case dismissed — prosecutor not appearing in court."

In South Africa, Beningfield had notices printed and these HJT served, in June, on all residents of the township in his concession area warning them that they were trespassing. This was just before Jameson arrived from Salisbury and held a public meeting on the question of township stands. When asked about the security of the stands Jameson replied that, "Beningfield's concession had lapsed but they all knew the way Mr. Rhodes had of smoothing the fellows off with a few shares."

In July HJT left his brother William in Manicaland and returned to Natal for a holiday. The BSACo reported he had "fled from Manica" taking with him Chimbadzwa, Chief Mutasa’s son, who it was reported that "this had been done entirely against his will."

Would Rhodes buy the African Portuguese Syndicate concession?

Some of the syndicate members thought they should hold off for an offer from Rhodes and on 7 March 1893 the syndicate asked Rhodes for a definite offer. His response was, "no offer and no negotiations, but as some of the shareholders in the Syndicate were friends of his and had spent money on the expedition, he was willing to allow them to mark out claims or farms, provided this had nothing to do with alleged rights or wrongs of the Syndicate."  

The efforts stymied, the syndicate tried London, but their efforts again proved fruitless with Alfred Beit replying, "shall we open negotiations, probably prepared to purchase for 15,000 B.S.A. Co. debentures."

     Herbert Taylor talking with the amaNdebele Chiefs during the indaba negotiations at the close of the Matabele Rebellion (Umvukela)

Chief Mutasa refuses the BSACo’s concession tribute

HJT wrote to Sir Henry Loch claiming that Chief Mutasa needed protection from the chartered company. The BSACo dismissed this as, "imaginary and exaggerated. Mutassa frequently complains of the baneful effect which Mr Taylor's presence has in the country."

The situation worsened in October when Seymour Fort, the acting resident magistrate at Old Umtali, brought the annual concession tribute of £100 to Chief Mutasa from the BSACo. The chief refused to see him or accept the money saying, "I do not want the English of Colquhoun's people who have cheated me" and told Seymour Fort to communicate through "Umlungu George", that is, William Taylor, HJT’s brother.

Probably a major reason Mutasa refused the BSACo representatives was that under the concession he was entitled to receive 200 rifles, but by 1893 he had only received “old uniforms, indifferent limbo and a few caps.”

HJT remained in Natal; William was living in a tent in Mutasa's kraal and buying alluvial gold panned in the Mutare river from the natives.

The situation deteriorates with HJR’s arrival back in Manicaland

The fourth annual tribute from the African Portuguese Syndicate became due and HJT arrived back in Manicaland with the blankets from Beira in early November. However this time he had a legally prepared petition for Edward Stanley, the Secretary' of State for the Colonies at the time. Chief Mutasa alleged that he had never given the BSACo any rights and that Lobengula and Gungunyana never had a right over his territory. The chief asserted that in spite of this, the BSACo had:

 (1) taken possession of a large tract of his country and established a township, a magistrate, and Police against his will, and

(2) obstructed the agents of the African Portuguese Syndicate.

(3) expressed his grievances against the maltreatment of his subjects by the BSACo Police and the threats which they had made to burn down and destroy his kraal.

The chief had signed (his mark) on the 2 November 1893, duly witnessed and interpreted by William Taylor.

The petition plus the chief’s refusal to accept the BSACo’s annual tribute of £100 caused the chartered company’s legal adviser, A. Caldecott, to recommend that William and Herbert Taylor be removed from the country as their presence, "is dangerous to the peace" and they claim that "the Company has no right to govern them (Mutassa's people)"

A telegram was sent to Sir Henry Loch for his permission for a warrant of arrest of the Taylors. There was no reply and authority was not given,[23] but subsequently both Seymour Fort and Caldecott visited the chief and were met with the same rejection and "utmost discourtesy." Caldecott reported on  9 December to Andrew H.F. Duncan, the acting chief magistrate at Fort Salisbury that, "George and Herbert Taylor have constituted themselves advisers to Umtassa and acting under their advice the chief refuses to take any notice of any Government official or to accept money payable to him by the Company . . . the presence of the Taylors is dangerous to the peace and good government of the Manica District and their removal under H.C. Proclamation of the 30th June 1891 is absolutely in the interests of the country."

