90.The Barry’s of Montagu

Updated: 10/01/2025
Something about a family and the footprint they left in Montagu
BARRY & NEPHEWS

Thomas, Joseph & John Barry
Photo: Mr. T.B. Herold, Pretoria
Entrepreneur Joseph Barry persuaded his nephews, Thomas and later John, to assist with the rapid expansion of the business and the firm Barry & Nephews was founded on 1st June 1834. Joseph Barry and his nephews all married into the same family! Their wives were all granddaughters of old Cape Dutch aristocratic, Dirk Grysbert van Reenen who was the grandson of Graaf Jacob von Rhenen of Prussia. Joseph often admitted that this was the secret to their success.
The firm Barry & Nephews traded by ship all along the East coast from Cape Town to Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth) and from Port Beaufort up the Breede River to Malgas. From here it was a short ox wagon journey to the Barry trading store in Swellendam and over the Tradouw pass to Barrydale. This developed farming in the Overberg, as the overland route by ox-wagon was a hazardous, long and expensive journey

Picture: Paul Murray
discouraging the farmers from trading with Cape Town. By the 1840s Barry & Nephews were loading woollen cloth direct for London at Port Beaufort at the mouth of the Breede River. They encouraged the farmers to improve the quality of their vines and wool. During the 1850s they were presented with a cup for promoting the growth and exportation of wool. In 1865 they took a Silver Medal at the Paarl Agricultural Show for the best spirits of wine.
As more stores were opened in the Overberg more managers were needed to oversee the expansion and James Charles Barry (b. 6-5-1819 d. 7-6-1881 married to Elizabeth Tilson) the son of Joseph Barry’s brother James (b. 26-6-1789 in Hitchin d. 7-3-1842) and his wife Sarah Breeds also came out to South Africa to join the firm. The Nephews Thomas and John’s sister, Mary Anne married diplomat, George Cuthbert Pratt, and lived in Belgium. Both her sons, Francis Barry & Leonard George, also came out to South Africa to work in the firm. Eventually the firm had 15 stores to serve the Overberg as well as a Cape Town and a London branch. The Barry’s are an exceptionally close family and there can be little doubt that some of their success can also be attributed to them keeping in close contact with family who had businesses in England, France, Spain and Italy.
Sailing the Cape of Storms was not without its own hazards. In 1848 the 149 ton Cape Coastal schooner, Barry 1, wrecked in a South Easter off Struis Bay. Fortunately no lives were lost. In 1857, Barry 11, set out on a voyage to London from Port Beaufort with a cargo of brandy, wool, barley, aloes and animal skins. She wrecked whilst crossing the sandbar and tragically 3 lives were lost.
BARRY & NEPHEWS BUSINESS INTERESTS
•Shipping from Cape Town along the east coast up to Mauritius and to London.
•Traders with 15 stores in the Cape Colony and a branch in London.
•Banking, Philanthropy, Law & Auctioneering
•Builders of Stores, Churches, Schools & Gun powder magazines
•In 1849 the Barry & Nephews double storey store was the first commercial building in Mossel Bay – today it is a Protea Hotel
•Sheep (wool), Ostrich, Aloe, Cattle (butter), & Potato Farming
•Brandy Distilleries in Montagu & Robertson
•Wine, Raisins & Wine Stores in several towns
•Butchery & Canteen in Port Beaufort
•Bakery & a Flour Mill in Swellendam
•Dried Fruit in Worcester and Robertson
•Tobacco & Cigars at Lismore (1st SA cold storage plant & rooms)
•Horse Breeding
•Politics
SPIRIT OF WINE
Only the Overberg districts of Montagu, Robertson, Worcester and Barrydale (named posthumously after Joseph Barry) were fit for the growth of vines on a large scale. By far the greater part of the Overberg and thus the firms business was devoted to grain and sheep farming. Barry & Nephews had applied for a license to retail foreign wines and spirits as far back as 1839 and wine stores had been erected at Riversdale and Port Beaufort. However, by far the most important development to the farmers and to the young village of Montagu was the distilling of spirits of wine.
The Montagu Distillery was built by Thomas Fairclough and completed in December 1859. The Overberg Courant reported with great excitement, “de stookerij van de Heeren Barrij en Neven alhier is nu voltooid”! Surrounding farmers and those in the adjacent Barrydale district could now increase their vine production, “daar zij nu in staat gesteld zijn hunne wijngaarden te vergrooten en niet verpligt zullen zijn zoo veel naar elders to moeten transporteeren als vroeger”.
With the help of the spirits manufactured at the Montagu Distillery a better quality of wine could also be produced. This was of paramount importance as the Cape wines were generally inferior to the European wines and needed to improve to satisfy their local market and compete on the international stage.
With the building of the old Cogmanskloof pass in 1860 (Thomas Bain was commissioned to build the ‘new’ pass in 1877) Robertson and its wine farmers were linked to Montagu and the Barry & Nephews Montagu Distillery which produced, according to a chemist that assisted the judges at an 1862 agricultural show in Cape Town, “the best and strongest spirits I have seen here, made of wine, but not entirely free from fusal oil and sulphurous acid which are found in such abundance in our common Cape Spirits or Brandy. To these two impurities our Cape Brandy owes its disagreeable taste and offensive smell. Messrs Barry’s Spirits being nearly free from both could be used for medicinal and certainly for technical purposes, and for fortifying wines for exportation”. To cope with the increasing wine trade in the district, Barry & Nephews soon opened up a distillery in Robertson as well. In 1865 they sent a sample to the Paarl Agricultural Show. Competing against the best distilleries in the country the Robertson Distillery took the prize for the best spirits of wine.
Natasha Barry: The Barry & Nephews Montagu Distillery also won the Best Spirits of Wine award at the 1862 agricultural show in Cape Town.

