g.2. Pieter Johannes Jacobus, geb. 28/03/1855,
ged. 09/02/1855, Victoria-Wes x 25/01/1875, Stuurmansput, Victoria Wes met Elsie Helena Francina BURGER,
geb. 18/12/1857, d.v. Schalk Jacobus Burger and
Anna Sophia Wilhelmina Vorster.
Pieter Johannes Jacobus was die seun van Jasper van der Westhuizen en Anna Maria Loots.
Teen die middel van die 19de eeu het driekwart van die blanke landelike bevolking uit Hollandse afstammelinge bestaan, terwyl die Engelssprekende koloniste, wat in die klein dorpies gewoon het, oor die algemeen winkeliers, amptenare en ambagsmanne was. Die koloniste was vreedsame en lojale onderdane, en baie Nederlanders was trotse Britse burgers en het welvarend onder koloniale bewind geraak. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Die Kaapse Rebelle was manlike Britse onderdane wat in die Kaapkolonie gewoon het, en saam met Transvaal en die Oranje-Vrystaat tydens die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog van 1899 tot 1902, wapens teen Groot-Brittanje opgeneem het. Die Kaapse rebelle het in twee golwe by die Boeremagte aangesluit: die eerste was ongeveer 10.000 met die uitbreek van die oorlog en kom hoofsaaklik uit die distrikte langs die Oranje-Vrystaat. Die tweede, veel kleiner golf van Kaapse rebelle van ongeveer 3,000 het vanaf Desember 1900 by die Boeremagte aangesluit, waarvan sommige tydens genl. Jan Smuts se inval in die noordweste van die Kaapkolonie in September 1901 aangesluit het. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaapse_Rebelle)
Die besluit van die koloniste van Griekwaland-Wes om by die Republikeinse magte aan te sluit het plaasgevind teen die agtergrond van emstige ontbering in die landbousektor weens verliese gely met die runderpes-pandemie van 1896/1897. Dit het ook saamgeval met die inval van Griekwaland-Wes deur Transvaalse magte. Die versuim van die Schreiner-regering om sy grense te verdedig het die rebellie bevorder, aangesien daar geen gewapende magte was om of die inval of die rebellie teen te staan nie. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Die depressie wat gevolg het op die runderpes-pandemie het elke faset van die boerdery beïnvloed. Baie finansieël verwoeste en desperate mans was kwaad vir die kwarantynmaatreëls, kwaad vir enige amptenaar uit die Kaapkolonie en was gereed vir opstand. Namate die oorlog in Transvaal gevorder het, was daar baie bankrot en desperate mense, gereed om te veg. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Die Kaapse rebelle kan in twee groepe verdeel word. Eerstens was daar diegene wat in die distrikte wat die Republikeinse magte gedurende die eerste fase van die driejarige oorlog beset het, gewoon het en wat saam met die besetters gewerk het, maar tuisgebly het nadat die Boeremagte enkele maande later aan die distrikte onttrek het. Tweedens was daar diegene wat gedurende die loop van die oorlog by die Republikeinse magte aangesluit het en teen die Britse magte in verskillende dele van die Kaapkolonie geveg het. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaapse_Rebelle)
Die nuus dat Vrystaatse magte die grens oorsteek sonder teenstand van die koloniale magte, het Barkly-Wes se landdros, L Harrison, ontstel. Hy het op 31 Oktober 1899 'n vrugtelose beroep op hulp by Lord Selboume, gedoen. Joubert het onder die koloniste in die Hay-distrik rondbeweeg. Dit het 'ware broers en landgenote' ingeroep om 'n vergadering op Moosfontein by te woon, aangesien die Boeremagte vir Kooitjie van der Westhuizen aangestel het om 'alle goeie aangeleenthede te bespreek' en mense moes almal opdaag met 'n geweer en ammunisie en soveel kosvoorrade as wat hulle kon. bring saam. Onder die menigte nuuskieriges wat na Moosfontein vertrek het, was die besorgde landdros, S. Tilney, wat gehoor het van die vergadering op 1 November 1899. Hier het hy 40 plaaslike boere ontmoet. Hy het aan hulle gesê dat dit, ondanks die inval, dit nie hulle oorlog was nie en dat hulle moes terugkeer huis toe en gaan ploeg. Verder is hulle verseker dat as hulle sou gehoorsaam hulle beskerm sou word. Hy het later berig dat die boere bitterlik gekla het dat hulle in die duister gehou