John Benn’s House (Circa 1864)
This Victorian cottage, at 44 Rawson Street, was the home of John Benn, first of a long line of Benn family members who served as pilots, prior to his moving to the Pilot‘s house at the Knysna Heads on his appointment as coxswain and pilot in 1868.
The house stands on land originally part of “The Admiralty erven” which was ceded by George Rex to the British Navy who, in turn, exchanged it with the Colonial Government for land and a jetty in Simon’s Town from whom John Benn bought the land in 1864.
John Benn served his apprenticeship as a shipwright in the Royal Navy and arrived in Knysna in 1855 to salvage the wrecked schooner, Musquash. He built the brig Rover and the schooner Annie Benn in Knysna.
Information provided courtesy of the Knysna Historical Society.
Let’s preserve the history of Knysna
whilst living in the joy of the present.