A ? T B S A W, 1900-1902: Tool For Modernisation He Oer Concentration Camps of The Outh Frican Ar

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Boer concentration camps as a modernisation tool Research Article

A tool for modernisation? The Boer concentration camps of the


South African War, 1900–1902
Author:
Elizabeth van Heyningen1 ABSTRACT
While not denying the tragedy of the high mortality of people in the concentration camps in the South
Affiliation: African War of 1899–1902, this article suggests that, for Lord Milner and the British Colonial Office,
1
Department of Historical the camps became a means of introducing the rural society of the Boers to the facilities of modern
Studies, University of Cape life. To some extent they became, in effect, part of Milner’s project for ‘civilising’ and assimilating
Town, South Africa the Boers into British colonial society. The high mortality rate was finally contained through the
introduction of a modern public health system, including the use of statistics and the employment of
Correspondence to: qualified doctors and nurses. Young Boer women working in the camp hospitals as nurse aids were
Elizabeth van Heyningen trained as ‘probationers’ and classes in infant and child care were offered to the Boer mothers. In
addition, the need for adequate water supplies and effective sanitation meant that an infrastructure
email: was established in the camps that familiarised the Boers with modern sanitary routines and left a
evh@iafrica.com legacy of more substantial services for the Transvaal and Orange Free State villages.

Postal address:
Department of Historical INTRODUCTION
Studies, University of
Most written material on the concentration camps of the South African War is confined to the suffering
Cape Town, Private Bag,
and mortality of the Boer women and children. This article, while not discounting the incompetence that
Rondebosch 7700,
contributed to the deaths, suggests that the camps can be seen in a broader context; that they might be
South Africa considered, perhaps, as a vehicle for the modernisation of rural Boer society. In this sense, the camps
became linked to Lord Milner’s project for the establishment of a strong British presence in South
Keywords: Africa.1,2
Anglo-Boer War;
concentration camps; One reason for this argument is that the formation of the camps led, in some respects, to the temporary
historical statistics; Lord

South African Journal of Science


urbanisation of the Boer peasantry. The process bore similarities to the early industrial cities of Europe,
Milner; measles mortality; in which rapid immigration gave rise to massive mortality. As a result, the British found it necessary
South African War to implement in the camps many of the elements of preventive health care available at the end of the
19th century, including the introduction of vital statistics, clean water supplies and effective sanitation.
Dates: Ration scales were adjusted to provide adequate nutrition and the Boer women were introduced to

Article #242
Received: 30 Nov. 2009 contemporary nursing and infant care practices. The long-term legacy of the camps, in these respects,
Accepted: 24 Mar. 2010 is difficult to measure, but it gave the Boers a taste of the modern urban life they were to experience
Published: 08 June 2010 more fully in the years after the war. However, far less is known about the impact of the camps on Black
people, who suffered as severely as the Boers but received relatively little consideration.
How to cite this article:
Van Heyningen E. A tool The suffering experienced within the concentration camps of the South African War has been endlessly
for modernisation? The mythologised,3 but these camps rarely have been considered as an experiment in emergency public
Boer concentration camps health, or as a vindication of modern Western medicine.4 Yet, while they were initially conceived as
of the South African War, a form of poor relief by the Colonial Office (but not by Lord Kitchener, for whom the clearances were
1900–1902. S Afr J Sci. military strategy), as the months passed, Lord Milner, the South African High Commissioner, and the
2010;106(5/6), Art. #242, 10 civilian administration began to see the camps as a means of demonstrating the virtues of British rule to
pages. DOI: 10.4102/sajs. their new Boer subjects.5 This article explores the notion of the camps as a tool of modernisation in early
v106i5/6.242 20th-century South Africa.

This article is available The origins of the camps are well established. They came into being towards the end of 1900, primarily
at: as a result of the burning of Boer farms by the British troops, first initiated by Lord Roberts. The
http://www.sajs.co.za clearances were expanded by Lord Kitchener after he became commander-in-chief of the British forces
and instituted a ‘scorched earth’ policy to bring to an end the guerrilla campaign of the Boers. It is
estimated that as many Black people as White people were swept up into camps as a result of an ill-
considered policy for which there was little planning. A combination of short-sighted thrift and lack of
supplies meant that the early camps were deficient in tents and other basic necessities. Although the
ration scales were similar to institutional ration scales of the day, they were inadequate for women and
children.