word, en gesê het dat hul regering geen leiding gee ten spyte van die groeiende gevaar van vyandigheid nie. Die boere was baie ontevrede. Die meeste van die mans (blykbaar almal ongewapen) is uitmekaar nadat die landdros gepraat het. Ongeveer vyftien het agtergebly en geargumenteer oor nog 'n brief van twee Vrystaatse kommandante wat hulle gewaarsku het dat hulle almal in gevaar is. Hulle is aangeraai om die telegraaf af te sny en oorlog te verklaar. Abraham Maritz van Steinbokhoom het gesê hy maak beswaar en dat die sny van die draad 'n rebellie sou beteken. Hierdie koloniste het besluit om nie wapens op te neem nie. Maar hulle het bespiegel dat as Kimberley ingeneem word, hulle gedwing sou word om die Vrystaters te gehoorsaam. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment ofhe requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Die eerste Rebelle groep was inwoners van die volgende distrikte van die Kaapkolonie wat die Boeremagte tussen 1899 en 1900 beset het: Vryburg, Kuruman, Griekwaland-Wes, Gordonia, Prieska, Kenhardt, Colesberg, Albert, Aliwal-Noord, Wodehouse (Dordrecht), Herschel en Barkly-Oos. In daardie distrikte het die Republikeinse magte nie 'n algemene diensplig ingestel nie. Tog het hulle in sommige gevalle soveel druk uitgeoefen dat inwoners hulself amptelik tot militêre diens geroep het. Die wat nie tot militêre diens wou toetree nie, is met rus gelaat. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaapse_Rebelle)
Somrnige van die Kaapse Rebelle het aan die kant van die Republikeine geveg tydens belangrike veldslae langs die Modderrivier, terwyl ander opgekommandeer is om voorrade te versamel en na die laers te vervoer. Vier maande na die oorgawe Van Gen. P, Cronje by Paardeberg het die meeste van hierdie rebelle die wapens neergelê, behalwe diegene onder Gen, Piet de Villiers wat aanhou veg het in die Transvaal. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Die Slag van Modderrivier (ook bekend as die Slag van die Twee Riviere) het op 28 November 1899 by Modderrivier plaasgevind. 'n Britse kolom onder Lord Methuen, wat probeer het om die beleërde stad Kimberley te verower, het die Boere onder generaal Piet Cronjé gedwing om na Magersfontein terug te trek, maar het self swaar verliese opgedoen. Aan Boerekant was daar ongeveer 80 slagoffers, waaronder Adriaan, die oudste seun van Koos de la Rey. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Modder_River) Petrus Snyders van Barkly-Wes, Christian Johannes van der Westhuizen en Johannes Christian Venter van Hay is by Modderrivier gevange geneem; Hendrik Boshof van Hay is vermoor, moontlik op Magersfontein. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment ofhe requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Boer en Britse posisies by die Slag van Modderrivier
Dit was duidelik dat Gatacre die Boere op Stormberg sou aanval. Die enigste vraag was wanneer en met hoeveel manskappe. Dit blyk dat hy ongeduldig geword het en besluit het om 2600 man, die Northumberland Fusiliers, die Royal Irish Rifles, twee veldbatterye en sommige Cape Mounted Riflemen te gebruik om 'n nagaanval op Stormberg op 9 Desember 1899 te maak. Sy ongevalle was 627 dood, gewond en gevangene geneem, en ook twee gewere. Hy het nie geweet waar hy was nie aangesien hy nie voor die aanval die gebied besoek het nie, maar sy gidse het hul pad byster geraak. Hy het nie patrollies of verkenners vooruit gestuur nie en sy troepe wat in die donker opgetrek het, met vaste bajonette van Molteno was uitgeput Die Boere-ongevalle is vyf gedood, waaronder die rebelle Jan Harm Labuschagne Olivier van Ruigtefontein, Burghersdorp en Jan Petrus Gericke van Aliwal Noord, en die 26 gewondes, waaronder Jan van Rensburg, NJ van der Westhuizen en Piet de Wet van Dordrecht. Die Boere het die middag 'n flitsdiens by Stormberg gehou waar 'n foto van hulle geneem is. Baie van die rebelle het na hul plase teruggekeer omdat hulle geen begeerte aan oorlogvoering gehad het nie. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Kaart van die Slag van Stormberg:
H. W. Wilson
