Today in Kimberley's History
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119 days since beginning of the Siege of Kimberley, 1900
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
I spent a busy morning packing up clothing and odds and ends for our trek to Beaconsfield. News came through that Mr Rhodes had had a wire from Lord Roberts saying that he would be in in about four (a few?) days. This wire was handed round at the club.
After lunch the big ambulance waggon drawn by 10 mules rolled up to the door for us. Our luggage was packed in underneath, and we ourselves tucked in on the upper part of the waggon, nicely sheltered from the burning sun by the canvas cover overhead; the party consisting of four women, one old man, three children, and a servant. Jack, and one of the ambulance men as outriders.
We left very gladly, in spite of the croak of some foolish woman, who said: 'Oh, how unlucky to go in the ambulance!' I turned and scolded her, till she retired to her room.
It was delightful to get to a house where the children could play about instead of living in a cellar or a Smoking Room.
Bell-men were sent round Kimberley in the afternoon with a notice saying that women and children might go down the mines; and if they took food for 24 hours it would be supplied to them afterwards for nothing.
A gentleman came and tried to persuade us to go down the mine, and said that private information had come in to say that more big guns were to play on Kimberley to-morrow. This, I knew, could hardly be true, as the Boers are known to have only four big guns altogether. One was blown up in Natal, and it was not likely that they would take the rest away from places where they were actively necessary. So we laughed at the wet blanket and stayed where we were.
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
I spent a busy morning packing up clothing and odds and ends for our trek to Beaconsfield. News came through that Mr Rhodes had had a wire from Lord Roberts saying that he would be in in about four (a few?) days. This wire was handed round at the club.
After lunch the big ambulance waggon drawn by 10 mules rolled up to the door for us. Our luggage was packed in underneath, and we ourselves tucked in on the upper part of the waggon, nicely sheltered from the burning sun by the canvas cover overhead; the party consisting of four women, one old man, three children, and a servant. Jack, and one of the ambulance men as outriders.
We left very gladly, in spite of the croak of some foolish woman, who said: 'Oh, how unlucky to go in the ambulance!' I turned and scolded her, till she retired to her room.
It was delightful to get to a house where the children could play about instead of living in a cellar or a Smoking Room.
Bell-men were sent round Kimberley in the afternoon with a notice saying that women and children might go down the mines; and if they took food for 24 hours it would be supplied to them afterwards for nothing.
A gentleman came and tried to persuade us to go down the mine, and said that private information had come in to say that more big guns were to play on Kimberley to-morrow. This, I knew, could hardly be true, as the Boers are known to have only four big guns altogether. One was blown up in Natal, and it was not likely that they would take the rest away from places where they were actively necessary. So we laughed at the wet blanket and stayed where we were.
