newsThe voice of a long-silenced whistle-blower is heard again as historians mark the 165th anniversary of the birth of Emily Hobhouse
The suffering experienced in the camps left a lasting legacy of bitterness amongst the Boers. Between 18,000 and 28,000 Boers died, 80% of them children. The British did not bother to keep records for native Africans housed in camps, but it is believed that their death toll was similar to that of the Boers.
Emily Hobhouse exposed the horrors inside British-built concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War. She was damned as a ‘traitor’ and ‘a hysterical woman’ for daring to challenge the once mighty British Empire during wartime.
TREVOR GRUNDY reports-
More than a century after 48 000 people died in concentration camps in what’s known as the South African War between 1899 and 1902 – or the Anglo-Boer War – the events of that period are back in the headlines.
From April 12 to the end of the month, a series of educational talks will be held at the Cornish home of this great – sadly little known – humanist and whistle-blower, Emily Hobhouse.
The campaign to make her better known to the British public was opened by Esabe Brits.
She told an audience of history-lovers gathered at Emily’s childhood home to mark the 165th anniversary of her birth that Hobhouse was an eyewitness of the British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War.
“Not only did she provide relief, such as food, clothing and other necessities, but she also compiled a 40-page report, published in June 1901, detailing all her observations and findings.”
The heroic Emily Hobhouse . . .
. . . an eye-witness to the British concentration camps in South Africa
The report was discussed in both Houses of Parliament (Commons and Lords) and it generated a significant amount of negative press coverage plus the just about controlled fury by British politician and military leaders who committed the atrocities in South Africa.
Atrocities that the outside world was expected not to know about.
Said Brits: “Much of her criticism had a feminist slant, which was also not appreciated, especially since she dared to challenge the mighty British Empire during wartime.”
But eventually a Ladies’ Commission was appointed to investigate the appalling conditions in the camps.
Hobhouse was not invited to be part of the commission.
She was never mentioned in the report. Neither was she recognised for her courageous and heroic work exposing those responsible for the deaths of around 48,000 men, women and children – an estimated 28,000 whites and 20,000 blacks.
Hobhouse’s humanitarian and humanistic work was never recognised.
She faded from British history.
As the Afrikaners liked to see themselves . . .
. . . the children of a God they believed favoured their occupation of S0uth Africa
Brits spoke about the relevance of Hobhouse today, saying:” When she was abused in the press and public, she did not stand down – she kept on fighting for human rights. She is an excellent role model and a true forgotten British activist who should be remembered along with all the other greats.”
The camps were established by the British as part of their military campaign against two small Afrikaner republics: the ZAR (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.
An earlier report published by Professor Fransjohan Pretorius, the Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Pretoria, said that the figures would have been even higher had it not been for the fact that Emily Hobhouse exposed the deplorable conditions in the camps.
He wrote: ”A subsequent report by the Government’s Ladies Commission prompted the British Government to improve conditions. Another factor that reduced the fatality rate was that Lord Milner, High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony, took over administration of the camps from the military from November 1901.
“After Lord Roberts, chief commander of the British forces, occupied the Free State capital, Bloemfontein, on 13 March 1900, he issued a proclamation inviting the Boers to lay down their arms and sign an oath of neutrality. They would then be free to return to their farms on the understanding that they would no longer participate in the war.
“Eventually about 20 000 Boers – about a third – made use of this offer. They were called the protected burghers.
Roberts had banked on this policy to end the war. But after the British occupation of the Transvaal capital, Pretoria, on 5 June 1900, there was no end in sight. On the contrary, the Boers had started a guerrilla war, which included attacks on railway lines.
Boer women and children in their best dress pose for a picture outside a tent that became their only home for years
In reaction Roberts issued a proclamation on 16 June 1900, stating that, for every attack on a railway line the closest homestead would be burnt down.
This was the start of the scorched earth policy. When this didn’t work, Roberts issued another proclamation in September stating that all homesteads would be burnt in a radius of 16 km of any attack, and that all livestock would be killed or taken away and all rops destroyed.
Professor Pretorius is one of South Africa’s best-respected historians and scholars of the Anglo-Boer Wars.
He said: “This policy was intensified dramatically when Lord Kitchener took over from Roberts as commander in November 1900. Homesteads and whole towns were burnt down even if there was no attack on any railway. In this way almost all Boer homesteads – about 30 000 in all – were razed to the ground and thousands of livestock killed. The two republics were entirely devastated.
“Meanwhile the Boer leaders were reorganising their commandos after some major setbacks. One action was to remobilise the Boers who had laid down their arms.
“Roberts felt he should protect his oath takers and gather them in refugee camps. The first two were established in Bloemfontein and Pretoria in September 1900.
But the scorched-earth policy had led to more and more Boer women and children being left homeless.
Of the 48,000 who died in the camps at least 20,000 were blacks – most of them South African
Roberts decided to bring them into the camps too.
They were called the “undesirables” – families of Boers who were still on commando or already prisoners of war. They were given fewer rations than others in the camps.
These families eventually out-numbered the protected burghers and their families by 7:3.
Pretorius wrote: “These families were taken against their will. They were forcibly put on ox wagons and open railway trucks and taken to the camps.”
“The administration of the camps was appalling. Food was of a very poor quality, sanitation deplorable, tents were overcrowded and medical assistance shocking. Little was known at the time about how to handle epidemics of measles and typhoid.”
This isn’t all.
“A total of 66 black concentration camps were set up across the Transvaal and Free State where conditions were just as bad and the death rates similar.
“These camps were set up to get black people off the land so that the Boers couldn’t get supplies from them. In addition, forcing black farmers off their land also enabled the British to use black men as labourers on gold mines.”