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An 8 page article on Rugby in the Prisoner-of-War Camps During the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902
by Floris J.G. van der Merwe, Department of Human Movement Studies, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Another explanation for the Portuguese prisoners. This from the New York Times, April 21, 1901.

From the Melbourne Argus, 1st April 1901

Boer Prisoners
673 in Portugal
(London, March 29)

In January last the Portuguese authorities as Delagoa Bay decided to sent to Lisbon 900 Boers who took refuge in Portuguese territory when Lord Roberts advanced to Komati Poort.

A number of Boer prisoners have arrived at Penishe, a seaport about 50 miles north west of Lisbon and 275 at Alcobaca an inland town about 29 miles north east of Peniche.

3.17 Portugal

At the end of the nineteenth century, Portugal was economically and politically weak. Although both Portugal and Britain had colonies, the two countries had close diplomatic ties and were indeed allies on the international stage, with their earliest accord dating back as far as 1373. The ZAR had the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique as its eastern neighbour, and the Delagoa Bay railway line from the Witwatersrand and Pretoria to Lourenzo Marques (today Maputo) was of great strategic importance to the Boers. As the British forces advanced eastwards from Pretoria, they pushed back the Boers against the ZAR/Mozambican border, and in due course at least 903 Boer men, plus at least 42 women and 111 children (comprising a total of 1,056; although some sources give totals that vary from 1,032 to some 2 500) fled across the border to Portuguese territory, as Pres. Paul Kruger had done earlier (on 11 September 1900, after which he sailed to Europe from Lourenzo Marques on board a Dutch warship on 20 October 1900). Most of the Boer officers and burghers (plus a few women - a total of 865 adults and 154 children) who escaped to Mozambique were interned in Portugal. That country was determined not to do anything to antagonise Britain.

Only seven Portuguese men fought on the side of the Boers. One of them died - as a prisoner of war on St Helena Island, after the war had already ended.

So far, three Portuguese studies which deal (exclusively) with the Anglo-Boer War have been identified,40 namely:

Costa, F.C. das D. Portugal e a Guerra Anglo-Boer: politico externa e opiniao publica, 1899-1902 [Portugal and the Anglo-Boer War: external politics and public opinion, 1899-1902], M.A., University of Nova de Lisboa, 1995. (Published: Portugal e a Guerra Anglo-Boer: politico externa e opiniao publica, 1899- 1902. Lisbon: Edigoes Cosmos, 1998.)

Esteves, H. da C. A Africa do Sul: da Guerra Anglo-Boer aos nossas dias [South Africa: the Anglo-Boer War in our time]. M.A., University of Nova de Lisboa, 1996.

Staffer, G. da F. A Africa do Sul e o sistema-mundo: da Guerra dos Boers d globalizaqdo [South Africa and the world order: the Boer War and globalization], Ph.D., University of Nova de Lisboa, 2004.

Source: A Century of Postgraduate Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) Studies by André Wessels

Shipping

Benguela (arrived Lisbon March 27 1901 carrying 650 boers)
Zaire (arrived Lisbon April 3 1901 carrying 56 women and 172 children)
Alfonso de Albuquerque (arrived Lisbon April 4 1901 carrying 10 boers)

Immediately after their arrival in the port of Lisbon the Boer internees were transported to the 6 internment camps in Portugal:

Order of Christ Monastery in Tomar
Alcobaça (376 men in the monastery there)
Caldas da Rainha (320 men, women and children at the thermal baths resort)
Abrantes (possibly at a monastery)
Oeiras (near Lisbon; possibly at the prison nearby at Caxias)
Peniche (380 Boers were housed in a old fort)

Source: www.geni.com/projects/Anglo-Boere-Oorlog...rnees-Portugal/18272

The fort at Peniche



Source: starforts.com/peniche.html