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The timing of the creation of this topic is very opportune, David.

I was looking for a suitable thread for these photographs only yesterday.

They are from the album of Emilie Chamberlain, who went out to South Africa with her stepmother, Râhméh Theodora Chamberlain, to help the sick and wounded. Râhméh, Joseph Chamberlain's sister-in-law, caused quite a stir, publicly criticising the running of the Wynberg hospitals. She and her stepdaughter were eventually barred from entering the wards. She later gave evidence in front of the Hospitals Commission (on 5 Nov 1900), which was extremely critical of Nos 1 and 2 General Hospitals. See Hospitals Report Minutes of Evidence, pp. 537-547.









SEE ALSO: Boer War X-Rays


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Excellent quality photographs, Neville. Many thanks

Another photograph from the Chamberlain album, this time depicting Commandant Pretorius and other POWs at Wynberg Hospital. Pretorius had his left leg amputated, as a result of wounds received at Elandslaagte.

With the Flag to Pretoria, Part 1 (p. 28; published 6 March 1900), includes a drawing with the caption "Landing at Capetown of Commandant Pretorius, wounded and captured at Elandslaagte".

Referring to the aftermath of the Battle of Elandslaagte, Nursing Sister Katherine Louisa Hill wrote in her memoirs:

We had one Boer Commandant (Pretorius by name) who came in with a fractured leg. They sat him in a chair & put his bad leg on another chair until he could be attended to. The man must have fallen asleep, suddenly we heard a -- - - - awful roar. This man’s leg had fallen off the chair. You can imagine what agony it was.
He was blessing the British in Dutch language; he was a big powerful man; they hurried him into the operating room & attended to his leg. Some months later he had his leg amputated in Cape Town & went back to duty. He often told the doctor, on account of the latter’s size, he would make a good target; he was very fond of coffee, as they all are, but he had his special brand; he was an educated man & spoke English fluently.

South African Military History Society, Oct 2001




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Two more, from another album (No. 1 General Hospital).








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These photographs come from the album of an unidentified nurse who worked at No. 2 General Hospital, Wynberg.























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