The Pietersburg Club was founded in 1902. The founder of the Pietersburg Club was a remarkable man – a role model of what was considered to the best and most admirable in Victorian manhood – Major Wilford Nash Bolton (O.B.E.). From 1901 to the end of the Anglo Boer War he was the Provost Marshall of the Northern Transvaal. His name will forever be linked to the famous and controversial Breaker Morant trial that took place in Pietersburg in 1901. He was the court martial prosecutor. After the war he resigned his commission and became the Resident magistrate for Pietersburg and Zoutpansberg district. He left Pietersburg in 1907 to Commissioner of Cyprus. He died in England of pneumonia in 1930 at the age of 68.
From the beginning, Pietersburg Club conducted itself along the lines of a British gentleman’s club with a distinct military influence and right from the start the history of Pietersburg and the history of the Pietersburg Club became interwoven, to the extent that often the history of the one is also the history of the other. Through the years many important decisions which profoundly influenced the development of the town where first discussed in the club and often formulated there before being raised at the Town Council meetings. The reason for this was that more often than not the same gentlemen who served on the Town Council also served on the club’s committee.
Right from the start the Pietersburg Club played a significant role in the establishment of sports clubs in the growing town. The very first such sports club founded by members of the Pietersburg Club was the one for Bowls. Jack Day and Emil Natorp laid out bowling greens on the vacant section of stand No. 8 at the back of the building the Club was using.
At the 16 June 1903 Annual General Meeting (AGM) an amount of £3 500 was voted for the building of a new clubhouse to replace the original house. The new building was inaugurated before the end of that year. A billiard room was also added to the clubhouse. Soon thereafter the club came to an arrangement with the Grand Hotel across the road at the back of the Club to supply them with electric lighting. The hotel had the very first lightening plant in the town. Water for the club was secured from a well at the back of the building.
While in the past the club was exclusive, all guests today are assured of a warm welcome and executive treatment!
