Laughable assertions

DEAR EDITOR — Pauline Morris (Anglo-Boer war myth, Letters, October 1) quotes two sources in claiming that the Anglo-Boer War atrocities were “exaggerated into mythical proportions”. The one is a Swedish medic who apparently never visited a concentration camp. The other is Elizabeth van Heyningen.

The following is an extract from a journal article by Ms van Heyningen: “While not denying the tragedy of the high mortality of people in the concentration camps in the South African War of 1899–1902, this article suggests that, for Lord Milner and the British Colonial Office, the camps became a means of introducing the rural society of the Boers to the facilities of modern life. To some extent they became, in effect, part of Milner’s project for ‘civilising’ and assimilating the Boers into British colonial society.”

Anyone making such laughable assertions cannot be taken seriously as a source. Let’s consider rather a somewhat more reliable source in Emily Hobhouse, herself British. The following from the website angloboerwar.com: “The conditions in the camps were generally unhealthy and the food was sparse. Rations for the families of men who were still fighting were smaller still. The poor quality of the food and the general disregard towards personal hygiene led to outbreaks of measles, typhoid and dysentery.

The disease coupled with inadequate medical care accounted for the large number of deaths in the camps, especially in the early years. By the end of the war, it was reported that 27,927 Boers (of whom 26,251 were women and children, of which 22,074 were children under 16) had died of starvation, disease and exposure. This equates to about 25%.

“Miss Emily Hobhouse, a member of the South African Women and Children’s Distress Fund, visited some of the camps in the Orange Free State between January and April 1901. She publicised what she found to a shocked public in England. Her report led to a government inquiry, the Fawcett Committee. The committee’s report criticised the camps and listed a number of recommendations for improvement.”