Hendrik Cloete was one of the best-known farmers of the Cape in the late 1700s. He owned Groot Constantia near Cape Town from 1778, and made its sweet Constantia wine famous in Europe [IC]. In 1795 he took over the farm Weltevreden, where Greyton now stands, from Marthinus Theunissen [IC]. He is part of the valley’s story as one link in the chain of owners through which Khoekhoe grazing land became a colonial farm, and later a village.
What the letters in square brackets mean
Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.
- [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
- [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from one community’s or organisation’s own sources. For Greyton figures, much of what is told comes from local histories and tourism sources that repeat each other, so they often share one origin.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
At a glance
| Born | 1725 [IC] |
| Died | 1799, at Nooitgedacht near Stellenbosch [IC] |
| Known for | Rebuilding Groot Constantia and making Constantia wine famous [IC] |
| Link to the valley | Owner of Weltevreden, the farm on which Greyton was later built, from 1795 [IC] |
His life
Cloete was born in 1725 and grew up on the family farm Nooitgedacht near Stellenbosch, which came to him through his mother’s family [IC]. He married Hester Anna Lourens, and they had eleven children [MS].
In December 1778 he bought Groot Constantia for 90,000 guilders, a very high price at the time [IC]. Over fourteen years he rebuilt the manor house, built a new wine cellar (finished in about 1791), and planted thousands of new vines [IC]. The architect Louis Michel Thibault and the sculptor Anton Anreith are credited with the cellar and the gables of the manor house [IC]. From 1788 he argued with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for the right to sell his wine freely, outside the company’s quotas [IC].
Like other large Cape farms of the time, Groot Constantia depended on the labour of enslaved people [TBV]. How many people Cloete held in slavery, and whether any of them worked at Weltevreden, is not recorded in the sources used for this page.
After his wife died in 1794, Cloete went back to Nooitgedacht, where he died in 1799 [IC]. His youngest son, also named Hendrik, inherited Groot Constantia [IC].
Weltevreden
In 1795 Cloete took over Weltevreden from Marthinus Theunissen, who had left after disputes with his neighbours at Boschmanskloof and Genadendal [IC]. Why a Constantia wine farmer wanted a farm in the Overberg is not recorded. Many Cape farmers of the time held farms far from home for grazing cattle [TBV].
Cloete died four years later. Who held Weltevreden between his death in 1799 and 1839, when John Malcolm Stewart became its first British owner, has not yet been found.
Links to other figures
- Marthinus Theunissen held Weltevreden before him.
- John Malcolm Stewart owned it after him, from 1839.
- Herbert Vigne bought it in 1846 and founded Greyton on it.
- Abraham Josias Sluysken, head of the Cape government from 1793 to 1795, ordered the Khoekhoe living at the mission at Baviaanskloof to send their cattle away. In February 1795 the missionaries’ diaries record a visit to the mission by “Mr Clüde, to whom Constantia belongs”, who, with his companions, said the grazing was ample and that Sluysken “has not been told the truth” [MS]. In April 1795 the diaries record that a “Mr Claude”, probably the same man, had put the Khoekhoe’s case to the government and bought land near the mission [TBV]. That land was probably Weltevreden itself, held until then by Baas Teunis’s son, who was probably Marthinus Theunissen [TBV]. In July 1796 a letter from the British Governor mentions complaints by Mr Clüde about the Khoekhoe’s cattle [MS]. See Genadendal Diaries, A363595, lines 14576 to 14712 and A363349, lines 16215 to 16238.
What is still open
- Why he acquired Weltevreden, and what he used it for.
- Who owned Weltevreden between 1799 and 1839.
- Whether enslaved people or Khoekhoe workers lived and worked at Weltevreden while he owned it.
Related
- Valley History
- History of Greyton
- Marthinus Theunissen
- John Malcolm Stewart
- Herbert Vigne
- Abraham Josias Sluysken
References
- Historical Publications Southern Africa. Hendrik Cloete, Groot Constantia and the VOC, 1778 to 1799. Edited by G.J. Schutte. His dates, the purchase of 1778 and its price, Nooitgedacht, his quarrel with the VOC, and his death.
- wine.co.za. The Cloete era. His purchase in December 1778, his family, the cellar, Thibault and Anreith, and his youngest son.
- Wikipedia. Groot Constantia. The Cloete family’s ownership and the cellar of 1791.
- Xplorio Greyton. History of Greyton and Genadendal. Cloete’s ownership of Weltevreden from 1795.
- Greyton Transition Town. About Greyton. Cloete of Groot Constantia taking over Weltevreden in 1795.
- Genadendal Diaries repository. Genadendal Diaries. English translations of the missionaries’ diaries, cited by file and line number. Unreviewed machine translations. The visit of February 1795 and the complaint of July 1796.