My father, Murray Joseph Anthony Hawes, went to sea in 1942 at around the age of fifteen. He was running from something extremely unpleasant at home in suburban Toronto. Within months his ship was torpedoed in the North Atlantic by the German Navy. He survived and sailed for another five years. I know that some of the pressure he felt to leave his home emanated from his extremely stern German Catholic-Canadian father, a yardmaster for the national railroad. I suspect that there were other contributing factors. One such factor was the extremely abusive Catholic Church and Catholic School System. Other factors were the war in Europe, the King of England, human nature and the Anglo-Canadian Dream.
I have precious few photos of my father and his sisters as children and one of them shows him at eight years of age in an alter boy’s outfit with the ghostly face of a thirty year old staring back at you. Other pictures prior to that, show a normal healthy lad playing with his dog in his front yard on Vaughn Road in the Borough of York of Tronna The Good.
My father’s father was born in Ariss, Ontario which lies about twenty kilometres away from Kitchener, Ontario. His name was Alvon Heinrich Haus. He Anglicized his name to Alvin Henry Howes. There was a reason for that.
His father, according to my yellowed baby book, given to me by my mother, was Joseph Haus/House/Howes. The wife of that man, my paternal great-great grandmother, was Helen Zimmerman and her birthplace was Alsace-Lorraine.
In what later became Ariss, by 1900, a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a few houses had been located around a small settlement. In 1903, Joseph and Ellen House opened a store in a small front room of their house thereabouts. Joseph House had built the frame building himself in 1902.
The Canadian Pacific Railway completed a line from Guelph to Goderich in 1907. The rails passed through the settlement and a large two-story railway station with living quarters for the Stationmaster was built. Italian labourers were employed to build the rail line and they lived in a caboose which followed the line's construction. The labourers purchased their goods at the House's store.
In 1908, a Post Office was established at the House’s Store. Mrs. Ellen House acted as Post Mistress for the next twenty years. Rural Route #1 Ariss, established in 1911, was the first rural line to operate in Guelph Township. Ellen House would carry her mail to and from the Train Station each day. In 1913, two Rural Mail Delivery Routes were established from the Ariss Post Office. Gas pumps were added in 1918.
The Post Office and Store were sold to Frank Schuett in 1928. In 1960, the store was expanded to its present size to accommodate the Lucky Dollar Grocery chain. In 2008, Ariss Post Office was honoured for 100 years of service. Given the small population at the time and the pressure to Anglicize Teutonic sounding surnames, it is very possible that this couple are the very people listed in my baby book as my great grandparents, with Helen and Ellen being the same woman.
From the of 2016 edition of Historical Society Of St. Boniface & Maryhill Community Summer Newsletter we learn that, “Many of the earliest settlers of Maryhill came from Soufflenheim and nearby villages in Northeastern France along the Rhine River, just North of Strasbourg in present day Alsace.”
Maryhill is about five kilometres from Ariss.
In 1784, the land that Kitchener, Ontario was built upon was an area given to the Six Nations by the British as a gift for their allegiance during the American Revolution; 240,000 hectares of land to be exact. From 1796 and 1798, the Six Nations sold 38,000 hectares of this land to a Loyalist named Colonel Richard Beasley. The land that Beasley had purchased was remote but it was of great interest to German Mennonite farming families from Pennsylvania. They wanted to live in an area that would allow them to practice their beliefs without persecution. Eventually, the Mennonites purchased all of Beasley's unsold land and created 160 farm tracts.
Kitchener, Ontario was originally named Berlin by those immigrants who came to farm Ontario’s rich soil, escape persecution and practice their own way of life. They were a religious mix of Mennonites from Pennsylvania, Swiss Anabaptists, Lutherans from Germany and Catholics from Alsace-Lorraine. The founding townsfolk had a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I placed in Victoria Lake Park. From 1854 until 1912 it was called the Town of Berlin and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916.
As was the case in many other times and locations and still is today; during war and conflict many people of a given heritage are targeted for persecution by other citizens of different heritages or religious practices. This manipulation is easily orchestrated. One’s patriotism must be proven. Repeatedly and usually unsuccessfully so, in the case of those targeted for extermination or expulsion. Also, we often learn in history that place names, surnames and origin stories are changed for less noble purposes.
Here is a good example from the Library and Archives Canada, “The imperialism that was at the core of the campaign to change the name of Berlin, Ontario was not unique to Canada. Depicted in a two-cent stamp, found in the philatelic holdings of Library and Archives Canada, is King George V. The Royal Household, itself German in origin, changed its name from Saxe-Coburg & Gotha to Windsor during the First World War.”
Here is another article from the Library and Archives Canada:
What's In a Name? Berlin to Kitchener
“Those who live in, or have the chance to visit Kitchener, Ontario will be very familiar with the area's rich German culture and heritage. The original settlers of the region were of an agrarian, pacifist Mennonite background. By the eve of the First World War, Berlin, Ontario dubbed "the German Capital of Canada" boasted myriad German-language societies, German language instruction in schools and a German language newspaper. As the Great War continued, the loyalty of German-Canadians became more and more suspect. In August 1914, the bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm, proudly displayed in Victoria Park, was removed and thrown into the lake. Open mistrust of enemy aliens in the city led to the suspension of German-language instruction in schools.”
“In 1916, the Berlin Board of Trade made a suggestion that polarized the citizens of the city. The Board of Trade argued that the name Berlin hurt business and gave the impression that its citizens were sympathizers of the enemy cause in Europe. It was suggested that the act of changing the name of the city would be a tangible symbol of its citizens' patriotism and would boost the city's profile across the Dominion.”
“Many Berliners supported maintaining the name of the city, as it reflected a proud tradition of growth and prosperity for German and non-German Canadians alike. Those citizens who supported the status quo were immediately perceived by those who wanted change as being unpatriotic and sympathizers with the enemy. Violence, riots and intimidation, often instigated by imperialistic members of the 118th Battalion, were not uncommon in the months leading up to the May 1916 referendum on the issue.”
“A majority of Berliners did chose to opt for a new name and by early summer the search for a new city moniker was on. A special committee was set-up by the City Council with the express purpose to suggest possible names. On September 1, 1916, the name of Kitchener was officially adopted after the late Lord Kitchener.”
“Horatio Kitchener was appointed Secretary for War by the British Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, at the beginning of the Great War. His image, beckoning recruits with an outward stare and finger pointed, was immortalized on Alfred Leete's dramatic poster "Britons Want You!" Kitchener had drowned earlier in 1916, when the ship he was travelling on hit a mine near the Orkney Islands. It would be next to impossible for citizens of the new Kitchener to be considered unpatriotic.”
“Nonetheless, some Canadians did not readily adopt the new name for Berlin. The Post Office had to issue memorandum, reminding correspondents that there was no city in Ontario named Berlin. The issue was so contentious that several Canadian municipalities petitioned the Dominion Government to force those who did not comply, to use the name Kitchener. Although ludicrous to modern eyes, the whole issue of a name for Berlin highlights the effects that fear, hatred and nationalism can have upon a society in the face of war.”
