Irene Camp Cemetery
The battle of Pretoria in June 1900 started with a skirmish near Irene, upon which Lord Roberts decided to outmaneuver the defending Boers south of Pretoria by following the course of the Hennops River to approach Pretoria from the west. After this a fort was built on Irene's highest koppie, now known at Cornwall Hill, by the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. The guerrilla tactics of the Boers frustrated the British to the extent that they decided to destroy the farms of the Boers in an effort to end the war. This left many families destitute and forced the British to take care of them. Concentration camps were established, one of which was a tent near Irene where the first refugees arrived during June 1901
Conditions in the camp deteriorated rapidly and by the end of 1901, 800 people had already died. The camp was later extended to the other side of the river - the second camp was known as Nylstroom. During 1902 the two camps housed and average of 4 500 men, women and children. Although peace was declared on 31 May 1902, the camps were only officially closed during 1903.
More than 2000 people were allegedly buried at the camp, although the cemetery's name list only mentions 1 149 names. A name plate with a number of 2 156 was found later, but only 850 graves could be found. For this reason all 1 149 names have been inscribed on the 80 memorial tablets.
