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Biddulphsberg Farm & Museum

Borrie Erasmus owns the Biddulphsberg Museum that tells the gripping story of the battle between the British army and the Boers in May 1900, the Boers defending the Erasmus farm at the foot of Biddulphsberg Hill. The farm belonged to Borrie’s grandfather at the time. During the battle the veldt caught fire and British wounded were enveloped by the flames. Boers pulled their wounded enemy out of the fire and these British soldiers were nursed back to health in the historical NG Klipkerk in Senekal. John Maile’s father was one of the Grenadier Guards attacking the Erasmus house that day and one hundred years later, John returned to the Erasmus farm to share in ceremonies marking the hundredth anniversary of the battle. The Erasmus house was destroyed in the Boer War, but rebuilt with the same stones after the war. Borrie Erasmus’ grandfather joined a Boer commando operating in the mountains in the Clarens area. He was captured at Surrender Hill three months later, along with 5 000 other Boers. He was sent as a prisoner of war to Bermuda, never knowing, for two years, whether his wife and baby survived the war. The Erasmus family still cherishes a wooden box he made while in exile, that’s inscribed “With Fondest Wishes for my wife Anna Erasmus, 1900”.
Biddulphsberg

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