Here is an article by Luisa D’Amato from the Kitchener Post, dated June 28, 2014:
First World War Ripped Away Canada’s “Age Of Innocence”
“After just four days of fighting in Ypres, there were 6,000 Canadian casualties — more than ten times the number who perished during the entire three years of the war in South Africa. This was a new kind of conflict. Canada paid a terrible price. By war's end, 630,000 had served, out of a population of eight million. About 60,600 died.”
“By contrast, says University of Waterloo historian Geoffrey Hayes, the United States lost 59,000 soldiers during the Vietnam War and its total population was 250 million. Once the Great War was over, it left profound social change in its wake. Instead of the peace and relative harmony that society had enjoyed before the war, there was turbulent change.”
“In Canada, unemployment grew and wages fell. The Canadian economy slumped after the frantic activity of wartime. People flocked to the cities, looking for work. Abroad, the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917 and at home the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 called for collective bargaining and labour rights. In the Canadian Prairies, the beginnings of socialist politics would pave the way for the creation of the New Democratic Party. Women got the right to vote.”
“Before the Great War, Canadian society was “remarkably peaceful, naïve with old Victorian values,” said Waterloo-based historian and author Ken McLaughlin. "What the war does is, it ends the age of innocence in a dramatic way.”
“In Waterloo County, as Waterloo Region was then known, there were particular consequences. So strong was anti-German sentiment that the city of Berlin had reluctantly renamed itself Kitchener, in hopes of retaining its commerce relationships. All this was set into motion by the actions of one individual.”
“On June 28, 1914, Princip shot and killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. Princip was among a group of activists who wanted Bosnia and Serbia united and wanted Bosnia to be taken out of Austro-Hungarian rule.”
“Princip's action became known as "the shot heard 'round the world," for its far-reaching consequences. Europe had enjoyed mostly peace for nearly one hundred years. But in an atmosphere of increasing nationalism, there was a bubbling up of ambition and old resentments; a relentless jockeying for power. Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina six years earlier, which did not sit well with Serbian nationalists.”
“Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum with a list of demands, including a requirement that Serbia ensure the perpetrators of the assassination be arrested and that propaganda advocating the destruction of Austria-Hungary be banned. Serbia did not agree to all the demands and asked for an independent arbitrator. It began to mobilize its army.”
“On July 28, 1914, one month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. After that, the complex web of national alliances caused a domino effect of aggression. Germany, the ally of Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia and France and invaded Belgium on August 3. The next day, Britain declared war on Germany.”
"War to the Death Has Come to Europe," shouted the front-page headlines of the Berlin Daily Record on August 3, 1914. "Nation Has Drawn Sword Against Nation."
“For the industrious, German-speaking city that was affectionately known as "Busy Berlin," this was a catastrophic development.”
“Until this war, Berlin and Waterloo County had been comfortable with its German heritage, and saw no conflict between it and the Canadian identity. The statue of Queen Victoria and the bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I regarded one another peacefully in Victoria Park, in the heart of Berlin. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the community revelled in its German heritage. It hosted huge German singing festivals with thousands of visitors and covered the local buildings in greenery to celebrate the occasion. In 1911, more than eighty per cent of the children in Berlin's schools were learning German.”
“These local German residents were peace-loving. Many had originated from the Alsace-Lorraine area between France and Germany, McLaughlin said. Their families had suffered through their share of conflict, as that territory passed back and forth between these two countries.”
“When the Great War broke out, most new recruits to the army — here and across Canada — were young men born in Britain. But as the war ground on, systematically devouring the young men who signed up, pressure built for more volunteers.”
“Pacifist Mennonites could not fight and immigrant Germans hesitated to take up arms against a country that they still loved. As anti-German sentiment grew in Canada, Waterloo County suffered. There were printed threats that people of German or Austro-Hungarian background would be detained if they were spying or otherwise helping the enemy. The Berlin School Board put an end to German-language instruction in the schools.”
“Just days after the war broke out in Europe, someone removed the bust of the Kaiser and threw it in Victoria Park Lake. It was later retrieved and removed to a German club for safekeeping. Then it was stolen a second time and never found again. In February 1916, soldiers of the local 118th Battalion broke into the Concordia Club, looking for the bust. They did not find it, but they destroyed the inside of the club and burned its contents.”
“It got worse. An unwelcome spotlight began to focus on a minister, Rev. Reinhold Tappert of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. Lutheran churches, with their German-language services, were popular targets in the anti-German activity. Tappert, an American, was said to have ordered his children not to sing God Save the King or to salute the Union Jack. He wrote to the News-Record newspaper: "I still love the land of my fathers — Germany.”
“On March 4, 1916, sixty soldiers from the 118th Battalion broke into Tappert's home. He was dragged through the streets behind horses, "his face bloodied, his body twisting as he fell into unconsciousness while the pavement scraped off his flesh," recounted McLaughlin and fellow historian John English in their book, Kitchener: An Illustrated History. A few days later, Tappert left Berlin for the safety of his brother's home in New York City. His attackers received only suspended sentences.”
“By now, there was a strong movement to change the name of Berlin. Manufactured goods marked "Made in Berlin" were not popular and were boycotted. Many people loved the Berlin name. But pressure continued. William Henry Breithaupt, a local industrialist and historian defended the name Berlin and protested that this German community was patriotic, but he received threatening letters and had his phone lines cut.”
“A referendum on a new name for the city was organized just as news came that Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Britain's Secretary of State for War, was drowned when the ship he was travelling in, off the Orkney Islands, had hit a German mine. His name was added to the choices on the referendum and as a clear symbol of loyalty to the British cause it won. But it was a sad victory. A mere eight hundred and ninety-two people voted, said Hayes, the University of Waterloo historian. Only three hundred and forty-six voted for Kitchener and there were just eleven votes between it and the next most popular name, Brock.”
“Commenting on the dismal voter turnout, the News Record noted: "The outstanding feature was the absolute indifference displayed by the ratepayers.”
“The new name, Kitchener, did not stop the turbulence that the community was feeling. During municipal elections, the offices of the News Record newspaper were wrecked and the Mayor-elect, David Gross, was afraid to go to his own home because it had been visited by soldiers. A large crowd, including soldiers from the 118th Battalion, had gathered on King Street — shouting, jeering and hissing — and the military had to be called in from Galt to protect the people. Later, Gross promised that the name Kitchener would remain.”
Across Canada, the pain of the war was deepening. In the spring of 1917, Canadian soldiers took Vimy Ridge in France, suffering more than 20,000 casualties. In that same year, just 3,000 new recruits across Canada volunteered for infantry service. Voluntary recruitment was all but dead across the land.”
“Now the government had to play hardball. Prime Minister Robert Borden announced his controversial plan for conscription for overseas service. In addition, the Wartime Elections Act, passed in September 1917, gave the vote to wives, mothers and sisters of serving soldiers — it was expected that they would support conscription, since their men were already overseas.”
“When Borden came to Kitchener on Nov. 24 as part of his election campaign, the hecklers booed, whistled and hooted so loudly that he was unable to speak. After several unsuccessful tries, Borden angrily sat down.”
