Establishment of the town of Somerset - 1925

Immediately after the establishment of the magistrate’s office in 1825, the stands were laid out on the ground that had been the Somerset Farm. The first 84 stands were sold on the 13th and 14th of April 1825, each between 150 and 450 feet in size. The average price per stand was £46, so the total amount received was around £3000. The livestock and other implements that were left on Somerset Farm were taken to Grahamstown as they would fetch a better price, and the total income for the sale of land, livestock and implements amounted to £9346. Only £100 of this was given to the magistrate for the alterations to the offices.

The town did not prosper at first. For years it was neglected, as although it had a magistrate, his head office was in Grahamstown, and all paperwork, money and government issues were handled from Grahamstown. There were also several droughts in the area, and quite a bit of animosity between the early residents in the town, said to have been caused by quarrelling over “sacrilegious pastimes”.

The memory of Lord Charles Somerset is perpetuated today, not only by the name of the town itself, but also by a number of streets that derive their names from members of the Beaufort family. To differentiate between Somerset and Somerset West, also named after Lord Charles, our town had the “East” added in 1857.  Some confusion exists as to which came first, Somerset East or Somerset West, but it seems that, officially anyway, Somerset East was established first.

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