Mr Andries Stephanus du Toit, b1c6d10e5f8

Andries Stevanus Baptised: 27 Mar 1842, at Potchefstroom Born: 17 Feb 1842 Father: Andries Stevanus DU TOIT Mother: Hermina Christina SWANEPOEL Baptised by: Ds. Daniel Lindley Source: Voortrekker Baptisms Transcript. De volgende Kinderen door Eerw. Daniel Lindley gedoopt, entry number 164. Repository: National Archives Repository, Pretoria., FK 2290, which is a transcript of a number of the early baptismal register now in churches in the Free State and the Transvaal.. Note: The original register is that of Potchefstroom. Images of the original can be seen at FamilySearch.org. Transcribed by Cornel Viljoen

http://www.eggsa.org/bdms/Baptisms.html

GEDCOM Note

<ul>ed by: Ds. Daniel Lindley Source: Voortrekker Baptisms Transcript. De volgende Kinderen door Eerw. Daniel Lindley gedoopt, entry number 164. Repository: National Archives Repository, Pretoria., FK 2290, which is a transcript of a number of the early baptismal register now in churches in the Free State and the Transvaal.. Note: The original register is that of Potchefstroom. Images of the original can be seen at FamilySearch.org.</li>Married to Isabella Catharina Maria de Beer gebore  1 Feb 1863</li>Irene konsentrasiekamp te Pretoria</li>hristoffel Johannes de Beer en Isabella Catharina Maria Dorfling</li>
<table style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background: #fcfcf9; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 5px 0px; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 0px;" summary="personal">e-color: invert; padding: 0px;">>ne-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">s="heading" style="background: #fafbf6; font-weight: bold; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: left; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px; border: #ececec 1px solid;" colspan="2">Personal Details</td>x;">vert; padding-right: 0px;">Name:</td>0px;"><strong style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px;outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">Mr Andries Stephanus du Toit</strong></td>td class="right" style="white-space: nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Born in camp?</td>: 0px;">No</td>bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Died in camp?</td>dding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">No</td>margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">dding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Gender:</td>argin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">male</td>"white-space: nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Race:</td>yle="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">ht; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Nationality:</td>p: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Transvaal</td>color: invert; padding: 0px;">in: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Occupation:</td>e-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">farmer</td>wrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Registration as head of family:</td>>ign: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Unique ID:</td>ing-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">131920</td>ne-color: invert; padding: 0px;">adding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px; border: #ececec 1px solid;" colspan="2">Camp History</td>px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Name:</td>outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Camp/5/Irene_RC/">Irene RC</a></td>ite-space: nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Age arrival:</td>tyle="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">ght; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Date arrival:</td>top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">20/05/1901</td>ne-color: invert; padding: 0px;">argin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Age departure:</td>outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">58</td>nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Date departure:</td>tyle="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">ght; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Reason departure:</td>ing-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">gone</td>-color: invert; padding: 0px;">gin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Destination:</td>ine-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Mafeking</td>: nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Tent number:</td>one; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Tent/RT~1279/5/">RT 1279</a></td>tyle="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">: 0px; text-align: left; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px; border: #ececec 1px solid;" colspan="2">Farm History</td>tr>align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Name:</td>-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Farm/31130/Rietfontein___Reitfo...">Rietfontein / Reitfontein</a></td>x; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">District:</td>ne; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/FarmsSearch/Heidelberg/1/">Heidelberg</a></td>ert; padding: 0px;">utline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Notes:</td>; padding-right: 0px;">property about 550 morgen</td>d: #fafbf6; font-weight: bold; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: left; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px; border: #ececec 1px solid;" colspan="2">Status</td>ace: nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Type:</td><td style="outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">abc</td>e-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">align: left; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px; border: #ececec 1px solid;" colspan="2">Sources</td>tline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">ding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Title:</td>ne-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/PersonsSource/249/1/0/DBC_62_Ir...">DBC 62 Irene CR</a></td>argin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;">ing-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Type:</td>n: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">DBC 62</td>hite-space: nowrap; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">Reference No.:</td>>ign: right; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;" valign="top">Notes:</td>0px; padding-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding-left: 11px; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 0px;">p. T 03</td>>
