Anglo-Boer War 2. The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies Commission to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa.

Date: 16 Jul 1901
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

On 16 July 1901, the Ladies commission was appointed. The members who were considered impartial were, Mrs. Millicent G. Fawcett, Emily Hobhouse and Dr. Jane Waterson. They were appointed by the British Office to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa during the Second Anglo Boer War. The camps were found to have been inadequately built and maintained, unclean, and overcrowded. These factors contributed to the spread of disease. There was a shortage of both medical supplies and medical staff. At least 25 000 children and women died from epidemics of dysentery, measles, and enteric fever. Emily Hobhouse visited the camps to try and improve the life of the prisoners living on the concentration camps. Hobhouse was an English philanthropist and social worker who tried her best to make the British authorities aware of the plight of women and children in these inhumane conditions. Due to the publicising of what was occurring in the concentration camps international opinion turned against the British, and critics were outspoken about their disdain and disgust over the situation. This led to the British General Kitchener changing and ceasing the practice of imprisoning women and children in the camps.

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How we know this

01HistoryWiz, ‘The Concentration Camp’, [online] Available at www.historywiz.com [Accessed: 15 July 2014]
02South African History Online, 'Women & Children in White Concentration Camps during the Anglo-Boer War, 1900-1902', [online] Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed: 15 July 2014]
03Anglo Boer, 'Concentration camps', [online] Available at www.anglo-boer.co.za [Accessed: 15 July 2014]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, August 23). Anglo-Boer War 2. The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies Commission to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa.. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0091179

South African History Online (2012) 'Anglo-Boer War 2. The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies Commission to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa.', South African History Online, 23 August. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0091179 (Accessed: 20 September 2026).

South African History Online, Anglo-Boer War 2. The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies Commission to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa. [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0091179, (accessed 20 September 2026).

"Anglo-Boer War 2. The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies Commission to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa.." South African History Online, 23 Aug. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0091179. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Anglo-Boer War 2. The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies Commission to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa.." South African History Online. August 23, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0091179.