Boer POW Camps in Ceylon 1900 — 1902: The Philatelic Exhibit

This exhibit illustrates and documents mail to, from and between Boers held in British prisoner-of-war camps on the island of Ceylon during the Second Anglo-Boer War.During the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) the British authorities determined that prisoner-of-war (POW) camps in South Africa were not suitable. Decisions were made to send Boer POWs overseas, initially to camps in the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. When occupancy of the St. Helena camps reached capacity (around 6,000 prisoners), additional camps were established in Ceylon (and later in Bermuda, India and Portugal).Around 5,500 Boer POWs were dispatched to Ceylon. To accommodate the prisoners, POW camps were established at: Diyatalawa: the main camp in Ceylon 4,000 POWS; opened 8 August 1900Mount Lavinia (for convalescents) 150 POWS; opened 17 December 1900Ragama (for dissidents) 380 POWS; opened 8 January 1901Urugasmanhandiya (for prisoners on parole) 80 POWs; opened 10 September 1901Hambantota (for prisoners on parole) 120 POWS; opened 19 September 1901Additionally, Welikada Gaol in Colombo, established in 1841 for civilian criminals, housed the most antagonistic prisoners from other Ceylon camps.Material is presented by POW camp and the camps in the order in which they were established. Within the camp sections, the material is presented in two groups: inbound and outbound mail then by country/region and within these groups generally in chronological sequence, i.e., by date item entered mailstream. The camp opening sequence does not hold for Welikada Gaol,Procedures for the exchange of correspondence to, from, and between prisoners-of-war initiated by the British during the Second Anglo-Boer War established international ground rules for handling such mail; they were later incorporated into the 1907 Hague Convention and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.Items of special interest, scarcity or demonstrating original research are mounted with red mattes. Read more