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Cape of Good Hope Bank, Standard Bank and The Bank of Africa Ltd for £6,000 and “such
other debts he may have to them”. As security he put up his Kalk Bay and Kenilworth

properties. It seems that the family rallied round to get him out of this pickle. His father

bought Dalebrook House and his brother-in-law Charles Murray bought Beaufort Cottage
and all the land behind up to Quarterdeck Road. His own house, Quarterdeck, was also

bought by Murray and then transferred to a Molteno Trust. In less than 12 months, by 25
February 1892, all Anderson’s debts had been settled.

In the late 1890s Thomas Anderson had become interested in politics and served as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly. He also served on the Licencing, Harbour and Hospital
Boards. Of interest from a Kalk Bay perspective is that he was a member of the

Parliamentary Select Committee that considered the proposal to build a harbour at Kalk Bay.
He retired from politics in 1907, the same year the proposal was rejected after a fiery

parliamentary debate.

He moved to Kalk Bay permanently and died at his house Quarterdeck aged 86 in 1930. His
obituary was effusive in its praise: ‘Never a good cause pleaded to his generosity in vain, and

whenever possible he gave what help he could. In his death South Africa has lost a loyal son,
his children a beloved father and his friends a warm-hearted, cheery and unchanging friend.’

There is a wonderful anecdote from Margaret Hemsted the niece of the Harold Anderson

mentioned here. A great picture of times past:

In the early 1890s, Mr Thomas Anderson and his wife Maria had their family home,

Quarterdeck, perched quite high above Kalk Bay. Each day, he would commute into his office

in central Cape Town, catching the relatively new suburban train which now went all the way
to Simonstown.

A ritual developed. Someone would hang out on the stoep keeping an eye out for the train as

it rounded the furthest headland near Sunnycove before heading into the big sweep of Fish
Hoek, and on towards Kalk Bay and St James. As soon as the train was spotted, the cry went