Francis Farewell

Francis George Farewell (1784–1829), was the founder of the Port Natal Colony in South Africa.

Farewell was born at Holbrook House near Wincanton in the Blackmore Vale in 1784. His father was the Reverend Samuel Farewell, who died when Francis was young. Francis and the rest of the Farewell family then moved from Holbrook to Tiverton, Devon. There he became a scholar at Blundell's School until the age of 13, when he left to become a midshipman in the Royal Navy. He fought against the French in the Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Lissa. He ended his service with the rank of lieutenant.

After the war, Farewell entered the merchant marine, commanding merchant vessels on the South American and Indian trade routes. In 1820, Farewell arrived in Cape Town in the Cape Colony as the managing owner of the merchant vessel ″Frances Charlotte". In 1822, he married Elizabeth Caterina Schmidt, the step-daughter of a Cape Town merchant.

In 1823, Farewell was a partner in The Farewell Trading company, which aimed to establish an ivory trade in Natal. In June 1823, Farewell sailed aboard the brig ″Salisbury" as part of the company's first expedition to Natal. Farewell almost drowned in the surf when a landing attempt was made at St. Lucia, but was rescued by a native interpreter. After five weeks at St. Lucia, the expedition headed to Algoa Bay to replenish supplies before heading on to Port Natal, where it was determined a settlement could be established. Farewell returned to Port Natal in 1824 with a small group of thirty settlers-twenty Boers and ten Englishmen. Farewell also had employed three Khoikhoi servants, and he owned one of the settlement's two support ships, the sloop ″Julia".

In late 1824, Farewell asked for Shaka's permission to establish a trading post in Natal. Shaka agreed, and Farewell established Port Natal as a place for ships travelling to India to stop at, and also for Farewell to trade with the Zulus for ivory.

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