1888 in South Africa
# 1888 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1888 in South Africa.

## Incumbents

* Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Hercules Robinson.
* Governor of the Colony of Natal: Arthur Elibank Havelock.
* State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand (until 14 July), Pieter Jeremias Blignaut (starting 14 July).
* State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
* Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: John Gordon Sprigg.

## Events

### March

* 13 – De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. is founded in Kimberley.

### October

* 30 – Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company obtains Matabeleland from Lobengula in the Rudd Concession, named after Charles Rudd.

### Unknown date

* The Eastern Province Rugby Union is founded.
* The town of Amersfoort is established around a Dutch Reformed Church built in 1876.

## Deaths

* 26 April – William Wellington Gqoba, author, dies at Lovedale near Alice.
* 9 July – Sir Jan Brand, 4th president of the Orange Free State. (b. 1823)

## Railways

### Locomotives

Two new 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Natal Government Railways (NGR):

* The locomotive named Havelock, built in the Durban workshops and known as Hairy Mary during the Second Boer War, is the first locomotive to be designed and built in South $Africa.^{:90–91}$
* The first five of 100 Class D 4-8-2 tank locomotives, the first in the world to have the Mountain type wheel $arrangement.^{:90–93}$