A poorly managed typhoid epidemic killed some 8020 British soldiers and infected many of the main
water sources of the country, including the Modder River, which passes through Bloemfontein, and
the Vaal River.6,7,8 The troops carried the disease with them as they advanced, polluting the local water
supplies. Although the typhoid bacillus was identified in about 1890 and an effective vaccine developed
by Dr Almroth Wright in 1897, the vaccine was seldom used during the South African War.8 The camp
administrators did their best to combat the epidemic, more or less successfully, but it was a constant
worry. By ill-luck, measles, an epidemic rather than an endemic disease in rural South Africa, was
already present in the country at the start of the war. In the chaotic conditions of wartime, and in
the overcrowded and traumatised camps, the disease spread like wildfire, especially between about
February and November 1901. A substantial number of the children who died did so from the sequelae
© 2010. The Authors. of measles, particularly pneumonia and bronchitis, but also intestinal problems and, occasionally,
Licensee: OpenJournals meningitis or the complaint known at the time as cancrum oris (noma). A common feature of the
Publishing. This work camps was the ‘faded flowers’, children who failed to thrive and gradually died. These terrifying and
is licensed under the unfamiliar ailments sometimes convinced the distressed parents that the British had deliberately killed
Creative Commons their children, either through poison or neglect. These beliefs passed into camp mythology, contributing
Attribution License. to the creation of a ‘paradigm of suffering’ which underlay the fostering of Afrikaner nationalism in the

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Research Article Heyningen

African War. Both the Orange Free State and the South African
Republic conducted censuses in 1890, but the latter, particularly,
was flawed; there was no registration of births and deaths and
no other vital statistics were collected. Almost as soon as the
British civilian administration was formed, legislation was set
in place for the registration of births and deaths (the first full
censuses were conducted in 1904). But it was in the camps that
registration could be implemented most easily and for another
practical purpose. The most expensive item of camp expenditure
was the rations, with a differentiation between the amount
provided for adults and children, and so it was important to
keep a close check on the number and ages of the inmates to
ensure efficient ration distribution.

In the Orange River Colony (ORC), (the Orange Free State had
Source: Free State Archives Repository, VA 00288 been annexed by the British in 1900 and renamed) the newly
appointed colonial medical officer of health, Dr George Pratt
FIGURE 1
Photograph of Lizzie van Zyl in the Bloemfontein camp, probably Yule, collected and analysed the camp data in great detail.16 In
a sufferer of typhoid the Transvaal, Lord Milner and his ‘kindergarten’ team did the
same.17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26 The result was a remarkably complete
record of White camp populations and their mortality. Major
20th century and they were epitomised by the photograph of G.F. de Lotbinière, who managed the Black camps from about
Lizzie van Zyl (Figure 1).9,10,11 But ‘wasting’ was a fairly common August 1901, supplied similar data.14 The correspondence
occurrence in Britain and Australia as well.12,13 between camp superintendents and the two head offices,
Less is known about morbidity and mortality in the Black camps. querying and rechecking the figures, testifies to the level of
Since their accommodation and nutrition were far worse than in importance the administration placed upon this data. However,
the White camps, it is conceivable that mortality was at least as these statistics should not be confused with the various death
high amongst Black children as White children. It is known that lists, including those published in the government gazettes. For
some 14 154 Black people died and the figure may have been at a variety of reasons these lists are inaccurate, as is the official
least 20 000.14,15 However, most of the Black camp records have total of White deaths, 27 927, recorded by P.L.A. Goldman.3 The
been destroyed and the memory of suffering in the Black camps discussion below is therefore based on the statistics found in the
South African Journal of Science

largely has been erased by the experiences of the 20th century. Transvaal camp reports and in Pratt Yule’s reports.
The limited attempt to acknowledge their share of the tragedy
has been unable to penetrate very far into the Black experience. The statistics demonstrated distinct patterns of mortality (Figure
2).6 In the White camps, deaths peaked in October 1901, while
deaths in the Black camps peaked in December, perhaps because
STATISTICS
Article #242

the Black camp system was only set up later. ORC mortality was
Statistics were fundamental to the 19th-century public health slightly higher than that of the Transvaal, although the data are
movement. With the exception of the Cape Colony, the country slightly skewed since, from the end of 1901, large numbers of
was almost statistically barren at the outbreak of the South Boer families from the Transvaal were sent to Natal and these

450

400
Orange River Colony White camps

350
Mortality rate per 1000 individuals

300
Black camps
250

Transvaal White camps


200

150

100

50

0
28/02/1901

22/03/1901

30/04/1901

31/05/1901

30/06/1901

31/07/1901

31/08/1901

30/09/1901

31/10/1901

30/11/1901

31/12/1901

31/01/1902

28/02/1902

31/03/1902

30/04/1902

31/05/1902

30/06/1902

31/07/1902

31/08/1902

30/09/1902

31/10/1902

30/11/1902

31/12/1902

Date

FIGURE 2
Comparative mortality rates per 1000 per annum

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Boer concentration camps as a modernisation tool Research Article