<h3 class="western" style="white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; color: #111111; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 15px; font: 23px/1.5em 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; outline-style: none; padding-left: 10px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; padding-right: 10px; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" lang="en-ZA" align="center">Irene</h3>ap" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; float: right; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 15px 0px 0px 5px; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; border: silver 1px solid; padding: 0px;"><a class="thumbnail" style="text-decoration: none; position: relative; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; z-index: 0; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#thumb"><img style="background: #fafafa; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 5px;" src="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/campimages/tvl_main_a.jpg" alt="" width="150" border="0" /><img style="background: #fafafa; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; border-width: 0px; padding: 2px;" src="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/campimages/tvl_a.jpg" alt="" /></a>
</div>outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Irene has received more attention than any other camp, for a number of reasons. Because it was located so close to Pretoria, it was under the eye of the senior campauthorities. The presence of a group of Boer women from Pretoria who nursed in the camp and who expressed themselves strongly on conditions there, at the time and later, gave it additional notoriety.But there were other factors as well. The Irene camp superintendents and medical officers wrote long, detailed reports reflecting on many aspects of life in the camp. Taken with the accounts of the Pretoria women, we have perspectives on Irene camp from many different standpoints. These accounts have to be interpreted carefully but they give us a valuable sense of the life in Irene.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Even before the British reached Pretoria, the capital was overflowing with refugees and the arrival of the British triggered a fresh influx. As a result, Pretoria was forced to supply relief to a substantial number of people from the start of the war. Some of the Boer families were housed in a camp on the banks of the Apies River, where Henrietta Armstrong, one of the Pretoria women, worked already in 1900. Irene camp may have been formed shortly after Kitchener’s notice of 22 September 1900 that camps should be established in Pretoria and <a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Bloemfontein/">Bloemfontein</a>; it was certainly in existence in December 1900 and the Apies River families were then moved to Irene. At this stage, in December 1900, when there were 891 inmates, the camp was managed by the military under Capt Hime-Haycock.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote1anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote1sym"></a>1</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Irene was transferred to civilian control in February 1901 when N.J. Scholtz, was appointed superintendent. He was originally a Cape colonial but latterly had been employed by J.B. Robinson’s company. Although he was not popular, Scholtz must have been fairly efficient for he was promoted to travelling inspector in July 1901, when he was replaced by G.F. Esselen, a man who inspired little confidence. Johanna van Warmelo, one of the Pretoria women, had little time for him. ‘I think we are going to bully this new man – he looks so small and sickly and afraid’, she wrote. The Ladies Committee agreed. They thought him ‘weakly amiable; he has no authority and no force of character’.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote2anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote2sym"></a>2</sup> Esselen was finally replaced in January 1902 by Lieutenant L.M. Bruce, RAMC, previously quartermaster of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital. Despite his lowly rank, Bruce transformed Irene into a model camp.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote3anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote3sym"></a>3</sup> As a man with a medical background, Bruce’s philosophy behind the management of the camps was sanitation ‘from first to last’. ‘I view the Camp more or less, as a large hospital, and as such have given to Sanitary matters particular and unremitting care’, he wrote.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote4anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote4sym"></a>4</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Irene was a large and constantly changing camp, reaching 5,641 inmates at its peak, but averaging about 4,000 people. In the early days many families came from <a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Pietersburg/">Pietersburg</a>, until a camp was established in the north; in April 1902 the unhealthy <a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Nylstroom/">Nylstroom</a> camp was closed and its inhabitants moved to Irene although they were always housed separately. Both Pietersburg and Nylstroom were malarial areas and many families from these districts were already debilitated when they arrived at Irene. Along with the people from the Waterberg and Rustenburg, they were mainly impoverished bywoners with few resources. They brought with them the habits and customs of the poorer rural societies, practices which aroused the disgust of the British personnel and helped to stigmatise the Boers as insanitary, practising primitive and distasteful forms of healthcare.