Hestira Laurette Elizabeth du Toit

When Hestira was born on Witstinkhoutboom and baptised at Mooirivier on 3rd Dec 1893. One of the witnesses was HLE Botha, her mother's sister, after whom she was named. When Hestira was 7 years old, her family had been visiting the Bezuidenhout family, when the parents were told to flee as the soldiers were about. Emmie Bezuidenhout looked after the children, until they could be fetched, but Hestira, who was sick with measles, had to stay behind. During November, the soldiers burned the farm house, and the Aunt's family, including Hestira were sent to the Concentration camp at Pretoria, while her mother and sibling were on the run, being chased by the British She was there for the rest of the war.Opened on 2 November 1900, the Irene Concentration Camp was built with the intention that it would be one of the camps that would house Boer woman and children, driven from their land by the British "scorched earth" policy. This policy dictated the destruction of the farms and lands of Boer soldiers.

The conditions in the camp, located on the chilly southern side of the town, were extremely primitive. Life was exceptionally hard, and very little notice were taken by the authorities of the deaths that their lack of interest in the inmates caused.

The population increased rapidly in these poor conditions. In April 1901, it was recorded that the Irene Concentration Camp accommodated approximately 3 703 inmates, of which 317 were sick and 49 had perished. By the end of 1901 more than 800 people had died. By the end of 1902 more than 5 400 people were held captive in the two camps. Peace was declared in May 1902,and the camp closed by 1903. (Irene camp seems to have been closed in December 1902 for no report appears for January 1903.)

[Addendum from Stef – I believe that Ouma Stira relocated from Irene to Krugersdorp camp briefly in August 1901, and returned to Krugersdorp concentration camp in March 1902 through to October 1902. I have long been puzzled that there is no record of an HLE van Graan in the meticulous bureaucracy of the British Military, and think I might now have solved the puzzle. My guess I that Emmie Bezuidenhout left Ouma with Ouma’s Father’s sister, Anna Momsen (neé van Graan). There are record in Krugersdorp concentration camp of Isaac Momen, his wife Anna and three children, one of which was recorded as “Miss Hester Louretta Momsen” aged 9 in 1902. With Ouma’s father in the field in active service as a commandant, they probably wanted to hide Ouma’s parentage to protect her.]

After the war, Ouma's father, Daniel Van Graan, requested a tutor for his children, and Stephanus du Toit, who had graduated from what became the University of Stellenbosch, was appointed. Eventually a romance developed between Hestira and her previous teacher, and when she was 19 they were married.