1000

Kroonstad
900

800
Bethulie
Mortality rate per 1000 individuals
Mortality rate per 1000 individuals

700

600

500
Bloemfontein
400

300

200
Kimberley
100

0
28/02/1901

22/03/1901

30/04/1901

31/05/1901

30/06/1901

31/07/1901

31/08/1901

30/09/1901

31/10/1901

30/11/1901

31/12/1901

31/01/1902

28/02/1902

31/03/1902

30/04/1902

31/05/1902

30/06/1902

31/07/1902

31/08/1902

30/09/1902

31/10/1902

30/11/1902

31/12/1902
Date

FIGURE 3
Dates of mortality peaks in four Orange River Colony camps

South African Journal of Science


figures were not included. The ORC data include the families the increase in this malady in the summer months, especially
sent to the Cape. Once the data are disaggregated, however, a because this was an illness to which adults were particularly
much more complex pattern emerges. vulnerable.

Article #242
Broadly, the earlier a camp was founded, the earlier mortality Although measles occurred as an epidemic disease, it was not
peaked (Figure 3). The camps at Kimberley, Bloemfontein and unknown in the Boer republics prior to the outbreak of war. The
Kroonstad were all on the route of the primary northward ages of mortality suggest that most adults had some immunity
march of the British troops and disease followed in their wake; and a proportion of children under a year shared their mothers’
the Bloemfontein camp was formed in about September 1900 resistance (Figure 7), especially as the Boers tended to wean their
and mortality peaked very early. Bethulie, on the other hand, children late. Infants, who inherited an immunity from their
was formed at the end of April 1901, as an overflow of the mothers, were also protected from typhoid, which struck their
Springfontein camp and, consequently, had a later mortality older siblings and their parents.
peak.
The statistics do not reflect the range of other diseases which
More significant than the timing of the mortality peaks were the struck the camps. Observers, for instance, remarked on
patterns of mortality (Figure 4). Brandfort and Mafeking had the prevalence of flies and so trachoma was also probably
the highest mortality peaks of any camps, in Brandfort reaching widespread. Occasional references to bleeding gums suggest
1166 per 1000 per annum in October 1901; at this rate, every that many people suffered from scurvy, but other teething
camp inmate would have died within a year had the population complaints are rarely mentioned. Even more striking is the
remained static. Appalling though this was, the pattern was absence of any discussion of women’s ailments. Puerperal
worse in Bethulie camp, which had a higher total number of fever after childbirth only occurred in a few instances but, in
deaths and a prolonged period of elevated mortality. All three these camps of women, there must have been other problems
camps were about the same size, with an average monthly which were not openly talked about in late Victorian culture.
population of 3000, but Bethulie had a total of 1370 deaths, For most of 1901 it is likely that the camp inhabitants were never
compared with a total of 1081 at Brandfort and a total of 1029 completely healthy. However, the position was very different in
at Mafeking. 1902.

Bethulie’s mortality pattern was remarkable in another respect DOCTORS, NURSES AND HOSPITALS
as well, for the ratio of adult deaths to child deaths within this Camp mortality occurred in an era in which the prevention of
camp was far higher than almost any other camp (Figure 5). infectious disease was well understood. The 19th-century public
health movement had greatly reduced deaths in the industrial
In their analysis of the Transvaal camps, Low-Beer et al.6 noted cities and the development of the ‘germ theory of disease’ made
that measles was the largest single cause of death, accounting it possible to identify pathogens such as the Salmonella typhi
for 42% – 43% of deaths, three times more than any other illness. bacillus, which caused typhoid. There were still few effective
Pneumonia was the second most prevalent, with these two therapies, but, by 1900, there was an anti-toxin for diphtheria,
causes accounting jointly for 61% of all deaths. Dysentery and which was used successfully in the camps. Nevertheless, two
diarrhoea, typhoid and whooping cough were also major causes crucial obstacles remained. Firstly, Britain’s child mortality
of death.6 Reasons for deaths in the ORC were very similar. In rate was still very high – the infant mortality rate in England
Bethulie, measles and respiratory complaints formed, by far, in 1899 was 146 per 1000 per annum – having increased since
the most significant causes of death (Figure 6) and this is true 1876 – and the medical profession was only just beginning to
of all the other camps as well. Typhoid was usually regarded grasp the need for more informed maternal care and the careful
as a summer disease in South Africa and the second mortality monitoring of young babies.27 Infant mortality rates in the camps
peak in the Bethulie camp (Figures 3 and 4) probably reflects were also high but, in the light of the British experience of the

