Great love stories and great names often have fascinating beginnings. We discovered the very interesting origins of the love story between Lady Juana Maria Smith and Sir Henry (Harry) Smith, and the name ‘spanspek’ - a southern African name for cantaloupe melons.
The couple’s love story began during the Peninsula War in 1812 when British troops stormed the Spanish town of Badajoz. Among the inhabitants who fled the looting and sacking were two sisters of noble birth, descendants of Juan Pons de Leon, known for discovering Florida. When the sisters sought the protection of British officers, 23-year-old Captain Smith was so smitten with the younger sister, Juana Maria de Los Dolores de Leon, that they were married within two weeks. Juana became a true army wife, following her husband to every battle he fought in during the next three years of campaigning, which culminated in the Battle of Waterloo.
They made their way to South Africa in 1828 where Harry served the British Crown at the Cape from 1828 until 1845, becoming the first governor of the short-lived Queen Adelaide province in the Eastern Cape, where they enjoyed great popularity among the AmaXhosa as well as the Boers. Harry was then transferred to India for two years to join the First Anglo-Sikh War. In recognition of his services, he was knighted after the British victory in the battle of Aliwal. In 1847 he was appointed governor of the Cape Province and returned to South Africa.
As the story is told, Sir Harry loved bacon and eggs for breakfast. Lady Juana didn’t like bacon at all, preferring cantaloupe melons. In the household the melons were soon known as ‘Spanish bacon’ or in Afrikaans, ‘die Spaans se spek’ (the Spaniard’s bacon). This is apparently how this type of melon eventually became known as ‘spanspek’.
The names of several towns and places testify to the couple’s popularity and love for each other: Ladismith in the Western Cape, Ladysmith and Harrismith in Kwazulu-Natal, Aliwal North and Juanasberg (near Hogsback) in the Eastern Cape, and Smithfield and Fauriesmith in the Free State.
The couple was ordered back to Britain in 1852. Lady Juana wept when she boarded the ship. In the following years she declared on numerous occasions that the time spent in South Africa had been the happiest of her life.
The great love story ended when Sir Harry died in 1860. Lady Juana was laid at his side in Whittlesea, England, twelve years later.
Lady Juana was loved wherever she went. And those who met her on her adventuresome path of life at the side of her beloved husband were enchanted. She and the love she engendered are remembered in the unlikely name of the delicious fruit – spanspek.
(Reference: Our own Spanish Lady, Roger Webster, Sunday Times, 18 July 2010)