Meyer de Kock

Meyer de Kock (5 October 1849 – 12 February 1901) was a citizen of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek ("ZAR") during the Second Anglo-Boer War. After the British had captured the capital Pretoria and annexed the Transvaal, he surrendered on 10 December 1900. In January 1901, he went to the eastern Transvaal to persuade burghers still in the field to surrender. He was arrested, court-martialled, and later, on 12 February 1901, executed by firing squad.

The War Prior to the Second Anglo-Boer War Meyer de Kock was a businessman living with his wife in Belfast in the eastern part of the ZAR. He was a dignified, progressive and well-liked man from a good family. When war broke out in October 1899, de Kock did not join his local commando but remained behind to guard the bridges and railway line from Lourenço Marques (Maputo) to Pretoria. After Lord Roberts captured Pretoria on 5 June 1900, his army swept down the railway line past Belfast and reached the Portuguese border by 25 September 1900. The ZAR was annexed by the British Crown on 25 October 1900.

Like many other burghers, De Kock regarded the war as having been lost and he voluntarily surrendered to the British garrison in Belfast on 10 December 1900.

The Peace Committees De Kock was taken to Pretoria, where he was interviewed by Colonel D. Henderson, the head of British military intelligence, and also by Lord Kitchener, to whom he conveyed his complaints about British troops. Shortly thereafter he met a number of other burghers who had decided to surrender. They discussed various ways in which peace could be made. They decided to return to their own districts, form local peace committees, and approach the burghers in the field to try and persuade them to surrender. On 12 February 1901, he was shot next to his open grave. The location of the gravestone is 25°22.89'S, 30°00.536'E (WGS84).