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Research Article Heyningen

1400

1200
Brandfort
1 000individuals
individuals

1000
Mafeking

800
per1000

Bethulie
per

600
rate
Mortality
Mortality rate

400

200

0
30/04/1901

31/05/1901

30/06/1901

31/07/1901

31/08/1901

30/09/1901

31/10/1901

30/11/1901

31/12/1901

31/01/1902

28/02/1902

31/03/1902

30/04/1902

31/05/1902

30/06/1902

31/07/1902

31/08/1902

30/09/1902

31/10/1902

30/11/1902

31/12/1902
Date

FIGURE 4
Comparative patterns of mortality in the Brandfort, Mafeking and Bethulie camps
South African Journal of Science

1200
Article #242

Children
1000
individuals
1 000 individuals

800
per 1000

Women
600
rateper

Men
rate
Mortality

400
Mortality

200

0
28/02/1901

22/03/1901

30/04/1901

31/05/1901

30/06/1901

31/07/1901

31/08/1901

30/09/1901

31/10/1901

30/11/1901

31/12/1901

31/01/1902

28/02/1902

31/03/1902

30/04/1902

31/05/1902

30/06/1902

31/07/1902

31/08/1902

30/09/1902

31/10/1902

30/11/1902

31/12/1902

Date

FIGURE 5
Patterns of mortality of men, women and children in the Bethulie camp

day, should not be judged by modern standards. Secondly, the a local military doctor or district surgeon and untrained nurses.
origins of viral diseases remained unidentified and there was While some camps, like Norvals Pont, coped successfully with
no means of combating measles, except through the age-old this limited care, the importance of competent medical staff is
technique of quarantine, which was impossible under South illustrated by the cases of Mafeking and Bethulie.
Africa’s wartime conditions. By 1902, when the flow of people
into the camps had been reduced, isolation camps and contact Mafeking’s extreme mortality was the product of a sudden, rather
camps were established, as subsidiaries to the main camps, but late, measles epidemic in August 1901 and the doctors present
this was very much a case of closing the gate after the horse had were unable to cope when the disease struck. Dr Kaufmann, a
escaped. Nevertheless, modern medical practice played a major Viennese man, was both conscientious and hard-working but
role in improving camp health. had no administrative skills. His assistant, who was German,
spoke little English and no Dutch. The result was severe staff
The medical staff in the camps were vital. In the early months, shortages, a lack of medical supplies and poorly kept records.
trained doctors and certified nurses were in short supply and Some children had not seen a doctor for a week or more before
many camps had to manage with the occasional attendance of they died. When he resigned, Kauffman wrote aggrievedly:

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Boer concentration camps as a modernisation tool Research Article

400

350

300

250
Number of deaths

200

150

100

50

0
Respiratory diseases Measles Typhoid fever Diphtheria Diarrhoea etc Other
Cause of death

South African Journal of Science


FIGURE 6
The main causes of death in the Bethulie camp, July to December 1901

Article #242
I am sorry that I am so overworked and exhausted that I must stop tents as the Boers and shared their rations, supplemented by a
my work except giving all over to Dr. Morrow [his replacement] few ‘medical comforts’ like rice and jam.
… I should have asked assistance, but as you replied to my first
request (20th of August) that other larger camps have only one Inevitably, there were some ‘bad eggs’ amongst the recruits,
doctor, I resented it as a reproach and restrained from asking more. as in the case of the Bethulie doctors. These were men, like
The fact is, that here is work enough for five hardworking doctors.28 John Hunter in the Kimberley camp, who were described as
ambitious and arrogant and clashed with the superintendents
Bethulie, too, had an inept superintendent who failed to
over authority.31 Owing to the fact that, at £500 a year, the
recruit suitable medical staff. The town doctor, who attended
doctors were paid more than the superintendents, this was
the camp in the beginning, was so aggressive that a charge of
hardly surprising. Nevertheless, the majority of medical staff
assault was laid against him. His replacement, Dr Madden,
gave good service. Men and women, such as these, brought
was so incompetent that he would have been dismissed
professional standards to the hospitals, often the first medical
within a week if he had not been needed so badly. However,
institutions in the upcountry towns.
Dr Madden was never well and died a couple of months later,
while still at Bethulie. As mortality mounted, an investigation
But, in this gendered environment, the nurses had another
brought to light the fact that later doctors were often drunk.
involuntary role to play, for they were also seen as models of
Moreover, the medical staff quarrelled with one another and the
ideal British womanhood, examples of gentility and femininity
superintendent. Thus it was hardly surprising that Bethulie was
to the Boer peasantry.5 The Transvaal Director of Burgher Camps
probably the most demoralised camp in the entire system.29
wrote to General Maxwell,
Once he finally grasped the dire nature of the health situation in [The nurses] have created a very favourable impression, being
the camps, Lord Milner swiftly recruited properly qualified staff physically strong and attractive, and presenting by ocular
from Britain. Perhaps 50 doctors and over 100 nurses came out demonstration, to the inmates of the Camps, examples of British
to South Africa to work in the camps. The majority of the doctors womanhood. The moral effect of the association of these earnest
appear to have been young and newly qualified. With limited noble-minded and cultivated ladies, with the people of the veld
prospects in the overcrowded medical market of Britain, many … cannot fail to be productive of much good in many ways,
hoped to make careers abroad and a number of these camp and especially in softening the bitter feelings of enmity which
doctors stayed on as district surgeons in the ORC and Transvaal unfortunately are inborn in so many of the Boer women against
towns after the war (e.g. Dr John Graham, whose later career the British name.32
has been recorded).30 The nurses, on the other hand, were older, The camp hospitals received a significant amount of bad press.
usually in their thirties, perhaps with little prospect of marriage. Boer women were accustomed to doing their own nursing and
A few may have come for the adventure, sometimes as friends. It they hated the separation from their children. To make matters
was reported that Edinburgh Infirmary lost a number of nurses worse, some camp hospitals limited parents’ visits; it was even
to the camps. But the greatest inducement seems to have been claimed that mothers were only allowed to see their sick children
the salaries which, at £10 a month, were far more than they had once a week, for five minutes, and, even then, they were not
been earning before. They were given a free return passage to allowed to speak to them.33 Most hospitals, however, allowed
South Africa and few appear to have remained in the country mothers to remain with their dying children. Food was another
after the war. These nurses may have found adventure but camp major issue and the Boer mothers found the reduced diets
conditions were difficult. They lived in the same threadbare allowed for typhoid patients very difficult to understand, with

