WATSON, ELISE MARY, nee Kockott.
Elise was born in Butterworth on the 2nd April 1928.
She died in Rondebosh on the 18th February 2018.
She married Graham Edward Watson in East London on the 25th June 1949.
The family lived for some years in Stirling in East London before moving to Westville near Durban where their 3 daughters grew up. They then moved to Rondebosch near Cape Town.
We visited them a few times as a family and when I was stationed at Youngfield in the navy I dropped in several times.
I remember her bing involved in the local church and I think in the Progressive Party. van Zyl Slabbert was the local mp.
She sent me a card in 2005 with a long letter as a well as a description of the house in the illustration which is shown below with the description in her words.
I am appending a little note here about the picture on this card. This is the historical Clifton House which still stands although much messed about. A great source of amusement in my family is the fact that my grandfather owned, not only this house & outbuildings, but the whole property down to the beach. Foolish man sued the municipality when a flood caused a landslide & he lost everything.
As a result of our connection with the history of the place we were given dozens of these cards, Hence my using one here.
To this we can add the printed description on the reverse of the card.
AFRICANA SERIES
Thomas Bowler 1812 - 1869
Clifton House at Sunset - W.W.Bowler. Signed and dated. Some years ago this historical homestead featured on one ofr our cards painted quite magnificently by W. Hermann. Now several Bowler collectors have requested that we print the earlier Thomas Bowler panorama from almost the same viewpoint, including part of the impressive Twelve Apostles Range that runs along the Atlantic coastline close to the water's edge.
Anders Spaarmann, an early exlporer, who visited the Cape, mentions this Georgian style homestead "Clifton House" in his journal as early as 1810. Nearly a century later - 1905, during a particularly wet winter the house was all but destroyed when a landslide swept down Table Mountain and through the centre of the building. The family of Mr SSB Mills, who owned the property at the time, had a narrow escape.
This watercolour impression is not of Bowler's best known, but like so many of his other pictures, done on the spot, he always captured the essence of the moment. There are almost 700 of his watercolours and nine oil paintings extant and catalogued by Dr Frank Bradlow, the renowned Cape art historian.
Thomas Bowler born in Tring, Hertfordshire, arrived in the Cape, 5 January 1834 as an assistant to the Astronomer Royal, Sir Thomas Maclear. Soon there was a clash of personalities and Bowler accepted an appointment for two years on Robben Island, as tutor to Major R Wolfe's children. Here, Bowler executed several of his major seascapes featuring Table Bay, Table Mountain and sailing ships. He returned to the mainland, married and for the rest of his life painted his way into the hearts of all South Africans..................
