Boer War Prisoner of War Cemetery

"This cemetery contains graves of 180 Boer prisoners of war who died in captivity on St Helena. The plot was provided by the Baptist Church after the Anglican Church refused burials of Boers in their graveyards. Two granite obelisks were added in 1913 by the Union Government.
On them are the names of those who died and their ages, ranging from sixteen to sixty one. In 1991 the cemetery was renovated during the visit of the South African Navy SAS Drakensberg"
Some 6,000 Boer Prisoners of War were transported to St Helena from South Africa and they were housed in tented camps between 1900 and 1902. The first group of 514 PoWs arrived on 10th April 1900, including General Cronje and his wife, Colonel Schiel and 21 other officers. The General and wife were housed in Kent cottage whilst the remainder were marched to the wire enclosed tented camp at Deadwood Plain. A second Boer General, Ben Viljoen, was to arrive in 1902.
Many of the prisoners died from an outbreak of enteric fever, probably brought in by one of the last prisoner batches. The Anglican church would not allow burial in their lands because they considered the Boers 'enemies of the King' and 'heathens'

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: Sharky Ward
• Photos: Anthony (Sharky) Ward