Today in Kimberley's History
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72 days since beginning of the Siege of Kimberley, 1899
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
The men stood to arms both yesterday and to-day at 3 a.m., expecting 'Christmas Boxes' from the Boers, but everything was quiet at our end of Kimberley. At Wesselton they sent about 35 shells to try and wreck the signalling apparatus which is used to communicate with Lord Methuen's Column, but they did no damage, and the R.A. replied with 19 shells.
About ten refugees from Vryburg arrived in Kimberley via Barkly West, where they crossed the river in one punt and got through the Boer lines in the dead of night. A proclamation from Colonel Kekewich still further limits the sale and supply of foodstuffs, though the prices are the same - 10 ozs of flour, or 14 ozs of bread is the limit to Europeans. Coloured people are allowed to have more meal; and Indians are allowed to buy rice. Tea is limited to a quarter oz, and coffee half oz each person per diem. Eggs are now 6/6 a dozen, and so scarce that their price is sure to rise rapidly. Potatoes have vanished, and we have dried beans or crushed mealies with our meat. Occasionally some vegetables or salads appear, and we can buy a little fruit as an addition sometimes, which the hotel cook stews if necessary. Permits are now required before you can buy certain things at the grocers, and you must get your week's supply at the time, stating how many are in the house. Hotels are supplied for their regular boarders, so guests, or a dinner at another hotel than your own, are now impossible.
Sounds of firing from the direction of the Relief Column were heard, so the hope is that Lord Methuen has been reinforced, and is now storming kopje by kopje till he is left with only Scholtz's Nek to take. Our fond hope that a railway on the flats is being laid is now very faint.
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
The men stood to arms both yesterday and to-day at 3 a.m., expecting 'Christmas Boxes' from the Boers, but everything was quiet at our end of Kimberley. At Wesselton they sent about 35 shells to try and wreck the signalling apparatus which is used to communicate with Lord Methuen's Column, but they did no damage, and the R.A. replied with 19 shells.
About ten refugees from Vryburg arrived in Kimberley via Barkly West, where they crossed the river in one punt and got through the Boer lines in the dead of night. A proclamation from Colonel Kekewich still further limits the sale and supply of foodstuffs, though the prices are the same - 10 ozs of flour, or 14 ozs of bread is the limit to Europeans. Coloured people are allowed to have more meal; and Indians are allowed to buy rice. Tea is limited to a quarter oz, and coffee half oz each person per diem. Eggs are now 6/6 a dozen, and so scarce that their price is sure to rise rapidly. Potatoes have vanished, and we have dried beans or crushed mealies with our meat. Occasionally some vegetables or salads appear, and we can buy a little fruit as an addition sometimes, which the hotel cook stews if necessary. Permits are now required before you can buy certain things at the grocers, and you must get your week's supply at the time, stating how many are in the house. Hotels are supplied for their regular boarders, so guests, or a dinner at another hotel than your own, are now impossible.
Sounds of firing from the direction of the Relief Column were heard, so the hope is that Lord Methuen has been reinforced, and is now storming kopje by kopje till he is left with only Scholtz's Nek to take. Our fond hope that a railway on the flats is being laid is now very faint.