Hanover Cemetery

There are some fascinating reasons to visit the town’s cemetery, situated across the N1 to the west of the Caltex garage.

There’s an obelisk in memory of three young South African men who were executed during the Anglo-Boer War. This event deeply touched the lives of Hanover inhabitants because the men were not guilty of the crime they were charged with – derailing and plundering a train and therefore ‘maliciously assisting Boer forces’.

They were tried on somewhat dubious authority by a military court at De Aar, and in spite of protesting their innocence to the end, they were shot by a British firing squad. A Boer general later stated that his commando was responsible for the derailment and after the war, he joined Olive and Cron Schreiner in a lengthy campaign to clear the three men’s names.