Ladysmith
KwaZulu-Natal

Ladysmith lies near the south-western border of the Battlefields region at the foothills of the Drakensberg. The town was founded in 1847 by Boer settlers, but two years later taken over by the British. who named it after the Spanish wife of the Governor of the Cape Colony, Lady Juana Maria de los Dolores Smith.

Ladysmith flourished particularly from 1886 on, when the railway line from the Witwatersrand to Durban was opened and the town played an important part as a stop-over and supply centre for the route.

Ladysmith was fiercely fought over in the Anglo-Boer War. The town even made international headlines, when it withstood a 118-days siege through the Boers. 5500 British soldiers and the inhabitants were locked in. They soon ran low on drinking water and diseases broke out. More than 3000 English soldiers lost their lives. Only on February 28, 1900, the British under the command of General Sir Redvers Buller, managed to break through the Boer lines. Ladysmith was finally relieved. The young Mohandas K. Gandhi - later called Mahatma - took as a stretcher bearer part in the liberation. The Hindu community of Ladysmith inaugurated a monument in his honour in 1993.