“After the war ended and there was finally an end to the painful tests of loyalty in Waterloo County, Breithaupt envisioned a “Peace Souvenir” with photographs of the honoured dead and names of all who enlisted. As President of the Waterloo Historical Society, he wrote an essay for the magazine that showed an idealized interpretation of our war experience.”
“In the Great War, 1914-18, the county, without distinction of ancestry, whether Pennsylvanian, Scotch, English, Irish, German, or other, responded freely and immediately to the call to arms. There was no thought of conscientious objection by Mennonites or anyone.”
“The first Waterloo County man to be killed in action was a Pennsylvania descendant, Ralph Alexander Eby, great-great-grandson of Benjamin Eby, a noted early settler, Mennonite bishop and founder of Berlin (now Kitchener). The bulk of enlistments was by volunteers, many of them under military age.”
“Breithaupt talked of the "noble" record of Waterloo County's support for the war effort. There were 3,768 enlistments in the war from here, of which one hundred and twelve won military decorations and four hundred and eighty-six were killed or died of injury or disease.”
“The town of Hespeler sent more men to the front, per capita, than any other town in Canada. The town of Waterloo subscribed for more Victory Bonds in 1917, 1918, and 1919 in proportion to its population, than any town in Canada, he said.”
“Meanwhile, a soothing balm was being applied to the harsh story of the Great War. Hayes argues that the building of cenotaphs, memorials, even the visits to the French battlefields "helped create the idealized memory of a war where Canadian soldiers had fought and died for a just victory.”
“The inscriptions on the monuments describe that the soldiers "died for civilization, government and the King," said Hayes. "And so you refashion what the war was about." It was "a curious kind of mix of fact and fiction.”
“And finally, Waterloo County had to heal from the violent divisions it experienced in its own identity crisis. It did this by emphasizing the German heritage of the Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania, rather than that of the German-speaking immigrants from Europe.”
“At a time when it was no longer possible to be loyal to both Germany and Canada, the area's Pennsylvania German and Swiss-German roots offered a more acceptable German identify to celebrate, one based not on "Busy Berlin" but on the trek of the Conestoga," Hayes wrote in an article for the journal of the Ontario Historical Society.”
“Thus, Pioneer Memorial Tower was built by 1926 near the banks of the Grand River and beside an old cemetery for the Betzner family, who were among the first white settlers to the area. Meanwhile, an important book was written in 1924 by local librarian Mabel Dunham. The Trail of the Conestoga was standard fare for generations of schoolchildren. It tells of brave Mennonite pioneers who dodged bear attacks and crossed the mighty Niagara River as they pressed north to settle in Waterloo, Ontario in the early 19th century.”
“Their good relations with the British are referred to several times in Dunham's novel.
From the early 19th century, peace-loving Mennonites were able to escape the turmoil of the American Revolution and its aftermath by coming north to Canada. The British welcomed them and guaranteed they would not have to serve in the military. This arrangement "allowed Pennsylvania Germans to reconcile their loyalty and religious faith" even during the War of 1812, Hayes wrote. If only the First World War had been so simple."
***
In my own thirty years as a letter-carrier for Canada Post, I worked beside a Canadian born Japanese Canadian whose family was torn apart during WW II and split up into various internment camps across Canada, after having had all their property confiscated by the government. I also worked with a Kwakiutl man whose birthplace was decimated by smallpox. When he retired, he was offered a post as a living tourist attraction at a university in Seattle, Washington. In a situation reminiscent of Ishi, Last Of His Tribe, in Kroeber’s book of that same title, he was asked to dress up like the old days and to lurk about in a mock-up long-house that they were proposing to build. To his credit, he declined the offer. I myself once had a Cantonese Chinese Canadian father-in-law, who suffered at the hands of Japanese Imperialists intent upon “helping” their Asian neighbours before the British, French or Germans did so. He hid in an attic, while soldiers ransacked his small house.
I grew up noticing that my relatives, which represented Swedish, Irish, Cherokee, Welsh, German (Alsatian), Canadian and American heritages, seemed to downplay some of those connections and to completely avoid identifying with others. Over time I came to understand why. Some of my Cherokee ancestors engaged in this tactic, in a bid to find peace in what later became the Republic of Texas and soon after, the State of Texas. Everybody needs a place to live and to grow. History shows us repeatedly that most people are denied this basic dignity in the fullness of time.
My Canadian great-grandfather, grandfather and father, the former naturalized and the latter two born in Ontario, would have had to deal with the pressures mentioned in the above articles about the town of Berlin/Kitchener. When I pondered this, another veil of the mystery, as to why young men and women in the flower of their youth, re-cross oceans already crossed by their parents and sacrifice themselves; begins to peel back.
As many soldiers down through the ages who served in their armies found out the hard way, their sacrifice holds no real value for certain non-combatants who deem themselves superior and insist upon hammering the world into their ideas of a proper shape. Propagandized rhetoric is spewed publicly in the names of altruism, the greater good and progress. Privately, it is concocted from the heated ravings of certain men by other lesser men and made to serve specific agendas, in my considered opinion and observation.
If we read the biography of the newly chosen British namesake for the old German Canadian town of Berlin, Ontario we will see a privileged young man schooled in military tactics at Montreaux and in Britain. Kitchener was showered with enough titles, medals, knighthoods, orders and Masonic ranks to choke a pony. In South Africa, where he was sent after having had adventures in India, Afghanistan, Palestine, Egypt and other such places coveted by the British Crown; the Boers were busy fighting the British and using guerrilla tactics. It is logical for a Canadian to want to know about the life of a British man who had a Canadian town named after him.
We will begin in the year 1900, in resource rich South Africa amid the Anglo-Boer War. Conditions in the Concentration Camps, which had been first conceived by First Earl Roberts to control the families whose farms he had destroyed, began to degenerate rapidly as the large influx of Boers outstripped the ability of the minuscule British forces to cope. The camps lacked space, food, sanitation, medicine and medical care, which lead to rampant disease and a very high death rate.
Eventually 26,370 women and children died in the Concentration Camps. Eighty-one percent of these victims were children. The Boer forces disintegrated and with the war apparently over, First Earl Roberts handed over command on 12 December 1900 to Lord Kitchener. While Kitchener was at this task, American troops were exterminating Filipinos two oceans away, in the same spirit of genocide that would yet again manifest as the Residential School Systems of resource rich Australia and Canada.
***
Here is a chronology of Kitchener’s Watch in South Africa:
Women & Children In White Concentration Camps During
The Anglo-Boer War, 1900-1902
“Boer women, children and men unfit for service were herded together in Concentration Camps by the British forces during Anglo-Boer War 2 (1899-1902). The first two of these camps (refugee camps) were established to house the families of burghers who had surrendered voluntarily, but very soon, with families of combatant burghers driven forcibly into camps established all over the country, the camps ceased to be refugee camps and became Concentration Camps. The abhorrent conditions in these camps caused the death of 4,177 women, 22,074 children under sixteen and 1,676 men, mainly those too old to be on commando, notwithstanding the efforts of an English lady, Emily Hobhouse, who tried her best to make the British authorities aware of the plight of especially the women and children in the camps.”
