Susan Newton-King was born in Cape Town of immigrant parents. She grew up on a fruit farm on the slopes of the Helderberg in Somerset West. She was educated at Somerset House Preparatory School in Somerset West and Saint Cyprian's School in Cape Town. She read African Languages at the University of Cape Town and completed her PhD in African History at the University of London in 1992, under the guidance of Professor Shula Marks. Her present research concerns the social history of Cape Town and Stellenbosch in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with particular reference to the private lives, family relationships and social networks of freed slaves. She has also written about sodomy trials at the Cape and about the relationships between Dutch-Afrikaners and Khoisan on the eastern frontiers of the colony. In 2016 she retired from the University of the Western Cape, where she had taught in the Department of History for 26 years.
This is the story of Claas Holder and of my attempts to understand the circumstances of his lonel... more This is the story of Claas Holder and of my attempts to understand the circumstances of his lonely death. Claas Holder's death is mentioned only twice in the records left by the Dutch authorities at the Cape. The first entry covers only one page, but it is by far the longest. The second is no more than a scratch in the muster rolls of Drakenstein district. Each year from 1710 to 1713, ?Claas Oudom' was listed as a member of a burgher infantry division led by Captain Abraham de Villiers, but his name was crossed off the list for 1713 and someone had pencilled the word ?dood' in the margin. Leviticus 18:23 provides some insight into why it should be necessary to kill the animal: ?You will not have intercourse with any kind of animal; you would become unclean by doing so.Keywords: Captain Abraham de Villiers; Claas Holder; Claas Oudom; dog; Drakenstein district; Leviticus
This article explores the interacting dynamics of race, class, status and respectability in the e... more This article explores the interacting dynamics of race, class, status and respectability in the emerging colonial society at the Cape of Good Hope in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It is essentially a case study, which examines the background to the trial and execution of Gerrit Coetzee, the first freeburgher to be accused of sodomy at the Cape. By implication, it raises a number of questions about the rural community in which Gerrit was raised and it re-opens old debates about the degree of colour blindness and the determinants of status in early colonial South Africa. Was Gerrit a victim of racial or social prejudice? Was he excluded, cold-shouldered or otherwise subtly marginalised by his young male peers in Daljosafat, where he lived? Was he driven by prejudice to seek the company of other marginalised individuals and ultimately to engage in suicidally transgressive behaviour? Or was he simply a young man who wrecked his chances by going too far?
The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1999
... to psychotherapy, Newton-King awakens the reader's anticipation for an innovative and di... more ... to psychotherapy, Newton-King awakens the reader's anticipation for an innovative and disruptivelook at the ... number of notable interventions, namely in its focus on the San and Khoi in the ... King contradicts Guelke's idea that the frontier was a place where any young white man ...
... Susanna, - 9.10.1785, X Sybrand van Dyk fG Johannes Frederik, - 8.11.1789, X Helena Catharina... more ... Susanna, - 9.10.1785, X Sybrand van Dyk fG Johannes Frederik, - 8.11.1789, X Helena Catharina van der Menve g1 Willem Johannes, = 26.12.1809 f7 Susanna Catharina, 2 6.7.1794 f8 Anna Magdalena Jehanna, = 27.2 .l803 e2 Willem, 25.11.1759, burger Swellendam, X ...
Breaking the chains: Slavery and its legacy in the nineteenth-century Cape Colony, edited by Nigel Worden and Clifton Crais (Witwatersrand University Press), 1994
This chapter is based on the most important chapter in my doctoral dissertation, which was publis... more This chapter is based on the most important chapter in my doctoral dissertation, which was publisghed in 1999 as Masters and servants on the Cape eastern frontier.
Cape Town between East and West: Social identities in a Dutch colonial town (edited by Nigel Worden and published by Jacana Media), 2012
This chapter explores the family relationships and wider social network of two freed slaves, Arno... more This chapter explores the family relationships and wider social network of two freed slaves, Arnoldus Koevoet and his wife, Anna Rebecca of Bengal, who lived in Cape Town in the 1730s. the chapter is based on a small but very significant collection of letters received by the couple in the 1730s, from correspondents in the Netherlands, Batavia and Ceylon.
Magnifying perspectives: Contributions to history, a Festschrift for Robert Ross, edited by Iva Pesa and Jan-Bart Gewald (Leiden: African Studies Centre, Leiden, occasional publication number 26), 2017
This article presents a detailed exploration of the status of freed slaves (called 'free blacks' ... more This article presents a detailed exploration of the status of freed slaves (called 'free blacks' by the Dutch authorities) in early colonial Cape Town and surrounds. It takes issue with the long held view that freed slaves did not share the legal or social status of freeburghers, but rather occupied an intermediate position between freeburghers and slaves.
