The Cenotaph on Du Toitspan Road, is a Memorial to 400 of Kimberley’s Men who died in the Great War (World War I) between 1914 and 1918. Designed by the local Architect and Artist William Timlin, it was unveiled by four Mothers, each of whom had lost either Sons, or a Husband, during the War. A sketchy documentation of the unveiling means that today we know little about these Women. What is unusual about the Cenotaph is its memorial dates - 1914 to 1919. Although the war officially ended on 11 November 1918, the Peace Treaty was signed only in 1919.
What Kimberley archives do reveal is that Ethel Annie Pickering, who lost both Sons in the War, fired the first shell from the Long Cecil gun, during the event. Historian, Steve Lunderstedt reports that research brought to light a Catherine Anderson (vouched for by her grandson in Perth, Australia) and a Katie Solomon, as well.
The Cenotaph lies alongside the Square HIll Park Memorial in memory of the two infantry battalions of Cape Coloured men who fought in East-Africa and Palestine. This German field gun was captured by the Cape Corps near Jerusalem in September 1918. The gun used to stand on Victoria Crescent but was rededicated at the Cenotaph in 1997. The Kimberley Cenotaph will undergo Restoration soon, with money from a grant from Veterans Affairs Canada, and a matching sum of money from the City of Kimberley.
The Cenotaph will move and be incorporated into a Rebuild in Memorial of War Veterans. The Park will be called the Kimberley Veterans’ Memorial Park.