Nadat die Vrystaters uit Upington en Prieska onttrek het, het ongeveer 24 Gordoniese rebelle met hul gesinne en vee na Kheis-eiland aan die Oranjerivier, wes van Prieska getrek. Hulle leier was 'n Joodse winkeleienaar, Herman Judelewitz, en daar was drie krygsgevangenes, Maritz, Bosman en Van Rooyen, wat uit die Simonstad - POW-kamp ontsnap het. Op 28 Mei 1900 verras Col Adye die laer, terwyl sy magte Judelewitz doodmaak en 'n onbekende aantal rebelle en hul gesinne, vee, wapens en ammunisie gevange neem. In 'n tweede skermutseling op die drif na Kheis het die rebelle die Warwick Yeomanry verslaan, Lieut-genl Sir Charles Warren is beveel om Douglas, Campbell, Griekwastad en Kuruman te beveilig. Sy mag bestaan uit Imperial Yeomanry en die Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles (DEOVR), plus Kanadese onder leiding van Lieut-Col Sam Hughes, wat die rebelle uit Upington verdryf het. Einde Mei het Warren by Fabersputs gekamp en vir voorrade gewag. De Villiers het die kamp aangeval en 26 van Warren se manne doodgemaak. Ook Lieut-Col WA Spence van die DEOVR. Rebelle wat gesterf het, was Gert Agenbach, Theunis Britz, Willem Burger, Gert Cloete, Abraham Jan de Klerk, Frank Desbe, Willem Monk, Petrus Muller snr, Alwyo Petrus Smith, Jacobus Swanepoel, Liep Swiegers, Jacobus van der Westhuizen en Johannes Weideman Rison.(Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Die Republikeinse burgers het in Maart 1901 uit die Kaapkolonie onttrek, wat 'n massa-oorgawe van rebelle tot gevolg gehad het. Diegene wat onder die wapens gevange geneem is, is as krygsgevangenes na Ceylon en Indie gestuur, terwyl die wat hul oorgegee het, in koloniale tronke aangehou is totdat hulle onder borg vrygestel is of passe gegee is. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
Niemand is tereggestel nie en die swaarste straf was twee jaar gevangenisstraf en 'n boete van £ 1.000. Die meeste rebelle is aan gewone howe uitgelewer. Destyds was die Afrikaner-alliansie aan bewind en was die Kaapse regering gekant teen die oorlog. Die simpatie van die breër bevolking het ook by die Republieke gelê. Dit was een van die hoofredes waarom die Tweede Boereoorlog-gevangenes verban is, aangesien hulle gevrees het dat mense in die omgewing van kampe, in opstand sou kom en selfs gevangenes sou wou bevry. Later is 'n spesiale hof ingestel wat verhore vir rebelle hanteer het. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaapse_Rebelle)
Slegs 'n paar honderd het voortgegaan om vir die res van 1901 in die Boererepublieke oorlog te voer. Die tweede inval van Vrystaatse magte in die Kaapkolonie het bestaan uit mobiele kornmando's wat kruis en dwars in die binneland rondbeweeg het. Die eerste paar maande het hulle verwoesting aangerig, maar na Junie 1901 het die militere massataktieke gebruik teen diegene wat in die gei'soleerde noordwes-Kaap vasgekeer was. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
In 1902 het die Boererepublieke sonder die wete van die rebelle die Verdrag van Vereeniging onderteken en nie langer as soewereine state bestaan nie. Die Kaapse rebelle was nie ondertekenaars van die verdrag nie. Volgens 'n ooreenkoms tussen die Boereleiers en die Koloniale Kantoor sou 'n rebel gedeeltelike amnestie ontvang en ontburger word indien hy hom oorgee en skuldig pIeit aan Hoogverraad kragtens Proklamasie 100 van 1902. Rebelle-offisiere is egter in die hof aangekla en boetes en tronkstraf sou opgelê word. Na die eerste inval is rebelle wat gevange geneem is of hulle oorgegee het, verhoor ingevolge die "Indemnity and Special Tribunals Act" wat van krag was vir ses maande tot April 1901. Krygswet was toe weer in swang vanaf 22 April tot Vrede teen die einde van Mei 1902, en ingevolge hierdie wet is 44 Kaapse koloniste, Republikeine en uitlanders tereggestel en honderde ander, wie se doodsvonnise na lewenslange dwangarbeid verander is, na krygsgevangenekampe op Bermuda en St. Helena verskeep. (Shearings, Hilary Ann: The Cape rebel of the South African War, 1899-1902, Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of The Degree of Doctor of History In the Facility of Arts July 2004)