NAZ: Native Commissioners in 1896. Back (L-R) T. Hepburn, D.H. Moodie, C.G. Fynn

Middle (L-R) E. Armstrong, B. Armstrong, C.B. Cooke, V. Gielgud, T. Fynn

Front (L-R) H.M.G. Jackson, W.E. Thomas, H.J. Taylor, Capt. The Hon A. Lawley, J.W. Colenbrander, unknown

BSACo officials escalate the dispute

In January 1894 events turned ugly. Seymour Fort sent a messenger to "Queen Chikanga" requesting six labourers. Her reply was, "I know only one nkosi or chief who is Umlungu George." An enraged Seymour Fort rode to Binga Guru on 9 January with armed Police Troopers, Sergeant Palmer and Constable Hendrick. Hendrick was left in charge of the horses at the foot of Binga and told to hold some cattle grazing nearby in case they were stock reported stolen by Lionel Cripps.

At Chief Mutasa’s kraal, Seymour Fort reported later, "Mfundesa in a very impudent manner refused to take me to the Queen's hut so I told Palmer to seize him but he escaped and returned minutes later with a M.H. rifle and some 25/35 boys mostly armed." Seymour Fort and Palmer retreated down the mountain and saw Mfundesa and supporters surround Hendrick, stabbing him in the hand and removing his revolver, and then driving off the cattle.

Seymour Fort and Palmer chased after them and when Mfundesa fired at them, was shot dead by Sergeant Palmer. The eight cattle were taken to Umtali and a warrant issued by Seymour Fort for the arrest of William Taylor as he, "was directly responsible for the attitude of Chikanga and Mfundesa."

HJT wrote to Beningfield on the 12 January 1894 saying that his brother had been arrested, "as a scapegoat by Mr. Fort who was wrong in killing a native and robbing cattle…my brother has great influence with the natives here and is far better known among them than myself as I have been laid up the greater part of the time since I returned and he has been assisting me in Syndicate matters. I should not be surprised to find myself arrested at any moment."

The controversy goes legal at Old Umtali

On 10 January William Taylor was committed for trial[24] and granted bail by Seymour Fort of £200 for the crime of “interfering with the administration of the Government, inciting the Natives to resist the Government and being a person dangerous to the peace of Manica District.” The headline in the local newspaper was — "Taylor Charged With Inciting Natives To Revolt" — and a copy was sent to the Syndicate's lawyers in Kimberley providing material for their legal attack on Seymour Fort.

Caldecott’s legal advice to the Umtali magistrate Fort was, "After his [Mfundesa] armed resistance to arrest by you for robbery of Hendrick" and ordered that “Taylor be not allowed out on bail till you have evidence for prosecution.” Two weeks later, Caldecott considered that evidence acquired by Seymour Fort was hearsay and asked Sir Henry Loch for a warrant for the removal of George Taylor.

The High Commissioner's reply of 8 February was that a warrant was not possible unless Taylor broke some law and suggested prosecution for the gift of any firearms to Mutasa.

William and HJT are charged with gun-running

On the 28 February, the brothers appeared before Seymour Fort's Magistrate's Court (Case No. 62 with Caldecott prosecuting) on three counts:

(1) William Taylor did bring in one pistol on or about the 1 November 1893

(2) William Taylor did supply one pistol to a native

(3) Laesae Magistratis, did bring Government into hatred and contempt between the 1 August 1893  and 1 January 1894 and excite discontent and disaffection.

Both accused pleaded not guilty.

Both were found, "not guilty for lack of evidence" on counts 1 and 2, but guilty of Laesae Magistratis under Count 3 where, in a lengthy analysis of the evidence, Seymour Fort referred to "the natives as being unsettled as to the paramount authority…whether the Taylors or the Magistrate." His judgement was that each prisoner was to find two sureties for £100 and neither was to approach within one mile radius of Mutasa's kraal, nor hold any communication whatsoever with the chief and others for twelve months from the 1 March 1894.

