Today in Kimberley's History
January 18th
"Every day has a story about Kimberley's past."
On this day...
The eighteenth of January is one of the most remarkable dates in Kimberley's history. It marks the completion of Long Cecil, the largest gun ever built in Africa at the time, designed and manufactured inside a besieged town under enemy fire. It is a story of ingenuity, determination and engineering skill that has become one of Kimberley's proudest wartime achievements.
1900 – Long Cecil is Completed
On this day in 1900, after 24 days of continuous work, the famous gun Long Cecil was completed at the De Beers Engineering Workshops in Kimberley.
The project had begun after the Boers introduced their powerful Long Tom artillery, whose shells could reach almost every part of the town. Kimberley's defenders had no weapon capable of matching its range, prompting George Labram, De Beers' brilliant Chief Engineer, to design an entirely new gun.
Working under constant bombardment, Labram and his team manufactured almost every component locally. The workshops themselves were struck several times by Boer shells, while numerous near misses interrupted production, yet work never stopped.
By 18 January, both the gun and its carriage were finished. The ammunition had also been produced in Kimberley, with only the propellant powder, friction tubes and fuse detonators already being available from existing military stores. The large-grain black powder used for the gun had been stored in Kimberley for more than a decade and remained in excellent condition thanks to careful storage.
Long Cecil represented an extraordinary engineering achievement. Built without outside assistance during a siege, it demonstrated the technical expertise that had developed in Kimberley's diamond industry and became a powerful symbol of the town's determination not to surrender. Only a few days later, Long Cecil would fire its first shell against Boer positions surrounding Kimberley.
On 19 January 1900, the people of Kimberley witnessed one of the defining moments of the siege as Long Cecil was taken from the De Beers Workshops for testing and fired for the first time.
Did You Know?
Long Cecil measures over 4 metres in length, weighs nearly 4 tonnes, and was the largest gun ever manufactured in Africa at the time. It now rests on the stone stylobate of Kimberley's Honoured Dead Memorial. The massive stone platform was incorporated into Herbert Baker's design, placing the famous gun at the heart of one of South Africa's most significant Anglo-Boer War memorials.
Check out the Long Cecil four-day sequence:
18 January – Long Cecil completed.
19 January – First test firing.
20 January – Calibration and preparation.
21 January – First operational service.
'Long Cecil' and the men who made it. Second row standing, left to right: George Paley (Assistant Mechanical Engineer); William Berry (Workshop Foreman); at right of second row: George Labram (Chief Engineer) and Edward Goffe (Chief Draughtsman). (Photo: McGregor Museum)
Long Cecil now rests on the stone stylobate of Kimberley's Honoured Dead Memorial
1900 – A Flag of Truce Arrives
95 days into the Siege of Kimberley
While engineers celebrated the completion of Long Cecil, diplomacy briefly interrupted the fighting.
In The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley, October 1899 to February 1900, Winifred Heberden recorded the arrival of Dr van Niekerk, who entered Kimberley under a flag of truce carrying a letter from General Piet Cronjé to Colonel Robert Kekewich. Although the contents were never officially disclosed, rumours suggested that Cronjé wished the two daughters of a prisoner named Bisset to be allowed through the British lines to nurse their seriously ill father.
Colonel Kekewich refused the request. Many in Kimberley suspected that the proposal may have been intended to gather intelligence on the town's remaining food supplies and its military condition, although no evidence was ever produced to confirm this. The incident illustrates the atmosphere of suspicion that existed on both sides during the siege, where even humanitarian requests were viewed through the lens of military strategy.
Did You Know?
Flags of truce were recognised under the laws of war, allowing opposing forces to communicate without fighting. Even so, both sides remained deeply suspicious of each other's intentions.
War Beyond the Battlefield
Winifred also recorded that Boer forces had armed Langeberg rebels and employed them in military operations around Kimberley.
She wrote that three of four Coloured dispatch riders serving the British had been killed, with only one successfully returning to Kimberley. At the same time, she noted that many African servants working for Boer commandos had deserted and found employment with the approaching British relief force.
Her observations provide a reminder that the South African War involved people from many different communities, whose experiences and loyalties were often shaped by local circumstances rather than simple divisions between British and Boer forces.
Did You Know?
Dispatch riders were among the most dangerous jobs during the siege. Travelling alone across open country, they carried vital military messages while avoiding enemy patrols and sniper fire.
Can't find a Kimberley connection for a particular date? Our Today in Kimberley's History collection is continually expanding as we research Kimberley's rich history. If you know of a notable local event that occurred on a specific date, we'd love to hear from you using the Contact Us page.
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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