IDie Kaapse rebelle het gedurende die oorlog ernstige verliese aan eiendom gely, hoewel slegs 'n paar rebelle hul lewens in die oorlog verloor het. Die presiese getal is onbekend, maar na raming is dit nie meer as honderd nie. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaapse_Rebelle)
Cape Rebels
Surname
|
VAN
DER WESTHUISEN
|
Name
|
PIETER JOHANNES JACOBUS
|
Occupation
|
|
Trial Date
|
AUGUSTUS 1902
|
Address
|
GRIQUATOWN
|
District
|
HAY
|
Commando
|
|
Resources
|
|
Where Sentenced
|
|
Sentence
|
|
Ref ID
|
10507
|
(Anglo-Boer War Museum: An agency of the
Department of Arts and Culture)
Elsie Helena Francina kom op 22 Oktober 1901 by die Kimberley Konsentrasiekamp aan.
Kimberley camp was located in the Cape Colony on the Cape-ORC border but formed part of the ORC system. As one of the besieged towns, Kimberley had suffered severely from the war and there was little sympathy in the town for the camp inmates, especially the families of the Cape rebels who were housed there. Kimberley was a flat, hot town, always short of water and notoriously unhealthy. The camp itself, located on de Beers property in Newton, on the outskirts of the town, was inches deep in loose, sandy soil. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
Some kind of camp probably came into being in the early stages of the war for relief had to be found for destitute Boers from Griqualand West as early as December 1899. The formal camp, however, was set up by the town commandant on 4 January 1901 and run by Major Wright and the men of the Kimberley Regiment. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
Emily Hobhouse was contemptuous of Wright, a colonial volunteer rather than a regular soldier, whom she described as a ‘coarse, lazy, indifferent old man’ who did no work and left his son to run the camp. The result was a dirty, smelly camp where whooping cough and measles were rife and there was almost no medical attention. ‘Undesirable’ Cape rebel families, who were ‘not refugees in the true acceptance of the term’, were mixed with people from the Free State, the Transvaal and Bechuanaland. Under military management disorder prevailed in Kimberley. In the beginning the Free State families were rationed differently from the Cape rebels and appear to have been subject to different regulations. A weak superintendent usually meant arbitrary treatment of the people with the result that the Kimberley women were amongst the most bitter that Emily Hobhouse encountered. By February 1901, when the civilian camp administration was formed in the ORC, it was clear that all was not well in Kimberley. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
At first the authorities considered moving the Free State families to a new camp on the Modder River but, in the end, Kimberley was incorporated into the ORC system. At this stage, the camp was not large, consisting of a total of between 717 and 762 people at the beginning of April 1901. The camp grew quite rapidly, however, as scattered groups from Warrenton and other places were brought in. Some families continued to live in Kimberley, having been certified as medically unfit for tent life. By June, as more people poured in, Kimberley was suffering from the chronic lack of tents that all the camps endured, and consequent overcrowding. By July Kimberley camp had nearly 4,000 whites and over 1,000 blacks and the authorities felt they could take no more. Plans were made to establish an extension at Orange River Station. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
When Dr Kendal Franks visited the camp in December 1901, he described this complicated place in some detail. The families of the Cape rebels were kept in an enclosed area, surrounded by a barbed wire fence and guarded by sentries. The rest of the camp was unenclosed and divided into regional sections such as the Boshof, Fauresmith, Petrusburg and Hoopstad sections for the ORC, and a separate Transvaal section. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