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote5anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote5sym"></a>5</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">One reason for Irene’s poor reputation was the ill health. Measles was present from the first, probably introduced from Pretoria, for the capital was an unhealthy town.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote6anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote6sym"></a>6</sup> Families from the malarial areas arrived chronically ill and in a wretched state. ‘Some of the women had sacks tied round them for want of better covering, and the children were in a worse state, a good many of them being covered with vermin’, one report noted. The doctors became increasingly concerned about the extent of diseaseat this early stage. ‘If all the other 52 weeks are equally sickly, it would mean that every man, woman, and child would come under the doctor’s hands six times per annum’, Dr George Turner, the Transvaal MOH commented. When Dr G.B. Woodrooffe was appointed as camp MO, he attributed the poor state of health to a mix of factors, ranging from the severe epidemic of measles to the great difference in temperature in the tents during night and day, the strong superstitions and aversion that many had to fresh air and clean water and ‘the utter callousness and helplessness ofmany during illness, and their belief in all kinds of disgusting remedies’, as well as the camp life, to which many were unaccustomed and the diet, especially the lack of fresh milk and vegetables.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote7anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote7sym"></a>7</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">At first disease was compounded by a severe shortage of medical staff. When Henrietta Armstrong started nursing in Irene camp it was clear that her services were badly needed for there was only one nurse, Nurse Turner, and she proved unreliable, taking ‘French leave’ at will. Under the circumstances Dr Wotherspoon turned to the Pretoria women with relief.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote8anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote8sym"></a>8</sup> The medical staff was gradually augmented, with Drs Hamilton, Green, Neethling and Woodrooffe arriving at various points, but the Pretoria women were still valued. ‘These ladies do their work well, and it would be difficult and impossible for the present medical staff to do their work without them’, Dr Green wrote. Esselen also thought their efforts ‘untiring’. He would, in fact, have liked more philanthropy provided from outside – ‘a great deal could be done in this direction if there was some woman in camp to lead and direct the inmates as to their Christian duties in this direction (visiting and providing comforts to the sick)’, he wrote.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote9anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote9sym"></a>9</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">The growing concern over Irene camp led Kitchener to invite the distinguished doctor, Dr Kendal Franks, the Honorary Consulting Surgeon to the British forces, to inspect Irene camp in July 1901. He was assisted by Dr Neethling, who had previously been with the Boer forces and was, consequently, not biased in favour of the British, Franks explained. Franks also spent much time with Johanna van Warmelo, probably the best-known of the Pretoria women, whose ward contained the new arrivals, mainly very poor people ‘of the lowest class’. It was here that Franks found ‘the greatest amount of sickness, dirt, and want of clothing, and ignorance to be found in the camp’. He explained that: ‘As most of Miss Van Warmelo’s statements are coloured by what she found in her own ward I was especially glad of the opportunity to visit her ward in her company, and of sifting her statements for myself on the spot.’ In all the other wards, he explained, he was struck by the ‘contented, cheery, well-cared-for appearance of the people’.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">As in other camps, Franks found that the women were extremely reluctant to enter hospital. Johanna van Warmelo attributed this partly to their fear that they would have to pay, and partly to their belief that they would be starved there - the result of the practice of putting all typhoid patients (who had to be hospitalised) on a low diet. Maternity patients were equally reluctant to give birth in hospital, preferring their own midwives, ‘a set of untrained and ignorant women’, Franks declared for, like many doctors, he was deeply prejudiced against independent midwives. While Afrikaners were greatly angered by the British insistence that the Boers were insanitary, one needs to draw a distinction between the propaganda which the British made to excuse their own inability to limit the mounting mortality, and the reality that many of the poorer bywoners, like many pre-industrial people, had not absorbed modern sanitary concepts. The habit of changing the children’s clothing only once a week, was not unusual, as the British discovered amongst evacuees during the Second World War. The practice of piling on clothing and bedding as the temperature of a feverish child rose, was equally widespread, as was the unwillingness to admit air into the tents.