Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Kelly, Edward" to "Kite" by Various
1899. He died in London on the 8th of April 1902, being succeeded in the
700 words | Chapter 29
earldom by his eldest and only surviving son, Lord Wodehouse (b. 1848).
KIMBERLEY, a town of the Cape province, South Africa, the centre of the
Griqualand West diamond industry, 647 m. N.E. of Cape Town and 310 m.
S.W. of Johannesburg by rail. Pop. (1904), 34,331, of whom 13,556 were
whites. The town is built on the bare veld midway between the Modder and
Vaal Rivers and is 4012 ft. above the sea. Having grown out of camps
formed round the diamond mines, its plan is very irregular and in
striking contrast with the rectangular outline common to South African
towns. Grouped round market square are the law courts, with a fine clock
tower, the post and telegraph offices and the town-hall. The public
library and the hospital are in Du Toits Pan Road. In the district of
Newton, laid out during the siege of 1899-1900, a monument to those who
fell during the operations has been erected where four roads meet. Siege
Avenue, in the suburb of Kenilworth, 250 ft. wide, a mile and a quarter
long, and planted with 16 rows of trees, was also laid out during the
siege. In the public gardens are statues of Queen Victoria and Cecil
Rhodes. The diamond mines form, however, the chief attraction of the
town (see DIAMOND). Of these the Kimberley is within a few minutes' walk
of market square. The De Beers mine is one mile east of the Kimberley
mine. The other principal mines, Bultfontein, Du Toits Pan and
Wesselton, are still farther distant from the town. Barbed wire fencing
surrounds the mines, which cover about 180 acres.
The Kaffirs who work in the mines are housed in large compounds. Wire
netting is spread over these enclosures, and every precaution taken to
prevent the illicit disposal of diamonds. Ample provision is made for
the comfort of the inmates, who in addition to food and lodging earn
from 17s. to 24s. a week. Most of the white workmen employed live at
Kenilworth, laid out by the De Beers company as a "model village."
Beaconsfield, near Du Toits Pan Mine, is also dependent on the diamond
industry.
Kimberley was founded in 1870 by diggers who discovered diamonds on the
farms of Du Toits Pan and Bultfontein. In 1871 richer diamonds were
found on the neighbouring farm of Vooruitzight at places named De Beers
and Colesberg Kopje. There were at first three distinct mining camps,
one at Du Toits Pan, another at De Beers (called De Beers Rush or Old De
Beers) and the third at the Colesberg Kopje (called De Beers New Rush,
or New Rush simply). The Colesberg Kopje mine was in July 1873 renamed
Kimberley in honour of the then secretary of state for the colonies, the
1st earl of Kimberley, by whose direction the mines were--in 1871--taken
under the protection of Great Britain. Kimberley was also chosen as the
name of the town into which the mining camps developed. Doubt having
arisen as to the rights of the crown to the minerals on Vooruitzight
farm, litigation ensued, ending in the purchase of the farm by the state
for £100,000 in 1875. In 1880 the town was incorporated in Cape Colony
(see GRIQUALAND). In 1874 a great part of the population left for the
newly discovered gold diggings in the Lydenburg district of the
Transvaal, but others took their place. Among those early attracted to
Kimberley were Cecil Rhodes and "Barney" Barnato, who in time came to
represent two groups of financiers controlling the mines. The
amalgamation of their interests in 1889--when the De Beers group
purchased the Kimberley mine for £5,338,650--put the whole diamond
production of the Kimberley fields in the hands of one company, the De
Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., so named after the former owners of the
farms on which are situated the chief mines. Kimberley in consequence
became largely dependent on the good-will of the De Beers corporation,
the town having practically no industries other than diamond mining.
Horse-breeding is carried on to a limited extent. The value of the
annual output of diamonds averages about £4,500,000. The importance of
the industry led to the building of a railway from Cape Town, opened in
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