RARE J.H. CARTWRIGHT TOKEN - CAPE COLONY

John Henry Cartwright, born in 1855, was a British sailor.

He settled in the Cape becoming a railway contractor. In 1883 he completed the Bill Wright line over the Cape Flats then helped George Pauling and Co Ltd construct the rail line from Kimberley throught Vryburg to Mafeking. In 1897 he worked on the New Cape Central Railways from Ashton to Swellendam and from Riversdale over the Gourits River to Mossel Bay through to George. Cartwright was a meticulous man and kept a well-stocked shop in which these tokens were used from 1898. In 1912 he had his equipment and these tokens stored in stables in a shed in Rosebank. The Liesbeeck River broke its banks and washed away most of the token coins. A few were discovered in 1950