STOCKENSTROM, ANDRIES
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Andries Stockenstrom (July 6, 1792-London, March 15, 1864), Cape frontier official and politician, was the eldest son of Anders Stockenstrom. In 1815 he became landdrost of the Graaff-Reinet district, a position his father had also held until he died in 1811. In 1828, when the landdrost system was abolished, Stockenstrom was appointed commissioner-general for the eastern districts.
PHOTO CAPTION: Andries Stockenstrom. SOURCE: EA Library.
Stockenstrom was opposed to Colonel Charles Henry Somerset’s policy of reprisal raids across the border, believing that they would lead to war with the Xhosa. The majority of white settlers supported Somerset, and from that point on Stockenstrom’s career was marked by controversy and political and personal feuds. Unable to prevent Somerset’s raids, he went to England, and when he failed to convince the authorities there to place the commissioner-generalship on a more independent footing, he resigned.
The Sixth Frontier War of 1834-35 broke out while he was abroad, and he testified before the select committee of the House of Commons, criticizing the colonists, the philanthropists, and Sir Benjamin D’Urban’s frontier policies for creating tension on the frontier. Lord Glenelg, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, agreed largely with Stockenstrom, and in February 1836 he was appointed lieutenant governor of the eastern districts.
He returned to South Africa to face widespread hostility from those who believed that he had misrepresented frontier conditions by blaming the settlers for the war instead of the Xhosa, a gross oversimplification of his role. His political opponents and personal enemies lost no opportunity to discredit him. Stockenstrom did not help matters by his over-sensitive reaction to criticism.
The settlers objected to the reversal of D’Urban’s policy and its replacement by a system of treaties concluded with chiefs, which system they felt operated to their disadvantage. The widespread opposition to Stockenstrom led to his dismissal in 1839. He obtained a baronetcy and a pension by way of compensation.
When another frontier war broke out in 1846 and the burghers refused to serve under a military commander, Stockenstrom was given the rank of colonel and appointed to lead them. Again he fell afoul of the local authorities and the burghers were disbanded.
The British government refused to heed his protests against the policies and actions of Sir Harry Smith, who became Governor in 1847, and Stockenstrom then threw his weight behind those campaigning for representative government, playing a leading and controversial role in the events leading to the granting of a Constitution in 1853. Stockenstrom gained election to the legislative council, but resigned in 1856 due to ill health. He spent most of the remaining years of his life abroad. The district of Stockenstrom was named after him.
Andries Stockenstrom played an influential, if often frustrated, role in the formulation and oversight of Cape frontier policy in the first half of the nineteenth century. Continuously dogged by personal campaigns against him, Stockenstrom held fast to his positions against the “reprisal” system and cross-frontier cattle raids generally. He remained politically active, following his retirement from administration, until he departed for Europe in 1856.
K.W. SMITH