This sense, that Kimberley was a discontented camp, prevailed right through the war. The mortality was one reason. Like Bloemfontein and Irene, measles struck early and deaths increased rapidly in the early months of 1901, exacerbated by the cold winter and the poor quality of the overcrowded tents. A severe shortage of medical staff made it difficult to take effective action and, for a time, Kimberley was reliant on unqualified people. Hospital accommodation, in the usual marquees, was also unsatisfactory. The fact that the measles epidemic peaked as early as July 1901 is not surprising for Kimberley was one of the first towns to house a camp on the route of the march of the British troops to the north. While the troops themselves did not suffer from measles, we know that some of the Boers at nearby Paardeberg suffered from measles and the troops brought the kind of confusion in their wake, which encouraged the spread of disease. Conditions began to improve a little when new medical staff came in.(https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
A second reason why Kimberley seemed a discontented camp was related to the unwillingness of the men to do any work, as they did in most other camps. Viner Johnson complained ‘They are largely graziers, of nomadic instinct and are totally averse to work, and owe and practice obedience to no man’. By October 1901 the men’s failure to work continued to be an issue. The problem hinged partly on the fact that the men could obtain paid work in the town and were reluctant, consequently, to do unpaid work in the camp. The Ladies Committee also noted the freedom people had to go into the town, although there was a store in the camp. They only had to obtain passes if they wanted to go to the theatre or a party. People continued to work in the town, the young women as domestic servants and the boys on the debris heaps of the diamond mines and such people often lived in the town but continued to receive some rations. This was not a situation that the camp authorities liked and they usually refused to feed town refugees. They were often a nuisance for they tended to return to the camps as their money ran out, making extra work for the camp staff. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
A third critical problem in Kimberley camp related to the presence of the Cape rebel families. The military regarded them as prisoners and treated them accordingly. The superintendent found it impossible to run a camp in which some of the inmates were treated more harshly than others and was constantly at odds with the local commandant over the matter. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
To the last, however, Kimberley remained an unhappy camp. As late as May 1902, when Dr Parry Edwards inspected the camp, he considered it ‘backward’. Repatriation took a long time from Kimberley camp, perhaps because the camp population was so diverse, although the majority of the Transvalers had been sent away earlier in 1902. One difficulty was that there was no Repatriation Board in the district and many of the families had to make their own arrangements to return home. Others, with nowhere to go, refused to leave. By the end of December 1902 there were still more than 200 people in the camp, mainly Boshof people. The camp was eventually closed on 9 January 1903. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Kimberley/)
Personal Details
|
Name:
|
Mrs Elzie Helena van der Westhuizen
|
Born in
camp?
|
No
|
Died in
camp?
|
No
|
Gender:
|
female
|
Race:
|
white
|
Marital
status:
|
married
|
Nationality:
|
Cape Colony
|
Occupation:
|
tradesman
|
Registration
as head of family:
|
Yes
|
Unique
ID:
|
78505
|
Camp History
|
Name:
|
Kimberley
RC
|
Age
arrival:
|
44
|
Date
arrival:
|
22/10/1901
|
Date
departure:
|
16/08/1902
|
Reason
departure:
|
discharged
|
Stock
into camp:
|
no
|
Stock
out of camp:
|
no
|
Tent
number:
|
4486
|
Farm History
|
Name:
|
van der
Westhuizen family
|
Town:
|
Griquatown
|
Status of Husband
|
Type:
|
whereabouts unknown
|
Notes:
|
Pieter Jacobus
|
Relationships
|
Mrs Elzie Helena van der Westhuizen
|
is the mother of Master
Schalk Jacobus van der Westhuizen
|
Sources
|
Title:
|
SRC 83
Kimberley CR
|
Type:
|
Camp register
|
Location:
|
Free State Archives Repository
|
Reference
No.:
|
SRC 83
|
Notes:
|
p.314a
|
