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Prince Alfred’s Hamlet

Prince Alfred’s Hamlet

Prince Alfred

J C Goosen

Johannes Cornelis Goosen was born in Klein Drakenstein and came to the Warm Bokkeveld as a young farmer.



While Goosen was busy measuring out his plots, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, visited the Cape Colony. Goosen decided to name the new town after the Prince and so the name Prince Alfred’s Hamlet was born.


A new schoolmaster, D.G. Roux, was appointed and he was to become a spiritual leader in the community. After much negotiation, the school committee managed to get a new building in 1910. Since 1969 the school has been known as the F.D. Conradie Primary School.

The Commercial Hotel in Hamlet was outspan and resting place for man and beast. After the discovery of diamonds in 1870, the owner, John Taylor decided to start a transport business. He used donkey carts to transport goods from Wellington, through Ceres and Hamlet, to Kimberley. Wellington was then the nearest train station to Kimberley.



In 1928 Prince Alfred’s Hamlet got its own train station. The Minister of Railways, W.C. Malan, applied the last bolt to the line before the train, filled with school children, left Ceres for the ceremony at Hamlet.