The Taylors appealed to the Chief Magistrate's Court at Fort Salisbury and on the 2 April, their appeal was upheld by Duncan, who reversed the decision (Case No. 12 of 31 March 1894)

NAZ: amaNdebele Chiefs at the Indaba negotiations following the Matabele Rebellion (Umvukela)

Back (L-R) Faku, Ndibali, Malevu, Sikombo, Mbambeleli, Mazwi, Nhlukoniso

Front (L-R) Mapisa, Somabulana, Nykomo, Mtokana, Manyoba, Umlugulu, Mlegela

The High Commissioner for Southern Africa gets involved as does Rhodes

Sir Henry Loch was extremely critical of Seymour Fort’s actions in this case writing, "The statements about Mr. Fort's actions are so extraordinary as if true to require his immediate supersession… if no satisfactory explanation…arrangements to be made for another officer."

Rhodes became involved, telling Henry Fowler, the secretary of state for the colonies, that the African Portuguese Syndicate had been trying to get the BSACo to purchase their concession and failing that had kept up a "constant system of annoyance and resistance" through their representatives the Taylor brothers in Manica and referred to "the surreptitious manner in which Messrs Taylor have for a long time persistently acted against the good and orderly government of Manica."

The syndicates lawyers replied saying the African Portuguese Syndicate had been in lawful occupation since 1888 and had resisted the BSACo’s efforts to oust them from possession not covertly but in an open manner. Questions were asked in the British Parliament.

In June 1894, the syndicate's lawyers wrote to Sir Henry Loch claiming that:

(1) W. M. Taylor had been convicted of a crime unknown to English Law;

(2) that his brother HJT had also been convicted without an appearance in court,

(3) that they had been forbidden access to chief Mutasa and thus prevented from paying the annual tribute.

The High Commissioner considered that these were "serious allegations against the B.S.A. Company" and he asked the chartered company to reply before he forwarded the papers up to the secretary of state for the colonies.

The BSACo’s reply was, "that the representatives of the Syndicate have been maintained in the country solely to embarrass and impede the Chartered Company…a system of annoyance kept up in Manica…and until the concession is held to be invalid by proper authority they intend to resist."

The final resolution of this intriguing clash of interests is a reference to the secretary of state (Ripon) having reserved his opinion and that the chief magistrate Duncan had reversed the Umtali magistrate’s decision.

At this time Beningfield seems to have come to the conclusion that the BSACo was too powerful and decided to give up the unequal contest.

Herbert J. Taylor’s subsequent career as native commissioner

Roger Howman speculates that Rhodes admired HJT’s “courage and pertinacity” in standing up to the chartered company on behalf of the African Portuguese Syndicate. “The man who would not quit and who had so adequately proved his capacity to influence and stand up for Africans while doing his adventurous job for Beningfield.”[25]

On 1 May 1895 HJT was invited to leave Natal and join with Johan Colenbrander in Bulawayo and  at the age of 30 years old was appointed the first official Chief Native Commissioner for Matabeleland.

Within a year the Matabele Rebellion (Umvukela) broke out and HJT became Chief Intelligence Officer as well as Captain of M Troop in the Bulawayo Field Force (BFF) commanding what were called "the friendlies.”[26]

Howman writes that it was Johan Colenbrander who was Rhodes’ major source of advice in the indaba’s with the amaNdebele chiefs as HJT was new to Matabeleland, but he did play a part and when the chiefs requested one person to whom they could direct future problems and said, "We can only have one head, and we thank you” they were referring to HJT’s new role.

HJT was with Herbert Plumer at the relief of Mafeking on 17 May 1900, until returning to Matabeleland at the request of William Milton.[27]

In December 1901 he married Gertrude, daughter of German Professor P. A. Hahn of the University of Cape Town.[28]

HJT’s career as chief native commissioner is covered in the article on native commissioners. The two positions of Chief Native Commissioner in Mashonaland and Matabeleland were amalgamated on the 1 November 1913. HJT became chief native commissioner for all of Rhodesia and moved from Bulawayo to Salisbury where his "native name" of Msitela or Musitera (Mister Taylor) became the synonym for "Head Office."

