St Patrick's CBC
Why Kimberley Matters
Over the years, we have noticed that many of our guests—whether visiting Kimberley for business or leisure—have wondered why this remarkable city has played such an important role in South Africa's history over the past 160 years.
These pages invite you on a coffee-table journey through Kimberley's past, from the discovery of the Eureka Diamond in 1867 and the Great Diamond Rush, through wars, political change and the rise of the world's diamond industry, to the city we know today. They are not intended to be an academic history, but rather an enjoyable introduction to the people, places and events that shaped Kimberley.
So, make yourself comfortable, pour a cappuccino or a cup of chai, and enjoy exploring the remarkable story of one of South Africa's most fascinating cities.
St Patrick’s CBC – Part of Kimberley’s Story for Over 125 Years
For more than 125 years, St Patrick’s Christian Brothers’ College has been part of the story of Kimberley. Founded in 1897 by the Irish Congregation of Christian Brothers, the school began with just 15 pupils in a city still riding the extraordinary prosperity created by the diamond discoveries. From those modest beginnings, an institution grew that educated generations of Kimberley children and became one of the city's best-known schools.
Its history is closely woven into that of Kimberley itself. The College experienced the Siege of Kimberley, its buildings were converted into a hospital, boarding became an important part of school life, and successive generations added chapels, sporting grounds, classrooms and memorials to the campus. Today, St Patrick’s CBC is a modern co-educational school, but its historic campus still preserves many reminders of the institution that began here in 1897.
The Christian Brothers Come to Kimberley
Christian Brothers’ College Kimberley was founded on 8 September 1897 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the Irish Catholic order associated with Blessed Edmund Rice, who founded the congregation in Ireland in 1802. The school itself describes CBC as the first Christian Brothers’ school in Africa.
There is, however, an important distinction behind that description. The name “Christian Brothers” is used for two different Catholic teaching congregations. The Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by St John Baptist de La Salle in France, are commonly known as the De La Salle Brothers or Christian Brothers. The Congregation of Christian Brothers, founded by Edmund Rice in Ireland, is the order that established the Kimberley school.
St Patrick’s CBC is therefore more precisely described as the first school in Africa established by the Irish Congregation of Christian Brothers, the Edmund Rice tradition.
That distinction is worth making because the two congregations have sometimes been confused in accounts of Christian education in Africa. For Kimberley, the important point is that 1897 marked the beginning of the Irish Christian Brothers' educational work in Africa.
A School Born in the Diamond City
The school was established at a remarkable moment in Kimberley’s history. Diamonds had transformed the town from a rough mining camp into one of the most prosperous and technologically advanced settlements in southern Africa. By the 1890s Kimberley had railway connections, electric lighting, a tramway and a rapidly expanding population.
Among its residents was a substantial Irish Catholic community. Bishop Anthony Gaughren recognised the need for a Catholic boys’ school and worked towards establishing one. Three Christian Brothers — Jarlath Mullan, Malachy Conlon and Evangelist Delaney — arrived in Kimberley in August 1897. On 8 September, the new school opened its doors with just 15 pupils. Another 22 joined them the following day. At first, the institution was known as the Christian Brothers’ High School. The curriculum was remarkably broad. Pupils were taught Greek, Latin, English, Dutch, French and German. Brother Jarlath Mullan became the school's first principal. From these small beginnings, the College grew rapidly.
The Siege of Kimberley
The school had been open for barely two years when Kimberley became the scene of one of the most dramatic episodes in its history. The Siege of Kimberley began in October 1899 during the Second Anglo-Boer War. The town was surrounded by Boer forces and remained cut off for more than four months.
CBC was temporarily closed during the crisis, and its buildings were turned into a hospital. Teaching eventually continued in tents erected on the school grounds. For a school that had existed for only two years, it was an extraordinary experience. The College was no longer simply a place of education. Its buildings had become part of Kimberley's emergency medical services during wartime.
Boarding Life Begins
CBC established an academic reputation from its earliest years and attracted pupils not only from Kimberley but also from surrounding districts. This created a need for boarding accommodation, and in 1905, the school opened its own boarding facilities. For much of the twentieth century, boarding was an important part of CBC life. Boys came to Kimberley from across the Northern Cape and beyond, living at the College during term time. The school consequently became more than a place of education. For generations of pupils, it was a home away from home.
The Brothers Who Shaped the College
The history of CBC is inseparable from the Christian Brothers who taught there. Some served for relatively short periods, while others devoted a significant portion of their lives to the College. Among the early principals was Brother Malachy Conlon, who served from 1903 to 1912. Another major figure was Brother F. C. McManus, who was associated with CBC for approximately half a century and served as principal for 24 years over four terms. His long influence on the College was later commemorated by the construction of McManus Hall.
But perhaps the most extraordinary example of long service was Brother John Maurus Reidy. Reidy arrived in Kimberley in 1901 and remained associated with CBC for 64 years. He became particularly involved in sport, coaching cricket, soccer, tennis and gymnastics. He was also closely associated with the development of the College's extensive sporting grounds, Keeley Park.
