eGGSA Graves in South Africa - Free State

Much of our information about Bloemfontein camp in its early days comes from the letters of Emily Hobhouse who arrived there in January 1901, while it was still under military administration. Bloemfontein was the first significant camp to be established and it was not typical of most camps. It was one of the largest, larger in fact than the town of Bloemfontein, which had a recorded population of 3,379 in 1890. Because it was used as a holding camp, it had a constantly changing population. Water supply and health were a never-ending struggle since the British army made heavy demands on the limited supply of water and the soldiers had brought a severe typhoid epidemic into the town. Above all, it never had a really competent superintendent. Nevertheless, it was by no means the worst camp in the system and it was under the direct eye of the central camp administration. Refugees began to trickle into Bloemfontein even before the British took the town in March 1900 but the camp was formally established about 22 September 1900. It was a bleak place, some two miles outside the town, ‘dumped down on the southern slope of a kopje right out on the bare brown veld’. There was no shelter of any kind so that the hot sun beat down on the tents. As a holding camp in an unhealthy town, Bloemfontein camp was particularly vulnerable to disease and both typhoid and measles struck much earlier than in most other camps, where the crisis came in the winter months of 1901. In Bloemfontein the measles epidemic peaked in April and May 1901, but typhoid was also severe in the summer months at the end of that year. Already by mid-February children were dying of measles and there were nearly forty cases of typhoid in the hospital. Since camp inmates were limited to one pint of boiled water a day for drinking – in the February heat – typhoid was almost unavoidable. Typhoid and measles were not the only diseases assaulting the camp inmates. Many of the new arrivals were destitute and sometimes suffered from malaria. The children were prone to diarrhoea because their mothers had been forced to wean them too early and there was insufficient condensed milk to meet their needs. Coughs, bronchitis and catarrhs were widespread, as was anaemia and general debility. Many of the women suffered from amenorrhea. (The doctor thought that more exercise and fresh interests would help the latter). Ophthalmia was very common as result of the flies; some had jaundice and flu was also on the increase. When the war ended, the families returned home slowly. Because it was so large, for months Bloemfontein continued to operate normally. Water supply and bad meat continued to be an issue until the camp was closed. The camp was finally shut down on 3 January 1903. (Source: https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Bloemfontein/) Cemetery information:- Album complete. Some photos donated by the GGSA Cemetery project. eGGSA captions done by: Heleen Nel & Wilna Eygelaar. Information also available on the GGSA Cemetery DVD:- Cemetery ID: 2369 Names in cemetery: 1076 Information submitted by: Dianne Rilley Google Earth Project Information:- GPSID: 2878 GPS: -29 09.017, 26 12.331