Lance van Sittert and Sandra Swart (eds), Canis Africanis: A dog history of Southern Africa (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 2008
This article explores the background to a suicide which occurred on the banks of the Breede River... more This article explores the background to a suicide which occurred on the banks of the Breede River, not far from the present-day town of Ceres, in 1713. This was the first of my 4 articles on sodomy cases at the Cape of Good Hope in the early 18th century. As such, it devotes a lot of space to the theological and legal treatment of sodomy in West European history and law.
This is the story of Claas Holder and of my attempts to understand the circumstances of his lonel... more This is the story of Claas Holder and of my attempts to understand the circumstances of his lonely death. Claas Holder's death is mentioned only twice in the records left by the Dutch authorities at the Cape. The first entry covers only one page, but it is by far the longest. The second is no more than a scratch in the muster rolls of Drakenstein district. Each year from 1710 to 1713, ?Claas Oudom' was listed as a member of a burgher infantry division led by Captain Abraham de Villiers, but his name was crossed off the list for 1713 and someone had pencilled the word ?dood' in the margin. Leviticus 18:23 provides some insight into why it should be necessary to kill the animal: ?You will not have intercourse with any kind of animal; you would become unclean by doing so.Keywords: Captain Abraham de Villiers; Claas Holder; Claas Oudom; dog; Drakenstein district; Leviticus
This article explores the interacting dynamics of race, class, status and respectability in the e... more This article explores the interacting dynamics of race, class, status and respectability in the emerging colonial society at the Cape of Good Hope in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It is essentially a case study, which examines the background to the trial and execution of Gerrit Coetzee, the first freeburgher to be accused of sodomy at the Cape. By implication, it raises a number of questions about the rural community in which Gerrit was raised and it re-opens old debates about the degree of colour blindness and the determinants of status in early colonial South Africa. Was Gerrit a victim of racial or social prejudice? Was he excluded, cold-shouldered or otherwise subtly marginalised by his young male peers in Daljosafat, where he lived? Was he driven by prejudice to seek the company of other marginalised individuals and ultimately to engage in suicidally transgressive behaviour? Or was he simply a young man who wrecked his chances by going too far?
The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1999
... to psychotherapy, Newton-King awakens the reader's anticipation for an innovative and di... more ... to psychotherapy, Newton-King awakens the reader's anticipation for an innovative and disruptivelook at the ... number of notable interventions, namely in its focus on the San and Khoi in the ... King contradicts Guelke's idea that the frontier was a place where any young white man ...
... Susanna, - 9.10.1785, X Sybrand van Dyk fG Johannes Frederik, - 8.11.1789, X Helena Catharina... more ... Susanna, - 9.10.1785, X Sybrand van Dyk fG Johannes Frederik, - 8.11.1789, X Helena Catharina van der Menve g1 Willem Johannes, = 26.12.1809 f7 Susanna Catharina, 2 6.7.1794 f8 Anna Magdalena Jehanna, = 27.2 .l803 e2 Willem, 25.11.1759, burger Swellendam, X ...
Breaking the chains: Slavery and its legacy in the nineteenth-century Cape Colony, edited by Nigel Worden and Clifton Crais (Witwatersrand University Press), 1994
This chapter is based on the most important chapter in my doctoral dissertation, which was publis... more This chapter is based on the most important chapter in my doctoral dissertation, which was publisghed in 1999 as Masters and servants on the Cape eastern frontier.
Cape Town between East and West: Social identities in a Dutch colonial town (edited by Nigel Worden and published by Jacana Media), 2012
This chapter explores the family relationships and wider social network of two freed slaves, Arno... more This chapter explores the family relationships and wider social network of two freed slaves, Arnoldus Koevoet and his wife, Anna Rebecca of Bengal, who lived in Cape Town in the 1730s. the chapter is based on a small but very significant collection of letters received by the couple in the 1730s, from correspondents in the Netherlands, Batavia and Ceylon.
Magnifying perspectives: Contributions to history, a Festschrift for Robert Ross, edited by Iva Pesa and Jan-Bart Gewald (Leiden: African Studies Centre, Leiden, occasional publication number 26), 2017
This article presents a detailed exploration of the status of freed slaves (called 'free blacks' ... more This article presents a detailed exploration of the status of freed slaves (called 'free blacks' by the Dutch authorities) in early colonial Cape Town and surrounds. It takes issue with the long held view that freed slaves did not share the legal or social status of freeburghers, but rather occupied an intermediate position between freeburghers and slaves.
Lance van Sittert and Sandra Swart (eds), Canis Africanis: A dog history of Southern Africa (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 2008
This article explores the background to a suicide which occurred on the banks of the Breede River... more This article explores the background to a suicide which occurred on the banks of the Breede River, not far from the present-day town of Ceres, in 1713. This was the first of my 4 articles on sodomy cases at the Cape of Good Hope in the early 18th century. As such, it devotes a lot of space to the theological and legal treatment of sodomy in West European history and law.
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