Klerksdorp Cemetry.....(cont)

A local hospital - The Duff Scott Hospital - was named after Charles Duff Scott

An interesting snippet of information for you....Mr. Masureik was one of Klerksdorp's biggest business tycoons and commissioned a local architect to design a beautiful Victorian house called "Fountain Villa" in Hendrik Potgieter Street, Klerksdorp.

I just want to thank these special people for making this series possible - Oom Alfred & Eugene of Danlou Motors!

.......Oupa - for keeping the gardens beautiful and clean....

.....Bert Gaffen for his unending interesting and valuable stories, for teaching and touching our lives and changing them forever!! ...a BIG thankyou!!!

Thankyou for your interest via comments and emails!

See you tomorrow!

Good afternoon everybody!

I trust that you all have had a pleasant weekend so far? I am still busy working on the last lot of photographs of the Anglo Boer War and the Cemetry here in Klerksdorp. Tomorrow will be the last post in the series of the Anglo Boer War..... for now!

 I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as i have?
Have a lovely Sunday! See you tomorrow!

Our visit to the Makweteng Cemetry also in Klerksdorp...

......also proved to be a very humbling experience and sad that the majority of the graves are lost and people unidentified.

As a matter of interest, Soweto in Johannesburg (South Africa), originates from a black concentration camp during the Anglo Boer War. I actually did not know that until I started all this research and met our Bert Gaffen, who has spent much time and patience enlightening me.

The British "scorched earth policy" displaced thousands of African farmworkers and the British established 66 concentration camps for them; with Klerksdorp being one of them!

This open cemetry is the Black Concentration Camp Graveyard. Nobody was interested in marking the graves and caring for them. By 1907 the new local authorities established a black township in Klerksdorp, North West Province, South Africa.

The grave stones with the springbok emblem represented the Union Soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars. There are also some to be seen at the other cemetry.

All so special and just as beautiful............. I leave you with your own thoughts....... until tomorrow!!
Take care and thanks for following.

WALL  of  REMEMBRANCE.....


The details on the Wall of Remembrance touched the 3 of us and we spent a long time reading the names of all the people who perished in the camp. I left the area with a very heavy heart!

My mom and Bev chatting and listening to Bert.

The list of adults ('Volwassenes') on the "honour roll"....

Bev's maiden name is Herbst and to her surprise she found some forefathers who were also in the Camp. This touched her deeply .

A separate list of all the children ('kinders') who perished here.

More names...

We also have some Kruger ancestors who died here.

A serious moment with Bev looking on pensively!

Time for a smile before we move on!

Thankyou for stopping by! I hope that this series has touched you as much as me? Take care!
Until the next post!

CONCENTRATION CAMP......

The monument erected in memory of the women and children of the Concentration Camp of Klerksdorp.

Close up...........

 A poignant moment for me. I was deeply moved as I sat contemplating the fate of all the women, children and men who perished in this war! ..... Heartbreaking!! Bev also mentioned that she was feeling very emotional!

These small graves belong to the children who died in the camp!

The British army was very good at supplying their troops with supplies.

The Afrikaaner farmers were generally very good to their labourers.

Kitchener went full out to deprive the Boers of their support systems - being the farms with livestock and crops as well as the emotional support system from their women and children.
Thus the "scorched earth" policy was introduced where the British would burn down / blow up farm houses, destroy crops and remove / kill livestock. They also burnt grazing thus denying livestock their food. The women, children and elderly were then moved into concentration camps, together with the labourers' women and children.

More than 40 concentration camps were established for white civilians. They were mostly in the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The deaths were mainly due to inadequate food and illness; like measels, amoebic dysentery and pneumonia.

The well-known Emily Hobhouse fought to improve conditions and relieve suffering of those in the camps. She inspected a number of camps in January1901 and returned to England to stir public awareness. This eventually resulted in a drop in the death rate. Kitchener referred to her as "that bloody woman"!!

Our one and only Historian Bert Gaffen who is a walking Encyclopedia. We left our tour feeling very privileged and enriched for the time spent with him.

WAR CEMETRY ....cont

Somewhere between January and March 1901, a Tribunal found 5 men guilty of treason and they were subsequently executed. Today their graves are to be found in the Klerksdorp Old Cemetry.

Jacobus Petrus Daniel Theunissen- was a well-to-do farmer near Hartbeesfontein. He tried to convince the other burghers to surrender to the British. At the time of the formal surrender of Klerksdorp, Theunissen and his son Christiaan took the oath of neutrality and went back to farming. But later on Jacobus was found guilty of treason and bribery, and executed on 23 January 1901.

The graves of the 4 executed men and W.F.Ahrens. From right to left lies R.Boyd, R. Machlachlan, J.P.D. Theunissen, H.D Ahrens & W.F. Ahrens - who was later exhumed from his Natal grave and reburied here.

Robert Machlachlan - was born in Scotland and moved to the Z.A.R. About a year before the war he married Martha Machlachlan (nee' Theunissen) - daughter of above J.C.D. Theunissen. On 14th November 1900 he was arrested in Hartbeesfontein and taken to Wolmaransstad and incarcerated. Here he appeared on charges of high treason which stated that he dodged the Draft, joined British forces and acted against Boer forces! He could not convince the Tribunal that he didn't warn the British forces at Wolmaransstad of the approach of the Boers in February1900. At age 29 he was executed by firing squad on 23 February 1901. 

Heinrich Didloff Ahrens & Christiaan Theunissen - On 25th July 1900 H.D Ahrens (who was married to R Machlachlan's sister) and his brother Willem Frederick Ahrens fled towards Wolmaransstad, together with R. Machlachlan where they also warned the British about the impending Boer attack. They were later arrested by the Boers and taken to Klerksdorp. On 14th february all 3 men  appeared before the tribunal on a charge of high treason - working with the British against the Boers.

Ronald Boyd - was born in Scotland in 1876 and arrived in South Africa in 1898. Boyd worked at the same shop as R.Machlachlan in Hartbeesfontein. At the outbreak of the war, he asked permission to remain in Hartbeesfontein to avoid being deported as an illegal alien. The condition was that he had to remain strictly neutral during the war. The actual reasons for his arrest cannot be ascertained. Boyd was subsequently found guilty of high treason and executed on 23 January 1901.

Willem Frederick Ahrens - although W.F.Ahrens was found guilty of treason together with his brother H.D.Ahrens, he received clemency and after his release, fled to Natal under British protection. Here he died in 1901 and was later reburied next to the 4 executed individuals in the Old Klerksdorp Cemetry.

Credit goes to Klerksdorp Museum brochure. Thankyou Bert Gaffen!