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Research Article Heyningen

400
Measles & respiratory diseases
Typhoid
350

300

250
Number of deaths

200

150

100

50

0
0-1 1-5 5-15 5-25 25-35 35-45 45-55 55-65 65-75 75-85
years years years years
years years
years years
years years
years years
years years
years years
years
Age at death
Age at death
South African Journal of Science

FIGURE 7
Ages and main causes of death of inmates in the Bethulie camp, July to December 1901

some mothers attempting to smuggle in unsuitable food, even to had been lacking before the war. A handful of them were even
Article #242

the very end, complaining that their children were starving.17,34 able to get nursing jobs outside the camps and it was hoped that
some would train further after the war. Few took advantage of
The Boers’ aversion to entering a hospital was not uncommon in the offer, but others may have been amongst the earliest South
societies where hospitals were alien environments to be feared; African recruits to nursing, although it was only in the 1920s that
the poor of Britain and the United States of America had been as Afrikaner women began to enter the nursing profession in any
reluctant as any camp inmate to be hospitalised. There had been numbers.39
good reason for this antipathy in the past but late-19th-century
hospitals were very different institutions from those of the pre- SANITATION
Nightingale era. By 1902, however, most camps reported that
the resistance to entering hospitals was disappearing, as parents When war broke out in 1899, the Boer republics were still largely
could see that their children fared better in hospital than in the rural. The only town of any substance was Johannesburg and, to
tents.35 some extent, Pretoria. Bloemfontein, with a population of 3379 in
1890, was the only town in the Orange Free State to have more
than 1000 inhabitants and there was no substantial urbanisation
A critical mediator between parents and hospitals were the so-
over the next decade. In contrast, most camps had at least 2000
called ‘probationers’ – young Boer women who served as nurse-
inmates. The Bloemfontein camp, with an average population of
aids in the hospitals. By 1902, every camp employed at least 20
4825, which rose to nearly 7000 at times, was considerably larger
young women in the hospitals and several hundred must have
than the town outside which it was situated. This is even more
seen such service by the end of the war. In some cases relations
striking in Middelburg, which had a White village population of
were poor, but the ability of the British staff to get along with
563 in 1890, while the camp housed over 7000 at one point (Black
the Boer girls was often an indicator of the competence of the
people were not counted in these censuses).
former. Particularly in the early days, British doctors could be
patronising, as in the Middelburg camp, where the medical The camps existed side-by-side with societies in which urban
officer complained that these young women were ‘very slow and administration was often extremely rudimentary. Repeatedly,
difficult to train’. But, he believed, the Boers, and especially the the early district commissioners complained about the insanitary
girls, would greatly benefit from the education and discipline condition of the towns they were administering.40,41 Boer farms
they acquired.17 often lacked any form of sanitation. Accounts of Boer sanitary
practices, though much resented by middle-class Afrikaners
In many cases, however, the British medical staff took then and later, are so graphic and so frequent that there can
great pride in the skills they instilled in the Boer women. be no doubt that most Boers in the camps, who were bywoners
Superintendent Nowers at the Orange River camp felt that some (landless farmers) rather than middle class, lived in comfortable
of his probationers were sufficiently competent to be promoted association with human and animal excrement.
to nursing assistants at £6 a month, a considerable improvement
on the 1 shilling a day they were usually paid. Inspector Tonkin Therefore, a major concern of the camp superintendents was
recommended a similar promotion at the Kroonstad camp.36,37 sanitation and every camp report contained some comment on
By the end of the war, the camp administrators had introduced the cleanliness of the camp. Camp inmates had to be prevented
training programmes for their probationers, in which the from fouling the ground around their tents, from throwing out
women were given lectures and tests and some were issued with slops and rubbish and, with more difficulty, they had to be
certificates.38 At the very least, these young women took home persuaded to use the communal latrines. On dark nights, when
with them a knowledge of sanitary practice and nutrition, which the entire family was sometimes struck down with dysentery or

