Christoffel Brand (1738–1815) was a trader, a well-known host at Simon’s Town near Cape Town, welcoming ships using it as a refreshment station and a participant in establishing Freemasonry in Cape Colony.
These employees of the DEIC (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) felt their salaries from the company were too low and therefore used their own enterprise to obtain income.
[4] Brand was the chief official in charge of the Trading Post in False Bay, situated in Simon's Town.
British Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson docked in 1776 with HMS Dolphin, and was accommodated by Brand.
[8] In 1772 a German bookkeeper on a ship from Germany, travelling via the Netherlands, to South Africa called Abraham Chiron after being influenced by Abraham van der Weijden started the Freemasons in South Africa.
The founding members were, apart from Chiron: Jacobus Alexander le Febre, Johann Coenraad Gie, Pieter Soermans, Jan Adriaan van Schoor, Olof Godlieb de Wet and Petrus Johannes de Wit [9][10]