Klipdrift Republic, 1870

Stafford Parker, the self-proclaimed President of the Klipdrift- or “Diggers Republic” in West Griqualand, had a flag hoisted daily in front of the building he used as his Presidency. It was a Red Ensign, with a large rearing horse on a red field and a Union Jack in the top hoist. Parker probably painted the horse himself on a Red Ensign. In February 1871, when British authorities arrived and annexed the area to the Cape Colony, Parker resigned but continued, as “ex-President”, to fly this flag at the general dealer’s store and music saloon he had opened at Du Toit’s Pan.