A LADY'S LIFE AND TRAVELS IN ZULULAND AND THE TRANSVAAL DURING CETEWAYO'S REIGN

Being the African Letters and Journals of the late Mrs Wilkinson

First edition: 264 pages, frontispiece portrait, red cloth boards titled gilt on the spine, which is slightly faded, book sellers ticket on the front paste down end paper, corners slightly bumped, a good copy.

The letters were edited by her husband, Rev.Thomas Edward Wilkinson, Bishop of Zululand.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography vol. 2 page 610 -611: The letters composing this memoir are published with a view to giving an idea of the kind of life which a lady is called upon to live when she leaves her English home for the purpose of aiding "... missionary work . " in such a wild and savage country as Zululand." Mrs. Wilkinson accompanied her husband, together with his missionary party, to Zululand, sailing from Falmouth on July 6, 1870. They made some stay at Bishopscourt near Cape Town, afterwards proceeding to Maritzburg, Natal, and it is stated that on their arrival at this town they found that " everybody that can go is gone to the diamond fields." The road to their destination the mission station of Kwamagwaza was by the lower Tugela Drift to Ekowe (Etoywe), and en route the missionaries visited many known people in Natal, connected with mission and religious work in the colony.

The volume affords considerable information respecting social and political life among the colonists and natives of Natal and Zululand at this period, and includes a few details regarding the author's travelling experiences in the Transvaal. Mrs. Wilkinson appears to have been much liked by the natives, but she does not speak well of Cetywayo, and observes," From the day of his coronation ... to the day our troops entered his country, his attitude towards us was one of broken faith, marked disrespect, and increasing insolence." Bishop Wilkinson and his wife visited England in 1875 in order to make arrangements for the extension of the diocese and raise the necessary funds, but towards the end of the year 1877 Mrs. Wilkinson was attacked by consumption and succumbed. The station at Kwamagwaza had become a most important centre in the very middle of Zululand and its progress had been remarkable under Bishop Wilkinson, but during the war with Cetywayo it was destroyed and all the buildings demolished. ..