1900
“September, Major-Gen J. G. Maxwell announces that "... camps for burghers who voluntarily surrender are being formed at Pretoria and Bloemfontein." This signals the start of what was to evolve into the notorious Concentration Camp Policy.”
“22 September, As result of a military notice on this date, the first two 'refugee' camps are established at Pretoria and Bloemfontein. Initially the aim was to protect the families of burghers who had surrendered voluntarily and their families by the institution of these camps. As the families of combatant burghers were also driven into these and other camps, they ceased to be 'refugee' camps and became 'Concentration' Camps.”
“20 December, A proclamation issued by Lord Kitchener states that all burghers surrendering voluntarily, will be allowed to live with their families in Government Laagers until the end of the war and their stock and property will be respected and paid for.”
“21 December, Contrary to the announced intention, Lord Kitchener states in a Memorandum to General Officers, the advantages of interning all women, children and men unfit for military services, also Blacks living on Boer farms, as this will be "the most effective method of limiting the endurance of the guerrillas...” The women and children brought in should be divided in two categories, viz.: 1st. Refugees and the families of Neutrals, non-combatants, and surrendered burghers. 2nd. Those whose husbands, fathers and sons are on commando. The preference in accommodation, etc. should of course be given to the First Class. With regard to Natives, it is not intended to clear... locations, but only such and their stock as are on Boer farms."
1901
“21 January, Emily Hobhouse, an English philanthropist and social worker who tried to improve the plight of women and children in the camps, obtains permission to visit Concentration Camps. Lord Kitchener, however, disallows visits North of Bloemfontein.”
“24 January, Emily Hobhouse visits Bloemfontein Concentration Camps and is appalled by the conditions. Due to limited time and resources, she does not visit the camp for Blacks, although she urges the Guild of Loyal Women to do so.”
“30 January, Pushing panic-stricken groups of old men, women and children, crowded in wagons and preceded by huge flocks of livestock, in front of them, General French's drive enters the Southeastern ZAR (Transvaal).”
“31 January, Mrs. Isie Smuts, wife of Gen. J. C. Smuts, is sent to Pietermaritzburg and placed under house arrest by the British military authorities, despite her pleas to be sent to Concentration Camps like other Boer women. Concentration Camps have been established at Aliwal North, Brandfort, Elandsfontein, Heidelberg, Howick, Kimberley, Klerksdorp, Viljoensdrift, Waterfall North and Winburg.”
“25 February, A former member of the Free State Volksraad, H. S. Viljoen, and five other prisoners are set free from the Green Point Camp near Cape Town. They are sent to visit Free State Concentration Camps with the intention of influencing the women in the camps to persuade their husbands to lay down their arms. They are met with very little success.”
“27 February, Discriminatory food rations -1st Class rations for the families of 'hands-uppers' and 2nd Class for the families of fighting burghers or those who refuse to work for the British; are discontinued in the 'Transvaal' Concentration Camps.”
“28 February, Concentration Camps have been established at Kromellenboog, Middelburg, Norvalspont, Springfontein, Volksrust, and Vredefort Road. At the Middelburg Conference between Supreme Commander Lord Kitchener and Commandant-General Louis Botha, Kitchener comments to Lord Roberts, now Commander-in Chief at the War Office in London: "They [the burghers] evidently do not like their women being brought in and I think it has made them more anxious for peace." The conference is discussing terms of a possible peace treaty. Sir Alfred Milner leaves Cape Town for Johannesburg to take up his duties as administrator of the 'New Colonies'.”
“1 March, Concentration Camps in the 'Orange River' and 'Transvaal' Colonies are transferred to Civil Control under Sir Alfred Milner.”
“4 March, Emily Hobhouse visits the Springfontein Concentration Camp.”
“6 March, Discriminatory food rations are also discontinued in the 'Orange River Colony' camps.”
“8 March, Emily Hobhouse visits the Norvalspont Concentration Camp.”
“12 March, Emily Hobhouse visits the Kimberley Concentration Camp.”
“6 April, Emily Hobhouse returns to Kimberley.”
“9 April, Emily Hobhouse visits the Mafeking Concentration Camp.”
“12 April, Emily Hobhouse witnesses the clearing of Warrenton and the dispatch of people in open coal trucks.”
“13 April, Emily Hobhouse returns to Kimberley, witnessing the arrival of the people removed from Warrenton at the Kimberley camp, where there are only twenty-five tents available for two hundred and forty people.”
“20 April, The towns of Parys and Vredefort and many outlying farms have been cleared of inhabitants and supplies. The women and children have been removed to Concentration Camps.”
“21 April, Emily Hobhouse arrives in Bloemfontein.”
23 April, Sir Alfred Milner refuses to issue a permit to Emily Hobhouse authorizing her to travel north of Bloemfontein.
“4 May, Emily Hobhouse arrives in Cape Town.”
“7 May, Emily Hobhouse leaves for Britain after an extended fact-finding tour of the Concentration Camps.”
“14 June, Speaking at a dinner party of the National Reform Union in England, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, leader of the Liberal opposition, says, “the war in South Africa is carried on by methods of barbarism.”
“17 June, David Lloyd-George in England condemns the Concentration Camps and the horrors inflicted on women and children in the camps in South Africa. He warns, "A barrier of dead children’s bodies will rise between the British and Boer races in South Africa."
“18 June, Emily Hobhouse's report on Concentration Camps appear under the title, To the S. A. Distress Fund, Report of a Visit to the Camps of Women and Children in the Cape and Orange River Colonies.” Summarizing the reasons for the high fatality rate, she writes, "Numbers crowded into small tents: some sick, some dying, occasionally a dead one among them; scanty rations dealt out raw; lack of fuel to cook them; lack of water for drinking, for cooking, for washing; lack of soap, brushes and other instruments of personal cleanliness; lack of bedding or of beds to keep the body off the bare earth; lack of clothing for warmth and in many cases for decency..." Her conclusion is that the whole system is cruel and should be abolished.”
“26 June, Lord Kitchener, in a telegram to Milner: "I fear there is little doubt the war will now go on for considerable time unless stronger measures are taken... Under the circumstances I strongly urge sending away wives and families and settling them somewhere else. Some such unexpected measure on our part is in my opinion essential to bring war to a rapid end."
“27 June, The British War Department promises to look into Emily Hobhouse's suggestions regarding improvements to the Concentration Camps.”
“30 June, The official camp population is 85,410 for the White camps and the deaths reported for June are 777.”
“15 July, Dr. K. Franks, the camp doctor at the Mafeking Concentration Camp reports that the camp is "overwhelmed" by 1,270 women and children brought in after sweeps on the western ZAR (Transvaal). Lack of facilities ads to the hardships encountered by the new arrivals.”
“16 July, The British Colonial Office announces the appointment of a Ladies Commission to investigate the Concentration Camps in South Africa. The commission, whose members are reputed to be impartial, is made up as follows: Chair lady Mrs. Millicent G. Fawcett, who has recently criticized Emily Hobhouse in the Westminster Gazette; Dr. Jane Waterson, daughter of a British General, who recently wrote against "the hysterical whining going on in England" while "we feed and pamper people who had not even the grace to say thank you for the care bestowed on them"; Lady Anne Knox, wife of Gen. Knox, who is presently serving in South Africa; Nursing sister Katherine Brereton, who has served in a Yeomanry Hospital in South Africa; Miss Lucy Deane, a government Factory Inspector on Child Welfare; Dr. the Hon. Ella Scarlett, a medical doctor. One of the doctors is engaged to marry a Concentration Camp official before the end of her tour.”
