History Helps Volume Six, Number 7, June 2006
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• Greetings
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• A Farm for Sale
• Subscription, Privacy Policy

GREETINGS!

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Boer War (now rather frequently referred to as The South African War) lasted from 1899 to 1902. It claimed the lives of 22,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers, most of whom were buried in South Africa. Until now, maintaining these graves has been the responsibility of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), and the South African taxpayer.

Under an agreement signed in September 2005, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has taken over caring for the graves and memorials of the soldiers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand who died during the Boer War.

The Commission expects to take four years to inventory and refurbish these graves that until now may not have received the attention they deserve.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website is available at: http://www.cwgc.org/

A Farm for Sale

This ad is especially poignant:

“A RARE CHANCE FOR A FINE FARM

My only son being dead, I design to retire from farming. I therefore offer to sell my Homestead, one of the best Farms on the Lower Fraser. The Estate contains 205 acres, including over 3 acres of Orchard, with House and large Barn.

WM. KENT
Ladner’s Landing, Aug. 23rd, 1887”

Source: The Weekly Columbian, 28 September 1887.

TUBERCULOSIS

“Romantics idealized tuberculosis

What did W. C. Fields, Vivien Leigh and Josef Stalin have in common? Along with Noel Coward, Marie Curie and Andrew Jackson?

These personalities with sharply contrasting lifestyles, living in different areas of the world in various historical periods, shared one common bond. Tuberculosis.

TB has inspired terror throughout the centuries. But during the 19th century, romantic notions about the disease also developed. So many artists succumbed to TB that it was thought to afflict creative geniuses, perhaps even causing their frenzied inspirations. Cough, loss of appetite and physical weakness were considered characteristics of artistic sensibilities.

The list of artists who suffered from TB is long and illustrious indeed. John Keats, who died at 25. Frederick Chopin, dead at 39, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Louis Stevenson, Anton Chekov. Eugene O’Neill. Charlotte and Emily Bronte, both dead in their thirties. Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

But creative genius was by no means the only target of TB. Millions upon millions of people whose names we will never know have been destroyed by the disease. Even today, millions, especially in underdeveloped countries, have untreated TB.

Today, however, there are ways to prevent and cure TB once it is diagnosed...”

Source: The Delta Optimist, 05 September 1979, page 6.

Subscription, Privacy Policy

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Gwen Szychter, M.A.

P.S. Here's a favour you can do for me: If you liked this newsletter and found it helpful or just interesting, please pass it on to a friend or colleague. Thank you.

Newspaper Obituary Database coming to

History of Delta, British Columbia On-line

Delta History On-Line

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