Aerial view of Sunnyside towards Hatfield with the Union Buildings
on top (1930)
History
Surveyor WR Lanham laid out the suburb of Hatfield on the farm Koedoespoort
for the Wesleyan (Methodist) Society in 1905. The suburb was named after
Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, the residence of
William Waldegrave Palmer, second Earl of Selborne (1859-1942), who
became Govenor of the Transvaal (1905) and High Commissioner in 1909.
The name Hatfield has its origin from Old English haep field, meaning
"heather-covered field". Hatfield township was incorporated into the
Pretoria municipality in 1916. Most of the residential houses remaining
in the Hatfiield - Hillcrest area date back to the early 1900's.