Mr and Mrs Barry Du Toit

Picture and text: Montagu Museum
THE BARRY DISTILLERY IN MONTAGU

The Barry Distillery in Barry Street Montagu (around 1873 plaque date above upstairs door)
Picture: Frik Vermeulen Montagu History F/B page

Old picture of the distillery and shop
Picture: Montagu Mail August 2002

The Barry Distillery in Barry Street Montagu (probably after the Barry’s had sold as the name has been removed from the top of the building)
Picture: Frik Vermeulen Montagu History F/B page
MONTAGU BANK
By the end of the 1830s, Barry & Nephews had significantly opened up trade opportunities for Overberg farmers in the Cape Colony. However, the large sums of money they dealt with could not be kept in all the rural towns they traded with. “Counting Houses” were thus constructed by the firm across the Overberg and in Cape Town. Here they kept a certain amount of ready cash, but of great historical and economic importance are the five-pound Barry & Nephews ‘bank’ notes to facilitate trade especially in the remote or fairly isolated areas of the Overberg like Montagu was at that time. These were printed on watermarked paper in London. This promissory note gained the reputation of being ‘readily accepted everywhere’.
The Overberg’s subsequent prosperity eventually brought banks to be established in the region. In 1852 the Swellendam Bank and a Savings Bank were opened with Joseph Barry as one of the 12 directors and appointed chairman. John Barry became chairman of the Montagu Bank.