“20 July, Commenting on confiscation of property and banishment of families, St. John Brodrick, British Secretary of State for War, writes to Kitchener: "... Your other suggestion of sending the Boer women to St Helena, etc., and telling their husbands that they would never return, seems difficult to work out. We cannot permanently keep 16,000 men in ring fences and they are not a marketable commodity in other lands..."
“25 July, Since 25 June, Emily Hobhouse has addressed twenty-six public meetings on Concentration Camps, raising money to improve conditions.”
“26 July, Emily Hobhouse again writes to Brodrick asking for reasons for the War Department's refusal to include her in the Ladies Commission. If she cannot go, "it was due to myself to convey to all interested that the failure to do so was due to the Government.”
“27 July, St. John Brodrick replies to Emily Hobhouse's letter, "The only consideration in the selection of ladies to visit the Concentration Camps, beyond their special capacity for such work, was that they should be, so far as is possible, removed from the suspicion of partiality to the system adopted or the reverse."
“31 July, The officially recorded camp population is 93,940 for the White camps and the deaths for July stand at 1,412.”
“16 August, General De la Rey protests to the British against the mistreatment of women and children.”
“20 August, Col. E. C. Ingouville-Williams' column transports Gen. De la Rey's mother to the Klerksdorp Concentration Camp. A member of the Cape Mounted Rifles notes in his diary: "She is 84 years old. I gave her some milk, jam, soup, etc. as she cannot eat hard tack and they have nothing else. We do not treat them as we ought to."
“31 August, The officially recorded camp population for White camps is 105,347 and the camp fatalities for August stand at 1,878.”
“13 September, The Merebank Refugee Camp is established near Durban in an attempt to reduce the camp population in the Republics. Its most famous inmates are to be Mrs. De Wet and her children.”
“30 September, Cornelius Broeksma is executed by an English firing squad in Johannesburg after having been found guilty of breaking the oath of neutrality and inciting others to do the same. A fund is started in Holland for his family and for this purpose a postcard with a picture of himself and his family is sold, bearing the inscription: "Cornelius Broeksma, hero and martyr in pity's cause. Shot by the English on 30th September 1901, because he refused to be silent about the cruel suffering in the women's camps." The officially recorded camp population of the White camps is 109,418 and the monthly deaths for September stand at 2,411.”
“1 October, Emily Hobhouse again urges the Minister of War, "in the name of the little children whom I have watched suffer and die," to implement improvements in the Concentration Camps.”
“26 October, As the commandos in the Bethal district, Transvaal, become wise to Benson's night attacks, his success rate declines and he contents himself with 'ordinary clearing work' - burning farms and herding women, children, old men and other non-combatants with their livestock and vehicles.”
“27 October, Emily Hobhouse arrives in Table Bay on board the SS Avondale Castle, but is refused permission to go ashore by Col. H. Cooper, the Military Commandant of Cape Town.”
“29 October, Reverend John Knox Little states in the United Kingdom: "Among the unexampled efforts of kindness and leniency made throughout this war for the benefit of the enemy, none have surpassed the formation of the Concentration Camps.”
“31 October, Despite letters of protest to Lord Alfred Milner, Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson and Lord Ripon; Emily Hobhouse, although unwell, is forced to undergo a medical examination. She is eventually wrapped in a shawl and physically carried off the Avondale Castle. She is taken aboard the SS Roslin Castle for deportation under Martial Law regulations. The officially recorded camp population of White camps is 113,506 and the deaths for October stand at 3,156.”
“1 November, Miss Emily Hobhouse, under deportation orders on board the SS Roslin Castle writes to Lord Kitchener: "... I hope in future you will exercise greater width of judgment in the exercise of your high office. To carry out orders such as these is a degradation both to the office and the manhood of your soldiers. I feel ashamed to own you as a fellow-countryman." And to Lord Milner: "Your brutal orders have been carried out and thus I hope you will be satisfied. Your narrow incompetency to see the real issues of this great struggle is leading you to such acts as this and many others, staining our own name and the reputation of England…"
“7 November, The Governor of Natal informs St. John Brodrick that the wives of Pres. Steyn, General Paul Roux, Chief Commandant C. R. de Wet, Vice President Schalk Burger and Gen. J. B. M. Hertzog, the last four all presently in Natal, are to be sent to a port, other than a British port, outside South Africa. Lord Milner, referring to the Concentration Camps, writes to British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain: "I did not originate this plan, but as we have gone so far with it, I fear that a change now might only involve us in fresh and greater evils."
“15 November, In his General Review of the Situation in the Two New Colonies, Lord Milner reports to Chamberlain, "... even if the war were to come to an end tomorrow, it would not be possible to let the people in the Concentration Camps go back to their former homes. They would only starve there. The country is, for the most part, a desert..."
“16 November, On being questioned by St. John Brodrick on his motivations for proposing the deportation of prominent Boer women, Kitchener cancels his orders.”
“21 November, Referring to a 'scorched earth' raid, Acting State President S. W. Burgers and State Secretary F. W. Reitz address a report to the Marquis of Salisbury, the British Prime Minister: "This removal took place in the most uncivilized and barbarous manner, while such action is... in conflict with all the up to the present acknowledged rules of civilized warfare. The families were put out of their houses under compulsion, and in many instances by means of force... (the houses) were destroyed and burnt with everything in them... and these families among them were many aged ones, pregnant women, and children of very tender years, were removed in open trolleys (exposed) for weeks to rain, severe cold wind and terrible heat, privations to which they were not accustomed, with the result that many of them became very ill, and some of them died shortly after their arrival in the women's camps. The vehicles were also overloaded, accidents happened and they were exposed to being caught in crossfire. They were exposed to insults and ill-treatment by Blacks in service of the troops as well as by soldiers....British mounted troops have not hesitated in driving them for miles before their horses, old women, little children, and mothers with sucklings to their breasts..."
“30 November, The officially recorded camp population of the White camps is 117,974 and the deaths for November are 2,807.”
“1 December, Fully aware of the state of devastation in the Republics, and trying to force the Boer leadership to capitulate, Lord Milner approves a letter that Kitchener sends to London, with identical copies to Burger, Steyn and De Wet. In the letter he informs them that as they have complained about the treatment of the women and children in the camps, he must assume that they themselves are in a provision to provide for them. He therefore offers all families in the camps who are willing to leave, to be sent to the commandos, as soon as he has been informed where they can be handed over.”
“4 December, Lord Milner comments on the high death rate in the Free State Concentration Camps: "The theory that, all the weakly children being dead, the rate would fall off, it is not so far borne out by the facts. I take it the strong ones must be dying now and that they will all be dead by the spring of 1903!"
