Harrismith is a lovely, pleasant, peaceful town on the Drakensberg escarpment
which is the boundary between the Free State and Kwazulu Natal.
It has a fairy tale connection with the Iberian Peninsula, in particular with Spain.
During the Napoleonic Wars Lord Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington was
the commander of the British army in Spain and Portugal. His tormenting of and
creating unrest in order to wear down the French resistance resulted in numerous
bands, both patriotic and essentially lawless, which made life very uncertain
for almost all the inhabitants.
A twenty four year old officer in his army was Henry George Wakelyn Smith,
better known as Harry or to his troops as Wakalong Smite.
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| Harry's birthplace |
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| He attended school at St Mary's |
He was the son of a surgeon at a time when British society was rigidly
divided in a class system where only those born into the higher classes were
considered as "public" and the rest even professional people like surgeons were
on a par with tradesmen. Harry was the son of a surgeon and his abilities can be
judged by the fact that he was knighted and later became a baronet - a member of
the upper echelons of society.
When Harry was seventeen years old he caught the eye of William Stewart who
assisted him to join a rifle regiment where he was a second lieutenant
In January 1807 he was sent to Spain where he learnt Spanish. During battle
there the British were victorious but the troops broke into wine cellars and
became a drunken rampaging mob for two days.
It is at this stage that the little fairy of this fairy story enters the
picture.
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| Juanita the little Spanish fairy |
Juanita Maria de los de Lores de Leon was born on the 27th March 1798 into
an old Spanish noble family.At the age of fourteen years she was orphaned and
her only close family then was a sister. Their home had been ransacked by the
pillaging troops at the battle of Badajoz. She and her sister sought sanctuary
with the British officers where a brother officer of Harry saw her and became
very lyrical about her beauty.Harry, however, captured her heart. She was
fourteen years old and he was twenty four years old. Kincaid the officer who was
so smitten with her that he said: "being an angel more transcendentally lovely
than I have ever seen........her face though not rigidly beautiful was
nevertheless so remarkably handsome and so irresistibly attractive ....to look
at her was to love her, but I never told my love , and in the meantime another
and more impudent fellow stepped in and won her."
She and Harry were married a few days later, William Stewart, Harry's
benefactor gave her away.
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| William Stewart |
Her family disowned her because she had married out of
their faith She abandoned home, country, family and Faith to be with Harry.
She was literally at Harry's side and went with on the campaigns, leading
the life of hardship of the army. The troops idolised her. On occasion she slept
on a bed of green wheat which had been cut for her and some of the horses would
eat her bed.
During battle she was told that Harry had been killed. She ran onto the
battlefield looking for him and was then told that he had been wounded but not
killed.
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| Harry and Juana. On the photo Juana was a young women aged 18 |
Harry was posted to South Africa on two occasions.
In 1829 he was Deputy
Quartermaster-General at the Cape of Good Hope.
There they had a peaceful, happy
and entertaining life until 1834 when he was transferred.
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| Rondebosch cottage, ‘Charlie’s Hope’ where they lived in Cape Town |
They returned to the Cape in 1847 where he was the Governor and High
Commissioner. This was a troubled time in the Cape Colony and in a battle
against the Boers he was wounded. He was relieved in 1852 and they returned to
Britain. He was greeted with much acclaim and he was showered with
honours.
Juanita, our little fairy was granted a pension of £500 per annum
Harry had several other posting later.
In spite if his rather extraordinary rise they were not wealthy and
struggled to make ends meet.
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Harry died on the 12th October 1860 and Juanita his little angel died twelve years later, to the day,
They are buried together at Whittlesey. |
They were married for forty years - a marriage which is truly a fairy story
marriage
Harrismith is named after Harry Smith and Juana Square after this little
fairy tale angel.
