Edith Struben (born Edith Frances Mary Struben) (1868

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

- 21 October 1936

Newlands, Cape Town Newlands (Nuweland) is an upmarket suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located at the foot of Table Mountain in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, and is the wettest suburb in South Africa due to its high winter rainfall. The neighborhood ...

) was a South African botanical illustrator and painter. She was the eldest daughter of

Harry Struben Harry Struben born Hendrik Wilhelm Struben aka Henry William Struben (9 October 1840 Lower Rhine, Germany - 18 October 1915 Rosebank, Cape Town) was the brother of Frederick Struben, who together managed the first gold-mining operation on the Re ...

, a pioneer gold miner on the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

. In 1885 Fred and Harry Struben discovered alluvial gold on the farm Wilgespruit (now the Kloofendal Nature Reserve) in Roodepoort. At that stage Edith was a mature 16-year-old and taking care of Charles (9) and Enid (5) since their mother was frail and living in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

. She did the housekeeping of a small cottage at Little Falls, cooked for the two youngsters and schooled them at home. She also found time to sew and paint, depicting the wild flowers she came across, landscapes, and the tented camp close to the mining operations. Fred and Harry eventually sold all their claims and property and retired to Cape Town. Harry built 'Strubenheim', a mansion which currently serves the Music Department of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. The family counted

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

and Cecil John Rhodes as close friends. Edith studied fine art in Paris, Rome and London, returning to South Africa in 1901 and exhibiting her watercolour landscapes regularly. She became one of the first members of the South African Society of Artists. Her works are in the collections of the

Africana Museum Museum Africa or MuseuMAfricA (formerly known as the Africana Museum) is an historical museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa. History The museum was established in 1933, when the Johannesburg Public Library bought a large quantity of ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, the Pretoria Art Museum and the

South African National Gallery The Iziko South African National Gallery is the national art gallery of South Africa located in Cape Town. It became part of the Iziko collection of museums – as managed by the Department of Arts and Culture – in 2001. It then became an agenc ...

in Cape Town. In 1920 she took over 'Luncarty', a Cape Peninsula gabled house in Upper Holly Street,

and close to Kirstenbosch. This had been designed by Francis Kaye Kendall who was one of the business partners of Herbert Baker, for Commander Sereld Hay of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, South African Division. She was a staunch supporter of the early Botanical Society of South Africa, being vice-president at the time of her death in 1936. Her exposure to the garden stonework and paths of Italy and the Mediterranean led to her involvement in the planning and execution of the stone paths at Kirstenbosch. The succulent ''Mesembryanthemum strubeniae'' L.Bolus now known as ''Ruschia strubeniae'' Schwantes was named in Edith's honour by her friend

Louisa Bolus Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus ''Married and maiden names, née'' Kensit (31 July 1877, Burgersdorp – 5 April 1970, Cape Town) was a South African Botany, botanist and taxonomist, and the longtime curator of the Bolus Herbarium, from 1903. Bol ...

, as was ''Watsonia strubeniae'' L.Bolus.

Family

Edith's siblings were Arthur, Gertrude, Beatrice Mary, Fredrick, Robert, Charles, Enid (24 November 1879 Pretoria - 10 February 1966 London). Enid eventually married Commander Dudley de Chair (1864-1958) in 1903 in Torwood near

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

, Devon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Struben, Edith 1868 births 1936 deaths Botanical illustrators South African painters South African women painters 19th-century South African women 20th-century South African women artists South African Republic people