HJT retired on 31 March 1928 and went to live in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he died on 18 August 1943 at the age of 78.

NAZ: Sir Herbert John Taylor, Chief Native Commissioner Matabeleland 1895-1913

Chief Native Commissioner Southern Rhodesia 1913 – 1928

Appendix – the Beningfield family

These notes are summarised verbatim from the excellent article by Peter Duckers, see reference below

Writing in October 1878 to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the High Commissioner for South Africa, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, made the claim that “Beningfield and Son were undoubtedly the major suppliers of firearms to the Zulus.”

This trade via Portuguese territory was not considered illegal and leading commercial firms in Durban, including Beningfield and Sons, circumvented the ban introduced by the Natal Government by using Lourenço Marques as point of entry. In the process, they earned a great deal of money. …There were plenty of firms dealing weapons into Mozambique which, one way or another, found their way into Zululand and into the system of John Dunn and his agents. To name just a few, Oswald Hoffman, Randles Bros. and the firms of Denzelman and Lippert (later amalgamated), are judged to have imported literally thousands of firearms into Mozambique for onward sale in Zululand in the 1870’s. The weapons were imported via Lourenço Marques not only from neighbouring states like Natal or the Transvaal but also from France, Portugal and elsewhere.

The company of Beningfield and Sons was founded by Samuel Beningfield (1802-74), a pioneer settler in Natal who, when actually enroute to settle in Western Australia, had arrived as early as 1830 and decided to stay; he is regarded as one of the founders of Port Natal. Like many other settlers who had no farming or agricultural background Beningfield tried his hand at many trades before he found one that succeeded. The Beningfield’s were assiduous purchasers of land around Durban and were among the first settlers to buy land on the Bluff opposite the Point at Durban’s harbour as early as 1841.

…Apart from dealing via their auction business, they worked as a ‘jack of all trades’ in the Durban area, arranging the hiring of farm labour, transport and equipment, the leasing of land and property, the export of all sorts of agricultural goods like sugar, rum and arrowroot and even the acquisition of tickets and facilities for travellers. Samuel Beningfield was also a pioneer in the introduction of coffee as a crop, establishing a plantation at Sea Cow Lake near Durban. Like many other Victorian entrepreneurs, Samuel became actively involved in local life. He was a founder of the Natal Agricultural and Horticultural Society, of the Durban Literary Association, the Durban Race Club and the Durban Yacht Club. Unsurprisingly, he became involved in Durban’s local politics and became a member of the town's first municipal government as early as 1844 and for a time in 1861 acted as Mayor.

The auction business really began to flourish after 1861, at which time his son Samuel Frank formally joined the firm. They eventually ran at least three separate auction houses in Durban - one specialised in livestock sales (cattle, oxen, horses, and mules), one in land and property and one in general goods and chattels. Their trade in weapons intended for Zululand was actually a product of their livestock auctions. John Dunn would trade or buy cattle and oxen in Zululand, have them herded to Durban and then have them sold via Beningfield’s. Acting on Dunn's behalf, Beningfield’s would then buy up weapons in Natal (and there were apparently plenty to be had even in the 1870’s) or in Lourenço Marques and other places in Mozambique and see them shipped into Zululand for John Dunn and his agents to deal with.

Beningfield’s was very well placed to operate in Mozambique since it had its own 'man on the spot' in the form of Samuel Beningfield’s son, the redoubtable Reuben Widdows Beningfield (1844-1912). Reuben Beningfield was a well-known and influential figure in his day, though he has somewhat ‘fallen below the horizon’ in recent times. For decades he had a trading base near Inhambane in southern Mozambique and was the archetypical colonial adventurer - big game hunter, gold prospector, trader in whatever he could sell (ivory, gold, furs and hides) and explorer. He even ran his own brig, the Pelham, which he used to transport all sorts of goods out of and into Mozambique.

