TOPIC:

Here is another example with the same monogram as those in my last post. To give some indication of the numbers made by this individual / group of individuals, forty percent of the page turners I have collected over the last forty-odd years are signed JCR/CJR.

Obverse with the arms of the Transvaal and "Lord Roberts occupied Pretoria / Z.A.R. / 5th June 1900". Reverse with the arms of the Orange Free State and "Made in Boer Camp / Ceylon 1900 1902 / JCR/CJR P of W". 350mm long. This example can be found on p.89 of Pieter Oosthuizen's "Boer War Memorabilia".








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Neville wrote: Some enterprising POWs took the production of these carvings to a new level by establishing businesses or co-operatives with their own trademarks and quoted from the Times of Ceylon “Compared with the first batch of prisoners, [these POW’s] presented a more healthy and cheerful appearance. Our representative was given to understand that most of them were “well off”, and this was more or less apparent from the character of the kit that each man carried, photographic cameras and kodaks being greatly in evidence.”

From a collection of pictures of the day-to-day life in the Diyatalawa camp a few photographs with scenes relating to the production of wooden artefacts. The photograph of the DIY lathe nicely illustrates the credo “ Een Boer maak ‘n plan”. To realise that these men crafted all those beautiful wooden and bone objects using just the rudimentary tools on display, is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Fantastic photographs, Everhard. I'm sure Vicky Heunis would have loved to have included these in her book on POW art. Images of the tools and apparatus involved are few and far between, and generally of poor quality. I wonder, were these taken by one of the "well off" Boer prisoners with his Kodak, or by a British guard?

The photo below is from the Bloemfontein Museum collection.



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Although perhaps a bit misplaced in this paper-knives thread, I want to show some other items to illustrate that not all utensil-shaped mementos from the POW camps in Ceylon were purely produced for decoration.

These large (about 34 x 8 cm) ebony/mahogany salad spoon and fork are not particularly mother’s prettiest, but they were practical and, judging from the worn-out rope-holes, were actually used, either by the prisoners themselves or by the buyers.




The below spoon (about 22 x 3 cm) made from bone, is a bit of a toss-up between practical and purely ornamental. It holds no liquid and as such is useless for soup but could nevertheless have been used to scoop rice from a bowl. Any members with other/similar practical utensils?

This cleverly designed knife, fork and spoon set was carved on St Helena. Each utensil slots into its own recess on the side of the fruitwood block, which, like Everhard's beautifully carved examples, would have hung from the hole drilled in the "handle". The pieces are much too small to have been of practical use (the knife is only 107 mm long), and may have been made for a child's doll or simply as souvenirs.











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In an earlier post I described a paper knife that featured the initials J.T.B. on the handle which I attributed to James Thompson Bain. a prisoner who later became famous/notorious. Neville pointed out that there are many more examples of paper knives around with the J.T.B. initials. I now found evidence that James Thomson Bain was indeed the man behind the J.T.B. initials



During the time the Diyatalawa camp was used to house Boer POWs, no less than four (weekly) newspapers were produced to inform and/or entertain the prisoners: De Prikkeldraad, The Diyatalawa Dum-Dum, the Diyatalawa Camp Lyre and De Krijgsgevangene. The February 1902 copy of the Krijgsgevangene contained the following advertisement:



J.T Bain, Hut 26 To satisfy their curiosity, the POW or camp visitor should always visit or write to J.T. Bain. He always stocks Ceylon wood, such as Eboni, Pallu, flowered satin, and so on. 10% of all profits from shipments of Curios to Europe or America are donated to the fund for Boer women and children.


The reader will notice that Bain -a staunch trade unionist with communist sympathies- was a practicing capitalist while being interned. Some may argue that his 10% to charity offer showed his compassion towards fellow human beings, others will say it was a cheap marketing trick.


The copy of the Krijgsgevangene in which the advertisement appeared has an interesting provenance. It was brought back from the camp by P.J.A. (Phillip) Watermeyer, a Cape Rebel from the Locksfontein farm near Colesberg. Philippus Johannes Andreas Watermeyer* was born on May 2, 1881 and fought under Kommandant (later Veg-Generaal) H. Lategam until his capture at Doornkraal near Bothaville on November 6, 1900. He was subsequently sent as Rebel POW to Diyatalawa.

His (grand?) daughter (Mrs Lydia van der Walt) wrote about him as follows: “My Oupa Watermeyer was a bank clerk at Colesberg. He was married to Getruida with whom he had 8 children. He became a rebel after English Soldiers had shot and killed his brother. According to him, his brother was living in the Middelburg District in the Cape and had gone out to shoot a kid [as in young goat] “for the pot”. Upon his return some British troops were present on his farmyard and one of them, noticing he was carrying a rifle, shot him off his horse, killing him instantly. Although ownership of guns was prohibited in the Cape at the time, his brother had kept one back to be able to supply food for his family”

POW “Oupa” P.A.J Watermeyer died in Vaalbank, Colesberg, K.P on May 25, 1937.

*NB: During the ABW there was a Veld cornet Watermeyer with the exact same Christian names serving with the Johannesburg Commando