Labram, manufacturer of ‘Long Cecil’ is killed by shell from ‘Long Tom’

George Frederick Labram, manufacturer of a cannon popularly known as 'Long Cecil' in the De Beers' workshop in Kimberley, was killed by a shell from a Boer 'Long Tom' cannon during the siege of Kimberley. Labram, who was chief mechanical engineer at the De Beers Consolidated Mines, manufactured the gun from steel shafting. Within twenty-four days it was shelling the Boer lines. Labram was one of the defendants when Kimberley was under siege by the Boers during Anglo-Boer War 2. He died only a few days before the siege was lifted.