During the mid-1850s John Barry moved to take charge of the London branch and to order a steam assisted sailing ship, the SS Kadie. She was custom designed to navigate 35 km up the Breede River to Malgas and not reliant on wind to enter the river. By 1860 he had persuaded one of the Imperial banks to extend itself to the Cape Colony. Leaving his oldest son Joseph Joshua in charge, he returned and as one of its directors he assisted in the opening of the first Imperial London and South Africa Bank in the Cape. Joseph’s sons, Sir Jacob Dirk Barry (married to Prime Minister John X Merriman’s sister, Charlotte) and Thomas Daniel Barry were listed throughout as Cape shareholders in it. By 1877 this bank was absorbed by Standard Bank of SA.
In 1853 the Cape Colony achieved representative government from the British and the first Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, without regard to race, was elected. The Honourable Joseph Barry was elected as the Swellendam (and surrounding Overberg town’s including Montagu) representative and moved to Cape Town leaving the Swellendam Head Office in the hands of his nephew John Joseph Barry.
In 1863 the Honourable Joseph Barry was elected as Mayor of Cape Town until his death in March 1865. Seventy horse drawn carriages attended his funeral. Joseph’s death couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Overberg that was once again suffering the effects of a prolonged drought, a locust plague, and Gladstone raising the duty on wine imports leaving the farmers without a ready UK market for their wine. Joseph’s will revealed a partner’s agreement requiring that accounts be settled and his share paid to his family with the remaining estate shared between the surviving partners. Barry & Nephews had always extended credit and been patient about payment, waiting for the rains to fall or crops to be reaped. Lawyers now heartlessly delivered ultimatums to a farming population that was already overextended. To add insult to injury, on the 17 May 1865 strong winds prevailed and a fire that sparked from a baker’s oven laid waste to much of Swellendam in two hours, including the main Barry & Nephews stores. Joseph’s nephews John and Thomas Barry continued with the business which was further crippled when the SS Kadie struck the dreaded sandbar at the mouth of the Breede River and sank in November of the same fateful year leaving the farmers without a rapid means to market for their crops. Joseph’s eldest son Charles van Reenen Barry succeeded John Barry on his death in 1871 as head of the firm. Four years later the firm started selling out and Charles sold up a year later and moved to England. John Joseph of Swellendam was the last head of the firm which closed by the end of the 1870s.
SS Kadie

Photo: Cape Town Archives
Barry & Nephews, had opened the Hoops River Trading Store in 1847 in Hoopsrivier as Robertson was called before it was founded in 1853. This branch with its businesses in Worcester and Montagu continued operations as Barry Brothers with its head office in Robertson.
After the South African (Anglo Boer) War in 1902, Hamilton Barry (Joseph Barry’s grandson) had taken over as manager of Barry Bros., with his older brother George Joseph overseeing the Montagu store and distillery. As the largest employer in the district Barry Bros continued to prosper. However, the influence of WW1 was felt and they were unable to declare a dividend for 1916 – 1917. With an improvement of the news coming from the front, and a commensurate improvement in business Barry Bros. had hoped to post a dividend in 1917-1918. But by September of 1918 the entire Cape was in the deathly grip of Spanish Flu with the Overberg being particularly decimated. Several large Cape Town institutions closed down and schools only reopened on the 14th October instead of the 8th. Hamilton closed the Barry Bros. Cape Town office in Loop Street and sold the premises.
The firm Barry & Nephew was the building contractor for the building of the Dutch Reformed Church in Montagu for a contract price of £4,300. The laying of the cornerstone of the new church took place on 1 November 1858 and was attended by 800 people. Joseph Barry was one of the guests of honour who attended the ceremony.

Photo of the Montagu Dutch Reformed Church shortly after it was built
Photo: Montagu Archives
GEORGE BARRY & THE MONTAGU BRANCH OF THE BARRY ENTERPRISES

