Boer War P.o.w. Covers

If you were a Boer captured during the Anglo-Boer war I guess it was the luck of the draw where you were sent..anywhere from Bermuda to St. Helena ..they probably did not give a choice of duty stations !

Tens of thousands of Boer women and children were forcibly moved into concentration camps after Boer farms were burned, animals slaughtered, fields salted etc. This was the first use of the term "concentration camp"... yet another British invention, I'm sorry to say.

I'm afraid, the Spaniards did the same ten or fifteen years before with Cuban peasants during the 1998 Cuban war, and for the same reason: To isolate country population from their relatives fighting on the guerrilla against Spanish colonial rule.

I am even further sorry to say that they were the brain child of Winston Churchill.
Horamakhet

without a doubt the non combatants should have been left alone...but the war that England thought would be over in a few months was bankrupting them !!

I think you mean Lord Kitchener not Churchill,

Okka

Winston Churchill was a young man during the Boer War, officially there as a war correspondent.

Hi Okka and yakboomer

Officially he was a correspondent, but unofficially he was attached to the British Army Intelligence and was spying.
Yes I do mean that the camps were Churchill's idea, although he did not officially set them up, it was he idea submitted to the war office.
Horamakhet

As philb stated in his opening comment, most captured Boer men were sent overseas...presumably not allowed to communicate with their families. Of the 28,000 Boer men captured during the war, 25,600 were treated that way. The families, mainly women and children I suspect, were taken to the concentration camps (around 120,000 people I think) and at least 25% did not survive.

Winston Churchill?? I like him. I been watching WWII in color about every morning for a week now and they didn't ever make him out to be a bad guy?

Winston Churchill- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

http://www.biography.com/people/win...hill-9248164

WWII. in color (one of many parts) this one isn't nearly as good as the one from the History Channel though
http://youtu.be/gmkg4TpgEGM

I like this one also
http://youtu.be/4pm649oLvGU

As far as Bermuda is concerned, those who were considered the worst offenders were the ones who would not pledge allegiance to the British Crown. They were sent to Darrell's Island. In all, there were 5 small Bermuda islands where the pow's were sent. This cover was sent to Burt's Island (the cover has it spelled with two "t"s).

I have not extensively researched the cover. His name was Lodewyk Christian Marinus Wegerif and he was a "senior teacher". He went by the name Marinus.






I am guessing by the notation "Not Darrell's" that this letter was first sent to Darrell's Island.

Another well-known person who fought in the Boer wars was Col. Robert Baden-Powell who commanded the defense of Mafeking. He is best known as the founder of the Boy Scouts in England.

Ncbuckeye Very NIce Cover...i was actively bidding on a cover from Transvaal to the Dutch Indies..i went to 36.00 plus 5 dollars shipping but the winner paid 50.00 plus shipping !

Horamkhet,

re.

" I am even further sorry to say that they were the brain child of Winston Churchill ".


Could you show somewhere online something that confirms this statement,

Okka

The film Breaker Morant comes to mind ...what insanity !!

I liked the part where they gave the prisoners rifles when the Boers attacked and them executed later on !!

Do you mean like in the Papillon story? Same type of situation? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillon_%28film%29

Nevermind that was the French- French penal colony on Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana.