About Ladysmith Siege Museum
The Ladysmith Siege Museum is dedicated to the four month siege of the town of Ladysmith, South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War.
History of the Ladysmith Siege Museum
The Siege of Ladysmith occurred when, on 30 October 1899, Boer forces under Commandant-General Piet Joubert forced British forces into Ladysmith and surrounded the town.
It was not broken until 29 February 1900, when British relief forces arrived, including a young Winston Churchill who was among the first British troops to relieve the city. By this time, starvation had set in and the British had suffered significant losses, many of them caused by disease.
The Ladysmith Siege Museum explores both the siege itself and the war as a whole, displaying artefacts from the conflict. The building in which the Ladysmith Siege Museum is housed was constructed in 1884 and was used to store rations during the siege.
The Ladysmith Siege Museum today
The museum is open Monday – Friday and Saturday mornings: it’s not big but it is stuffed with exhibits and provides a comprehensive overview of the siege and some context surrounding the Boer War.
Information is provided in Afrikaans, Zulu and English.
Getting to the Ladysmith Siege Museum
The museum is located next to the town hall in Ladysmith: it’s not a huge town and you’ll almost certainly have a car with you if you’re in this neck of the woods. There are several major battlefields from the Boer War around this site so many people choose to stay in town and take day trips out to them with a guide. Ladysmith itself is about 3 hours drive north west of Durban.
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