Today in Kimberley's History:
January 2nd
"Every day has a story about Kimberley's past."
On this day...
The second day of January connects Kimberley with one of the most significant events in South African history, the failed Jameson Raid, while life inside the besieged town continued under increasingly difficult conditions as residents faced food shortages and the daily realities of war.
1896 – The Jameson Raid Ends at Doornkop
On this day in 1896, Dr Leander Starr Jameson and his raiding party surrendered to Boer forces at Doornkop, bringing the ill-fated Jameson Raid to an end.
The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 transformed southern Africa, but it also created growing political tensions between the government of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the rapidly increasing number of foreign miners, known as Uitlanders. Many leading mining figures, including Cecil John Rhodes, secretly supported a plan to overthrow President Paul Kruger's government and replace it with one more sympathetic to the Uitlanders.
On 29 December 1895, Jameson crossed into the Transvaal from Bechuanaland with around 600 mounted men, expecting to support an uprising by reformers in Johannesburg. The anticipated revolt never materialised. Communications broke down, Boer commandos rapidly mobilised, and Jameson's force was intercepted at Doornkop, where it surrendered on 2 January 1896. Jameson and his men were taken to Pretoria before later being handed over to the British authorities for trial.
Although the raid was a military failure, its political consequences were enormous. It embarrassed the British Government, severely damaged relations between Britain and the Boer republics, and forced Cecil Rhodes to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.
For Kimberley, the consequences were particularly significant. Rhodes was not only the Prime Minister but also the driving force behind De Beers Consolidated Mines, the company that dominated Kimberley's diamond industry. The Jameson Raid tarnished his reputation and helped deepen the tensions that would eventually lead to the Anglo-Boer War in 1899.
Did You Know?
The Jameson Raid lasted just five days, but many historians regard its failure as one of the key events that set South Africa on the path towards the Anglo-Boer War.
Leander Starr Jameson's raiding party 1895/6
1900 – Daily Life During the Siege of Kimberley
79 days into the Siege of Kimberley
By 2 January 1900, life inside besieged Kimberley had become increasingly difficult as food supplies dwindled and strict rationing became part of everyday life.
In The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley, October 1899 to February 1900, Winifred Heberden recorded another challenging day during the siege.
Boer forces opened fire on British cattle guards, while livestock grazing too close to enemy positions remained at constant risk. Thirteen head of cattle were captured by the Boers, although British troops succeeded in recovering two valuable horses belonging to a Boer commandant.
Food shortages had become impossible to ignore. Adults were limited to just a quarter of a pound (about 113 grams) of meat each day, while children under twelve received only two ounces (about 57 grams). Military authorities took over the distribution of meat and vegetables, organising orderly queues at the Kimberley Market House.
One of Winifred Heberden's most revealing observations is that the siege largely erased Kimberley's normal social divisions. Wealthy mine owners, politicians, shopkeepers, artisans and labourers all stood patiently in the same queues waiting for their daily rations. Hunger had become the great equaliser.
The intense summer heat made conditions even more exhausting. Many women spent hours standing in food queues before walking from shop to shop searching for increasingly scarce supplies.
Yet despite hunger, heat and uncertainty, morale remained remarkably resilient. Winifred closed her diary entry with the simple hope shared by everyone in Kimberley—that relief could not be far away.
Did You Know?
By early January 1900, Kimberley's meat ration had fallen to just 113 grams per adult each day. Before the siege ended six weeks later, many residents would also eat horse meat to survive.
Photograph taken on 8 January 1900 in the De Beers Convict Station off what is now Hull Street. The first batch of horse meat soup has just been made. Rhodes leans against the wall.
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Kimberley's Story Continues
These are just two of the many events that helped shape Kimberley. Every date on the calendar reveals another chapter in the city's remarkable history.
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