Concentration Camp Tokens and Banknotes

Overseas Prisoner of War Camps

With prisoner-of-war camps in South Africa seriously overcrowded after the Battle of Paardeberg (February 1900), the British took the decision to ship prisoners overseas. Some 20,000 Boers were sent to Bermuda, India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and St Helena. [citation:5]

🇱🇰 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) – Diyatalawa

Diyatalawa was the main camp in Ceylon, known as "Boer Town". The first batch of prisoners arrived in Ceylon on 9 August 1900, and eventually some 5,000 prisoners were housed there. [citation:3] Prisoners could draw against their credit using miniature banknotes issued by the Camp Commandant.

• One Rupee note (22 April 1901, serial 4109) – sold for R28,000 in 2022. A Diyatalawa One Rupee note (serial 1524) sold at Noonans in 2005 for £160. [citation:2]
• 50 Cent note (ND, serial 168, handstamped "March 1901") – sold at Spink for £340. [citation:7]

🇱🇰 Ceylon – Ragama

Ragama camp was established for "dissidents and irreconcilables" – foreign volunteers, Germans, Hollanders, Irish Americans. In wartime correspondence, a Jewish POW named Jeannot Weinberg described them as "a most disreputable lot. They are without exaggeration the scum of the scum." This phrase later appeared in the Times of Ceylon and inspired a famous satirical medal. [citation:3]

🇸🇭 St Helena

From 1900 to 1902, 6,000 Boers were shipped to St Helena and housed in encampments on Deadwood Plain and Broad Bottom. Prisoners included General Piet Cronjé and Commandant Eloff, a grandson of Paul Kruger. Troublesome prisoners were confined to High Knoll, a large fort isolated on a hill top. [citation:5] A rare cast bronze medal (1900) commemorates the camp, showing the arms of the ZAR above Kruger's head, Britannia, and on the reverse, the camp on the hill with the legend "TER GEDACHTENIS AAN DE BUEREN KRYGSGEVANGENEN". [citation:5]

🇧🇲 Bermuda & 🇮🇳 India

Prisoners were also sent to Bermuda and India, though specific paper currency from these camps is less well-documented. John Ineson's authoritative work, Paper Currency of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902 (Spink, 1999), provides the definitive checklist and rarity guide for all known Boer War paper currency, including these overseas camps. [citation:10]

South African POW Camps – Cape Town

During the Anglo-Boer War, two prisoner-of-war camps were established in Cape Town: the first at Simon's Town and the second at Green Point. These were transit camps where prisoners were temporarily housed before being sent overseas. [citation:4]

Simon's Town – Bellevue Camp

The Bellevue camp was situated where the current Simon's Town golf club is, next to Penguin Beach. The first prisoners arrived in February 1900. According to Regulation 22, prisoners were not allowed to have money in their possession; their financial affairs were controlled by the Camp Commandant. Prisoners could earn money in the form of "Good For" vouchers exchangeable for goods at the camp canteen. [citation:4]

There are six notes in the Bellevue series, printed by the Cape Times [citation:4]:

• Sixpence (6d) – white paper, black ink
• Shilling (1/-) – white paper, black/orange ink
• Two Shillings (2/-) – white paper, green ink
• Five Shillings (5/-) – blue paper, blue ink
• Ten Shillings (10/-) – white paper, purple ink
• Twenty Shillings (20/-) – white paper, brown ink

Two basic varieties exist: one reading "Payable on demand to Prisoners of War only at our Store, Simon's Town" (numbered, without censor handstamp), and the other reading "Payable on demand to Prisoners of War only at our Canteen, Bellevue Camp, Simon's Town" (unnumbered, with blue "Censor Prisoners of War" handstamp). The store owner was W.N. Runciman, who later became Mayor of Simon's Town. [citation:4]

Green Point Track Camp

Two camps were situated at Green Point: the Green Point Track Camp (with approximately 2,000 prisoners) and the Sky View Camp (accommodating half that figure). They were established to relieve overcrowding after the arrival of 4,000 Boers taken prisoner at Paardeberg. Each camp had its own shop, open five hours a day, where prisoners could buy foodstuffs. [citation:4]

The Green Point "Good Fors" were issued in four denominations: 1 shilling, 2 shillings, 5 shillings (mauve), and 5 shillings (purple). They bear the printed signature of G.W. Barnes, Manager. [citation:1]

Auction records for Green Point notes [citation:1]:

• Set of 4 (1/-, 2/-, 5/- mauve, 5/- purple), original watermarked remainders, about UNC – sold for £100 (Auction 159)
• Similar set – sold for £85 (Auction 156)
• Set of 3 (1/-, 2/-, 5/-) – sold for £70 (Auction 146)
• Single 1/- note – sold for £10 (Auction 146)

Medals and Tokens from the Camps

The "SCUM OF THE SCUM" Medal – Ragama Camp, Ceylon

This satirical medal was made by Gerhardus Franciscus Keyzer, a Dutch engineer working for the Railway Company (N.Z.A.S.M.). He was captured on 5 April 1900 as Prisoner of War (No. 2783) and sent to the Ragama Camp in Ceylon. To commemorate his experience, he produced medals after the war, likely striking them over flattened ZAR coins. [citation:3][citation:8]

The obverse depicts Keyzer chained to a palm tree in the camp, left there in the full sun as a punishment. The reverse refers to the English government and/or the other prisoners. One example sold for €1,690 (approx. $1,940) at MA-Shops. [citation:8] Another sold at Heritage Auctions Europe for a starting price of €750. [citation:3]

St Helena POW Medal (1900)

A cast bronze medal, unsigned, showing the arms of the ZAR above the head of Paul Kruger, with Britannia and the arms of St Helena at the sides. The reverse depicts the camp on a hill with the legend "TER GEDACHTENIS AAN DE BUEREN KRYGSGEVANGENEN". A copy sold at Noonans in 2008 for £260. [citation:5]

Dutch‑made Atrocities Medallion (1901)

This medallion (Hern-208) commemorates the suffering in the concentration camps. The obverse depicts two mounted knights in armour engaged in combat, with foot soldiers below, referencing the Spanish in the Netherlands (1568–1648). The reverse shows a burning Boer farmhouse with the legend "DE ENGELSHEN IN ZUID AFRIKA" and the dates 1899–1901. A choice example graded NGC MS 63 Brown sold for 130 CHF. [citation:9]

References and Further Reading

• Ineson, John. Paper Currency of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902. London: Spink, 1999. – The definitive work, covering Boer currency, besieged towns, POW camps in South Africa and overseas, Rhodesian postage stamp money, and rarity guides. [citation:10]
• Hern, Brian. Hern's Handbook on South African Banknotes & Paper Money (2010). – Contains illustrations and details of Bellevue camp notes. [citation:4]
• Western Cape Numismatic Society. "Boer War P.O.W. Money of the Cape Town Camps" (Pierre H. Nortje, February 2024). – Detailed historical research on the Simon's Town and Green Point camps. [citation:4]

Sources

• London Coins auction archives [citation:1]
• Noonans Mayfair auction archives [citation:2][citation:5]
• Heritage Auctions Europe [citation:3]
• Western Cape Numismatic Society [citation:4]
• Spink auction archives [citation:7]
• MA-Shops [citation:8]
• Numisor SA [citation:9]
• American Numismatic Society – Ineson reference [citation:10]

Revision History