Emily Hobhouse and the Reports on the Concentration Camps during the Boer War 1899-1902

Title: Emily Hobhouse and the Reports on the Concentration Camps during the Boer War 1899-1902
Subtitle: Two Different Perspectives
Author: Birgit Susanne Seibold
Publisher: Ibidem-Verlag
Stuttgart, Germany 2011
ISBN 9783838203201 / ISBN 978-3-8382-0320-1
Softcover, 15x21 cm, 166 pages, several b/w photos

Description:

The British scorched earth policy during the last phase of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 led to the burning of farms, the destruction of homesteads, harvests and livestock and to the internment of the civil population in the so-called concentration camps. There, people - mainly women and children - died of malnutrition and diseases such as measles, pneumonia and typhoid. The death rate in the camps was so high - nearly 28,000 white Boers succumbed - that the English population, renowned for its gallantry and chivalry, was consternated. Lloyd George blamed his government for its policy of extermination, Campbell-Bannerman spoke of methods of barbarism, and philanthropic institutions protested, led by Emily Hobhouse, who was the first civilian to investigate the conditions of the camps. The government reacted and sent a ladies' commission under the leadership of Millicent Garrett Fawcett to South Africa. Birgit Seibold's study is the first to compare the 'inofficial' and the official report on the camps and to give an insight into conditions in each of the thirty-three white concentration camps. Based on first-hand research among the Hobhouse manuscripts, this book is both scholarly and compulsively readable.

Content: Emily Hobhouse and the Reports on the Concentration Camps during the Boer War 1899-1902

Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Emily Hobhouse, the Boer War and the Hobhouse Report
Emily Hobhouse's family background and the liberal circles in which she moved
The Boer War and the question "When is a war not a war?"
The South African Conciliation Committee and the South African Women and Children Distress Fund
Emily's Stay in South Africa
Emily's Return to Britain
The Hobhouse Report
Bloemfontein
Norvals Pont and Aliwal North
Springfontein
Kimberley
Mafeking
The camps in general
Recommendations
Agitator in England and reactions to the Report
Emily's campaign against martial law in South Africa
Second visit to South Africa: arrest and deportation
Legal Consequences
The Ladies' Commission and the Fawcett Report
The Ladies' Commission
The Fawcett Report
Report on the camps in Natal
Howick
Pietermaritzburg
Merebank
Recommendations
Report on the camps in the ORC
Bloemfontein
Norvals Pont
Aliwal North
Kimberley
Springfontein
Orange River, Bethulie, Brandfort, Winburg, Heilbron, Kroonstad, Vredefort Road, Harrismith
Recommendations
Report on the camps in the Transvaal
Mafeking
Johannesburg, Irene, Krugersdorp, Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp, Balmoral, Middelburg, Belfast
Barberton, Vryburg, Vereeniging, Heidelberg, Standerton, Volksrust, Nylstroom, Pietersburg
Recommendations
The General Report on the unusually high mortality rates
Comparison of the Two Reports and Conclusions
Comparison of the Hobhouse Report with the Fawcett Report
Summary and appreciation of the work of Emily Hobhouse during the Boer War
Bibliography