Needstrat: British Concentration camps

On 24 January 1901 Emily Hobhouse came to a British concentration camp in Bloemfontein in South Africa. She was horrified by the conditions Boer women and children were living under. Thousands were dying of hunger, diseases and bad hygiene in overcrowded camps. She delivered her report to the British government in June 1901.

Interning women and children was a part of British strategy during the Boer war (1899-1902). The goal was to suppress the resistance of the Boer population so they could occupy the Orange Free State and rich Transvaal republic. It was not to exterminate the people, as in later concentrations camps the Nazi built. Still a quarter of the interned, 28.000 died from neglect and lack of care and respect for life.

Emily’s efforts resulted in improved conditions that probably saved many thousands. With bad health and few means for herself, she continued to help women and children in Europe after World War I. Highly rewarded in South Africa she became an honorary citizen, and £2300 was collected in South Africa to buy her a house in Cornwall. Emily died in 1926, and her ashes rest in a niche at the Women’s Memorial at Bloemfontein.

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Emily Hobhouse

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Lizzie van Zyl, who Emily visited in the Bloemfontein concentration camp.

Background

The Boers were farmers of Dutch, German and Huguenot descent that set up two independent states in Southern Africa, the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. They saw themselves as children of God in the wilderness and elected by God to rule the land and the backward natives. Conflicts with the black population were frequent. The British ruled the Cape colony as well as other colonies in Southern Africa and claimed suzerainty over the Boers. In 1886 gold was found in Witwatersrand in Transvaal. Many miners were attracted and Johannesburg was founded. Huge quantities were extracted, and Transvaal became the biggest producer of Gold in the world, and suddenly wealthy and more independent. Gold was a central factor in the world’s monetary system, and the British were eager to get hold of the wealth. The British high commissioner demanded concessions from the Boers; they got some, but were not satisfied. British troops were sent to the Cape, and the Boers feeling threatened, set an ultimatum for their removal. No resolution came and the Boers took the initiative and went to war on 11 October 1899. They had success during the first months, but the British army sent overwhelming numbers of troops and changed tactics. A total of almost 500.000 troops from the wide British Empire were sent. The guerilla warfare the Boers started was countered by a scorched earth strategy. The British troops burned farms, confiscated or destroyed crops, and interned the population in camps. Captured Boer fighters were deported to St. Helena and elsewhere.

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Map of Southern Africa with the Orange Free State, Transvaal republic and British colonies in 1900.

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A Boer farm burned down by British troops.

Emily Hobhouse

Emily was born in Cornwall in England in 1860. Her father was a MP, and when he fell ill she cared for him for years. After his death she left for Minnesota, in the US doing welfare work among miners there. Back in the UK, she heard about the difficult situation for the Boer women and children. She was invited to join the South African Conciliation Committee, and then founded the South African Women and Children distress fund. She sailed off to South Africa in December 1900, and arrived in Cape Town on the 27^th. She heard about several Concentration Camps and applied for permission to visit. Lord Kitchener approved her visit as far as Bloemfontein, and she arrived there on 24 January. The majority of the 2000 living in the camp were women and children. Their farms had been burned down and their livestock taken or killed by the British. She was appalled by seeing them live with extremely meagre rations, little water, inadequate housing and poor hygiene. Many, especially children had measles, bronchitis, pneumonia, dysentery and typhoid. People were dying. She asked for soap and was told that it was a luxury, but the guards admitted that the whole situation was a blunder. She went on visiting several other camps and found the same situation which she made clear to the present authorities. Coming back to Bloemfontein the military operations had doubled the number of interns, increased illness and death rates followed.

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Boer women and children in a British-run concentration camp in South Africa (1900-1902).

Back to England to report

She was not heard by the authorities and decided to go back to England to present the situation to the Government. She sent the Minister of War St John Brodrick a written report at his request, and publicized it. The Houses of Parliament discussed it, but nothing came out of it, and many newspapers defended the Government. Emily continued her campaign and finally the Government appointed a committee to inspect the camps. The conclusions were the same as hers, and at last conditions were improved. In Australia, public support of the war fell when the civil casualties became known. A total of 28.000 are estimated to have died in the camps. Maybe the same number of black died in similar camps black people were living in. Emily returned to South Africa in October 1901 to resume her work, but was deported. Shocked and disappointed, she retired to France and wrote a book. When the Boer War ended she went to South Africa and set up 27 schools teaching women and girls in spinning and weaving.

Back in Europe she raised her voice in protest against World War I. At the end of that war, in spite of bad health, helped tens of thousands of women and children in Central Europe to be fed daily for more than a year.

Highly rewarded in South Africa she became a honorary citizen, and £2300 was collected in South Africa to buy her a house in Cornwall. Emily died in 1926. Her ashes rest in a niche at the Women’s Memorial at Bloemfontein.

The end of the war

The war spending at £200 million became the most costly in British history since the Napoleonic Wars. Finally the weight of the British empire and harsh tactics was to much for the Boers. Before the 3^rd war winter set in, they sued for negotiations and an agreement was made on 31 May 1902. They managed to keep their language and culture and soon won political power in the new Union of South Africa established in 1910. Apartheid was reestablished, starting a dark chapter in South Africa’s history. That is another story.