There are historical references in the 18th century to Mathaus Siedle and his bell-foundry near Furtwangen, Grand Duchy of Baden.
The family farm and metal foundry were near the Bregenbach stream and the property included the Siedlewald nearby.
Ludwig emigrated to London, UK and established a jewellery and watchmaking business in Woolwich.
Like several other members of the Siedle family, the UK provided a staging post for later emigration to the United States, South Africa, Ceylon and Australia.
In 2008, the 257-year-old family firm, SSS Siedle, in Furtwangen, became an electronics company (Ref.
He met Cecil Rhodes in about 1896 after the Matabele Rebellion; Mahatma Gandhi in industrial negotiations in the 1930s; and George Bernard Shaw, John McCormack and other performers while in charge of the Durban Orchestra.
Rupert Ellis Brown, Mayor of Durban, wrote, in a foreword to "Siedle Saga" (Ref.
1) "Eminent citizen; doyen of Durban’s men of affairs; distinguished figure in the shipping, mercantile and industrial interests of our City and Province, Mr Siedle is something more than even these phrases suggest, for I think we might search the annals of Natal in vain for an individual who has been of greater service, of more solid worth, to the community than he.
Very largely to his efforts do we owe the development of the artistic and musical amenities of the City of Durban ....his wife, Mrs Mary Siedle, who became Councillor and eventually Deputy Mayor, rendering her term of office historic by the foundation of the Durban Children’s Hospital.....Because Mr Siedle’s autobiography deals with his family as well as himself, and tells us something of their notable contributions to art and music, and not least to sport, the book has been most happily entitled “Siedle Saga”.