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Charles William Perks Douglas de Fenzi (18 June 1863 – 18 June 1927) was
Clerk to the Legislative Council of Natal. He also served as Secretary
on a number of Government Commissions in Natal, including Secretary of
the Natal Reception Committee on the visit of the Duke and Duchess of
Cornwall in 1901, was instrumental in the development of South African
Rugby Union, and played a prominent role in freemasonry in Natal serving
as Grand Deacon and District Grand Secretary.
Douglas de Fenzi
came to South Africa in 1881 intending to pursue a career in Government
Service but, on arrival, decided to pursue a career in journalism
Charles William Perks Douglas de Fenzi was born in South Africa on
18 June 1863, the son of John Douglas de Fenzi(3) and Sarah,
daughter of John Clarke Perks, and baptised on 29 August 1863 at the Military Chapel, Keiskama Hoek. He
was educated in England at Bedford Modern School between 1872 and 1881.
Charles was the first secretary of the WPRFU, succeeded when he left
for Natal, by Fairy Heatlie. (Interestingly, Fairy Heatlie became an
honorary member of Hamiltons in 1951, the year of his death.) They were
both active players at the time that they were secretaries.
He
had a great deal of say in rugby football, in the Western Province,
Natal and the SA Rugby Football Boards. In the Western Province, he was
associated with a club called Woodstock and with Hamiltons, whose
captain he was, notably in 1883 when Hamiltons won the Grand Challenge.
He was also captain of a team called Cape Town, which was in effect a
Western Province team, in 1884 and 1885.
Later he moved to Natal
as the secretary of the Natal Legislative Council and played a leading
role in getting rugby established in that colony. Then in 1889 he was
one of those instrumental in forming the South African Rugby Football
Board in Kimberley. He played for Natal and refereed a match between
Pietermaritzburg and the overseas tourists in 1891. In 1894 he returned
to Cape Town. He died in Natal in 1927.
He was a freemason in
Natal.
In 1889, Douglas de Fenzi
married the daughter of J. C. Berrange, a Solicitor of Cape Town. They
had three children together. (4)
Charles William Perks Douglas De
Fenzi died in 1927 on the day of his 64th birthday, 18 June 1927, and
was buried at the Commercial Road Cemetery, Pietermaritzburg,
Kwazulu-Natal.
Research notes:
1. Charles William Perks Douglas de Fenzi came to note when
researching Caroline Sidney Douglas who married Vincenzo Fenzi in
Tuscany in 1826, and may have had a child, Giovonni Oraze Alfredo
Douglas Fenzi, in Garvald the following year.
2. I also have the
following conflicting details:
a. C W P Douglas de Fenzi was born in Wiltshire, son of an
Anglican minister, and was educated at Bedford, a public school. In
1881, aged eighteen, he emigrated to Natal.
b. Douglas
de Fenzi came to South Africa in 1881 intending to pursue a career in
Government Service but, on arrival, decided to pursue a career in
journalism.[1] His journalistic endeavours proved to be short lived and
he was later appointed Clerk Assistant and Librarian of the Natal
Legislative Council under the Crown Colony Government.
3.
John Douglas was born circa 1826. He died on 25th October 1871 and
is buried in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. He may
have been a Captain in the British German Legion.
4.
Petrus Hermanus Berrangé b Colesberg 1877 d c1910 m Petronella Jacoba
Jacobs (do. Stephanus J Jacobs), 1900 1.1.1.7.9.8.2 Johannes Christoffel
(John Christopher) Berrangé b 20 March 1878 d 12 February 1916 MOOC
13/1/4351.37 m Flora Gwendolyn Douglas-de-Fenzi. No offspring.
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