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 The land in Glendinning’s insolvent estate was bought by Joseph
Blackburn in 1863 but he did not enjoy his new home for long, dying soon
after. In February 1864, the property now known as the Manor House in
the area known as Brighton Estate, extending from Camps Bay House to
Oudekraal, was bought from Blackburn’s estate by Daniel Mills for £475.
Camps Bay was still wild and isolated and a large leopard was shot there
in 1865 and donated to the Museum by a Mr Brockway. Because most of
the land in Camps Bay was now owned by Daniel Mills, any plans for
developing a village overlooking the bay were shelved so that only a
couple of houses were built over the next twenty years.
Daniel Mills (1809-1889) was the son of 1820 settlers; starting out as a
bookkeeper, he had become a prominent merchant, first dealing in grain
and general goods and later opening a flour mill which operated from a
modern steam mill in Buitenkant Street. He was charitable and highly
respected, a member of the Commercial Exchange and the South African
Rowing Club. Although he lived in Bloemhof below Roeland Street, he
and his family loved Camps Bay and spent their summers at Camps Bay
House. As well as being a successful businessman, he was a successful
family man. He had 13 children and for thirty-five years, he, his children
and grandchildren would summer in Somerset’s large home.
“When the family stayed there together, there were strictly kept times when
the womenfolk bathed and when the men bathed. The fishing was
wonderful and large rock lobsters called crayfish were used for bait. When
the holidays finished the boys of the family who had finished school would
stay on at Camps Bay living in bell tents in the pine forest named Mills
Bush and would walk over Kloof Nek each morning to go to work and
would return in the evening.”
 A regular visitor to the Millses was John Kotzé, later Sir John, the Chief
Justice of the South African Republic.107 Born in 1849, he would spend
weekends in Camps Bay with his cousins. His Memoirs and Reminiscences
contain his
“lively recollection of the many happy days spent there... Camps Bay in
my boyhood was indeed an ideal spot... Besides my cousins, there was
the family of Mr D Mills and Captain Ball108 who lived very near each
other. Mr Mills was the head of a well-known firm of millers ... and
owned extensive land at Camps Bay, occupying, during the Summer and
Autumn months as a seaside resort, the old house ... (of) Anthony
Oliphant. Like that of the Balls, the Mills family was a large one of sons
and daughters. There was consequently enough company with plenty of
pleasant and healthy outdoor life for the young folks. A favourite way of
passing the time used to be climbing the mountain by way of Kasteel
Poort, and at times some of the young ladies would join the party. Two
of these, Miss Bunny Ball and Miss Martha Mills were excellent
mountaineers quite equal to the best of their male companions. In these
early days Kasteel Berg, which is near the Woodhead Reservoir, was a
lovely sight to behold. It resembled a huge garden of wild flowers of
many kinds. The deep sapphire-blue agapanthus, the beautiful disas, the
scarlet crassula, anemones, heaths of different kinds, grew in profusion.
We would return with bunches of these pretty flowers and were home
again in time for lunch.”
Camps Bay
For a Victorian family, the Mills daughters were given a surprising
amount of freedom to pursue an outdoor life. One of the Mills’ daughters
later recalled an exciting day in April 1865 when a picnic party was
arranged to go to Robben Island consisting of Spykers, Mills and Balls,
including some of the young ladies - Martha and Harriet Mills, Bunny Ball
and Miss Spyker. The boat, which was skippered by Clem Goslett, left at
3 a.m., but when it arrived at the island, the Superintendent would not
allow them to land. Robben Island at the time housed lunatics and lepers
who lived under conditions described with “a shudder of horror,”109
A fierce south easter sprang up, they could not return home, so they ran
the boat ashore. At first they were threatened with legal proceedings for
trespass, but after a while a contractor working at the lighthouse placed a
tent at the disposal of the ladies. When the party felt that it was safe
enough to leave, a dense fog sprang up. By the time they managed to land
at Bakoven, the anxious family had contacted a tugboat and lit bonfires on
Camps Bay beach.
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publication may be reproduced without the prior written consent
of both the publisher and Holiday Rentals in Cape Town
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