Birth: Mar 30 1859 - Simonstown South Africa

Death: Dec 21 1943 - Ascot Berks-England

Father: Johannes Petrus Bees (known as John Peter Bees)-B:1832-1897 South Africa

Mother:Christiana Bees (Born Osler)B:Nov 21,1831-D:Sept 11,1885

Siblings (4) + Add Eliza Sarah Bees 1861 - Alice Bees Benjamin Bees John Bees

Spouse + Add Barnett/Barney Isaacs/ aka Barnato 1852 - 1897

Marriage: Barney and Fanny married in Johannesburg in late 1889, probably November. (See the wedding photograph of the family taken by Davies Brothers, photographers in Johannesburg). The November 19,1892 wedding in London England was a civil marriage at the Chelsea Registry Office.

Children (3) + Add

Children with Barnett/Barney Isaacs/Barnato:

Leah Primrose Barnato 1893 - 1933 Isaac Henry Woolf/Jack Barnato 1894 - 1918 Joel Woolf/Babe Barnato 1895 - 1948

Fanny died in Ascot, Berks, England, not South Africa. She is buried in Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery Willesden London Borough of Brent Greater London, England Plot: Section FP.H Row 1 Plot 1 next to Barney Barnato, her husband, who is in plot 2.

Barney Barnato met his wife Fanny (Frances) Bees in the mid 1870s in Kimberley when she was a barmaid at the Gresham Bar and a small time actress in productions at the Theatre Royal. She was one of eight children of Petrus Bees, a tailor who lived in a tent at Bultfontein village, and had started working only to help the family finances. She was taller than Barney and considered quite a beauty.

Those knowledgeable about Kimberley’s history have most certainly heard or read about Barnett (Barney) Isaacs Barnato, and perhaps even about his wife Fanny (Francina) Christina Barnato. Some may even know the family history of Fanny Barnato, but for those who do not, herewith a brief piece. This story has come about as Fanny’s father is buried in Kimberley’s Gladstone cemetery. The period March 1897 to March 1898 was not a happy time for Barney Barnato’s family. Fanny Barnato’s father died in Kimberley on 30 March 1897, her husband Barney under suspicious circumstances at sea on 14 June 1897, and her nephew Woolf Joel was murdered in Johannesburg on 14 March 1898. Perhaps it is best to note at this stage that Barney Barnato’s mother Leah Isaacs (nee Harris) was a sister to Sir David Harris’ father Woolf Harris. Also that the three Joel brothers Jack, Woolf, and Solly, are the sons of Barney Barnato’s sister Katherine (Kate) Joel (nee Isaacs). Fanny’s father, Petrus Johannes Bees, a tailor by profession, preferred to be known as Peter John, as his headstone testifies. He was born in Cape Town, the son of a German carpenter Johannes Friedrich (Fredrik) Willem Bees who was shipwrecked when the Dutch registered ship on which he was a passenger, the “Flora”, ran aground at Robben Island on 17 November 1821. Electing to remain in Cape Town he married Martha Johanna Baugel circa 1827, the union producing at least three sons, Carel Johannes (born 1827), Frederik Hendrik (born 1830) and Petrus Johannes (born 1832). Not much is known about Peter John Bees except that he was a tailor based in Cape Town and that he married Christina Osler on 19 December 1853. (Christina is often referred to as Christiana). There were five children born to the union of Peter John and Christina, Fanny being the youngest, being born in the Naval Base at Simonstown on 30 March 1859. Her elder siblings were John, Benjamin, Emily, and Alice. More about them a little later. (Some sources state that there were eight children, some mentioning that the three youngest are from another marriage and are half-siblings). Christina Osler was born in Simonstown on 21 November 1831 and baptised at the town’s Colonial Church on 29 January 1832. She was born out of wedlock to Stephen Sawle Osler and Christiana Kleyne as the result of a liaison. Christiana Kleyne’s father, Oranje Kleyne, was a prosperous farmer who owned a large amount of land on top of the mountain at Simonstown, and it is believed that her mother was a Khoikhoi. This according to the museum at Simonstown. Christina Osler’s father Stephen Sawle Osler marriage to Catherine (nee Dakin) produced four half-brothers and sisters - Stephen Osler, Benjamin Osler, James Goodriche Osler and Catherine Jane Edwards (nee Osler). This half-brother Benjamin Osler is grandfather of the famous Springbok rugby player Bennie Osler, who played flyhalf for South Africa from 1924 to 1933. Simply written, the Springbok Bennie Osler is a nephew to Fanny Barnato. It is believed that Christina Bees did not accompany her husband and children to the diamond fields in the early 1870s, the main reason being the attraction she and alcohol had for each other. Her death came about on Friday 11 September 1885 in Beaufort West where she was found drowned in a water-filled ditch opposite the hotel. Earlier in the day she had been seen in a state the worse for wear due to her alcoholism. Peter John Bees and his children had moved to Dutoitspan in the early 1870s where he worked as a tailor, living in a tent in Bultfontein village, a mere stone’s throw from the Dutoitspan and Bultfontein open pits. What was Bultfontein village is no more, having fallen into the pit decades ago. In the middle 1870s Fanny started work as a barmaid in Gresham’s Bar (and other bars) on Main Street in Kimberley – she would have been 15 or 16 years of age at the time. She also fancied herself on stage and appeared in several theatrical productions. Her siblings were all musically talented so there is every reason to believe that the attractive teenager was too. Barney Barnato was an enthusiastic amateur actor and enjoyed a tipple or two, so no surprise that in circa 1876 Barney and Fanny Bees became “partners” but only after 16 years together did they marry in London on 19 November 1892, their first child Leah Primrose being born four months later on 16 March 1893. The gold mine in Germiston was named “Primrose” after Leah Primrose by Barney’s company JCI. (Incidentally, the Gresham’s Bar was hit by a Boer 75mm shell on 11 November 1899). Once married to Barney, Fanny moved out of the public eye, and is only mentioned briefly from time to time, and normally as the widow of the late Barney. She was kind, unassuming, and gracious. She died on 21 December 1943 at Ascot England and is buried in the Willesden cemetery, London. Leah Primrose Haxton and Woolf “Babe” Barnato, two of her three children, survived her. Jack (Henry Isaac), a pilot in the RAF from 1914 to 1918, died in England on 25 October 1918, a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic. He had been one of the naval airmen who had bombed Constantinople in 1916. “Babe” Barnato is best known for his motor car racing career – where he won three Le Mans races – and for his shares in the Bentley motor car business. His daughter – Barney and Fanny’s grand-daughter – was the famous aviatrix Diana Barnato Walker MBE and the first British woman to break the sound barrier. She had been with the Air Transport Auxiliary in World War II, delivering aircraft (80 different types!) to forward airfields and bases for use by the Allies. Of Fanny’s siblings, the best known was Emily Anne who married Robert Alexander Finlayson, the commanding officer of the Kimberley Regiment during the Siege of Kimberley 1899-1900. Fanny Bees’ father is not the only Barnato family member who died in Kimberley. Henry (Harry) Barnato, the elder brother of Barney, lost his wife Rachel on 13 September 1877 when she died giving birth to their daughter Leah, who survived. Rachel is buried in the Jewish section of the Pioneer cemetery in Kimberley North. Leah is a family name and goes back for generations in the Isaacs, Harris, Solomon and Joel families.