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Boer concentration camps as a modernisation tool Research Article

diarrhoea, it was impossible to expect them to walk up to half the Ladies Committee thereafter. Emily Hobhouse reported that
a mile (0.8 kilometres) to the latrines. The latrines themselves he possessed ‘marked administrative powers; his rule was firm,
ranged from trenches, which the army used and which were just and kind and he seemed possessed of unlimited resources’.45
entirely unsuitable for small children, to the bucket system. Lack Not surprisingly, although Norvals Pont did not entirely escape
of wood, galvanised iron, pails, transport animals, labourers (for the measles epidemic, the mortality rate was well below the
able-bodied Black and White men were recruited to serve in the national camp average (Figure 8).
military wherever possible), all contributed to the difficulty of
keeping the camps clean in the early months. Effective sanitation and low mortality, then, depended as much
upon the character of the camp staff as it did upon cleanliness.
By 1902 the situation was very different. Although shortages Firmness and discipline combined with tact and compassion
remained, the camp authorities had the money to install better usually persuaded the Boer families to accept sanitary
latrines and to disinfect on a large scale. In order to stem the regulations relatively willingly. It is impossible to know the
tide of mortality in Mafeking, 400 sanitary pails and 12 tons of long-term effect of these measures on the Boers but, at the very
disinfectant were ordered.42 Night latrines were provided in all least, camp life served to familiarise them with a more modern
the Transvaal camps and the main latrines were transformed
sanitary regime.
with hard flooring and proper removal systems.43 By 1902 in the
Transvaal, a ratio of 10 people to a latrine was advocated and
cleanliness was implemented through constant inspection and WATER SUPPLY
some coercion.44 One of the most critical elements in the establishment of the
camps in a water-short South Africa was a good water supply.
Even more important was the need to persuade the women Before the war, many of the republican towns, with their tiny
and children to abide by camp regulations. The ability of the populations, had been able to depend on local streams and
camp superintendents to manage the families revealed much springs. But the war brought thousands of soldiers and their
about relationships within the camps. Some of the camp horses and military encampments placed a heavy burden on
superintendents, who were South Africans, were untroubled these slender stocks as these camps were always sited nearby.
by a degree of untidiness and dirt in the camps; others were Streams which had been adequate for 1000 people could not
fanatically concerned about keeping their camps spotless serve an additional 10 000. Therefore, a major consideration in
and orderly. The Boers themselves valued ‘kindness’, but it the location of the concentration camps was the availability of
was ‘firmness’ that kept the mortality rate low. Those camp water. By 1902, the cost of engineering works formed a large
superintendents who could combine tact with discipline usually
part of the camp budgets. In his estimates for 1902, Milner
had the most successful camps, in which the inhabitants were
anticipated that engineering, sanitation and water would cost

South African Journal of Science


contented and healthy. The contrast between the Bethulie and
the camp £17 000 a month, out of a total budget of £182 000 a
Norvals Pont camps illustrates this.
month. By comparison, £10 000 was budgeted for doctors and
Russell Deare, the superintendent of Bethulie camp, was much nurses and £115 000 for food.46
loved by the camp inmates. But Bethulie was the archetypal