Document: Henry Northall
Uittreksel uit die boek “MONTAGU – Soos die dorp was vanaf my kinderdae”
Deur Tokkie Bussell
Die erwe in die dorp van Montagu is uitgegee in Januarie 1851 en in Barrystraat bokant die ou wynstoor staan die datum 1853. So Barry se besigheid neem ek aan was die eerste besigheid in Montagu. Wat ek onthou is dat George Barry en Hamilton Barry van Robertson die twee eienaars van die twee Barry besighede op Montagu en Robertson was. Hulle was die algemene handelaars en die grootste drankhandelaars in die Kaapprovinsie.
In 1901 het mnr. Bussell, vroeër van Londen, as bestuurder gekom vir die winkel waar hy 17 jaar lank die pos bekee het. Hoofdame was Miss de Villiers van die Paarl, toe later getroud met Apie Euvrard. Na haar het Miss Beukman gekom, net so knap en goed met kleremaak.
In die kantoor het mnr. Bussell en mnr. Buckle gewerk. Mnr. Thomas Barry, ‘n broer van George het ook in die kantoor gewerk. Hy was ‘n baie slim man. Die boekhouer was mnr. Falck. In die 50 jaar wat hy daar gewerk het was hy nie een dag afwesig nie. Agter die toonbank was mnr. Grafie van Blommenstein, Daan le Roux, Piet Nel (sy seun was Jan Smuts se loots), Gert Swart en nog baie ander. Piet Swanepoel en Willie Conradie was in die graanstoor en oom Hennie Cloete was hoof van die drankstoor en stokery.
Die kantien waar die drank verkoop is was in Barrystraat en al die jare was Jan Buirski en Swanepoel die kroegmanne daar. Die winkels het Saterdagaande baie laat oopgebly want meeste boere was in die dorp tuis in hul tuishuise en wat was lekkerder as om Saterdagaande in die winkel almal bymekaar te kom en te gesels. Buitekant die kantien in Barrystraat was altyd so ‘n mooi glas lantern wat met olie gebrand het en in die aand was dit so mooi vir ons as kinders as die lig so deur die gekleurde glas skyn.
Both pictures of the shop are from the Bath Street side



Dit is hoogs waarskynlik dat die gebou wat met die pyl aangedui word, in hierdie voor-1940-prent, die kantien in Barrystraat was
“REENEN” – now known as “KINGNA LODGE”

The building known as Kingna Lodge was originally the property of George Barry, a wealthy businessman of Montagu. He probably had the house built around 1898 and the house plan may have been bought from a catalogue, as was the case in those days. He named the house “Reenen” after his grandmother Johanna Marthina van Reenen. The name of the house was subsequently known as “Kingna Lodge”
The whole block of land west of the present day Huis Uitvlucht up to Barry Street belonged to George. At one stage the Barry family donated the land where the St Mildred’s chapel stands today, to the Anglican Church.
After George Barry’s death, the house served for some time as a hostel for high school girls. Later the house was bought by Piet Beeby who enclosed part of the stoep.
Extract from the Montagu Mail Sept 2007
Kingna Lodge wat regoor die destydse Barrywinkel gebou is se fondamente (van klip) alleen het destyds £1,500 gekos, en blykbaar kon die mense nie ophou praat van die duur huis nie. Hy en sy suster het alleen daarin gewoon.
Bron: Esther Hofmeyr


George se ouers: Mnr. & Mev. Michael Barry

In 1914 trou George Barry op 49 jarige leeftyd, na die dood van sy ma in 1913 met Rachael “Ray” van Zyl (1889-1980), suster van Gielie van Zyl, wat in Langstraat gebly het. Sy het destyds op Edenburg in die Vrystaat skool gehou
Ray Barry
Foto: Henry Northall
Trousertifikaat van George en Ray Barry

