Grading - 249862

This imposing building was erected by Sir Melmoth Osborne, resident magistrate of Newcastle from 1868 to 1875. Sir Rider Haggard took occupation in January 1881 and during his sojourn the Royal Commission which drew up the terms of the Pretoria Convention and which provided for the retrocession of the Transvaal after the First Anglo-Boer War, 1880-1881, held its meeting here._x000D_
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Present on this occasion were Sir Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, President Brand and Sir Evelyn Wood.