House of JAN FLEMMER - How It All Started

House of JAN FLEMMER aristocratic family, but given to the abuse of liquor and the company of’ women of humble origin’.

These habits caused him to be regarded as a disgrace to the family, and in 1855 he was sent to the Cape as a ‘Remittance man’, that is, he was given a remittance (of twelve English pounds a month) on the understanding that he would never return.About 1864, Harry and Martha met at the Cape under circumstances not relevant to this story.

They became good friends, with her struggling to keep her life together, and with him continuing his waywardness. In time he returned from his travels to Cape Town where he married Annie Macnamara in 1872, his first wife, who never left England, having died three years previously.

In 1874 Harry Grey’s wife became seriously ill, and he sent for Martha to help nurse her. His wife, Annie, died at his home in Wynberg, and in due course Martha lived with him as his commonlaw wife. Martha bore Harry two children, John and Frances Grey.

In 1872 Harry and Martha were married.Then, in 1883, whilst Martha was pregnant with their third child, Mary, events took a dramatic turn.

The Seventh Earl of Stamford, a cousin of Harry, died without leaving a son. Normally the title would have passed to Harry’s father, but he had already died, and as Harry junior, now living at the Cape was the eldest son, the title passed to him. Harry Grey, the remittance man now became the Eighth Earl of Stamford and Ninth Baron of Groby, and Martha became the Countess of Stamford! As John was considered by English law to be illegitimate, he could not inherit a title. Frances died of smallpox at the age of three, but Mary, born after the marriage of her parents, became Lady Mary.Harry, the new Earl, never returned to England and so never took up his seat in the House of Lords. He died in 1890, leaving Martha very well off financially.

The two children did not have a pleasant stay at the Cape, as there were strong prejudices against them because of their father’s known past and because their mother was coloured.

In time they went to England, where both married. John became an electrician, married, and had a son who became a lawyer and later emigrated to New Zealand.To compensate John, who did not receive a 43