A contemporary tribute described how Reidy worked for years to develop the grounds, cycling there daily and gradually transforming them into a major sporting facility. His influence extended beyond sport. He was remembered as a deeply religious man whose personal example was regarded as an important part of his teaching. Brother Reidy is therefore worth remembering, not because he was necessarily more important than every other Christian Brother who served at CBC, but because his extraordinary 64-year association with the College and his contribution to Keeley Park make him one of the most enduring individual figures in the College's history.
Keeley Park
One of the most tangible reminders of Brother Reidy's contribution to the College is Keeley Park, the extensive sporting grounds he helped develop over many years. The grounds eventually encompassed rugby, hockey and cricket fields and became an important part of CBC sporting life. There is also an interesting Kimberley connection for visitors staying at The Solomon. The entrance to Keeley Park is at the end of Solomon Street, approximately 200 metres from Solomon Edwardian Guest House. The historic sporting grounds are therefore quite literally part of the neighbourhood around the guest house.
Three Chapels
Faith was central to the Christian Brothers' educational tradition, and the CBC campus developed several spaces for worship and reflection. An unusual feature of the St Patrick's CBC campus is that its history is reflected in three chapels, each representing a different stage in the College's development.
The smallest and oldest of the three is the Holy Ghost Chapel, associated with the early years of the Christian Brothers' presence in Kimberley.
The main College Chapel, designed by the Irish architect G. L. O'Connor, was built as the College expanded and its original chapel became too small. It was solemnly blessed and opened on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1932. Designed to accommodate approximately 300 people in the nave and a further 40 in the gallery, it became an important part of College life. Its distinctive interior, including its timber roof structure and stained-glass windows, gives the chapel a character quite different from the rest of the campus. Today it remains the principal chapel of St Patrick's CBC, used for school Masses, prayers and important College occasions.
For many decades, the smaller Holy Ghost Chapel stood immediately beside the larger College Chapel, creating an unusual pair of neighbouring chapels at the heart of the school. Historic photographs show the two buildings standing side by side well into the twentieth century.
The third, the Nazareth House Chapel, came to St Patrick's CBC much later, when the College acquired the historic Nazareth House complex in 2001. These buildings had belonged to the Sisters of Nazareth, whose work in Kimberley included caring for orphans and the elderly. As such, the chapel represents an earlier chapter in the history of Catholic social and charitable work in the city. The acquisition of Nazareth House significantly expanded the school campus and provided larger boarding facilities for pupils. The chapel, therefore, became part of the third and most recent chapter in the story of CBC's three places of worship.
The War Memorial Clock
One of the most recognisable features of the College is the distinctive tower adjoining Cornwall Street. In 1933, the tower was redesigned to incorporate the War Memorial Clock.
The project came about through the initiative of the Old Boys' Union, which had for several years been seeking an appropriate way to commemorate former pupils who had died during the First World War.
Rather than creating a separate monument, the memorial became part of the school itself. The clock tower has consequently stood as both an architectural feature and a memorial for more than nine decades.
Four Houses
The CBC House System was introduced in 1945. The four Houses — Cavanagh, Keeley, Michaelis and Spiers — commemorate people associated with the College and its history.
- Cavanagh was named after Stephen Cavanagh.
- Keeley commemorates Jim Keeley, who was killed during the Second World War.
- Michaelis was named after Sir Max Michaelis, the mining magnate and philanthropist who supported education in South Africa.
- Spiers commemorates Alan Spiers, who also died during the Second World War.
The House system created another layer of identity within the school, bringing academic, sporting and cultural competition into school life while preserving the names of people who contributed to the College.
A School Continually Evolving
The CBC campus was not built all at once. The College expanded gradually as increasing numbers of pupils required additional classrooms and facilities. The main building consequently developed over many decades, with successive additions reflecting the school's changing needs.
Major alterations to the main College building began in 1959 and were completed in 1961, creating much of the façade that is recognisable today. The result is an interesting architectural mix of periods — an older educational institution repeatedly adapted rather than replaced.
For much of its history, St Patrick's CBC operated within the racial restrictions of colonial and apartheid South Africa. Interestingly, the school's own history records that it began admitting pupils of colour in 1977, well before the formal end of apartheid. In 1986, the school became co-educational, opening its doors to girls as well as boys.
The Christian Brothers' influence on CBC lasted for almost a century. In 1991, Brother Chris Wise became the last Brother principal. He introduced the first lay principal for the following year, bringing to an end the era in which Christian Brothers led the school. In 1994, Nathan Johnstone became the school's first non-Catholic principal, and in 1997, Michael Thiel became its first former pupil to serve as principal.
The year 1997 marked CBC's centenary. As part of the celebrations, the school officially adopted the name St Patrick's CBC. The change marked the beginning of its second century and gave the school the name by which it is known today. The name St Patrick links the school to its Irish Catholic origins while retaining the familiar CBC identity that generations of Kimberley families had known.
