24/12/2019
Visiting the Historic Britstown Cemetery
Article Author: SJ de Klerk
Britstown was laid out on portion of the farm Gemsbokfontein in 1877 and named after owner Hans Brits. At the time, the traffic to the diamond diggings at Kimberley had grown to such an extent that another village on the Great North Road was warranted. Initially it was administered by the Dutch Reformed Church, but in March 1890 a village management board was instituted. It became a municipality in 1899.
The cemetery is situated on the western side of the N12 as one approaches the southern end of Britstown. It must have been established soon after the town was laid out as it is reported that the earliest Jewish burial appears to have been of Max Levy in 1897. He was buried in the general cemetery as there was no Jewish precinct at the time.
Although a smallish cemetery, there are several graves of historical interest. A cemetery roadway runs through the centre in a north/south direction and provides good access to all the graves.
Near the north eastern corner is the monumental tombstone of Thomas Phillipus Theron (22/6/1839 – 10/10/1908), Cape politician, Member of the Cape Legislative Assembly for Richmond and last Chairperson of the Afrikaner Bond. The Bond was the first real political party to emerge in South Africa. Conceived by the Reverend SJ du Toit in 1879, it elected to dissolve itself in 1911. Though at first mainly a Cape Colonial party, after the unification of South Africa it joined its opposite numbers in the other provinces to form the nucleus of the South African Party, over which General Louis Botha was elected to preside. It is said that although Theron played a leading part in the politics of his time he was always eclipsed by his colleague, Jan Hofmeyr (‘Onze Jan’). Possibly one of the reasons the Bond elected to dissolve itself was the deaths of both leading lights occurring within virtually a year of one another. Hofmeyr who died in London in 1909, was interred in the churchyard of the old Dutch Reformed Church in Somerset West.
On the western end of the roadway are tombstones of interest to Anglo Boer War enthusiasts. Nearer to the northern boundary is a memorial to burgers Johannes Senekal and Jacobus J. Naude who fell at Houwater and to Christiaan Boonzaaier from Calvinia who drowned in the Brak River at Holgatsfontein around 15 September 1901. The memorial was erected by two ladies from Lemoenkloof and two ladies from Smouspoort.
This battle took place on 6 March 1900 when a British force of between 500 and 700 men with six field pieces attacked a force of Cape Rebels under General Liebenberg on the farm Houwater west of Britstown. The Rebels were initially under severe pressure but managed to gain the initiative and forced the British force to retreat all the way to Britstown. British casualties were three killed, fourteen wounded and seven taken prisoner while on the Rebels’ side two were killed and three wounded.
There are some interesting graves which recall the outbreak of the second virulent strain of the Spanish Influenza pandemic in October 1918. Readers will recall this cataclysmic event being discussed in some earlier articles on the Rynsoord and Primrose cemeteries. Research suggests there were two waves of Spanish flu in 1918, one mild and one virulent. The milder one arriving via Durban and the more virulent one via Cape Town. The virulent strain would have spread via the railways and road traffic to Britstown where approximately 197 people died, an estimated 36 deaths per thousand people. This must have been a shocking experience in a small town of only 5500 people.
The Jewish precinct is situated immediately to the south west of the general cemetery and was established in 1905 after a Jewish man named Borkum was murdered by his two assistants. Some graves are those of unknown ‘smouse’ who died while passing through the district. The cemetery was not particularly well maintained until 1957 when the SA Jewish Board of Deputies took over its maintenance. At some stage, the tombstones were laid horizontally to prevent possible vandalism. The Jewish population was at its peak in 1904 when 92 Jews were recorded in the national census. Regretfully, the Jewish population in Britstown, as in most rural towns of South Africa, gradually disappeared and today there are few reminders of their constructive residence in this small community.
http://www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/visiting-historic-britstown-cemetery
