VOC. Council of Policy. LETTER OF BURGHERSHIP (VRYBRIEF) DATED 10 NOVEMBER 1739 (Signed by Hendrik

1 folio document handwritten on 1 side only with the VOC crest embossed at the top right hand side and the red VOC seal almost intact at the bottom of the document, signed by J De Grand Preez - Gouveneur in den Raad and Hendrik Swellengrebel. The document (from being folded in half) has the wax impression of the crest on Swellengrebel's signature, a very good copy.

The document grants Johannes Nille from Nyburg, his freedom. He arrived in the Cape on the ship Noordwadd, in 1736 and was paid 14 guilders a month, employed by the DEIC. He was released from Company employment and given the status of burgher by the signing of this document at the Castle of Good Hope on 10 November 1739.

Botha (C. Graham) Cape Archives and Records page 121: Company's Servants. A servant contracted to enter the service for 5 years and could be sent to any of the Company's possessions. He could neither carry on private trade nor own immovable property, which were the distinctions between himself and a burgher. On the expiration of his contract he could renew it for a further period of 3 years, but if he desired to remain here as a burgher special permission had to be obtained. He was then granted his discharge and given Letters of Burghership (Vrybrief). This entitled him to carry on the usual trade and own property, but if the exigencies of the service demanded it or he misbehaved himself he was liable to be taken back into the Company's employ.

Hendrik Swellengrebel (Cape Town, 20 September 1700 - Utrecht, 26 December 1760) was the first and only Dutch East India Company governor of the Dutch Cape Colony who was born in the Cape. Swellengrebel was governor from 14 April 1739 to 27 February 1751. In his time, new districts were added to the colony. The town of Swellendam in the Western Cape is named after him and his wife Wilhelmina Helena ten Damme. In 1751 he was succeeded as governor by Ryk Tulbagh. Upon return to the Netherlands, he bought the land now known as the Cape Forests in Utrecht. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Swellengrebel

Glass (Ian Stewart) Notes about the Cape page 105: Josephus de Grand Preez arrived at the Cape in 1722. He achieved the VOC rank of Merchant and was Secretary to the highest body of Government, the Council of Policy. He died in 1761.