Hester Isabella (Burger) Kemp (1885 - 1963)

Born 18 Dec 1885 in Heidelberg, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek

Ancestors

Wife of Charles Robert Heslop — married 10 Sep 1903 (to 1918) in Ixopo, Natal, South Africa

Wife of Percival Clyde Kemp — married 12 Jul 1920 in Pietermaritzburg

Descendants

Died 1963 at about age 77 in Ixopo, Natal, South Africa

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ian McArthur [send private message]

Biography

Hester was born in 1885. As a girl she was in a British Camp: British Concentration Camps of the South African War 1900-1902 Personal Details Name: Miss Hester Isabella Burger Other Names: Vermaas Born in camp? No; Died in camp? No Gender: female; Race: White; Marital status: single Nationality: Transvaal; Unique ID: 120513 Camp History: Name: Heidelberg RC Age arrival: 16; Date arrival: 12/01/1901 Farm History: Name: Wildebeestfontein; District: Heidelberg Relationships: Miss Hester Isabella Burger (Vermaas) has the relationship unknown to Mr Marthinus Johannes Hendrik Vermaas Sources: Title: DBC 59 Heidelberg CR; Location: Transvaal; Notes: p.V 03

Someone told me that Hester used to go around the camp singing and playing a concertina, in an attempt to cheer people up. She and all her family were the most cheerful people I have ever met, even when they had little to be cheerful about.

From an article by Noelle Grant, the Ixopo Correspondent, in 'The Natal Witness' in 1961, after an interview with my grandmother: Shortly after the outbreak of the South African War, Hester Burger was a girl of sixteen, living on a farm 18 miles from Heidelberg. Gunfire from artillery landed on the roof of the farmhouse. Next morning a sergeant and 25 soldiers came looking for wounded or dead men. When he saw the small group of women and children he had them escorted to friends in Heidelberg. Thence she was sent to a camp near the present Chase Valley in Pietermaritzburg. About 500 people were housed in tents. They were all treated well and the food was better than they had tasted for some time.... At the end of the war the family returned to Heidelberg and Miss Burger returned to school, but she says she has only nine months of true schooling to her credit. She taught herself to read and practised what little writing she had been shown till she could form her letters properly. She says her education consisted of reading and experience.

My sister Sheila and I, and sometimes our cousin Carole (Jones) Smale spent some happy holidays in Ixopo. Life was simple, but enjoyable. On cold nights our beds were warmed by bricks which had been heated in the oven, then wrapped in old pieces of blanket. The bath hot water was heated in a 44 gallon drum over an open fire in the yard, then carried to the bath in a bucket, to join the cold which ran from a tap. After the bath, the water ran out onto the pumpkin plants in the garden. The toilet was a 'long-drop' in a separate small shed in the garden, and toilet paper was pages from a magazine with newsprint-like paper. We were terrified of falling in. Each weekday featured a two-hour trip to collect the mail from the Post Office, which was about 200 yards down the main street. The mail arrived from Durban on a motor coach known as 'The Pullman' which was run by the S A Railways to service areas not on railway lines. The reason why it took so long was all the chatting which took place along the way. This was in about 1946 before the advent of supermarkets to South Africa. Groceries were bought from the general store of Mr Schaffer, who had several white cats patrolling the store for mice. Other stops along the way were to talk to Phyllis Toms, a friend of my late mother's, who worked for the local Chemist; to see Mrs Vlok who worked in the bank; my aunt Eileen who worked at Greer's store; the butcher's; the Agricultural Hall, of which Hester was the caretaker, and occasionally we would go as far as Beachen's, another general store at the bottom of the village, which was run by Mr Beachen, an Indian.

Hester got the hall ready for the weekly Saturday night film-show. People brought their dogs along, and the occasional fight interrupted the sound-track. When the film featured horses, the dogs would all bark and run to the front of the hall.

Hester Burger ... She passed away about 1960. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ First-hand information as remembered by Ian McArthur, Thursday, February 26, 2015. Replace this citation if there is another source.

See also:

• Add sources here.