Richard Gush

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Richard Gush (1789 - 1858) was an 1820 Settler. Originally from Beer, a village in Devon, England, he settled in Salem, near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. He earned renown by saving Salem from Xhosa warriors. A devout Quaker, he rode to meet them unarmed. After negotiating with them, they never attacked the village again, having previously stolen cattle.

These events inspired Guy Butler to write Richard Gush of Salem, a play that was commissioned by the Cape Performing Arts Board in 1968 for performance in 1970 as part of the celebrations of 150th anniversary of the 1820 Settlers' arrival. It was subsequently made into a movie.

Gush was a carpenter and built Salem's first church. Only after building the church did he build his house: indeed he and his family lived in a cave for their first seven years in South Africa.

A sports house at Westering High School, Port Elizabeth is named in his honour.

[edit] References

Rivett-Carnac, Dorothy E., 1974. Thus Came the English in 1820, Cape Town: Howard Timmins

Metrowich, F. C., 1968. Frontier Flames, Observatory, Cape Province: Gothic Printing

"Richard Gush of Salem" (play program). Rhodes University Drama Department, Directed by Roy Sargeant, 1970.