Article #242
‘bad’ camp, with soaring mortality rates (Figure 8), demoralised In Bloemfontein, however, every water source became polluted
inmates and incompetent doctors.29 Norvals Pont was very with typhoid and this compounded the overall water shortage,
different. The superintendent, St John Cole Bowen, showed which meant that camp inmates received only a pint (about
little overt sympathy for the Boers, dealing briskly with those he half a litre) of boiled water a day, hopelessly inadequate in the
regarded as troublemakers and insisting that a rigorous regime of summer heat. Worse still, was the lack of wood available for the
inspection be followed. Consequently, the camp administration fires required to boil the water. Camps like Standerton, on the
thought highly of him. ‘Mr Cole Bowen is a level headed man’, Vaal River, had ample fuel and water, but the river was heavily
chief superintendent Trollope noted on one occasion.45 But, polluted with disease and, in any case, the Boers disliked the
strikingly, Emily Hobhouse was also impressed by him, as was taste of boiled water.17

900

800

700
Mortality rate per 1000 individuals

600
Bethulie
500

400
Average in Orange
River Colony camps
300

Norvals Pont
200

100

0
28/02/1901

22/03/1901

30/04/1901

31/05/1901

30/06/1901

31/07/1901

31/08/1901

30/09/1901

31/10/1901

30/11/1901

31/12/1901

31/01/1902

28/02/1902

31/03/1902

30/04/1902

31/05/1902

30/06/1902

31/07/1902

31/08/1902

30/09/1902

31/10/1902

30/11/1902

31/12/1902

Date

FIGURE 8
Comparative death rates in the Bethulie and Norvals Pont camps

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Research Article Heyningen

The British were well aware that a clean water supply was the possible, therefore, to draw up adequate ration scales for the
foundation of preventive health care. As a result, they often camps. Unfortunately, other considerations often intervened. In
tested questionable water. In the case of Kroonstad, the camp workhouses, for instance, the principle of ‘less eligibility’ meant
was supplied from the municipal waterworks, pumped from that food should always be more unpalatable than the poor
a weir on the Valsch River and passed through two filter could obtain outside, lest they be ‘pauperised’. Moreover, diet
beds. Nonetheless, the colonial medical officer of health, Dr scales were often drawn up by people with little knowledge of
Pratt Yule, considered this an entirely inadequate system for nutrition. As late as the 1890s, therefore, the supply of calories in
purifying the water. The filters often became clogged with these places was usually inadequate.61
mud, resulting in turbid water that was full of vegetable matter
and microorganisms.47 The Aliwal North camp water was sent It is not known who created the initial ration scales for the
to Professor P.D. Hahn in Cape Town for analysis. With some camps but military doctors were probably consulted. The full
filtration, he believed that this supply was harmless.48 In March ration scale for adults per week in the Transvaal in February
the following year, Dr Parry Edwards, one of the camp doctors 1901 was: 7 lb meal or flour, 4 oz salt, 6 oz coffee, 12 oz sugar
with a diploma in public health from Cambridge, undertook to and 2 lb meat (children less than 12 years old received half).17
analyse the water in all the ORC camps. Although he concluded When the civilian administration took over in February 1901,
that most camp water was safe to drink, it was often unpalatable, economy was the watchword and food was the most expensive
like the Kroonstad water.49 By this time, the Transvaal camp item in the budget. At first, the Transvaal had two ration scales,
system was contemplating the establishment of its own including the notorious meatless ration scale for the families of
laboratory to analyse water and milk.50 men on commando. But many camp superintendents refused to
implement this ‘Scale B’ at all and it was officially abandoned
Quantity was as important as quality. Effective sanitation within a month.17,62 Meatless diets for White inmates was not,
depended on ample water to boil hospital linen and disinfect therefore, an issue. However, the case was very different for
cooking utensils. By 1902, the camps were employing water Black inmates, who often did not have meat included in their
engineers to inspect the camps regularly, dig wells and dams diets.62 The ration scales were compiled by military men with
and install pumps and pipes. As early as April 1901, the Bethulie little appreciation of the needs of women and children. Even
camp asked permission to employ a water engineer to lay pipes teenage boys like young George Brink, the son of the Vredefort
because the local ‘spruit’ was likely to dry up in summer.51 The Road superintendent, were always hungry.30 Babies simply
Brandfort camp ran into difficulties in May 1902, when a new could not eat the coarse food and fresh milk was difficult to
borehole, complete with pipes and taps, ran dry. They had to acquire, thus condensed milk, usually sweetened but sometimes
resort to the old bore, worked by a horse engine, but this was skimmed, took its place, but was either insufficiently or overly
South African Journal of Science

inadequate and the camp had to be supplied by water carts. watered down and lacked fat, as well as vitamins A and D.63
Brandfort’s superintendent begged that one of the two water Moreover, tough meat took long to cook and that was impossible
engineers, now in the employ of ORC camp administration, be when fuel was short; half-cooked food was one explanation
sent urgently.52 Standerton, on the polluted Vaal River, struggled for the frequent digestive problems in the camps, the Ladies
with water until the Transvaal camp water engineer arrived to Committee observed.64
Article #242

