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Dear Martin Kay (and hello to the Barker descendants on this thread!),

I am also researching Roderick Barker, on behalf of a descendant of his daughter Gertrude. If possible I would love to know more about the files you mention in the Kimberley Library? It would be brilliant to know what they reveal about Roderick if at all possible?

I look forward to hearing from you.

With thanks,
Rebecca

Greetings Mac11767


I see that you are  a decendant  of Roderick Barker.

I am not sure when you made this post and you may have found a lot of information since you did.

I know Kevin Barker  (his great great grand son) quite well  - he is still a diamond digger in the Kimberley area of South Africa.

Although I live in new Zealand I travel to South Africa quite regularly and on the last trip (November 2019) whilst i was in Kimberley I dug out some files on Roderick Barker at the Kimberley Library but as yet have not gone through what I have found. I intend to do that some time before I travel back to South Africa - probably mid 2020.

The person who gathered most information on Roderick Barker was George Beet -  a historian on early Kimberley (and who was the nephew of Roderick Barker). He published two books - "Romance and Reality of the Vaal Diamond Diggings" published in Kimberley in 1917 and "The Grand Old Days of the Diamond Filelds"  published in Cape Town - no date given but also around 1917.

There is a very large box of information and stories of the diggings gathered by George Beet in the Kimberley Library and in 1996 the Friends of the Library published a limited edition book based chiefly on George Beets notes called "Knights of the Shovel" edited by Febe van Niekerk. This book has two pages dedicated to Roderick Barker and his role on the Vaal diamond Diggings.

I have copies of all three of these books.

If you would like more information please contact me and if you are interested I could ask Kevin Barker whether he would like to make contact.

Regards


Martin Kay

NB. I am no relation to the Barker family at all but I worked with Kevin when I was working in the diamond industry.