Dokument: Henry Northall
Ray het pas op Montagu gekom óf die Groot Griep van 1918 breek uit. Die jong mev. Barry het altyd ʼn sagte hart gehad en het dadelik ingespring om met verpleging van siekes te help. Sy het haar na die minder gegoede mense gewend en het in die Oudam, soos Montagu-Wes destyds bekend was onder die siekes gewerk. Die ellende wat sy onder daardie mense, wat nie ʼn dokter of ʼn hospitaal kon bekostig nie gesien het, het ʼn blywende indruk op haar gemaak. Terwyl andere vroue oor juwele en pelsjassie sou droom, het Ray Barry gedroom oor ʼn hospitaal waar armes verpleeg kon word. Hierdie gedagte het sy dan ook gedurig teenoor haar man geopper. Eendag, toe hy ook ernstig aan haar plan begin dink het, het George Barry sy vrou gevra om ʼn entjie saam met hom te gaan stap sodat hulle die plan kon bespreek. Hulle het nog so deur die veld gestap toe sy skielik afbuk, ʼn klip optel en dit voor haar uitgooi “kyk George, daar waar die klip nou geval het, wil ek hȇ dat ons ʼn hospitaal moet bou”.
Mnr. Barry wat ʼn welgestelde man was, het dadelik die wiel aan die rol gesit. Hy het met sy invloedryke vriende gepraat, geld gevra en dit was nie lank nie of ʼn hospitaaltjie is gebou met Dr. Castles en Dr. C.A. Wessels as die eerste geneeshere.
Dit het tot in 1945 ʼn privaat hospitaal gebly voordat die Provinsiale Administrasie die administrasie oorgeneem het.
Uittreksel : Montagu Stories – Friends of the Montagu Hospital Trust (21.12.22)
George Barry was nie net betrokke op besigheidsgebied nie, maar ook op kultuur/ sosiale gebied in Montagu, soos gesien kan word in talle foto’s:

Hy was president van die 1ste Rugbyspan van Montagu in 1905, ‘n jong Dr. Muller sit langs hom voor links
Foto: Montagu Museum

George was a member of the Montagu Town Council for quite a number of years and served as the Mayor of Montagu from 1904 – 1912
Picture: Langeberg Municipality

Photo: Montagu Archives
Union Day 1910

Informal visit of General Botha to Montagu/Occasion: Medals presented to the school-children
Names not complete but includes:
Back L/R: Piet Fourie, F. du Toit, Unknown, N. Ackerman (4th from left), Unknown, Stemmet, J. Knipe, P.J. Joubert (8th from left), Wolfaardt, Ep. Jordaan, Unknown, ds. Odendaal, Thomson.
Front L/R: George Barry, Gen. Botha, F. van Eeden (M.P.), ds. Malan
Photo: Montagu Museum
The picture below had no title but it could have been an event that included the local police/home guard as a number of police officers/home guard officers are present in the picture. In all likelihood it could have been when Medals were awarded to the Ex- members of the Montagu Town guard in the Montagu court room on Wednesday 18 December 1905

Daniel Laguerenne van Zyl seated front middle, George Barry front seated (right) next to Daniel van Zyl , Johan George Euvrard(seated extreme right)
Photo: Montagu History Facebook page

During the Second Anglo Boer War, when Montagu was under Martial Law and occupied by the British forces, George Barry held the rank of Private in the Montagu Town Guard. The picture above was taken during the Anglo Boer War – George Barry wearing a white jacket standing next to a soldier. They could have been requisitioning livestock from the locals.

George Joseph Barry died at his home at the age of 52 years 8½ months as a result of Bronchopneumonia. He was buried on the 4th January 1918 at the Maitland Cemetery Cape Town.
Document: Henry Northall
Hamilton Barry sold the distilleries at Montagu and Robertson after his brother’s death to pay out the estate, but retained the retail businesses. In a letter dated 15th September 1918, addressed to his youngest brother Duncan van Reenen Barry who was away fighting in WW1, Hamilton mentions that “Joe is in charge at Montagu and is to live in old Koots Burger’s house next to the business”. By 1924 the business, by then named the Robertson Trading Association, had Joe still in charge at Montagu, assisted by a Mr. Gilchrist as manager.
The ‘Joe’ that Hamilton mentions with great familiarity in his letter was referring to Joseph Barry (1876-1961)) who was in charge of the business responsibilities in Montagu.
Joe was born on the farm Stockwell Ashton. It has not as yet been possible to determine where he did his early education but his higher education was completed at Bishops Diocesan College Cape Town. In then appears that he was based in Cape Town where he actively pursued his love for rugby until he left Cape Town to take up the management of the Montagu branch of the Barry’s business.
His obituary reads as follows:
Joe (Joseph) Barry died peacefully in the Provincial Hospital, Port Elizabeth, on the 29th March. He had come down from East London and was staying with his son when he was suddenly taken ill. Aged 85, he was one of the few surviving members of the 1903 Springbok side and played on the wing in all three tests against Mark Morrison’s British touring team.


