See also: 1852 in South Africa, other events of 1853, 1854 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

• The 8th Cape Frontier War ends
• The settlement of Hopetown is established
• Nicholaas Waterboer, eldest son of Andries Waterboer succeeds as Griqua captain
• The settlement of Queenstown is established
• The settlement of Seymour is established
• The Union Steamship Line is founded
• the right to vote is granted to every property-owning male (including Africans) in the Cape Province. This right was abolished with the introduction of Apartheid in 1948

Births

• 5 July - Cecil John Rhodes, businessman, mining magnate and politician, is born in Bishop's Stortford, east Hertfordshire, England
• 20 August - Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, landscape painter, is born near Riversdale, Cape Colony

Deaths