I am Derek Pratt. I am a retired Anglican Priest living in Pinelands, a suburb of Cape Town. My interest in Family History began over 15 years ago and together with Heather MacAlister, we formed the Cape Town Family History Society. Heather asked me to chair the society. After a year or so I resigned because I was still working in a busy township parish. After moving to the Parish of St Paul’s Rondebosch with its wonderfully historical graveyard I realised that I had to be involved once again in family history and returned to the CTFHS committee serving as editor of the Newsletter for the past fifteen years.
Am I qualified to do your family history?
That decision is really up to you, but let me give you my CV.
Born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in 1950, I came to Cape Town at the age of seven and have lived here ever since. I attended Wynberg Boys High School and after two years in the South African Navy I worked for Cape Provincial Administration and UCT Medical School as a Medical Technologist in the Department of Chemical Pathology. I later moved to Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and worked there for thirteen years. During this time, I studied part-time through UNISA obtaining a B.A. degree majoring in History and History of Music. I also studied through UNISA for a B.Th. degree majoring in Church History and Systematic Theology.
In 1994 I followed God’s call to be an Anglican priest and attended the College of the Transfiguration in Grahamstown. While there I was fortunate to attend Rhodes University obtaining a B.Th.(Hons) in Ecclesiastical History.
After returning to Cape Town and while working in parishes I completed a M.Th. degree by research thesis entitled The Anglican Mission to the Muslims in Cape Town 1848-1974 under the supervision of Prof Margaret Donaldson.
I have worked in the parishes of St Peter’s, Camps Bay; St Andrew’s, Steenberg and St Paul’s, Rondebosch. I was rector of St Paul’s parish for 11 years and my interest in family history was really stimulated by the history of this parish and its graveyard.
In February 2016 I retired to Fish Hoek and now research my own family history (do we ever complete a family tree?) and the family histories for others. I also continue to work on my project of doing brief family histories on those buried in the purchased graves at St Paul’s Parish Graveyard (see the St Paul’s Graveyard page above.) In May 2024 I sold my Fish Hoek home and moved to Pinelands but my contact details remain the same.