Prisoner-of-war Camp - Boer Wars

Boer Wars

During the Boer Wars the British established concentration camps to hold both civilians and prisoners of war. In total 109 camps were constructed for Boer and black Africans internees. However, the majority of prisoners of war were sent oversees (25,630 out of the 28,000 Boer men captured during the fighting) with the vast majority of locally held Boer prisoners being women and children. The camps were poorly administered, the food rations insufficient to maintain health, standards of hygiene were low and overcrowding was chronic. Over 26,000 women and children died in the camps during the wars.