Taken together, these developments marked important steps in the transformation of an institution originally established as a Catholic boys' school serving a largely white community. They reflected a much wider transformation in South African education and society.
From Sisters of Nazareth to Oppenheimer House
One of the most fascinating buildings associated with St Patrick's CBC stands slightly apart from the main College campus. For generations, Kimberley knew it as Nazareth House. The building was established in 1888 by the Sisters of Nazareth and operated for more than a century as a home for elderly people, the poor, the sick and orphaned children. It therefore predates St Patrick's CBC by almost a decade.
Nazareth House became an important Catholic institution in its own right in Kimberley. Its story is part of the wider history of the city's charitable and religious organisations during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Sisters of Nazareth eventually closed Nazareth House in December 2001, after which St Patrick's CBC acquired the buildings and began using them as a boarding residence for pupils.
For close to two decades, it was known as Edmund Rice House, named after the founder of the Christian Brothers. In 2020, following a major refurbishment programme supported by a substantial donation from Nicky Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Trust, the building was officially renamed Oppenheimer House in memory of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. The school explained that the name recognised the historic connection between Sir Ernest and the Sisters of Nazareth in the Kimberley. Yet the older name has proved remarkably persistent. To many people in Kimberley, the building simply remains 'Nazareth House'.
The Hostel Fire
The long history of Nazareth House took another dramatic turn in May 2025. A major fire badly damaged the historic boarding building. The blaze destroyed much of the roof and severely damaged the interior.
The school's boarders and staff were evacuated safely, and no lives were lost.
For a building that had served Kimberley for well over a century, the fire represented another extraordinary chapter in its history. St Patrick's CBC has since begun rebuilding the boarding facility (2026). The work means that the story of Nazareth House is still being written. From a home established by the Sisters of Nazareth in the nineteenth century, to a boarding house for CBC pupils, to Oppenheimer House and now a building being rebuilt after fire, its purpose has changed repeatedly while its place in Kimberley's landscape has endured.
A School Campus of Layers
Perhaps the most interesting thing about St Patrick's CBC is that its history cannot be understood by looking at a single building. The school campus is a collection of layers.
- There are the early College buildings dating from Kimberley's diamond-boom era.
- There is the main chapel, opened in 1932.
- There is the War Memorial Clock, added in 1933.
- There are the sporting grounds associated with Brother Reidy and Keeley Park.
- There are later classrooms and buildings created as the school expanded.
- And there is Nazareth House, now Oppenheimer House, whose history began nine years before CBC itself.
Together they tell a much larger story — of Catholic education, Irish immigration, Kimberley's diamond wealth, war, changing social attitudes, apartheid and the transformation of South Africa.
St Patrick's CBC Today
Today St Patrick's CBC is a co-educational school serving pupils from early childhood through Grade 12. It describes itself as a multicultural, socially diverse school with academic, sporting, cultural, and leadership programmes.
The school has changed enormously since 1897.
The Christian Brothers are no longer responsible for its day-to-day leadership. Girls learn alongside boys. The pupil population reflects a much more diverse South Africa. Modern facilities exist alongside buildings that are more than a century old.
Yet the school still occupies the same historic site and continues the educational tradition that began here in 1897. That combination of continuity and change is what makes St Patrick's CBC such an interesting part of Kimberley's heritage.
Visitor Information
St Patrick's CBC is a working school rather than a public museum, and access to the campus is therefore restricted. The main entrance off Du Toitspan Road is normally secured by gates and security personnel, apart from authorised school access, including parents dropping off and collecting pupils.
Visitors can nevertheless appreciate much of the historic campus from the surrounding streets.
The main College buildings can be seen from Du Toitspan Road, while the former Nazareth House, now Oppenheimer House, can be seen from Henderson Road.
Did You Know?
- St Patrick's CBC opened on 8 September 1897 with only 15 pupils.
- The following day, another 22 pupils arrived.
- The school was originally called the Christian Brothers' High School.
- The College was converted into a hospital during the Siege of Kimberley.
- Boarding facilities were introduced in 1905.
- The main chapel was opened on St Patrick's Day in 1932.
- The War Memorial Clock was incorporated into the Cornwall Street tower in 1933.
- The House System was introduced in 1945.
- CBC began admitting pupils of colour in 1977.
- Girls were admitted from 1986, making the school co-educational.
- The last Christian Brother principal served in 1991.
- The school adopted the name St Patrick's CBC at its centenary in 1997.
- Nazareth House became a CBC boarding residence after the Sisters of Nazareth closed the institution in 2001.
- The boarding building was renamed Oppenheimer House in 2020.
- The historic building was badly damaged by fire in May 2025 and is now being rebuilt (2026).
Continue Exploring Kimberley
Whether your interests lie in history, culture, dining, shopping, entertainment, or simply discovering somewhere new, we hope these guides help you make the most of your time in Kimberley. If you're planning a visit to the City that Sparkles, Solomon Edwardian Guest House offers elegant accommodation in the historic suburb of Beaconsfield. Ideally situated for business and leisure travellers alike, The Solomon provides a comfortable base from which to explore.