Kuruman SA why might my GG father Tom Bell, have been there!?

[BamptonHatherleigh]

  After YEARS of brick walls my Great Grandfather suddenly appeared in a new burial record in Hendon on FindMyPast. You could have knocked me down with a feather though as it is an inscription which says he died in Kuruman May 1890. All his life he was a builder/bricklayer all around the UK, mainly in London,  and the last record I have of him is deceased, on a marriage certificate, and his profession Railway inspector.
What could he have been doing there? What was going on in the area at the time.... it doesnt look like railway building?! I have this photo which has remained in my unknown pile. I dont think it looks old enough to be 1890... but could it be anywhere there? The fact there is engineering interest information on the back makes me wonder but...??!!

[philipsearching]

In the later 1800s mining in South Africa became big business.  Not just gold and diamonds, but many kinds of minerals.

wiki states that Kuruman has deposits of manganese and iron ore - ideal for the production of steel.

The mined ore would have needed to be transported to a port or factory - so a railway would have been very useful.

Philip

[BamptonHatherleigh]

Thanks, thats helpful. I was wondering down those lines.

[ShaunJ]

Is it Tom Bell? The estate file includes a letter from his son Walter: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BY-64D7?i=451&cc=2521616

[BamptonHatherleigh]

Thank you!!
But now I am more confused! Yes my GGgfather is Tom bell b c1842 or 4 Ratcliffe Notts, not Northampton and yes he had a son Walter.
Would he have lied about his age for some reason? and why say he was unmarried?
Find one answer and create another 100 questions!  This surely has to be my guy?  No telephones No internet.. you had to wait 9 years to come and check out your fathers death.... do you think there was no reply to that letter?  the letter dated Nov 1891 says he asked the wife for proof of marriage... so how did she learn of his death if he declared himself as unmarried? 

[ShaunJ]

Would he have lied about his age for some reason? and why say he was unmarried?

He wasn't in a position to say anything. Whatever was recorded in the death notice would have been best knowledge at the time, presumably from information given by friends and workmates. Note that the death notice had to be lodged within 6 days for an unmarried person (6 weeks for a married person) so to avoid the possibility of a penalty there would have been a presumption that he was unmarried if there was no evidence to the contrary. The existence of a wife must have come to light subsequently.  Perhaps a notification by letter or telegram was sent to his UK address which may have been on the "scrip" certificates found in his effects.

[BamptonHatherleigh]

Thank you for clarifying that, I assumed the information was already recorded somewhere.
Would the age also have been "best knowledge?"
If he had gone to work for a mining company or some such is there any hope of any employment records?

[AntonP]

I would be very surprised if this picture was taken in the Kuruman region. The area is mainly low level scrub, small trees. Its a very dry area so with all the trees and seemingly good growth in the picture, I doubt this was taken in the Kuruman region.
In about 1887 Cecil Rhodes started the building of his railway further north. Your GG grandfather could have been in the area working on this project (altho it must be some 300 Km from Kimberley). There is no railway in Kuruman itself so possibly he was there to study the ground or on another project or on R&R and died there. What was the cause of death? Possibly a shooting accident? Kuruman is the base for the London Missionary society so maybe he went there for that reason? Possibly a hospital there altho there would have been one in Kimberley.
I think metals were only mined around there some time after 1900.

[BamptonHatherleigh]

Thank you, thats very interesting!I find it all strange, but its hard to put myself back in time when I dont know the history. His death notice in  SA doesnt say cause though he had a shotgun in his possession. Tough as someone above said the record of is death might have been best knowledge, he was recorded as age 37 and a bricklayer and unmarried but he had left a wife and children behind... one of whom came looking for his inheritance 9 years later. If he was recorded as unmarried how did his wife/family learn of his death? I am wondering if the advertisements shown on the attached pic would have been to try and locate family?

He lived much of his life as bricklayer, though the last mention I have of him in England is on his son's marriage cert in 1902 where he was deceased, but recorded he was a railway inspector... bit of a leap from bricklayer?!
in 1891 census his wife was head of the family. As he had travelled around the country he could have been building railways.
Thank you, everyone who has added a little colour to my jigsaw puzzle with so many missing pieces!