There’s a memorial on the Somerset East Dutch Reformed Church grounds in memory of Commandant Paul Erasmus. But who was Paul Erasmus and why is there a memorial dedicated to him?
Paul Jacobus Erasmus was born 21 September 1829 in Somerset East. He married Helena Francina Jacoba Vosloo on 24 January 1853.
Erasmus was Commandant of the Somersetters as part of the Colonial Forces in Basutoland during the Basuto Gun War, also known as the Basutoland Rebellion. The was a conflict between the Basuto and the British Cape Colony and lasted from 13 September 1880 to 29 April 1881, ended in a Basuto victory. Paul Erasmus died in 1881 at Tweefontein in the then Basutoland.
Basutoland became a British Crown Colony from 1884 to 1966 in what is now known as Lesotho. Interesting that the rule of the Cape Colony was not popular in Basutoland, and it was brought under the direct control of the Queen of England. Basutoland gained its independence from the United Kingdom on the 4th of October 1966 and was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho.
