The South African War Memorial is set in Confederation Park in downtown Ottawa. Thirty thousand school children donated pennies to pay for this monument to Canadian volunteers who died in the South African War (Boer War) of 1899–1902.
The monument is comprised of a bronze statue on a stone pedestal. The bronze statue depicts a man dressed in the uniform used during the South African War. He is holding a rifle and has his hat raised above his head. On the pedestal, there are two plaques. The plaques honour sixteen Ottawa volunteers who died in the South African War, in which 267 Canadians lost their lives. The monument was created by the sculptor Hamilton MacCarthy in 1902. It was previously erected in Confederation Square near the National War Memorial, 1967-68.
In 2012, the Animals in War Dedication was unveiled next to the South African War Memorial. The location is symbolic because Canada supplied 50,000 horses for the South African War.
Hamilton P. MacCarthy was born on 28 July 1846 in London, England. He studied with his father, sculptor Hamilton Wright MacCarthy and at the Royal Academy Schools. MacCarthy moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1885. Thirteen years later he moved to Ottawa and studied at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. MacCarthy had 15 children and his son Coeur de Lion MacCarthy was a sculptor who produced numerous commemorative works after the First World War.
Other memorials by Hamilton MacCarthy include: South African War Memorial and Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden Memorial in Nova Scotia; Soldiers Monument in Prince Edward Island; General Isaac Brock Monument and Boer War Memorial in Ontario; Boer War Memorial in Quebec.
