Doctors and medicine in the Karoo Archives - Arid Areas Research and Development

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…

Medical staff at Noupoort during the Anglo-Boer War

Many countries and Red Cross type organisations sent equipment and personnel to South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War. Among these was a group of Scots from Edinburgh who collected £12 000 to establish and staff a hospital, writes professor J C (Kay) de Villiers in Healers, Helpers and Hospitals. Personnel embarked on the SS Briton…

Deelfontein Hospitaal, De Aar, treating the British wounded

During the Anglo-Boer War, Dr J Purvis-Stewart, called the Karoo a “place to see”. He was one of the doctors sent to South Africa in 1901with the Imperial Yeomanry Bearer Company – the first company of its kind raised ever established by private funding. In his biography, Sands of Time, he wrote: “After three weeks’ tedious…

The curative powers of sheep

The Karoo is widely hailed as excellent sheep country. Its mutton is world famous and many people know sleeping on sheep skin prevents bed sores. Few, however, realise that sheep are surrounded by a great deal of folklore. Way back, the great Roman orator Pliny observed: “while oxen help us cultivate our fields, it is…

St John Ambulance in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War

Three Johnnies, as the St John Ambulance Brigade men who came to South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War were known, are buried in the Karoo. Casualties suffered by the SJAB in South Africa from 1899 to 1902 were discussed by Professor Kay de Villiers and P Beighton in an article in the Military History Journal,…

Military 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…

Snake bites and snake stones

Snakes occur across the Karoo and consequently there are a great variety of remedies across the region for snake bite. During his travels, Carl Thunberg came across small, flat and porous stones used in the treatment of snake bite; these were called “snake stones”. He said it was possible to test whether a stone was…

Lionel Opie, heart specialist from Hanover

Another son of the Karoo, who hails from Hanover, also hit world medical headlines. Lionel Henry Opie, considered one of the world’s foremost scholars of heart disease, was inspired by three men – Lister, Leonard Flemming and Professor Chris Barnard. Lionel was only 12 when Fleming received the Nobel Prize, yet he vowed he would…

Dr 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…

Nathan Finkelstein and Eugene Weinberg: leading medical specialists

Yet another Beaufort Wester who has made a name for himself in medicine was Nathan Finkelstein, known throughout South Africa as Mr Pharmacy. Natie’s lifelong friend, Beaufort Wester Eugene Weinberg, went on to become one of South Africa’s leading paediatric allergists and head of the Department of Paediatrics at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in…