THOMAS

EP Herald, 9 Jan 1900

Mr. W. THOMAS, son of the British Settlers of 1820, born in Bathurst two years after their arrival, died at his residence Hillary farm, district of Alexandria on 29 Dec 1899.

Though rather of a retiring disposition, he was nevertheless a very useful man. He was an active and intelligent member of the Divisional Council of Alexandria for 20 years. He was Justice of the Peace for the same district for forty years. He was a man highly respected for this honesty, uprightness of character and genuine piety. His counsel and advice were sought by people of all classes and he was ever ready to give his give advice to anyone who came.

THORPE

EP Herald, 10 Feb 1984
Independence valued by PE nonagenarian

Still independent and in "very good health" on her 90th birthday this week, Mrs. Edith THORPE recalled her first impressions on arrival in Port Elizabeth 20 years ago, expecting to find "a murky and dirty hole."

"It was such a wonderful surprise..so pleasant," Mrs. THORPE said, adding that Port Elizabeth lived up to its reputation as the friendly city. "The people here are very friendly and hospitable."

Mrs. THORPE was the focus of attention at a party organised for her. "A friend of mine made a lovely cake, decorated with roses and my name beautifully iced onto it."

Mrs. THORPE of Cuyler Court, Central, lives alone because she values her independence. She does not suffer from loneliness, however. "That's because I joined the Red Cross when I first came to Port Elizabeth. I have many friends there," she said.

TILLBROOK

EP Herald, 4 Jun 1984
Death at 87 of retired forester
Herald Correspondent

Mr. Eric TILLBROOK of Port Alfred, who had a distinguished career in forestry, died at the Settlers Hospital, Grahamstown, at the weekend after a short illness..

Mr. TILLBROOK, 87, was born in Graaff-Reinet and attended the town's Union High School. He graduated with BSc from Rhodes University before completing a Master's degree in Forestry at Oxford University. His first appointment was in the Knysna area, followed by a spell in King Williams's Town region.

When war broke out, Mr. TILLBROOK joined an anti-aircraft at Gazala and spent some time in prisoner of war camps. On his return, Mr. TILLBROOK was stationed at Barberton, Tokai, Sabie and Graskop. He then joined the Colonial Development Service and was sent to Mauritius where, for many years, he was conservator and head of the department of Forestry. He then spent six months in Malta and some years at Ndola, Zambia, before he retired to Port Alfred 12 years ago.

TOFT

Keen gardeners Tommy (76) and Mabel (72) TOFT celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary tomorrow. They have spent 49 years of their married life in their Newton Park house built on the plot for which they had paid £65. The rambling rose round the gate as well as the neat hedge were planted by Mr. TOFT the day after they moved into their house. But the patent water saving device he rigged up in his back garden is of later vintage. A series of drums stands near the down-pipe which is angled to discharge water into a gently sloping open gutter that stretches the length of the drums along a wall. The gutter has a hole over the centre of each drum. When a drum is full, the hole is plugged with a small glass jar which acts like a cork and works most efficiently.

With bananas, papaw, granadillas, figs, lemons, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, onions, lettuce and, most importantly, comfrey growing in the garden, the TOFTs are virtually self-sufficient. Mrs. TOFT is a great believer in herbal medication and insists it is this that has kept her out of hospital. "I don't know how many times I eat the same onion," quips Mr. TOFT, as he explains that his wife always re-plants the root-ends of onions. She uses only the top part. She does the same with potatoes, planting a piece with an eye.

Their two children are Mr. Arne TOFT and Mrs. Ingrid TEE, both of Port Elizabeth and there are three grandchildren. Mr. TOFT's parents came to South Africa from Norway and the children were born here. When he was about two years of age, his mother took the three eldest children back to Norway on a lengthy visit but Mr. TOFT remembers nothing of that period of his life. .He always wanted to go back but only achieved his ambition at the age of 57 when he spent three wonderful months in Norway. Mrs. TOFT, who doesn't care for travel, stayed at home. Mr. TOFT says he was complimented many times on how well he spoke the language.

He worked in the shoe trade and before her marriage Mrs. TOFT worked in the sweet section of Pyotts wrapping toffees and chocolates by hand. Her sister, who worked nearby, was in charge of a machine that wrapped the chocolates in foil. "Oh we had a lovely time, we ate quite a lot of biscuits," she recalls. Mr. TOFT excelled as an amateur carpenter and much of the furniture in the house was made by him in one of the back rooms. "This settee has never been moved further than the distance from over there," he says proudly and "neither has this cabinet", pointing to an intricate piece of furniture with leaded light doors made of stained glass. "The two pieces of glass cost 18 shillings. I just gave them the measurements and chose the design from a catalogue," he adds. The kitchen, too, has been fitted out by him and he is now in the throes of repainting the whole house.

Their main celebration of the wedding anniversary was dinner for 10 at a hotel and tomorrow afternoon they will gather for tea at their daughter's house.

TROLLIP

Newspaper cuttings from the Eastern Cape.
Queenstown Report, 23 October 1987
Talkabout by Dee KALLAWAY

Heroism of Neville TROLLIP

The sound of machine-gun fire rattled over the war-torn Italian countryside. It was 1945, during WWII, and a young Queenstonian armed only with an ordinary .303 rifle crouched in a muddy irrigation ditch, ready and coiled for action. He was only 19 and understandably, he was scared. But in the next few minutes this young man's dash and bravery were to give no hint of the fear within him.

When he sprang, he sprang with decision. His dash was such that he was not only able, single-handily, to knock out a series of machinegun posts, but he also succeeded in killing eight enemy gunners, in wounding two and capturing 12. This heroic exploit won for him the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

His name was Neville TROLLIP, and during peace-time he worked as a cabinetmaker here at Morums.

The action took place when elements of the British Eighth Army and the American Fifth Army pursued the remnants of KESSELRING's army across the River Po. Here the Germans had set up a series of Spandau posts along a zig-zagging irrigation furrow. A small patrol which included TROLLIP was sent out to clear the area.

The patrol was under heavy fire when TROLLIP, who was in front and pinned down in a furrow which allowed only a single line of advance, made his dash, eliminating one post after another. First he wounded two Germans in the flank position, then carrying on to the next position he killed two behind Spandaus. He ran around a bend in the furrow and shot two more machine-gunners. Then, scrambling from the ditch, he ran across a built-up road to a furrow on the other side and bayoneted two men armed with Schmeisser automatic rifles. From there he shot two behind a Spandau at a range of 25 meters.

By now other men in the patrol were following up behind TROLLIP, and together they were able to capture 12 prisoners. Later, laconically describing his feat, TROLLIP said: "Of the last two men, I got a Spandau machine-gunner first, then the second man knelt up behind the dead man with his rifle. We were both kneeling, aiming at each other at 30 yards distance. He fired, but missed, and I got him. His bullet just took my tin hat off."

After the war, medal-winning Neville TROLLIP returned to his old job at Morums, where he worked for some years before finally moving to Rhodesia. It is said that for many years a picture of Neville and a copy of his citation used to hang proudly in the Managing Director's office.