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Grahamstown (South Africa)

Eastern Cape Province

by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 18 May 2002, after image from this site, reported by Mark Sensen, 5 Sep 2000

Grahamstown flag
Grahamstown Coat of Arms
Rhodes University

See also:

Grahamstown flag

Grahamstown, Grahamstad or Rini - Province: Eastern Cape (until 1994, Cape of Good Hope Province, usually called Cape Province); District Council: Western Region (previously Albany Division). Additions: Rini (1995). Incorporated into Makana Municipality, 2000.
In March 1984 the City of Grahamstown adopted a flag, one of six designs prepared by heraldic expert Prof
Hugh Smith, of Rhodes University. Ten years later it was registered and was gazetted on the same day (in 1994) together with the coat of arms. It is described as:
"A rectangular flag in the proportion 2:3, per saltire red and black, charged with a saltire between above and below an annulet, all yellow, and in the hoist and the fly a white escallop". Info from this site.
Jarig Bakker, 7 March 2001

Grahamstown Coat of Arms

image from this site, reported by Mark Sensen, 5 Sep 2000

Grahamstown Municipal Arms granted by the London College of Arms in 1912 and registered with the South African Bureau of Heraldry in 1994 (Government Gazette dated 29 April ’94) and described as:
Arms: Or, on a pile Gules, three annulets placed 2 and 1 Or; on a chief Sable, three escallops Or.
Crest: Issuant from a mural crown Or, masoned Sable, a plume of three ostrich feathers Sable, embellished Argent, enfiled of an annulet Or.
Mantling: Gules and Or.
Supporters: Dexter a leopard and sinister a giraffe, proper, each charged on the shoulder with an escallop Gules.
Motto: Virtute et Opera.
Info from this site.
Jarig Bakker, 7 March 2001

Rhodes University

by Martin Grieve, 29 Mar 2005

Rhodes University is located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The University was established on 31 May 1904 as the Rhodes University College, named for Cecil John Rhodes, diamond and gold magnate, imperialist, sometime Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and founder of the British South Africa Company which colonised Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe and Zambia). Donations towards its founding came largely from the trustees of Rhodes's estate (he had died in 1902) and De Beers Consolidated Mines (which he had founded), as well as several public bodies in what was then called the Eastern Province.

On 10 March 1951 Rhodes became an independent university, to which the University of Fort Hare founded in 1916 in the near-by town of Alice) was affiliated until 1959. Under the apartheid dispensation Fort Hare originally accepted Black students only while Rhodes catered for white students.

In the 1960s Rhodes University established a branch in Port Elizabeth, but government intervention saw its campus there being taken over by the new University of Port Elizabeth which in January 2005 became known as the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

In the 1980s Rhodes University established a branch in East London which became a flourishing campus, but again further government intervention resulted in this campus becoming part of the University of Fort Hare in 2003.

The flag of Rhodes University is based on its Arms which were granted by the London College of Arms in 1913. The blazon (as recorded on the Deed of Grant) reads:

"Or on a Pile Sable an Open Book inscribed with the words "Sapientam Exquiret Sapiens" between three Escallops of the first. On a Chief Argent a Lion passant gules between two Thistles slipped and leaved proper. And for the crest a Wreath of the Colours upon a Rock the Figure of a Man mounted on a Horse representing 'energy' all Argent".

The excessive use of capital letters and a paucity of punctuation is characteristic of blazons from the College of Arms. It is also characteristic of the College to omit mention of the motto below the shield, which reads: Vis Virtus Veritas.

The symbolism of the Arms is as follows:
Black and gold are the livery colours of the Graham family. The pile (inverted triangle) is characteristic of the arms of Graham of Fintry, while the escallops (shells), an emblem of pilgrimage, appear not only in the arms of Fintry (a cadet branch of the family) but also Graham of Montrose (the clan chief). These Graham symbols signify the university's presence in Grahamstown.

The lion and two thistles were taken from the coat of arms granted posthumously to Cecil John Rhodes and were also found in the Arms of Rhodesia. The references to Cecil Rhodes arise out of his estate's role in establishing the university.

The open book is a common feature of the arms of a college or university; a famous example is Oxford University.

The crest is a representation of the famous statue by Watts which forms part of the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town. The statue, also known as Physical Energy, was a favourite of Rhodes'.

An appalling aspect of the artwork produced by the herald painter, or artist attached to the College of Arms in London, is that the crest-wreath is drawn with the appearance of a tea-tray balanced on top of the helmet. The crest-wreath or torse was produced by twisting silk cloth in two or more colours and was placed around the bolts that held the crest to the helmet, so as to conceal them, and so formed the base of the crest. It must be added that the standard of artwork produced through the College has improved considerably through the 20th century, and is now an exemplary blend of authentic mediæval and appropriate modern styles.

Further details of the University's Arms and its history can be found on Mike Oettle's SA heraldry website while the University's own website can be found here.
Bruce Berry, 29 Mar 2005