“7 December, In a letter to Chamberlain, Lord Milner writes: "The black spot, the one very black spot in the picture is the frightful mortality in the Concentration Camps... It was not until six weeks or two months ago that it dawned on me personally... that the enormous mortality was not incidental to the first formation of the camps and the sudden inrush of people already starving, but was going to continue. The fact that it continues is no doubt a condemnation of the camp system. The whole thing, I now think, has been a mistake."
“8 December, Commenting on the Concentration Camps, Lord Milner writes to Lord Haldane: "I am sorry to say I fear... that the whole thing has been a sad fiasco. We attempted an impossibility and certainly I should never have touched the thing if, when the 'concentration' first began, I could have foreseen that the soldiers meant to sweep the whole population of the country higgledy piggledy into a couple of dozen camps."
“10 December, President Steyn replies to the British Commander-in-Chief, Lord Kitchener's letter about releasing the women and children, that, however glad the burghers would be to have their relatives near them, there is hardly is single house in the Orange Free State that is not burnt or destroyed and everything in it looted by the soldiers. The women and children will be exposed to the weather under the open sky. On account of the above-mentioned reasons they have to refuse to receive them. He asks Kitchener to make the reasons for their refusal known to the world.”
“11 December, In his reply to Kitchener's letter about the release of women and children, Chief Commandant De Wet says: "I positively refuse to receive the families until such time as the war will be ended, and we shall be able to vindicate our right by presenting our claims for the unlawful removal of and the insults done to our families as well as indemnification on account of the uncivilized deed committed by England by the removal of the families."
“12 December, The report of the Ladies Commission (Fawcett Commission) is completed on this day, but is only published during February 1902. The Commission is highly critical of the camps and their administration, but cannot recommend the immediate closure of the camps "... to turn 100,000 people now being fed in the Concentration Camps out on the veldt to take care of themselves would be a cruelty; it would be turning them out to starvation..." The Commission substantiated most of Emily Hobhouse's serious charges, but reviled her for her compassion for enemy subjects.”
“22 December, On Peace Sunday, Dr. Charles Aked, a Baptist minister in Liverpool, England, protests: "Great Britain cannot win the battles without resorting to the last despicable cowardice of the most loathsome cur on earth, the act of striking a brave man's heart through his wife's honour and his child's life. The cowardly war has been conducted by methods of barbarism... the Concentration Camps have been Murder Camps." He is followed home by a large crowd and they smash the windows of his house.”
“31 December, The camp population in White camps is 89,407 with 2,380 deaths during December.”
1902
“22 January, In a daring exploit, General Beyers and about three hundred men seize the Concentration Camp at Pietersburg and take the Camp Superintendent and his staff prisoner. After all-night festivities with wives, friends and family, the Superintendent and his staff are released the next day upon the departure of Beyers.”
“31 January, The officially reported White camp population is 97,986 and the deaths for January are 1,805.”
“4 March, The long-delayed report of the Ladies Commission (Fawcett Commission) on the Concentration Camps is discussed in the House of Commons. The Commission concludes that there are three causes for the high death rate: "1. The insanitary condition of the country caused by the war. 2. Causes within the control of the inmates. 3. Causes within the control of the administration." The Opposition tables the following motion: "This House deplores the great mortality in the Concentration Camps formed in the execution of the policy of clearing the country." In his reply Chamberlain states that it was the Boers who forced the policy on them and the camps are actually an effort to minimize the horrors of war. The Opposition motion is defeated by 230 votes to 119.”
“24 March, Mr. H. R. Fox, Secretary of the Aborigines Protection Society, after being made aware by Emily Hobhouse of the fact that the Ladies Commission (Fawcett Commission) ignored the plight of Blacks in Concentration Camps, writes to Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary. He requests that such inquiries should be instituted by the British government “as should secure for the Natives who are detained no less care and humanity than are now prescribed for the Boer refugees.” On this request Sir Montagu Ommaney, the permanent under-secretary at the Colonial Office, is later to record that it seems undesirable "to trouble Lord Milner... merely to satisfy this busybody.”
“9 April, Emily Hobhouse's 42nd birthday.”
“30 April, The officially reported population of the White camps is 112,733 and the death toll for April stands at 298.”
“15 May, Sixty Republican delegates take part in a three-day conference in Vereeniging, debating whether to continue fighting or end the war. Complicated negotiations continue between Boer delegates among themselves and British delegates, also with different opinions, up to the end of May. During the peace negotiations Acting President Schalk Burger of the ZAR (South African Republic/Transvaal) says: "... it is my holy duty to stop this struggle now that it has become hopeless... and not to allow the innocent, helpless women and children to remain any longer in their misery in the plaque-stricken Concentration Camps..."
“31 May, The officially reported camp population of the White camps is 116,572 and the deaths for May are 196. The final peace conditions, comprised in The Treaty of Vereeniging, is signed by representatives of both the burghers and the British at 23:05 at Melrose House, Pretoria. After this, inhabitants of the Concentration Camps were gradually released as burghers came to claim the members of their families still living, while other left on their own to return to their burnt-down houses and farms. 27,927 persons died in the camps: 1,676 men, mainly those too old to be on commando, 4,177 women and 22,074 children under sixteen.”
The Role of Black People In The South African War
“The South African War of 1899-1902 was essentially a 'White mans' war, fought to determine which White authority had real power in South Africa but other populations groups like the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazis, Basotho and Sothos were also involved in the war. Although there was an unwritten agreement between the Boers and the British that Blacks would not be armed in the war, neither side adhered to this agreement. It should be mentioned that the South African War was fought in a region where four fifths of the population was Black and that the conflict was over land that belonged to the various African tribes.”
“Most politically conscious Blacks, Coloureds and Indian groups in South Africa believed that the defeat of the Boers would mean more political, educational and commercial opportunities would be afforded to them. They hoped that the Cape Franchise would be extended throughout South Africa. The Indian community was encouraged by M. K. Gandhi to show loyalty to Britain, if they wished to achieve their freedom. Thus, the Ambulance Corps was formed in Natal and became active on the British side during the early months of the war.”
The Reasons For Not Wanting To Arm The Black Population
“The British believed that the Boers would be easily defeated and that any military collaboration from groups of Blacks would not be decisive in winning the war. In addition, it was commonly believed by both sides that the military methods of the Black people were more brutal than those of White people and that White women and children would not be shown mercy by Black soldiers. Another reason for not wanting Blacks to be given arms was the fear that this would increase the possibility of Black resistance to White control in the future. However, as soon as the war started, it was evident that Black people played an indispensable part in military operations.”
On The Boer Side
“Republican law forbade the carrying of arms by Blacks, but because many Boers were pressed into service, they allowed their servants to carry arms. Black cooperation in the war enabled a larger number of Whites to serve actively in war operations on both sides.”
“According to the law of the Republics, all males between the ages of sixteen and sixty were eligible for war service, and although the law did not refer to race it was generally applied to the White population only. Provision was made for Coloureds to be called up, but in most cases, this meant an employee going along with his employer.”
