Henley on Klip

Henley on Klip is situated next to Highbury off exit 27 on the R59 along the Klip River between Johannesburg and Vereeniging. The village was founded in 1904,[2] by Advocate Horace Kent. Born in 1855 in Henley on Thames, England, Kent came to South Africa in 1898. The area where Henley on Klip is located reminded Kent of his hometown in England, Henley on Thames. Kent, in conjunction with the Small Farms Company (SFC), bought the land from a Mr Van Der Westhuizen for a price of 5000 pounds, and the land was divided into smallholdings from 0.4 to 30 hectares (1 to 80 acres).

Henley on Klip
Henley on Klip
Henley on Klip
Coordinates: 26°32′7″S 28°03′40″E
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceGauteng
DistrictSedibeng
MunicipalityMidvaal
Established1904
Area
 • Total11.37 km2 (4.39 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total5,874
 • Density520/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African40.2%
 • Coloured2.4%
 • Indian/Asian1.5%
 • White55.6%
 • Other0.4%
First languages (2011)
 • English41.9%
 • Afrikaans27.9%
 • Zulu9.8%
 • Sotho7.8%
 • Other12.6%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
1961
PO box
1962
Area code016

In 1904, the SFC decided to build the Kidson Weir on the Klip River in Henley on Klip. The weir was named after Fenning Kidson, the grandson of an 1820 settler. Fenning was educated in England, but returned to South Africa as a young man and became a transport rider, a contemporary of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. Soon after the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War, news came to Kidson that a commando was on his way to his farm to arrest him. Under the noses of the Boers he escaped, riding sidesaddle, his burly frame crammed into his wife's riding habit. He finally made his way to Natal, but returned to the Transvaal after the war, settling in Henley on Klip with his wife, Edith. The family home was named Tilham, which is the manor house on the river at the corner of Regatta and Shillingford Roads

Community Organisations

Henley has a very strong sense of community spirit, this is

Schools

There are four schools and home schooling tutor centres in the village.

Market days

A number of markets are held throughout the village.

1970 Bus accident

At 14:15 on 28 January 1970, a school bus stalled on a level crossing and was hit by a passenger train; 23 children were killed and 16 were injured. Johan le Roux, a matric scholar at Dr Malan Hoerskool in Meyerton, saved two children by pushing them out of a bus window before the train hit the bus, and he died in the accident.[3][4]

References
  1. "Sub Place Henley on Klip". Census 2011.
  2. Van Eck, Koos (2010) A River runs through: A history of Henley on Klip. Vanderbijlpark: Corals Publishers, ISBN 978-0-9814389-7-9
  3. "Midvaal Local Municipality" (PDF). Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  4. "'n Roudiens en 'die lewe gaan aan'". Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
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