10 Cents Ragama; PoW Camp

Ragama, north of Colombo, held Boer prisoners captured during the South African War — one of several camps Britain established in Ceylon to reduce overcrowding in South Africa. This 10 Cents note was issued as internal camp scrip, allowing prisoners to make small purchases within the camp canteen system without handling sterling currency. The British authorities ran similar scrip arrangements at camps in Bermuda, St. Helena, and India, though surviving Ceylon examples are considerably scarcer.

Campbell 4817 is the standard reference. Paper camp issues from Ragama are routinely found with heavy handling damage — the scrip circulated intensively within a confined population before the camp closed in 1902.