"Scotty Smith" was not real. Some of the time he was a hoax. At other times he was a dangerous robber. But most of the time he was a romantic highwayman whose real name was George Lennox, a former cavalry officer of the
British Indian Army.
His
identity was further hidden by the fact that a number of petty outlaws emulated
his exploits and traded under his title. His claim to be George St Leger Gordon
Lennox, of the family of the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon, cannot be
substantiated. Understandably there is no record of him in the family history.
Mr F L St Leger, a member of a well-known Cape Town family, once told The
Cape Times that while he was farming in the Northern Cape Scotty, his
friend, stole many horses there – but never from him. St Leger said he always
felt quite safe with the robber.
Another of
Scotty Smith’s known friends was George Beet.
Beet was a famous chronicler of the West Griqualand diamond fields’
partly respectable, often barbarous society. He came in 1872 and lived there as
a devout Catholic until his death in the 1930s. He was acknowledged as
Kimberley’s ‘Grand Old Man’, and at his funeral flags flew at half-mast as
tribute to ‘one who was not only a personage but a personality.’
There was
no such celebration at the time of the death of that far more interesting
personality, Scotty Smith. But stories about him abounded in pioneer
reminiscences and old newspaper cuttings where the highwayman’s extravagant
titles were conceived.
Major G Tylden compiled the first comprehensive bibliography
of Scotty Smith, involving references to him in 17 books (including EA Walker’s
Modern History for South Africans 1927) and about 25 other
publications. A film about him was
produced in 1970. The most complete account of the legendary brigand’s
activities was compiled by F C Metrowich,. (See Blood on the Path Selected Bibliography)
The stories told in Blood on the Path by Scotty Smith are verifiable.
