Betty Molteno and the Creation of a South African Nineteenth-Century Lesbian Discourse

Abstract

There are lacunae in South African scholarship regarding nineteenth-century lesbianism. To address this gap in part, this article examines the sexual identity of Elizabeth Maria (Betty) Molteno (1852–1927) and her two partners, Sarah Hall and Alice Greene. Molteno, the eldest child of the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (South Africa), J.C. Molteno, was a teacher, poet, vegetarian, anti-capitalist, and was involved in various political and humanitarian causes. This article specifically examines the lesbian discourse emerging from the letters and diaries written by Molteno and her partners, examining how, in the absence of a visible South African female homosexual discourse, they crafted their own language and understanding of their sexuality. I illustrate how Molteno, who was relatively voiceless regarding her sexual desire during her teenage years, gained voice and intoned agency in her writing while in a relationship with Sarah Hall, finally emerging as an authoritative partner in her thirty-year-long relationship with Alice Greene. Significant discursive practices emerged between Molteno and each of her partners. The nineteenth-century lesbian discourse they created mimicked in language and power dynamics the discourses configuring heterosexual relationships of the nineteenth century and borrowed from familial frameworks. Their relational experience of God while being with their partners became an important aspect of this discourse, while the mother/daughter trope employed by Molteno and Greene to define their early relationship illustrates their wish to locate their desire in familiar and familial female discursive frameworks.

Keywords:

• nineteenth-century South African lesbianism
• Betty Molteno
• Alice Greene
• lesbian discourse
• nineteenth-century women’s life writing practices
• writing religion and sexuality
• sexualizing a mother-daughter dynamic

Acknowledgements

This paper originally formed part of my PhD thesis. It has been revised and reworked. I would like to thank the NIHSS-Sahuda for their financial assistance which enabled me to undertake this research. I am grateful for the valuable comments and feedback from my supervisors, Dr Mathilda Slabbert and Prof Louis Viljoen. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Catherine Corder, Katherine Morris and the helpful staff at the Jagger Library, UCT.

Notes

1 South Africa, in its current form, did not exist in the nineteenth century. At the time of Betty’s birth (1852) and for most of the remainder of the nineteenth century, South Africa consisted of two British Colonies (the Cape and Natal) and two Boer Republics (the Orange Free State and Transvaal) until the defeat of the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), as well as other territories such as Zululand and Griqualand West governed by indigenous populations (and annexed by the British Cape and Natal Colonies from 1880 onwards). In 1910, the Union of South Africa was founded after lengthy negotiation and became a constitutional monarchy, a mostly independent, self-governing dominion of Britain. I refer to this general region, although not named as such in the nineteenth century, as South Africa, throughout this article.

2 The large store of Betty’s writing from which I draw creates complications and limitations. I have read a substantial portion of the material and it is logistically impossible to refer to everything. Therefore, if my comments or interpretations seem abrupt, I have extrapolated these conclusions based on trends, themes and/or concerns raised throughout her work. In most cases, I provide only a few excerpts to illustrate or substantiate an argument, and it is adequate for readers to comprehend, and even question, my analysis. Scholars who have transcribed or read Betty’s archival material have commented on the difficulty deciphering her handwriting. I encountered similar problems and indicate these in my transcriptions and quoted excerpts by using ellipses, dashes or question marks and even provide suggestions as to what might have been written, indicated by square brackets.

3 Catherine Corder is currently writing a biography of Molteno which will address this lacuna in South African history. I am deeply indebted to her for her assistance in the formative stages of my research regarding Betty and the Molteno family.

4 These include: some of Molteno’s letters published in Alice Greene, Teacher and Campaigner: South African Correspondence 1887-1902 (2007); her protest poetry, written to challenge the motives of the British forces during the Anglo-Boer War, published in Songs of the Veld and Other Poems (2008); Phillida Brooke Simons’ Apples of the Sun (1999) on the history of the Molteno family; and The Molteno Family: A History of the Molteno and Related Families (2018), an online website, which proved to be a veritable treasure trove of archival materials such as books, pamphlets, photographs, biographies and general information uploaded about the family. Transcribed correspondence between Olive Schreiner and Molteno is available on the The Olive Schreiner Letters Online. Some letters written by Molteno to Emily Hobhouse are included in Emily Hobhouse: Boer War Letters (1984).

5 Lesbianism was referred to (by some) as ‘Sapphism’ or a lesbian as a ‘Sapphic’ during the latter part of the nineteenth century in England and France (Clark 14-15). How lesbians were referred to in South Africa, specifically, is unknown. Sappho is widely regarded as a lesbian poet (from the Greek archaic period) who professed her love for women and girls in her work. The etymological root of the term ‘lesbian’ comes from Lesbos, the island where Sappho lived, and up until the mid-nineteenth century denoted things related to Lesbos, or a citizen of Lesbos.

6 For example, Caroline wrote: ‘I have felt so low spirited since last I wrote in this journal. I am so unsettled. Oh! I can look back already to childhood’s happy days with an almost longing gaze. I can feel now the want of a sister’s love and confidence and doubly so having once felt it. It seems so hard that now just when we should begin to appreciate one another she should transfer her confidence to another, for so it seems she has done, to Miss Hull. I sometimes do so long for a friend, for sympathy. I wonder whether Betty knows how I feel it; she has Miss Hull, I have no one’ (23 August 1869, 59).

7 Earlier theorization of homosexuality was written by a German author, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, and published between 1864-1865. His theories differed from other later theorists since as a homosexual man he believed homosexuality was ‘inborn’ and not an ‘acquired vice (Kennedy 26). His works were not translated into English until the late 20^th century.

8 It is interesting to note that this sentiment, of having poured heart, soul and body into/onto another person, is also echoed by Alice, at first, by expressing her love and devotion for Sarah (Barham 607) and later to convey her regard for Betty (625-629).

9 A much shorter, amended and different version of this document is copied in a letter addressed to Alice (Barham 606). It appears that the original, possibly the version I am quoting from here, was written on board the Garth on 15 May 1889 while Betty was travelling back to South Africa.