TOPIC:

On the train line north of Pretoria, Watervaal was used by the Boers in the first 8 months of the war as a camp for British prisoners.

See this thread for a list of those released on 6 June 1900

An artist's impression of the camp at night

Source: Forbes' 19th Century Battles

Oops. Posted in error. Waterval was a suburb of Pretoria, and nothing to do with Waterval Boven or Waterval Onder, which both lie 200+ km east of Pretoria in spectacular landscape. Just me being confused.
Here's another picture of Waterval POW camp, near Pretoria.

Good afternoon David

Does anybody perhaps know what became of the Waterval POW camp after the prisoners were set free?
Did British forces take it over, and if so, which unit was stationed there?

According to a voice recording of my great grandmother, young Scots were staying there. They wore their kilts on Sundays.
Gran and a group of 17 families were kept there for about 19 days (around December 1900 to mid-January 1901) on route to Irene camp.

Hope you can provide some clues to this.
Regards
Erika Dykes

I know that the 2nd Wiltshire's were there shortly afterwards, which is rather ironic given that two companies had just been released from Watervaal. It was the Wiltshire's who dismantled the barbed wire enclosure. That's all I know. I suspect that other Regiment's stayed there at various times thereafter, but have no idea when the buildings were taken down.

This photograph by van Hoepen depicts the camp that was used as the basis for the drawing in David's second post in this thread. This is the facility that was built at Waterval for British officers, who were moved here from the State Model School in March 1900. [Ed. Further research has revealed that the officers' camp was not at Waterval - it was in fact on the northern edge of Pretoria]. As the compound seems pretty much deserted and there is no gate in place at the entrance, this photograph may have been taken before the arrival of the POW's.

When I first came across this image, I was surprised at the quality of the buildings and the fact that the Boers had organised such a well-appointed camp. It makes some of the British facilities look decidedly ramshackle and hastily put together. However, the description below suggests it was not quite as comfortable as it appeared from a distance.

One thing I am not clear about is the location of this "Rest Camp", as van Hoepen describes it in the caption. Looking at Google Maps and Street View, Watervaal (125) is a pretty featureless, flat area, with topography that does not seem to match that shown in this photograph (in particular the high ground on the left). Yet, the officers' quarters are described elsewhere as having been at Waterval [Ed. see later post HERE] .

Elsewhere on this site, David has written: In March 1900, officers were moved to a new camp at Waterval. It was described as a 'long, white shanty, with a fairly large compound, enclosed by formidable barbed-wire entanglements . . . There are electric lights all around the enclosure making escape a matter of difficulty. Inside, the place looks more like a cattle shed than anything else. A long, galvanised iron building, divided into sleeping rooms, and four small bath rooms, a servants' compartment and kitchen, and eating rooms . . . There is no flooring. The drains consist of open ditches, while the sanitary arrangements are enough to disgust any human being'.










A second view of the “British Officers' Quarters”.



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