Honoured Dead Memorial

Why Kimberley Matters

Over the years, we have noticed that many of our guests—whether visiting Kimberley for business or leisure—have wondered why this remarkable city has played such an important role in South Africa's history over the past 160 years.

These pages invite you on a coffee-table journey through Kimberley's past, from the discovery of the Eureka Diamond in 1867 and the Great Diamond Rush, through wars, political change and the rise of the world's diamond industry, to the city we know today. They are not intended to be an academic history, but rather an enjoyable introduction to the people, places and events that shaped Kimberley.

So, make yourself comfortable, pour a cappuccino or a cup of chai, and enjoy exploring the remarkable story of one of South Africa's most fascinating cities.

Honouring the Dead After the Siege of Kimberley

Standing proudly at the junction of Memorial Road and Dalham Road, the Honoured Dead Memorial is one of South Africa's finest Anglo-Boer War memorials. Designed by Sir Herbert Baker and commissioned by Cecil John Rhodes, it commemorates the soldiers and civilians who died defending Kimberley during the 124-day Siege of Kimberley between October 1899 and February 1900.

The memorial is far more than a monument. It combines classical architecture, military engineering, sculpture and symbolism into a single memorial that tells the story of Kimberley's courage during one of the defining events in the city's history. Beneath the memorial lies a crypt containing the remains of twenty-seven soldiers who died during the siege, making it both a monument and a place of burial.

At its centre stands Long Cecil—the famous gun designed and built inside the besieged town by George Labram and the De Beers engineers. Around it are original shells fired by the Boer Long Tom artillery, while beneath the monument lie twenty-seven men who lost their lives during the siege. Today, the Honoured Dead Memorial remains one of the best places in Kimberley to appreciate both the city's history and Sir Herbert Baker's remarkable architectural vision.

Long Cecil – Kimberley's Famous Gun

When the Siege of Kimberley began, the town's artillery consisted only of a handful of small 7-pounder field guns and obsolete 2.5-inch rifled muzzle-loading cannon. These weapons were no match for the modern Boer artillery surrounding the town, prompting De Beers engineer George Frederick Labram to propose building a much larger gun capable of answering the enemy's bombardment.

The gun was designed and constructed by engineers with no previous experience in ordnance manufacture, without special plant or arrangements, and on designs adapted from descriptions found in a stray copy of an engineering journal. Its construction, from the day that designs were fashioned, took just 24 days. Completed on 18 January 1900, Long Cecil, as it was nicknamed, was unlike anything previously built in Africa. The chief designer was George Labram, and the gun was manufactured in the De Beers workshops during the siege. It measured more than 4 metres in length, weighed almost 4 tonnes, and became the largest gun ever built in Africa at that time. Constructed in only twenty-four days using ordinary engineering equipment and remarkable ingenuity, Long Cecil immediately entered service defending Kimberley. 

During the first few days, it occasionally broke down, but the defects were soon remedied, and it remained in action until the end of the siege. The gun was to fire 225 shells against the Boer positions at ranges of up to five kilometres. Its effectiveness became such a concern that the Boer forces brought a powerful Creusot "Long Tom" to Kimberley specifically to counter it. Tragically, George Labram was killed on 9 February 1900 when one of the first Long Tom shells fired into Kimberley struck the Sanatorium where he was staying.

Did You Know?

One of the most fascinating features of the memorial is almost invisible to most visitors. Long Cecil was not placed on the monument simply for display. Herbert Baker deliberately aligned the gun so that it points south-west along Dalham Road towards what was then the Orange Free State, from where the Boer forces besieged Kimberley. Standing behind the cannon today, visitors are looking towards the same horizon from which enemy artillery threatened the town between October 1899 and February 1900. It is a subtle yet powerful piece of symbolism that transforms the monument from a static memorial into a physical reminder of the siege.

Architectural Design of the Honoured Dead Memorial

Dedication by Rudyard Kipling

The final monument in Kimberley was dedicated on 28th November 1904 (after Rhodes had died). The memorial also serves as the tomb of twenty-seven soldiers and features a dedication by Rudyard Kipling, together with bronze plaques and an ornate bronze entrance door designed by his father, John Lockwood Kipling.

Built from imported sandstone, the memorial's base bears an inscription specially commissioned for the monument by Rudyard Kipling. 

"This for a charge to our children in sign of the price we paid. The price that we paid for freedom that comes unsoiled to your hand. Read, revere and uncover, here are the victors laid. They that died for their city being sons of the land."

Did You Know?

The Honoured Dead Memorial contains artistic contributions from two generations of the Kipling family. The dedication was written by the celebrated author Rudyard Kipling, while the bronze plaques and ornate bronze entrance door were designed by his father, John Lockwood Kipling, an accomplished artist, sculptor and museum curator.

Where Did the Sandstone Come From?

For more than a century, guidebooks, history books and the official 1986 Government Gazette description of the Honoured Dead Memorial have stated that the monument was built from sandstone quarried in the Matopo Hills (Matopos) in present-day Zimbabwe.

However, this traditional explanation has increasingly been questioned by local historians, architects and geologists. The reason is surprisingly simple: the Matopo Hills are composed almost entirely of ancient granite, famous for their spectacular balancing rocks, rather than the fine-grained sandstone used to construct the memorial. The stone visible throughout the Honoured Dead Memorial is geologically inconsistent with the granite formations of the Matopos.

Increasing geological evidence suggests the sandstone was possibly quarried near Nyamandlovu, north-west of Bulawayo, from the Pasipas Sandstone Quarry beside the railway line. This area forms part of the Karoo Supergroup and contains extensive deposits of high-quality building sandstone that closely match the material used in the memorial. The same quarry supplied sandstone for many of Bulawayo's finest public buildings and later monuments in southern Africa, including the Siege Memorial at Mahikeng. Construction records also indicate that the contractors, Howard and Scott, combined imported Zimbabwean sandstone with locally sourced South African sandstone during construction under the supervision of architect Daniel Westwood Greatbatch.

So why has the Matopo Hills story endured?

The answer probably lies with Cecil John Rhodes himself. Rhodes was deeply attached to the Matopos, regarding them as one of the most beautiful landscapes in southern Africa. He chose to be buried there after his death in 1902, and his close association with the region appears to have encouraged early writers to assume that the memorial stone also came from the Matopos. Over time, this assumption became accepted as fact and was repeated in official descriptions.

Transporting more than 2,000 tonnes of dressed sandstone from what is now Zimbabwe to Kimberley was itself a remarkable engineering achievement. The stone would have travelled by rail across Rhodesia and into the Cape Colony, using the railway network promoted by Cecil Rhodes and supported by De Beers' industrial infrastructure. Considering that the memorial was conceived during the South African War and constructed soon after peace was declared, the successful movement of such enormous quantities of stone was an impressive logistical undertaking in its own right.

A Lasting Symbol of Kimberley

More than 120 years after its unveiling, the Honoured Dead Memorial remains one of Kimberley's defining landmarks. It is at once a war memorial, an architectural masterpiece, an engineering monument and the final resting place of those who gave their lives defending the town.

Whether you come to admire Herbert Baker's classical design, to stand behind Long Cecil and look towards the former Boer lines, or simply to reflect on the events of the Siege of Kimberley, the memorial offers one of the city's most powerful connections with its past.

For visitors exploring Kimberley today, no journey through the city's remarkable history is complete without a visit to the Honoured Dead Memorial.