The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony, when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the area when war broke out between the British and the two Boer republics in October 1899. The town was ill-prepared, but the defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence that was able to prevent it from being taken.
British RML 2.5-inch mountain gun employed in the defence of Kimberley during the Second Boer War
Soup ration ticket from the siege of Kimberley
Long Cecil gun in the workshops of De Beers
The Second Boer War, also known as the Boer War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa.
Boer victory over the British at the Battle of Majuba Hill, First Boer War, 1881
A sketch showing the arrest of Jameson after the failed raid, in 1896
Paul Kruger, leader of the South African Republic (Transvaal)