The lighter side of Hermanus hotel holidays

Generally, the owners and managers of Hermanus hotels kept quiet, orderly establishments. Their guests were mainly middle- to upper-middle-class individuals and families, not given to riotous nights. But sometimes events beyond their control occurred and resulted in a story that would go round the village. Then, it might be passed down verbally or recalled later and included in a memoir. This week, DR ROBIN LEE of the Hermanus History Society takes a look at a selection of these stories that give an insight into the tourist society of the time.

The Viscount and the Lady: 1922 Vera, Lady Cathcart, was born Vera Fraser in Springbok in the north of the Cape Colony. Over the period 1914 to 1922, she had married her way up the British aristocracy. After her first husband, a British Army officer was killed in WWI, she married the Earl of Cathcart in 1916. A few years later she embarked on a passionate love affair with the young, married Viscount Uffington, who was to inherit the title of the Earl of Craven. Joey Luyt, whose husband P John Luyt was the owner of The Marine Hotel from 1915 – 1940, told the following story:

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 4)