About David

David

Back in December 2013, I wrote a piece about Mike's cousins David and Taffy Shearing. It was thanks to them particularly, that I returned from my first visit to South Africa in 1979, better informed than when I arrived. The blog served another purpose, which was to mark the passing of Nelson Mandela and included a Christmas letter to the family that Taffy had written - an account of the occasion where she met Nelson Mandela and the events surrounding it, which were far from ordinary. 

The blog this time marks the passing of David Shearing after a long battle with cancer.

David had a motto - "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing that I can do or kindness I can show any human being, let me do it now and not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again."

David and Taffy lived this credo to the limit. They were passionate and committed to each other, to their shared interests, but also to doing what was right.  In a country like South Africa, during the apartheid days, this took considerable determination and courage.

I first met David and Taffy when they had their sheep farm Layton, which was in the karoo - an extraordinary landscape, tough semi-desert, vast, challenging, sometimes dangerous, endlessly fascinating, always majestic. It is South Africa's biggest eco-system.  I fell in love with the place and the cousins, and even though the family moved away some time ago, when Mike and I go back to South Africa, we always make a pilgrimage to the karoo.

Dinner, that first night of that first visit to Layton was a different affair for this London girl. 
David had been having problems with a porcupine. Although endearingly like an oversized hedgehog, said porcupine had been raiding David's vegetable patch and causing a certain amount of damage. David had had enough. The trial of wits took place in the early hours one morning a few days before, and the outcome arrived on a carving plate, fortunately without the quills. A delicious roast, served with squash. 

Life on a farm in the karoo was never easy. But with David and Taffy there was always energy to do more. Taffy when we first met was greatly into dyeing and weaving, probably doing the spinning as well. I use one of her cushions as a back prop while I'm typing. David was a karoo bird man. Even a small speck on the horizon could be immediately identified. But it was for his knowledge of karoo flowers that David was renowned. This led to a series of publications: Karoo-South African Wild Flowers Guide of which there are six volumes, but also the creation of a karoo flower walk at the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West. We walked that walk with David one time.

The karoo landscape wasn't the only trail of discovery to be mined. Family history proved irresistible. Taffy with her Welsh ancestry, David with his Anglo/Scottish ancestry, have led to an impressive family tree that spreads across many centuries and countries. I first saw the South African Shearing's family bible, back in the 80s. An enormous tome, that David's mother, Aunt Marge was attempting to update in her beautiful fountain-penned handwriting. Now of course through David and Taffy's perseverance the family tree is online. 

However it is probably their combined work on the South African war in the Cape Colony, that represents David and Taffy's greatest achievement. It is a true legacy and testament to their tenacity. They produced a series of books - the Cape Commando Series. Taffy did the writing and David the editing and marketing. The research was a real labour of love, stretching over many years. Ultimately together, they produced a new book entitled The Rebel Record the database for which had previously been used by Taffy in support of her dissertation for her doctorate -
The Cape Rebel of the South African War 1899-1902 - which she submitted and was awarded in 2004.

In the Dedication for her doctorate Taffy wrote:

"This thesis is dedicated to my husband, David, my true friend and life's companion. 
I am the most privileged of people to have written a thesis in an atmosphere of genuine encouragement and steadfast support. For this, my love, I am deeply grateful."

To Taffy, Eleanor, Michelle and all the family, this blog is dedicated to a wonderful human being whom we are privileged to have known.  For this we are deeply grateful.

Hilary and Mike