Honoured Dead Memorial
Encyclopedia
The Honoured Dead Memorial is a provincial heritage site
in Kimberley
in the Northern Cape
province of South Africa
. It is situated at the meeting point of five roads, and commemorates those who died defending the city during the Siege of Kimberley
in the Anglo-Boer War.
In 1986, it was described in the Government Gazette
as
Rhodes sent Baker to Greece to study ancient memorials - the Nereid Monument
at Xanthus
greatly influenced his design.
The monument is built of sandstone
quarried in the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe
and is the tomb of 27 soldiers. It features an inscription that Rhodes specifically commissioned Rudyard Kipling
to write:
The Long Cecil
gun that was designed and manufactured by George Labram
in the workshops of De Beers
during the siege is mounted on its stylobate
(facing the Free State
). It is surrounded by shells from the Boer
Long Tom
. The memorial was dedicated on 28 November 1904. It was vandalised in 2010 when brass fittings were broken off parts of the gun.
Provincial heritage site (South Africa)
A provincial heritage site is a building or place in South Africa that has historic or cultural importance and enjoys certain legal protections. These are under the management of provincial governments, as opposed to national heritage sites which are administered by the national government.-See...
in Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
in the Northern Cape
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...
province of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is situated at the meeting point of five roads, and commemorates those who died defending the city during the Siege of Kimberley
Siege of Kimberley
The Siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony , when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the British enclave when war broke out between the British and the two...
in the Anglo-Boer War.
In 1986, it was described in the Government Gazette
Government Gazette of South Africa
The Government Gazette is the Gazette of record of South Africa. It is the "official organ of Government". University of Cape Town, The Government Gazette is used by the government as an official way of communicating to the general public....
as
Rhodes sent Baker to Greece to study ancient memorials - the Nereid Monument
Nereid Monument
The Nereid Monument is a sculptured tomb from Xanthos in classical period Lycia, close to present-day Kinik in Antalya Province, Turkey. It took the form of a Greek temple on top of a base decorated with sculpted friezes, and is thought to have been built in the early fourth century BCE as a tomb...
at Xanthus
Xanthus
Xanthus may refer to:In Greek mythology:*Divine**Xanthus, the gods' name for Scamander, the great river of Troy and its patron god**Xanthus, one of the twelve sons of Pan who were allied with Dionysus*Human...
greatly influenced his design.
The monument is built of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
quarried in the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
and is the tomb of 27 soldiers. It features an inscription that Rhodes specifically commissioned Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
to write:
The Long Cecil
Long Cecil
Long Cecil was a unique one-off gun, designed by George Labram, a United States citizen, and built in the workshops of the De Beers mining company in Kimberley for use by the British during the Siege of Kimberley in the Second Boer War....
gun that was designed and manufactured by George Labram
George Labram
George Labram was an American engineer employed as Chief Mechanical Engineer at the De Beers diamond mines in Kimberley during the Siege of Kimberley.-Early career:...
in the workshops of De Beers
De Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
during the siege is mounted on its stylobate
Stylobate
In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform on which colonnades of temple columns are placed...
(facing the Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...
). It is surrounded by shells from the Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
Long Tom
155 mm Creusot Long Tom
The 155 mm Creusot Long Tom was a French field gun manufactured by Schneider et Cie in Le Creusot, France and used by the Boers in the Second Boer War.-Second Boer War:...
. The memorial was dedicated on 28 November 1904. It was vandalised in 2010 when brass fittings were broken off parts of the gun.