Bryants, East London

He packed his few belongings, said farewell to his family on the farm in Penzance, Cornwall and sailed from Plymouth to sunny South Africa.

He loved the hustle and bustle of the frontier town of King William's Town (which only 20 years earlier had been the centre of the ivory trade).

He married Elizabeth Ann, one of the five daughters of the Major Leather land of the Cape Mounted Riflemen and they had three sons and two daughters.

In King William's Town he founded the firm of Gibberd and Bryant with Mr Gibberd, who after a few years retired and returned to England.
In 1881 he decided to open another branch in East London making this town the firm's headquarters and changing the name to Gibberd Bryant and Company.

Upon his death he bequeathed his home in upper Oxford Street to his wife - called Ann - who in turn left the property to the city of East London to be used as an art gallery. She had spent 20 years collecting paintings which consisted of pictures by artists of the late 18th century and early 19th century, all of which were left to the art gallery.

Edmund was very interested in the Boy Scout movement an built a Scout Hall.

His sons, Rolf and Frank continued the business upon his death in 1928, Rolf was joined by his son, young Rolf Gilbert Edmund Bryant in 1932. His untimely death in 1936 left the business in young Rolf's hands for the third generation.

• Quality
• Street
• Belongings
• Famous
• Hustle
• Frontier
• Generation
• Morning
• Edmund Bryant
• Gibberd
• Gibberd Bryant
• The Fourth
• Men's Clothing Store
• Mansklerewinkel