“On the Boer side, Black people assisted at various levels. Most were assigned to the roles of wagon drivers or servants. Blacks were also used to stand in on farms of Boers who were commandeered to the war. Many were used as agterryers who would tend to chores at the camp or see to the horses. On the battlefield, the agterryer would carry spare ammunition and spare rifles and even load up the rifles for his master. The Tswana people were conscripted by the Boers to help maintain the siege of Mafeking. Many armed Blacks and Coloureds also assisted during the siege of Ladysmith.”
“Refusal on the part of the Blacks to serve could see them punished with a fine of five pounds, imprisonment or twenty-five lashes. Although there is no accurate figure, some sources say that at least 10,000 Black men accompanied the Boer commandos and, as a rule, labour conscripted by the Boers received no pay.”
On The British Side
“It was estimated that about 100,000 Blacks were employed by the British Army and more than 10,000 received arms. The British Army used Black workers for carrying dispatches and messages, to take care of their horses and assist in the veterinary department. They also were used to do sanitary work and construct forts. Armed Black sentries guarded blockhouses and were used to raid Boer farms for cattle. In 1900, 7,000 Blacks took part in General French's march to Machadodorp in the Transvaal. Over 5,000 others, mostly transport drivers and leaders, were employed by Lord Roberts' columns on his journey to Bloemfontein.”
“The British Army also provided the Kgatla Chief and Kgama of the Ngwato with 6,000 and 3,000 rounds of ammunition respectively, to defend the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In the Transkei, 4,000 Mfengu and Thembu levies were assembled to ward off any attempt at invasion by the Boers or to suppress any Boer uprising. The Boer occupation of Kuruman was initially resisted by a small force of local Coloured and White policemen. In Mafeking, over five hundred Blacks took part in the town's defence during the siege and two hundred more enrolled as Special Constables in Hershel to discourage incursions into the area by Free State commandos.”
In Natal, the Zulu Native Police were armed with rifles and a number of them were mounted. However, after the war, Blacks who had served as scouts or fighting men were denied the Campaign medals to which they were entitled.”
“It is apparent that both sides would deny that armed Blacks served with them, each accusing the other of doing so, However, in April 1902, after much pressure, Lord Kitchener finally admitted that some 10,053 Black men were issued with arms by the British Army. The Boers cited the arming of Blacks on the side of the British as one of the major reasons for discontinuing the war.”
The Reasons For Blacks Entering The War
“Black poverty was a major spur to enlistment in the British army. For many Black families, the war had disastrous consequences as it disrupted the migrant labour system, a development that deprived them of an income used to buy grain and to pay taxes and rent. Also, the return of thousands of men to the rural areas increased the pressure on food resources in some already overpopulated districts of Natal, Zululand and the Transkei. In the Transvaal and Orange Free State, Britain's scorched earth campaign destroyed the livelihoods of many thousands of Blacks. In 1901, separate Concentration Camps for Blacks were established to accommodate those who were uprooted from the land. Most of these were from Boer farms, where they resided as labour tenants, cash tenants or share-croppers. Those who entered the camps had very little or no food. Only in exceptional cases were free rations provided, thus most Black men had no choice but to accept work in the British Army in order to survive. By April 1902, over 13,000 refugees were found to be working in the British Army. As a result, the camps were mainly filled with women, children, the elderly and the infirm.”
“The British recruited on the basis of a three-month contract with a monthly wages of forty to fifty shillings. A major consolation to Blacks entering the British Army was the fact that rations were usually included.”
The Concentration Camps
“Many Black people were held in Concentration Camps around the country. The British created camps for Blacks from the start of the war. Entire townships and even Mission Stations were transformed into Concentration Camps. The men were forced into labour service and by the end of the war there were some 115,000 Blacks in sixty-six camps around the country.”
“Maintenance spent on White camps was a lot higher than that spent on the Black camps due to the fact that Blacks had to build their own huts and were even encouraged to grow their own food. Less than a third of Black interns were provided with rations. Black people were practically being starved to death in these camps.”
“Blacks in the Concentration Camps were not given adequate food and did not have proper medical care, which resulted in many deaths. Those in employment were forced to pay for their food. Water supplies were often contaminated and the conditions under which they were housed were appalling, resulting in thousands of deaths from dysentery, typhoid and diarrhea.”
“The death toll at the end of the war in the Black Concentration Camps was recorded as 14,154, but it is believed that the actual number was considerably higher. Most of the fatalities occurred among the children.”
After the War
“After the war the Black camps remained under military control even after the White camps had been transferred to Civilian Control.”
The Black Concentration Camps During The Anglo-Boer War 2, 1900-1902
“While the two main forces in the Anglo-Boer War 2 were White, it was not an exclusively White war. At least 15,000 Blacks were used as combatants by the British, especially as scouts to track down Boer commandos and as armed block house guards, but also in non-combatant roles by both British and Boer forces as wagon drivers, etc. They suffered severely as result of the British "scorched earth policy" during which those who lived on White farms were removed to Concentration Camps, as were the women and children of their White employers.”
“The rural economy was destroyed as crops were ravaged and livestock butchered. Displaced and captured civilians were forced into 'refugee camps', a total misnomer, because more often they did not seek refuge in the camps, but were rounded up by the British forces and forced into the camps, which soon became known as 'Concentration Camps'. Field-Marshal Lord Roberts had an ulterior motive in putting Blacks into camps, namely to make them work, either to grow crops for the troops or to dig trenches, be wagon drivers or work as miners once the gold mines became partly operational again.”
“They did not receive rations, hardly any medical support or shelter and were expected to grow their own crops. The able-bodied who could work, could exchange labour for food or buy mealie meal at a cheaper price. The British, along racial lines separated the White and Black camps. The inmates of the Black camps, situated along railway lines and on the border, became the eyes and ears of the British Army. They formed an early warning system against Boer attacks on the British military's primary logistic artery, the railway lines, and acted as scouts for British forces. This strategy alienated Whites and Blacks from each other by furthering distrust between the two population groups and was detrimental to racial harmony in South Africa after the war.”
The Concentration Camps for Blacks
“Transvaal Colony: Balmoral, Belfast, Heidelberg, Irene, Klerksdorp, Krugersdorp, Middelburg, Standerton, Vereeniging, Volksrust, Bantjes, Bezuidenhout’s Valley, Boksburg, Brakpan, Bronkhorstspruit, Brugspruit, Elandshoek, Elandsrivier, Frederikstad, Greylingstad, Groot Olifants River, Koekemoer, Klipriviersberg, Klip River, Meyerton, Natalspruit, Nelspruit, Nigel, Olifantsfontein, Paardekop, Platrand, Rietfontein West, Springs, Van der Merwe Station, Witkop, Wilgerivier.”
“Free State: Allemans Siding, America Siding, Boschrand, Eensgevonden, Geneva, Harrismith, Heilbron, Holfontein, Honingspruit, Houtenbek, Koppies, Rooiwal, Rietspruit, Smaldeel, Serfontein, Thaba, Nchu, Taaibosch, Vet River, Virginia, Ventersburg Road, Vredefort Road, Welgelegen, Winburg, Wolwehoek.”
“Cape Colony and British Bechuanaland (Administered by the O. R. C): Kimberley, Orange River, Taungs, Dryharts.”
