Gone but not forgotten: the Ellis Brown home Kinnoull

Mark Levin

The site where Ridge Park High School (originally Berea Girls’ High) stands was once occupied by two houses on large grounds, one of which was 399 Ridge Road named “Kinnoull”, owned by the prominent Ellis Brown coffee family for two generations.

Its first owner was Joseph Ellis Brown, the founder of the company. He entered into the coffee business the year after his arrival in Durban in 1877.

His early attempts to rely on locally produced coffee floundered as the coffee was ravaged by disease, resulting in the failure of the Natal coffee industry. To overcome this setback, he imported coffee from Costa Rica and South America.

Later, coffee from Kenya became an important source. A hard worker, Joseph’s business quickly prospered, obliging him to move to larger premises at 464 West Street.

Outside of business, Joseph owned racehorses and was chairman of the Durban Turf Club in 1906 and 1908-12.

Like many early citizens of Durban, he took a keen interest in the town’s development. As a councillor in the 1890s, he recognised the importance of Durban’s beaches. He was elected Mayor of Durban on August 9, 1902, the day of the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. His first duty was to preside over the coronation festivities at Albert Park, which had been transformed into an Old English Country Fair. Joseph would remain mayor until 1905. By this time, he was residing at Kinnoull, his impressive home on Ridge Road.

After Joseph’s death in 1919, Kinnoull was inherited by his eldest son, Rupert Ellis Brown. Joseph had certainly made his mark, but Rupert would do so to an even greater degree.

Born in Durban in 1880, he was educated at DHS. Both he and his younger brother Cecil would enter the family business soon after their 18th birthdays.

It was not until 1917 that the by-then well-known Ellis Brown business was incorporated into a limited liability company; both brothers would later be managing directors.

By 1934, the company could claim that its products reached every village in Southern Africa.

Rupert and Cecil were both keen sportsmen. Cecil represented Natal in water polo. Both enjoyed yachting, but for Rupert, it was a passion. He was a member of the Congella, Point, and Royal Natal Yacht Clubs, holding the position of commodore at Point from 1915-1921 and at Royal Natal for a remarkable 25 years. In his 40s, he would represent South Africa as a Springbok yachtsman at the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games. (Many years later, his own son Joe would do likewise at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.)

On the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899, Rupert, appropriately, joined the Natal Naval Volunteers (NNV) but soon found himself besieged in Ladysmith. He survived to fight another day. During the 1906 Rebellion, both he and Cecil volunteered with the NNV.

Like his father before him, Rupert had a keen interest in municipal affairs. He would serve as a councillor from 1935 to 1950 when he retired aged 70.

But it was during World War II, when he served as mayor from 1939 to 1945, that he really came into his own. When he was awarded the Freedom of the City in 1951, the citation referred to the guidance he gave to the destiny of the city in the dark days of the war, sharing the anxieties and sorrows with his fellow citizens during that difficult period.

He and his wife Clare were a highly visible, energetic couple during the war years.

Clare was as remarkable as her husband. Born in Wales, she saw a job advertised in Durban and sailed here to take it up in 1912. She was 21. The following year, she married Rupert, a union that would last 56 years. A well-known radio and stage personality, Clare also immersed herself in charitable and fundraising concerns. During the war, she opened Kinnoull to visiting servicemen and convalescing troops.

Her legacy is still felt at St Henry’s Marist College, which opened its doors in 1929. With 88 boys on the roll, the school needed more playing fields, but during the Great Depression, times were hard and funds were few. Together with a committee of ladies, nearly all the money was raised, with Clare herself a generous contributor. Once the fields were completed, she performed the official opening ceremony in 1932.

The following year, she presented the school with the Ellis Brown Inter-House Shield, which is still presented to the winning house captain at the end of each year.

Another effort which took seven years to bear fruit was the opening, in 1950, of the Clare Ellis Brown Nurses’ Home on Hospital Road. Now more than 75 years old, it continues to be a much-needed facility for young children in the Point area. Not for nothing was she called Durban’s “Fairy Godmother” and a deserved recipient of civic honours in 1956.

After a year’s break from the mayoralty, Rupert was again elected mayor in 1946. In March 1947, the Royal family visited Durban as part of their Southern African visit. Clare later said that meeting and hosting the royals had been her greatest thrill. The mayoral couple would later be guests at Buckingham Palace.

After Rupert died in June 1969, aged 88, Kinnoull was sold. Berea Girls’ High opened in 1970 with about 188 pupils. As there were no school buildings, the house was used for classrooms. Di Compton, who was a teacher there in those first years, recalled the elegance and grandeur of Kinnoull, particularly the high-ceilinged reception rooms with their beautiful fittings.

By then, Clare had moved to a flat in St Thomas Road, where, after a short illness, she died aged 82 in December 1973. A few months later, in 1974, Kinnoull was demolished.

The legacy of this family survives, even if most South Africans only know of the Ellis Brown brand name. They remain one of only two families to produce both a father and son as mayors of Durban. The other was Sir Benjamin Greenacre and his son Walter.

Next week will feature the neighbouring house, which also became part of the school’s property.