The Honoured Dead Memorial stands at the meeting point of five roads, commemorating those who died defending the city of Kimberley against the Boers during the Siege of Kimberley in the Anglo-Boer War.

the honoured dead memorial in kimberley, northern cape, south africa 1

This sobering war memorial, inspired by the Nereid Monument at Xanthos and designed by the famed Sir Herbert Baker on commission from Cecil John Rhodes, was unveiled in 1904.

the honoured dead memorial in kimberley, northern cape, south africa 3

It is listed as a provincial heritage site in Kimberley (Northern Cape), and is primarily built of sandstone quarried in from the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe. The memorial serves as a tomb for 27 soldiers, and features the inscription (by Rudyard Kipling):

This for a charge to our children in sign of the price we paid. The Price we paid for the freedom that comes unsoiled to your hand. Read, revere and uncover for here are the victors laid. They that died for the city being sons of the land.

the honoured dead memorial in kimberley, northern cape, south africa 2

Standing at the base of the memorial is the Long Cecil gun, pointed at the Free State and surrounded by shells from the Boers’ Long Tom guns.

the honoured dead memorial in kimberley, northern cape, south africa 4

the honoured dead memorial in kimberley, northern cape, south africa 5

Related Link: Honoured Dead Memorial