1900
“21 December, The inaugural meeting of the Burgher Peace Committee is held in Pretoria. Lord Kitchener discusses his Concentration Camp policies with this group, mentioning that stock and Blacks would also be brought in.”
1901
“22 January, At the Boschhoek Concentration Camp for Blacks, about 1,700 inmates, mostly Basuto, hold a protest meeting. They state that when they have been brought into the camps they have been promised that they will be paid for all their stock taken by the British, for all grain destroyed and that they will be fed and looked after. They are also unhappy because "... they receive no rations while the Boers who are the cause of the war are fed in the refugee camps free of charge... while they, who are the 'Children of the Government' are made to pay.”
“23 January, Two inmates of the Heuningspruit Concentration Camp for Blacks, Daniel Marome and G. J. Oliphant, complain to Goold-Adams: "We have to work hard all day long but the only food we can get is mealies and mealie meal, and this is not supplied to us free, but we have to purchase same with our own money. "We humbly request Your Honour to do something for us otherwise we will all perish of hunger for we have no money to keep on buying food."
“30 January, The population for the Black camps is 85,114 and 2,312 deaths are recorded for the month.”
“31 January, The population of Blacks in camps is 75,950 and 1,327 deaths are recorded for the month.”
“4 May, The first gold mine on the Rand re-opens, after all mines had been closed in October 1899, a few days before war was declared. The Minister for Native Affairs permits the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association to recruit mining labour from the Concentration Camps. Simultaneous to the resumption of economic activity is the establishment of the Department of Native Refugees (DNR) under direct British military command.”
“15 June, The British authority establishes the Department of Native Refugees in the 'Transvaal Colony'. The Transvaal camps are brought under the control of the newly formed department.”
“30 June, The official camp population of the Black camps is 32,360 and the deaths are not shown in official returns.”
“31 July, The camp population in Black camps is 37,472 and 256 have died in the Free State camps during the month, while in Transvaal deaths are not yet recorded.”
“31 August, The Free State camps are also brought under the control of the Department of Native Refugees.”
“31 August, The camp population in Black camps is 53,154 and 575 deaths are recorded for August.”
“30 September, The camp population in Black camps is 65,589 and 728 deaths are recorded.”
“31 December, The population in Black camps is 89,407, while the deaths peak during December at 2,831.”
1902
“18 January, Major De Lorbiniere, in charge of the Native Refugee Department, writes that supplying workers to the army 'formed the basis on which our system was founded'. The department's mobilization of Black labour is very successful, not really surprising, considering the incentives offered: those in service and their families can buy mealies at a halfpence per lb., while those who do not accept employment have to pay double or more per bag. By the end of 1901, when the death rate peaks, more than 6,000 accept employment in the British Army. This figure grows to more than 13,000 in April 1902. The labourers are largely housed in Black Concentration Camps, situated close to military garrisons and towns, mines and railways sidings.”
“31 January, The population of Black camps is 97,986 and 2,534 deaths are recorded.”
“28 February, The population in Black camps is 101,344 and 1,466 deaths are recorded.”
“24 March, Mr. H. R. Fox, Secretary of the Aborigines Protection Society, after being made aware by Emily Hobhouse of the fact that the Ladies Commission (Fawcett Commission) ignored the plight of Blacks in the Concentration Camps, writes to Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary. He requests that such inquiries should be instituted by the British government "as should secure for the natives who are detained, no less care and humanity than are now prescribed for the Boer refugees.” On this request, Sir Montagu Ommaney, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Colonial Office, is later to record that it seems undesirable "to trouble Lord Milner... merely to satisfy this busybody.”
“31 March, The population of the Black camps is 101,299 and 972 deaths are recorded.”
“30 April, The population of the Black camps is 108,386 and 630 deaths are recorded.”
“31 May, Black Concentration Camp population in the sixty-six Black camps (some sources give the number as eighty) reach 115,700, of which 60,000 are in the Free State camps and 55,969 in the ZAR (South African Republic/Transvaal) camps. Five hundred and twenty-three deaths are recorded for the month.”
“31 May, The final peace conditions, The Treaty of Vereeniging, is signed by both the burghers and the British at 23:05 at Melrose House, Pretoria.”
“The total Black deaths in camps are officially calculated at a minimum of 14,154 (more than 1 in 10), though G. Benneyworth estimates it as at least 20,000, after examining actual graveyards. According to him, incomplete and in many cases non-existent British records and the fact that many civilians died outside of the camps, caused the final death toll to be higher. The average official death rate, caused by medical neglect, exposure, infectious diseases and malnutrition inside the camps, was three hundred and fifty per thousand per annum, peaking at four hundred and thirty-six per thousand per annum in certain Free State camps. Eighty-one percent of the fatalities were children.”
***
What do we take away from this brief but brutal examination? We’ll, we could surf through much of history from before and long after the events we have just examined and lay this sad story on top of them as a template. Successful strategies are rarely abandoned, precisely because human nature changes at a glacial pace. All spiritual fools are free to practice evil. Those members of the Power Elite, to borrow C. Wright Mills’ apt term, who apply such strategies, are a minority of hereditary masters and mistresses who have learned to cover their hollow souls with refined lacquers.
Traditionally, children were quickly re-educated and older survivors taught to keep their silence. I am happy to see signs of this long running thread coming finally off its spool. Harming women, children, the elderly, sacrificing generations, destroying property and food, persecuting self-sufficiency and peacefulness as a life style while rewarding dependence and parasitism, can never be made right. It has for far too long, however sadly, thriven and endured. I remain thankful for relatively unsung women from the past, like Emily Hobhouse, who led by her example and recorded things that should not be perpetrated nor forgotten and demanded the attention of the witnessing world to also confront it.
On a personal level, I am no longer puzzled by the departure of my fifteen year old father with his thrice-Anglicized surname into the Battle of The North Atlantic for the duration of the war and beyond as a Canadian Merchant Seaman.
***
Sources & References:
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-http://get.on.ca/town-hall/heritage-stamps.aspx
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener,_Ontario#Early_settlement
-http://maryhillroots.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Summer-newsletter-2016.pdf
-https://web.archive.org/web/20160630163552/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
/firstworldwar/025005-3300-e.html#d
-http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/firstworldwar/025005-3300.014-e.html
-https://www.kitchenerpost.ca/news-story/4605027-first-world-war-ripped-away-canada-s-age-of-innocence-/- Luisa D’Amato
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Roberts,_1st_Earl_Roberts#cite_note-41
-http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/women-children-white-concentration-camps-during-anglo-boer-war-1900-1902 -This article was produced for South African History Online on 20-Mar-2011 -Last updated: 06-Dec-2016 and referenced:
Cloete, P. G. ( 2000). The Anglo-Boer War: a chronology, Pretoria: Lapa.
Potgieter, D. J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 3, p. 378-380.
Potgieter, D. J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 5, p. 544-546.
-http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/role-black-people-south-african-war -This article was produced for South African History Online on 30-Mar-2011 -Last updated: 03-Oct-2016
-http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/black-concentration-camps-during-anglo-boer-war-2-1900-1902 -This article was produced for South African History Online on 20-Mar-2011 -Last updated: 19-Sep-2016