Fort Funk?

Posts : 629 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 42

All, it's bothering me. Why was it called " Fort Funk"

Posts : 2558 Join date : 2009-04-06 Age : 58 Location : UK

Sas1 click on link.

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Posts : 629 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 42

Try again...

Thanks John.. Salute

Subject: Fort Funk ? Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:49 pm

Hi sas1.
This was covered some time ago and I'm certain I posted transcrips from a couple of instances , Fort Newdigate
from memory was known as '' Fort Funk '' . Funk was the term used when people became upset , jittery , scared and nervous etc etc . things like '' I was in a proper Funk '' , '' The whole camp was in a state of Funk '' I seem to remember reading these lines in one or two of my books . Hope this makes things a bit clearer ? .
Cheers 90th. Salute

Subject: Re: Fort Funk? Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:20 pm

Fort Funk is in Pinetown. Regards, Ken

Subject: Re: Fort Funk? Fri Jul 27, 2012 8:51 pm

Who, gave it that name.. Question

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

sas1 wrote:: All, it's bothering me. Why was it called " Fort Funk"

I think it's covered in Fearful Hard Times.

SAS, are you really in the SAS?

Subject: Re: Fort Funk? Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:31 pm

The Fort Funk in Pinetown was established around the Wayside Hotel, which was built by AK Murray in 1850. The previous year, he had purchased 1361 acres of the farm known as 'Salt River'. Murray persuaded the local residents to build a fort around his Wayside Hotel due to the possibility of a 'native uprising'. The fort consisted of a bank and ditch with bastions at diagonal corners and a bowling green on the south side. A well was also dug. The fort was later improved upon and a gun was placed on the western bastion in 1870. The name 'Fort Funk' was given by local farmers in 1850 because they considered it to be an ideal place to take shelter in.
There is a plaque (sadly now stolen) alongside a ship's gun commemorating the fort. I'll ask Admin to post a photograph of it for me.
Regards, Ken

Subject: Re: Fort Funk? Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:03 pm

"It was established in 1850 around the Wayside Hotel, itself built the year before, along the main wagon route between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It was named after the governor of Natal, Sir Benjamin Pine. The British built a concentration camp here during the Second Boer War, to house Boer women and children."

Subject: Re: Fort Funk? Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:08 pm

Just a point about this discussion; the site of the concentration camp during the Anglo-Boer War was a considerable distance away from the site of Fort Funk, which is basically in the centre of Pinetown. It was the town - Pinetown - that was named after Sir Benjamin Pine (the Governor of Natal). Regards, Ken