Francis Farewell

Lieutenant Francis George Farewell (1784-1829), the father of the Port Natal Colony in South Africawas born at Holbrook House near Wincanton in the Vale of Blackmore in 1784. His father was Reverend Samuel Farewell, who died when Francis was young.

Francis and the rest of the Farewell family then moved from Holbrook to Tiverton, he became a Scholar at Blindells School until the age of 13, when he left to become a Midshipman in the Royal Navy.

He fought against the French in the Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Trafalgar, two years later he was to have a small part in creating the British Empire.

He later left England for the Cape Colony, then under the leadership of Governor Lord Charles Henry Somerset, in 1823 he planned to establish an Ivory Business in Natal, in order to make contact with King Shaka of the Zulus, in 1824 he left for Natal along with his crew and friend Mr Henry Fynn a Physician.

Their ship was caught in a storm in the Indian Ocean, but they managed to reach the shores of Natal, it was there they met with the Zulus.

Farewell and his team of men went with the Zulu soldiers to KwaBulawayo, near present-day Eshowe, the Zulu Royal Kraal and home to King Shaka Zulu himself, when they met with Shaka they shared information on each other's pasts, notably Shaka's past of childhood and soldier in the Mtethwa army with Dingiswayo.

In late 1824, Farewell asked for Shaka's permission to establish a trading post in Natal, he did and established Port Natal (today's Durban) for ships travelling to India to stop, also for Farewell to trade with the Zulus for Ivory.

In the 1820s, Shaka was at war with several tribes including the Ndwandwe, Farewell and his group fought with the Zulus at the Battle of Gqokli Hill, where they defeated Zwide the King of the Ndwandwe.

In 1827, Nandi King Shaka's mother died, prior to her death Farewell had obtained Shaka's permission to establish a peace treaty between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom, but it failed, Farewell returned to hear news of Nandi's death, and remained at Port Natal.

The following year, King Shaka had turned insane after the death of Nandi, he had many of his people massacred, totalled up to 7000 dead, by September the King's brothers, Dingane and Umthlangana had plotted with Shaka's advisor Mbopa to assassinate Shaka, they succeeded in killing Shaka, and Dingane became king of the Zulu. Farewell was at Port Natal, when in 1829 there was unrest and in an ambush, Farewell and a few men were killed.