Page 190 - Bulletin 19 2015
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At the time Petrava was registered in her name she had divorced her first husband (Ellet) and
married a Canadian, Guy Carleton-Jones in 1927. (Fig. 3.79.) He is listed in the Who’s Who
as Consulting Engineer and Joint Manager of New Consolidated Goldfields. Further research
records Carleton-Jones, a brilliant mine engineer, as having played a major part in finding the
‘lost’ main gold reef stretching from Randfontein to the Mooi River, near Potchefstroom. To
quote: ‘He is regarded as the main intellectual force behind the opening up of the West Wits
line – leading to the westward expansion of the original goldfields. The mining town of
Carletonville is named after him.’
They were an extremely wealthy couple who perhaps came to Cape Town for the season and
found Petrava ideal for socialising and entertaining in the style of the Transvaal ‘gold
people’. In 1948 Mrs Carleton-Jones applied to have additional rooms added to Petrava and
this was approved but no details have been found.
She is referred to as somewhat exotic as a member of the Appleton family (later owners - see
below) said that his school woodwork master used to ask him if he knew that the house was
haunted, and had he ‘seen the ghost of Carleton-Jones?’ He never did find out what this
meant. A Google search revealed that in 1953 Frances Carleton-Jones had published a book
‘And the Sound of a Voice…’ which was an account of the author’s spiritualist experiences.
It is easy to imagine how the stories of séances and ghosts would fly around the village of
Kalk Bay when this news got out.
On 15 July 1950 the Carleton-Jones sold the house to Kathleen Zilla Rumble, the wife of Roy
William Rumble. Frances died on Guernsey in 1970.
When Roy Rumble came to Kalk Bay he bought four ex-wartime crash-boats. Two of them
were bought without engines and the superstructure of one lay in the garden at Petrava for
many years. It is believed that the well-known boat Iona was also owned by Rumble. He was
best remembered in Kalk Bay for his involvement with the sea and particularly for his rescue
attempt of the Jasmina with his crash-boat Zest near Cape Point. (Fig. 3.80.)
