General Sir Richard Bourke was born in 1777 in Dublin, Ireland. In 1825 the Colonial Office appointed him lieutenant-governor of the Eastern District of Cape Colony. When the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, returned to England on leave (and later resigned), Bourke assumed office as acting governor of the whole colony (1825-1828). In 1831 he transferred to Australia as governor of New South Wales; he resigned his office in December 1837. Bourke died in 1855 at his estate, Thornfield, Castleconnell, county Limerick, Ireland.

Correspondence and papers mainly relating to his administration of the Cape of Good Hope colony (Cape Colony), with a summary of content. Comprises:

• Letters to Bourke, 1825-1829 (5 volumes)
• Drafts and copies of letters from Bourke, 1826-1845 (3 volumes)
• Indexes to despatches received, 1826-1828 (2 volumes)
• Instructions to Bourke, 1816-1827 (2 volumes)
• Instructions to civil commissioners, 1827-1828 (2 volumes)
• Correspondence and papers relating to frontier wars and relations with the Zulus, 1826 and some undated (3 volumes)
• Papers relating to finance, the judiciary, etc., 1821-1828 (14 volumes).

Purchased in 1941.

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Listed as no. 791 in Manuscript Collections of Africana in Rhodes House Library, Oxford, compiled by Louis B. Frewer (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1968).

Listed in Private Papers of British Colonial Governors, 1782-1900, by The Historical Manuscripts Commission (1986).

Bourke | Richard | 1777-1855 | Sir | Knight General Colonial Governor

Governors | Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)

Great Britain | Colonies | Africa

Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) | Officials and employees

South Africa | History | Frontier Wars, 1811-1878