Honoured Dead Memorial

Last updated

Honoured Dead Memorial
South Africa
Dead Memorial, Kimberley.jpg
Honoured Dead Memorial in Kimberley with the Long Cecil gun in the foreground.
For defenders who died during the Siege of Kimberley
Unveiled28 November 1904
Location 28°45′4″S24°46′10″E / 28.75111°S 24.76944°E / -28.75111; 24.76944 Coordinates: 28°45′4″S24°46′10″E / 28.75111°S 24.76944°E / -28.75111; 24.76944
near 
Designed by Herbert Baker
THIS FOR A CHARGE TO OUR CHILDREN IN SIGN OF THE PRICE WE PAID

THE PRICE WE PAID FOR THE FREEDOM THAT COMES UNSOILED TO YOUR HAND
READ REVERE AND UNCOVER FOR HERE ARE THE VICTORS LAID

THEY THAT DIED FOR THE CITY BEING SONS OF THE LAND

The Honoured Dead Memorial is a provincial heritage site in Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated at the meeting point of five roads, and commemorates those who died defending the city during the Siege of Kimberley in the Anglo-Boer War.

In 1986, it was described in the Government Gazette as

Cecil John Rhodes commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to design a memorial...which commemorates those who fell during the Kimberley Siege.

Rhodes sent Baker to Greece to study ancient memorials - the Nereid Monument at Xanthus greatly influenced his design. [1]

The monument is built of sandstone quarried in the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe and is the tomb of 27 soldiers. It features an inscription that Rhodes specifically commissioned Rudyard Kipling to write.

The Long Cecil gun that was designed and manufactured by George Labram in the workshops of De Beers during the siege is mounted on its stylobate (facing the Free State). It is surrounded by shells from the Boer Long Tom. [2] The memorial was dedicated on 28 November 1904. [3] It was vandalised in 2010 when brass fittings were broken off parts of the gun.

Related Research Articles

Cecil Rhodes British businessman and politician in southern Africa

Cecil John Rhodes was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia, which the company named after him in 1895. South Africa's Rhodes University is also named after him. He also put much effort towards his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.

Kimberley, Northern Cape Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Anglo-Boer war. British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes established the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town.

Barkly West Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Barkly West is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, situated on the north bank of the Vaal River west of Kimberley.

Herbert Baker

Sir Herbert Baker was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He was born and died at Owletts in Cobham, Kent.

Battle of Paardeberg 1900 battle of the Second Boer War

The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley.

Rhodes Memorial Memorial to English-born, South African politician Cecil John Rhodes

Rhodes Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, is a memorial to English-born, South African politician Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902). The memorial was designed by the renowned architect, Sir Herbert Baker.

Frances Baard District Municipality District municipality in Northern Cape, South Africa

Frances Baard is one of the 5 districts of Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Frances Baard is Kimberley. The majority of its 324 814 people speak Setswana. The district code is DC9.

National Womens Day

National Women's Day is a South African public holiday celebrated annually on 9 August. The day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country's pass laws that required South Africans defined as "black" under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era. The first National Women's Day was celebrated on 9 August 1995. In 2006, a reenactment of the march was staged for its 50th anniversary, with many of the 1956 march veterans.

155 mm Creusot Long Tom siege gun

The 155 mm CreusotLong Tom was a French siege gun manufactured by Schneider et Cie in Le Creusot, France and used by the Boers in the Second Boer War as field guns.

Siege of Kimberley Event during the Second Boer War

The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony, when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the area when war broke out between the British and the two Boer republics in October 1899. The town was ill-prepared, but the defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence that was able to prevent it from being taken.

The Cape Police Memorial is a South African national heritage site located in Kimberley in the Northern Cape province. It commemorates the losses of the unit during the Anglo-Boer War.

Horse Memorial

The Horse Memorial is a provincial heritage site in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, in memory of the horses that served and died during the Second Boer War, where Britain brought a large number of horses to South Africa. Designed by Joseph Whitehead, the life-sized bronze memorial features a kneeling soldier presenting a bucket of water to a service horse.

George Labram

George Labram was an American engineer employed as Chief Mechanical Engineer at the De Beers diamond mines in Kimberley during the Siege of Kimberley.

Long Cecil Type of Howitzer

Long Cecil is a single cannon, designed by George Labram, an American citizen, and built in the workshops of the De Beers mining company in Kimberley for use by the British during the Siege of Kimberley in the Second Boer War.

Frances Goitsemang Baard was a South African trade unionist, organiser for the African National Congress Women's League and a Patron of the United Democratic Front, who was commemorated in the renaming of the Diamantveld District Municipality (Kimberley) as the Frances Baard District Municipality. Schoeman Street in Pretoria was also renamed in her honour.

Bill Cotty Rugby player

William Alfred Henry Cotty was a South African international rugby union player. Born in Kimberley, he attended Kimberley Boys' High School before playing provincial rugby for Griqualand West. He made his only Test appearance for South Africa during Great Britain's 1896 tour. He played as a scrum-half in the 3rd Test of the series, a 9–3 loss in Kimberley.

This is a list of the famous and notable people from Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Livesey Hall War Memorial

The Livesey Hall War Memorial commemorates the fallen of World War I and World War II who had been employed by the South Suburban Gas Company of London. It is also a tribute to those employees who served in the wars. The monument was designed and executed by British sculptor Sydney March, of the March family of artists.

Artillery Memorial, Cape Town Memorial to the gunners who fought for South Africa during World War I

Artillery Memorial, Cape Town was erected in memory of the gunners who fought for South Africa during World War I. The memorial, which forms part of the Delville Wood Memorial, is located in the Company's Garden, Cape Town, and was strategically established to commemorate South Africa's artillery soldiers who fell in battle. Of those who volunteered to fight during the war, 5800 were white South African, amongst whom 15% were Dutch and 85% English. An estimated 2536 of these men were killed in the Deville Wood battle in Europe. The Artillery Memorial, an authentic cannon facing east towards the National Gallery, proudly honors South Africa's heavy artillerymen. Inscribed on it are the names of the officers, N.C.O.'s and men of the South African artillery who fell in the Great War (1914–1918).

South African War Memorial, Richmond Cemetery War memorial to South African soldiers in London, UK

The South African War Memorial is a First World War memorial in Richmond Cemetery in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, the memorial is in the form of a cenotaph, similar to that on Whitehall, also by Lutyens. It was commissioned by the South African Hospital and Comforts Fund Committee to commemorate the 39 South African soldiers who died of their wounds at a military hospital in Richmond Park during the First World War. The memorial was unveiled by General Jan Smuts in 1921 and was the focus of pilgrimages from South Africa through the 1920s and 1930s, after which it was largely forgotten until the 1980s when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission took responsibility for its maintenance. It has been a grade II listed building since 2012.

References

  1. Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol.13. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. 1970.|volume= has extra text (help)
  2. "Frances Baard District Municipality Tourism". Frances Baard Municipality. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  3. Brian Roberts (1976). Kimberley, Turbulent City. David Philip & Historical Society of Kimberley. ISBN   978-0-949968-62-3.