Open Quote: “The camps were formed by the British army to house the residents of the two Boer republics of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. They were established towards the end of 1900, after Britain had invaded the Boer republics. This database was designed to investigate mortality and morbidity in the camps during the war. “ Close Quote.
Read more on this article by clicking on this link to access the article in its entirety as we do not want to infringe on any copyright laws belonging to Professor Dr Elizabeth van Heyningen. She has however been gracious & kind to us in giving us permission to share her knowledge and research on this important subject pertaining to these concentration camps.
About the British Concentration Camp in Volksrust.
Volksrust camp was beautifully situated, in the shadow of Majuba mountain, on the border of Natal, where the Boers had defeated the British some twenty years before, reminding them of ‘the most glorious episode in their history’, as Dr Kendal Franks noted. Read more on this article by clicking on this link which will take you to the original article.
When writing to the Professor to request permission, we quote what she had to state in her email about all of the camp registers:
“I’m just completing the entry of the Volksrust camp registers. The three registers, DBC 105, 107 and 108, have all been
entered. There is also a collection of death certificates (that seems the wrong term as they are not full certificates) and I am currently entering them.
There are several features about the registers which are probably worth mentioning.
1 There doesn’t seem to be an arrivals register so we hardly ever know when families arrived in the camp.
2 There are two volumes (DBC 107 and 108) which are clearly departures registers although only 108 is labelled thus. The entries in these two volumes are almost identical so they tend to confirm one another.
3 One of the clerks has particularly bad handwriting. This will probably account for some
of the discrepancies.”
Thank you Professor Dr Elizabeth van Heyningen!