[ A British Prisoner of War Camp in the aftermath of the Boer War. ] Mimeographed document headed 'Camp Orders by Major M. L. Ferrar | Comm[an]d[in]g Depot Batt[alio]n | Green Point Camp | 16fh. August 1902'.

Author: 
Major M. L. Ferrar [ Michael Lloyd Ferrar (1876-1971) ] of the Green Howards [ Green Point Prisoner of War Camp, Cape Town South Africa; Boer War, 1902 ]
Publication details: 
Green Point Camp [ Cape Town, South Africa ]. 16 August 1902.
£100.00
SKU: 19516

1p., 8vo. A mimeographed document duplicating fifty lines of handwriting (that of Ferrar himself?). Embossed government crest at top left. A scarce survival, on aged and heavily-worn paper, with closed tears and slight loss to extremities, repaired with archival tape. Text in eleven sections: 'Duties' ('Field Officer of the day', 'Captain of the day', 'Orderly of the day'), 'Remission of sentence', 'Punishments', 'Strength', 'Furloughs', 'Institutes', 'Correspondence etc', 'Deaths', 'C M Prisoners', 'Courts Martial', 'Divine Service' (parade times for Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and Wesleyans'). The longest section, on 'Courts Martial', gives an impression of the tone: 'No 3222 Pte H Parsons 8 Dorsets was tried by D C M 14th August & sentenced to be imprisoned with Hard Labour for 56 days for Receiving stolen goods knowing them to be stolen No 4058 Pte F Armstrong 2 Dorestes was tried by D C M 14th inst & sentenced to be imprisoned with Hard Labour for 6 Calendar Months for “Committing a civil offence that is to say stealing.” Captain Pinwell Liverpools is appointed a member of a D C M ordered to assemble at Wynburg at 10-0 AM on Monday 18th. inst.' The two British prisoner of war camps on the Green Point Common – the Green Point Track Camp and the Sky View Camp – were established during the war to relieve severe overcrowding at the Simon’s Town camp. With the end of the war the role of the camp changed to accommodate POWs being sent to the various districts in the former republics rather than overseas. Gradually the number of POWs were being sent from overseas camps to South Africa fell, and the Green Point camp was closed.