Dr. Ellen Hellmann (1908-1982) was a social anthropologist and obtained her D.Phil degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1940. The findings of her MA thesis in 1935, ground breaking research into the appalling conditions under which urban black Africans lived in slums such as Rooiyard in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, were published in the book entitled "Rooiyard: A Sociological Survey Of An Urban Native Slum Yard" in 1948.
She worked for the 'Joint Council of Europeans and Bantu' and later became an Executive member of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). She submitted evidence to various Government commissions at the time, including the Commission for Socio-economic Development of the Native Areas of South Africa (1955), known as the Tomlinson Commission, and the Commission of Inquiry into the Riots at Soweto and Elsewhere, 1976-1977, known as the Cillie Commission.
Ellen Hellmann was a member of the Progressive Party from 1959 to 1971.
(South African History Online)

Born in 1914, Ronald Majongwa Ngilima grew up in the countryside near Cofimvaba (St.Marks, Eastern Cape), as a sheepherder. In 1930, the young 16-year-old moved to Johannesburg, and found work as a messenger-boy at the post office of Modder B mines. He then switched to working for the tobacco company Leonard Dinglers in the industrial area of Boksburg. In 1934, Ronald married Sarah Nomatisana Msekelwa, with whom he was to have nine children. From the Johnson farm plots, the young family moved to Benoni Old Location (‘Etwatwa’) in the mid-1940s. In 1952, they were able to obtain a ‘sub-economic house’ in the newly built township called Wattville. His daughter Doreen Ngilima and her family live in this house up to today.
In his spare time Ronald became as a self-taught photographer, taking portraits to supplement his income. He used his bathroom as a darkroom, washing negatives and making prints, including for other photographers in the area. Over the years, Ngilima accumulated the numerous negatives in small Kodak boxes. When Ronald died tragically on the 13th of March 1960 in a mysteriously ambush, his son and assistant Torrance Ngilima took over the trade for another few years, adding his own negatives to the collection. Torrance continued to photograph for another five years.
(from the Ronald Ngilima Photographic Archive)

Gavin Hartford began his professional career at the South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED), an educational NGO. In the mid-eighties he worked for the National Automobile and Allied Workers Union (NAAWU) and later the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), becoming a National Organizer and negotiator.

"Father Norton" was a missionary of the Society of the Sacred Mission stationed at Modderpoort. He was a member of the Committee of the Albany Natural History Society, Grahamstown and the Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1920 he was appointed as its first professor of Bantu philology at the University of Cape Town.

Reiner Leist is a visual artist. He studied Visual Arts and Photography at the Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste in Muenchen, Germany. He later emigrated to South Africa and the United States.

J A (Jac) Joel joined the 3rd Pretoria (Sunnyside) Scout Troop in Pretoria, South Africa in 1923, and subsequently served as ASM, SM, and GSM in that Group. He was appointed as Assistant Divisional Commissioner of the new Northern Transvaal Division in 1955, and served as Divisional Commissioner from 1962 to 1972.

Jac Joel, an architect by profession, was a keen philatelist, and assembled a comprehensive collection of Scout Stamps, which was near to complete when he donated it to the Northern Transvaal Area of the Boy Scouts of South Africa in 1989. The Area maintained the collection by subscribing to new Scout Stamp issues for a number of years, but terminated this in 1996 when it became clear that many countries were printing stamps with Scouting themes purely for commercial reasons.