The camps were formed by the British army to house the residents of the two Boer republics of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. They were established towards the end of 1900, after Britain had invaded the Boer republics. This database was designed to investigate mortality and morbidity in the camps during the war. Although it will include everyone listed in the registers during the war, it usually excludes returning prisoners-of-war and men who came back from commando at the end of the war, as well as the considerable movement of people which took place after 31 May 1902, when families were repatriated to their homes.

The database is an ongoing project and a number of registers have yet to be completed. Because of the complexity of the sources, most of them produced under wartime conditions, and the incomplete nature of the project, the database does contain duplicates and inconsistencies. Although they will be eliminated as far as possible, variants will always remain.

The work on the database has been undertaken by Dr Elizabeth van Heyningen, and a team of research assistants. Elizabeth van Heyningen is an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town. She is co-author of Cape Town. The Making of a City, Cape Town in the Twentieth Century and The Cape Doctor in the Nineteenth Century. A Social History. In addition she has written a number of articles on the camps.