install an elaborate system of tanks, pipes and engines.53 By


April 1902, the Klerksdorp camp had 10 tanks for boiling water, Supplies were dependent on a single railway line that ran
ensuring that no river water was used at all.54,55 Aliwal North, northwards, which was regularly disrupted by guerrilla raids,
on the confluence of the Kraai and Orange Rivers, could have creating endless problems and thus military needs took priority.
been expected to have ample water, but, by 1902, an extensive At first, meat came from the animals requisitioned from Boer
water scheme had been installed, including five miles of pipes, farms, but the stock had often travelled long distances and, as
an engine which supplied 20 000 gallons (90 921 litres) a day winter grazing deteriorated, so did the animals. There is no
and £3150 worth of storage tanks. Since this elaborate scheme, doubt that fresh meat often lacked any fat and was diseased or
which also included a sand filter, was well beyond the needs of inedible. Lucy Deane of the Ladies Committee commented on
the camp, the authorities began negotiations to supply the town one occasion that the meat was
as well. They hoped that the whole apparatus could be sold to
[v]ery scarce and dear, and awfully nasty; either ‘trek Ox’ which
the town at the end of the war.56
is so near the verge of starvation before it is killed that the carcase
looks like a concertina drawn out fully with all the wind knocked
By May 1902, the scale of engineering was so large that a number
out, just rib-bones with their flabby skin drawn over them, and
of villages inherited relatively sophisticated water systems. In
no flesh at all … I saw scores of sheep weighed before me in the
this way, at least, the camps left a practical legacy.
Camps as they arrived for the rations; and 16, 17, 18 lbs. [7.25,
7.7, 8.16 kgs] was the total weight of each sheep! Fowls are almost
NUTRITION unobtainable luxuries …65
Food is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the camps Emily Hobhouse emphasised the unsuitability of the ration
as it is deeply affected by cultural and social values. Camp scales in her report published in June 1901. As a result, the pro-
inmates prized fresh meat above all, which was vital in the Boer, Dr J.S. Haldane, father of the scientist J.B.S. Haldane, wrote
camps because it was the main source of nutrients. Boer families to the Colonial Office with a very thorough analysis of the diet
disliked the unfamiliar tinned corned beef and considered even scales. Women, he stated, required at least 2800 calories a day
the frozen meat, which they received later, to be unpalatable. but, as far as he could establish from the varied practices in the
The widespread stories about hooks in the tinned meat, which camps, they were not receiving enough. He concluded that,
continues to circulate among the more conservative Afrikaners,
had more to do with this prejudice than with the reality, [w]ith reference to various remarks by Superintendents and
although some tins probably were contaminated.57 By 1902, the doctors about listlessness and disinclination of the inmates to
ORC camps, alone, were consuming at least one million pounds work, it should be clearly understood that the adult diets are quite
(453 592 kilograms) of meat every month.58 insufficient for an adult to do work upon ... The great predisposing
cause of the enormous mortality is in all probability the inadequacy
By 1900, ration scales were commonplace in many British of the food supply.66
institutions. In the previous hundred years, chemical and The Colonial Office forwarded Haldane’s report to its own
medical research, much of which was conducted in prisons and consultant, Dr Sidney Martin, who reached very similar
workhouses, had greatly advanced the understanding of the conclusions. Even with the improved ration scales that had
relationship between food and health.59,60 The importance of been introduced following the investigations of the Ladies
proteins and carbohydrates was well established, as was that of Committee, the Transvaal diet for adult women was still nearly
fats, but vitamins had not yet been discovered. It was perfectly 700 calories below that which they required and showed a great

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Boer concentration camps as a modernisation tool Research Article

deficiency in ‘proteids’. In every case there was little or no fat.67 when Afrikaner women were beginning to enter the nursing and
All of these investigations led to greatly improved diet scales. teaching professions in larger numbers, these ideals had become
thoroughly embedded in Afrikaner consciousness.
As long as children were fed on tinned milk, however, difficulties
probably remained, for the condensed milk of the day was ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
lacking in nutrients and was often unsterilised. Babies fed on
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Wellcome Trust
such tinned milk only, could become severely malnourished.12
for funding the research on which this article is based. They
At least some of the camp authorities tried to ensure that ‘Ideal’
are, however, in no way responsible for my opinions. My
milk was used. Since it was unsweetened, however, this milk
appreciation also goes to Dr Iain Smith for his support and
sometimes soured. ‘Milkmaid’ or ‘Sledge’ brands, the latter
stimulating discussion and to Professor Richard Mendelsohn for
sweetened, were occasionally used instead, but fresh milk was
his helpful suggestions.
almost impossible to obtain.17,68,69

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