Richard Gush of Salem by Guy Butler-Gush 1820 Settler

Collectible 1820 book. Book has plastic protective wrap. Pages manilla have slightly browned with age.Binding strong.

Numerous underligning with pencil and pen, Notes in pencil. This in fact appreciates the value because one can see how important this play was.

Richard Gush (1789–1858) was an 1820 Settler. Originally from Beer, a village in Devon, England, he settled in Salem, near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. He earned renown by saving Salem from Xhosa warriors. A devout Quaker, he rode to meet them unarmed. After negotiating with Gush, they never attacked the village again, having previously stolen cattle.

These events inspired Guy Butler to write Richard Gush of Salem, a play that was commissioned by the Cape Performing Arts Board in 1968 for performance in 1970 as part of the celebrations of 150th anniversary of the 1820 Settlers' arrival. It was subsequently made into a movie.

Gush was a carpenter and built Salem's first church. Only after building the church did he build his house: indeed he and his family lived in a cave for their first seven years in South Africa.

A sports house at Westering High School, Port Elizabeth is named in his honour.