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">On the whole, Franks’ report was fair and thorough. Unfortunately, like that of the later Ladies Committee, it was couched in patronising and self-serving terms which were bound to antagonise the Boers. He concluded, for instance:</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">The high death rate among the children, I would like to emphasise again, is in no way due to want of care or dereliction of duty on the part of those responsible for this camp. It is, in my opinion, due to the people themselves; to their dirty habits both as regards their own personal cleanliness and the cleanliness of their children and of their surroundings; to their prejudices; their ignorance; and their distrust of others, even their own nationality, when their advice runs counter to their own preconceived and antiquated ideas. This is specially noted in connection with their treatment of the sick, to their rooted objection to soap and water, to fresh air, and to hospitals.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote10anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote10sym"></a>10</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Mortality continued to dog Irene camp. The repeated influx of new arrivals, who could not be isolated, and who had no immunity to the disease, meant that the measles kept finding new hosts. Pneumonia and bronchitis were also continuing sources of concern, especially in the cold winter of 1901. Few of the children were admitted to hospital so they continued to suffer in the tents, treated by their mothers. Like Franks, Woodrooffe was concerned about the ‘dangerous, useless and disgusting remedies’ used by the mothers, while he worried that food was constantly smuggledinto hospital for the typhoid patients.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote11anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote11sym"></a>11</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Although Johanna van Warmelo spoke well of Woodrooffe (Henrietta Armstrong detested him), it is clear that he was increasingly unsympathetic to the Boer women and his reports are filledwith anti-Boer sentiments. In August he complained that several cases of pneumonia died because of food given against his orders. There was no excuse for the dirt, he felt; water and soap were alwaysobtainable. ‘Those that have money will spend it on all kinds of rubbish and tell you they have no soap. Their morals are about as clean as their skins.’ Woodrooffe was also deeply suspicious of unqualified practitioners. ‘The most famous quack in camp is “Dr.” Pretorius, a cripple, whose qualification is that he was an attendant in one of the Boer ambulances. He parades a great red cross on his coat sleeve and another on his hat’.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote12anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote12sym"></a>12</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Fatal disease was never entirely eliminated from Irene camp. The winter months of 1902 brought virulent pneumonia and measles returned as families came back from <a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Merebank/">Merebank</a> in Natal. By this time, however, isolation was possible and the disease did not spread. Nevertheless, by October 1902 the MO was satisfied with the ‘strikingly well-nourished condition’ of the people. October was the first month in which there were no deaths in the camp but the children returning from <a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Merebank/">Merebank</a> showed signs of scurvy, he feared.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none;color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote13anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote13sym"></a>13</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">The graph below compares the mortality in Irene camp with the average deaths in the Transvaal camps. The most striking feature is the very high mortality of children in May and June 1901, well before most camps felt the impact of the measles epidemic. It was this early tragedy that marked out Irene as the iconic suffering camp. Apart from this peak, the Irene pattern of deaths was similar to that of the other Transvaal camps.</p>
<p class="western" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA"><img style="background: #fafafa; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 5px;" src="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/campimages/irene_html_m2d13c0c6..." alt="" name="graphics1" width="553" height="340" align="bottom" border="0" /></p>
<p class="western" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">The Irene death rates tell a slightly different story for, apart from the early epidemic, Irene death rates were slightly lower than the Transvaal average. However, there was a long period of ill health, stretching right through 1901 and affecting adults as well as children. The measles epidemic struck again, with fresh arrivals, and there was probably some typhoid as well, together with respiratory ailments, since adults were affected as well.</p>