Photos: Gerald Batt
A member of Villagers for ten years, he also represented Western Province. H. W. “Paddy” Carolin (1891-1901), the celebrated 1906 Springbok, described Joe Barry as the “ king of the tackle ”, and second to none of all the great defensive players he had known. He said: “ No player loved or enjoyed his rugby more than Joe. No matter how important the game or how serious the situation, Joe always wore a smile and never missed an opportunity to raise a laugh. The Malays loved him, and it was quite an embarrassment to walk up Adderlev Street with him on a Monday morning, particularly after a Villager-Hamilton match on the previous Saturday, and listen to the remarks and questions from the hansom-cab drivers. Joe’s replies could be heard across the street! I shall never forget Joe intercepting a pass near the goal line in a match against Sacs (South African College High School) at Newlands and running the length of the field to score.
Poor Old Joe ” sung by his Malay admirers. Up to the last Joe took a great interest
in the game and watched the Tests against the All Blacks at Newlands and Port Elizabeth last season.”
Barry who won a shooting cup at Bishops, left Cape Town in 1920, lived at Montagu for ten years, then moved to East London. He was well known there through his long association with the Belgravia Hotel which he and his wife managed until his
retirement a few years ago. Thereafter he lived at the Manor House. Predeceased by
his wife, he is survived by his two sons, Charles of Port Elizabeth and Henry of Cape
Town, to whom we express our sympathy. (pp 30 – 31, 1961 April edition of the Diocesan College Magazine).
Paul L Murray
Bishops Diocesan College Historian/Archivist
Thank you to the Robertson Museum for their research on Barry Bros. The Robertson Museum also has a Barry Room that was built by Barry’s Handelshuis with information on the South African Barrys.
Book References
The Barrys and the Overberg by AP Buirski, a thesis submitted for the M.A. degree in the University of Stellenbosch, December 1952
The Barry Family by Mary Hewitt Hanley (née Barry)
The Families of Hamilton Barry and Duncan Barry by Margaret Leroy (née Barry)
The Barry Family Tree of Joseph Barry & Nephews, Thomas & John compiled by Dennis T.v.R. Barry. Assisted by Mary Hewitt Hanley (née Barry) born in 1910, Margaret Clare Leroy (née Barry) born 1932 and died 2003, Michael Merriman Coke born 1941 and Reginald M. Barry born 1945.
Overberg Odyssey by Edmund H. Burrows
Van Reenen, Van Renen, Vanrenen Familie / Family 1722 – 1994 by J.D. Van Renen. Publication series, Department of Computer Science, University of Port Elizabeth 1994.
Web References
Stopforth, J.A. 1974, Swellendam en sy Distrik gedurende die siviele kommissarisskap van Harry Rivers. 1828 – 1841. Page 62. Copyright of this Thesis held by U.C.T. Viewed on 28 March 2022.
https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/16628/thesis_hum_1974_stopforth_james_arban.pdf?sequence=1
Dr. Muller, A.L., n.d., Coastal shipping and the early development of the South Cape, Department of Economics, University of Port Elizabeth viewed on http://dspace.nwu.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10394/6434/No_18(1985)_Muller_AL.pdf?sequence=1
Wikipedia, June 2021, Mayor of Cape Town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Cape_Town
Extracts/pictures obtained with permission from https://rivertonstud.co.za/heritage/
Contributions: Natasha Barry, Gerald Batt, Irma Jordaan, Paul Murray and Henry Northall