The Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, Deelfontein near De Aar
The stories of several “visiting” doctors are also woven into the chronicles of the Karoo. Several of these great medical men served at the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein, near Richmond, during the Anglo-Boer War. Perhaps the greatest of them was Dr John Hall-Edwards, who headed the X-ray unit. Known as the “father of British…
Read MoreMilitary surgeon’s medals fetch a top price
In March, 2011, a rare group of 22 orders and medals came up for sale at Smiths Newent, a Gloucestershire-based auction house in England. Said to be the “pick of the lots”, they were valued at £15,000 and there was a healthy interest in these medals as they had belonged one of Britain’s top military…
Read MoreDr Albert Hoffa, a son of Richmond
Richmond’s Dr Maurice Hoffa’s son, Albert, also played a pivotal role in medicine. He studied in Germany and followed Julius Wolff (known for Wolff’s Law) as a professor at the University of Berlin. He described a rare fracture of the knee, characterized by enlargement of the fat pad and aggravated by exercise. It was named…
Read MoreJohn Fraser, doctor and lawyer of the Karoo
In time the herbalist healers were joined by highly-educated, well-qualified counterparts who arrived armed with degrees from top European universities. Among them was John Fraser, the eldest son of Beaufort West’s Dutch Reformed minister Rev Colin Fraser, and his second wife, Maria Elizabeth Sieberhagen. John studied medicine at Kings College, in Aberdeen, Scotland, returned to…
Read MoreMerinos Make Their Mark
By 1830 experts considered the teething stages of the Cape Merino industry to be over. F W Reitz, the man destined to become president of the Free State, believed that 1830 was the turning point for the South African wool industry. He was proved right, states Edmund H Burrows in Overberg Outspan. In 1830 the…
Read MoreThe Karoo as experienced by a British soldier, 1901
The environment near Richmond, Karoo, as experienced by the British forces in 1901: “It was a typical South African nek [mountain pass]. An execrable path winding over the saddle of a low range of tumbled ironstone. Just one of those ranges which force themselves with sheer effrontery out from the level of the plain. Loose…
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