<p class="western" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA"><img style="background: #fafafa; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 5px;" src="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/campimages/irene_html_68941402.gif" alt="" name="graphics2" width="553" height="340" align="bottom" border="0" /></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Underlying the ill health was the nutrition but we need to be careful how we interpret the evidence. Much has been made of the fact that, in the beginning, there were two ration scales in the Transvaal, with no meat for families whose men were on commando. While this scale certainly existed on paper, from the first several camps ignored the instruction and within a month, by March 1901, most camps, including Irene, had abandoned it. Nevertheless, the ration scale did not provide enough calories, fat was lacking and vitamins were deficient. But Irene was better off than many camps. From fairly early on the Irene estate supplied some vegetables. Enterprising Indian market gardeners also found a ready sale for their produce by the end of 1901, when some inmates had their own gardens. From the Boer point of view the greatest problem was the meat, for they were accustomed to generous quantities (as were many Victorians, black and white). The quality of a ration scale was judged by the meat and the livestock was sadly thin and scrawny. Tinned and later frozen meat were alien to Boer bywoners and always seemed a poor substitute. Esselen tried to remedy the situation by giving away the heads and ‘plucks’ (innards) free to the poorest camp people. Even this had its problems for the Ladies Committee was appalled at the condition of the slaughter ground, where the young children went to collect the blood and tripe from the slaughtered animals.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote14anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote14sym"></a>14</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Although sickness and death dogged everyone, like <a style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width:0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" href="http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Bethulie/">Bethulie</a>, Irene seems to have been a particularly depressed camp. Henrietta Armstrong recognised that the morbid obsession with death was unhealthy. She wrote, ‘It’s deplorable the way they all cluster around a dying patient to see what they generally call “zoo ‘n prachtige sterftbed”’ [‘such a beautiful deathbed’]. Other indicators of the poor morale were the rumours, the squabbles and the absconding which all helped to make Irene an unhappy place. Gossip was an ongoing problem and the superintendents of Irene camp referred to it a number of times. Even when Irene had been transformed, the superintendent complained of the ‘deliberate and gross misrepresentation of facts circulated with malicious intent’. Vaccination, he noted, was a fruitful source of such rumour-mongering. ‘One woman declared that a child who had been vaccinated suffered the loss of an arm, that another had died, and that several were sick in hospital.’ Others claimed that marriages could be annulled after six months, although this was repudiated from the pulpit.<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote15anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote15sym"></a>15</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">There was also much resentment and conflict between the inmates of Irene. Scholtz commented on the friction between the women whose men were on commando or prisoners-of-war and the men in the camp.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">‘These are generally very bitter against the men in the camp, whom they style “hands-uppers,” and treat so contemptuously that the men will not do anything for them. In consequence these families have no ovens. To meet their wants in this respect, I have had several ovens built where they bake their bread. I have, also, had several soup kitchens built, but as the people do not seem to appreciate them I have discontinued building these.’<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding: 0px;" name="sdendnote16anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote16sym"></a>16</sup></p>
<p class="western" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Esselen had difficulty getting the men to work – an indication of his lack of authority. ‘They expect to have everything found for them without doing an ounce of work themselves’, he complained to the Ladies Committee. Dr Woodrooffe, too, was critical the men’s unwillingness to help the women.</p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">‘The idea of helping the helpless does not exist in consciences of the stalwart burgher, over and over again a woman whose husband is fighting or a prisoner of war has to sit and nurse her children and ask in vain of a fine well-built, noble “patriot” to chop her wood or fetch her rations or her medicine, his reply is “I have no time,” or something to that effect. There is no such thing as gallantry among these creatures, unless paid for, when another name will cover the term gallantry.’<sup style="font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; top: -0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a class="sdendnoteanc" style="text-decoration: none; color: #a56f38; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: none; margin: 0px; outline-color: invert; padding:0px;" name="sdendnote17anc" href="https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Irene/#sdendnote17sym"></a>17</sup></p>
<p style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: 400; color: #666666; outline-width: 0px; font-style: normal; text-align: left; outline-style: none; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px 0px 0in; letter-spacing: normal; outline-color: invert; background-color: #fcfcf9; text-indent: 0.3in; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding: 10px;" lang="en-ZA">Some of the men reacted by absconding. In July 1901 nine men left. While one was a ‘weak-brained’ youth who only wanted to go home, others, Esselen believed, were encouragedto desert by women who wanted the men to take letters to their husbands on commando; the men didn’t actually want to rejoin the commandos themselves, he considered. Such men, he suspected, wereunder some kind of obligation to the women,</p>
Source Link: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000190465660513label=@S9@