Beatrice

Beatrice is a farming community in Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe, about 54 kilometres south-west of Harare on the main Harare to Masvingo road where it crosses the Mupfure River. At the 1982 census the village had 1,300 inhabitants. It is named after the Beatrice gold mine, around which it grew; the mine operated from 1895 to 1945 and carried the name of Beatrice Borrow, sister of Lieutenant Henry J. Borrow of the Pioneer Column. The original claim was pegged by Frank Johnson and Company, in which Borrow was a partner, and it proved extremely lucrative. Today the settlement is known as a farming centre on a main highway.