It is said that Reuben Beningfield travelled more widely along the coastline of south east Africa than any other European and, more than that, he was a paid official of the Portuguese colonial government. Beningfield worked for the Portuguese in exploring the vaguely-defined western border lands of Mozambique and arranging treaties with local leaders - treaties agreeing trade monopolies or establishing mining rights (copper and gold being the particular draw) He was later a founder and director of the African-Portuguese Syndicate, the Portuguese trading group working in this field. Beningfield is said to have been the first European to meet the powerful chief and founder of the Shongaan state, Soshangane, who became ruler of the extensive Gaza Empire, lying to the west of Mozambique. This meeting is unlikely given the dates, but he certainly established a good relationship with his successor, Mzila (d. 1884) with whom he regularly stayed at Mount Selinda, and in turn with his successor, Gungunyana.

In the end, although Gazaland was taken by the Portuguese in 1895, much of Beningfield’s exploratory and diplomatic work came to a halt in the 1890’s when he ran into an implacable opponent in the form of the new British South Africa Company (BSACo), which was exploring some of the same areas in the north and trying to arrange its own favourable treaties with local leaders. The BSACo had something which Reuben Beningfield did not possess - a powerful armed force in the form of the BSACo Police. Beningfield withdrew from this activity in the face of BSACo competition but he was appointed to the Portuguese Order of Christ for his services to Portugal, not least for averting on several occasions conflicts between Gungunyana and the Portuguese.

When the trade of firearms into Zululand was finally suppressed in the wake of the Anglo-Zulu War - and ironically, it was John Dunn who was put in charge of the process of seizure and blockade - Reuben Beningfield turned his attention to another great source of trade and wealth. In 1877 he had been appointed emigration agent in Mozambique for the Natal Government and in the 1880’s and 1890’s he hired and transported, often in his own ship, literally thousands of labourers from Mozambique to Durban. His agent in Inhambane was Jose Teixeira who in 1888 also became a labour agent for the Natal government. It is said that Teixeira sent agents around Mozambique to use any tactic to encourage men to sign up and that many were actually held in chains in Inhambane before removal. These men - like the indentured labourers then being brought in from India - were found work in farms and plantations around Durban (e.g. the sugar estates at Tongaat) on the Natal railways (Reuben Beningfield being, usefully, a Director of the Natal Government Railways) but the majority were sent straight to Kimberley to become cheap labour in the mines and workings there.

It helped that Reuben’s brother James, an early pioneer in Kimberley, was a director of the Kimberley Central Diamond Mining Company. There was some opposition to this system in Natal, with liberal opinion regarding the use and movement of these men as illegal and little more than a new form of slave trade and in fact the Portuguese government actually banned the movement of labourers from Inhambane, but the ban was more theoretical than actual and Reuben Beningfield is said to have paid what we might call ‘backhanders ‘to Portuguese officials to turn a blind eye. Beningfield paid the fees associated with the hiring of each man (passport, transport etc.) who would technically arrive in Durban as a free labourer able to agree his own terms with an employer. For each individual labourer Reuben Beningfield received a capitation grant and he became very wealthy on the proceeds.

References

H. Bhila. The 1896-97 Southern Rhodesian War Reconsidered. University of Zimbabwe. https://ir.uz.ac.zw/jspui/bitstream/10646/3679/1/Bhila_The_1896-97_Southern_Rhodesian_War_reconsidered.pdf

P. Duckers. Guns to the Zulu - Beningfield and Sons of Durban. https://www.anglozuluwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Guns-to-the-Zulu-Beningfield-and-Sons-of-Durban.pdf

A.S. Hickman. Men who Made Rhodesia. The British South Africa Company, Salisbury, 1960

J.S. Galbraith. Crown and Charter. The Early Years of the British South Africa Company. University of California Press, 1974

R. Howman. Sir Herbert John Taylor, Kt., First Chief Native Commissioner. Rhodesian Publication No 36, March 1977 P1-15