02/09/2026
Content note: this post discusses the death of a child, wartime violence and the concentration camp system of the Anglo-Boer War.
Jurgens Albertus was born on 10 December 1898. At 8am on 27 July 1900, a bullet fired by a British soldier struck him in the head in the Witpoort area of the western Transvaal. He died at 8pm that evening.
He was the son of Jurgens Albertus and Anna Elizabeth Nieman. To evade capture, Anna fled into the veld with her four youngest children and a Black worker, as many Boer women did during the war.
On 26 July 1900, they were captured and loaded onto an open ox wagon bound for the Klerksdorp concentration camp. Other wagons joined the convoy and the group spent the night in the open veld. At about 8am on 27 July, Anna and her younger children walked over to another wagon to meet the people travelling in it.
Suddenly, Jurgens became restless. When his mother picked him up and pressed his head against her chest, she noticed blood trickling down her hands. She discovered that he had been shot in the head. The family had heard British troops firing in the distance and it was believed that a stray bullet had struck him. Jurgens died at 8pm that night.
These are the clothes he was wearing that day. The two bullet holes and bloodstain are clearly visible on the bonnet, although most of the blood has since been washed out.
Jurgens was buried in a shallow grave beside the road. His name and other details were written on a small wooden marker. Fourteen days later, his father and a group of scouts came across the grave. The cold weather had preserved the child's body and it remained recognisable. His father placed the small coffin in front of him on his horse and carried it back to Rustfontein farm, where Jurgens was reburied.
The bonnet, dress and shoes displayed here are those worn by Jurgens Nieman when he was struck by the stray bullet. Two holes are clearly visible in the bonnet. During the Victorian era, boys aged three and under were often dressed in the same style as girls, making bonnets and dresses common clothing for young children. The dress was made from a scarf belonging to his 17-year-old sister, Susara Susanna.
Find these items and more in the collection at Bloemfontein, South Africa.
