5 Rupees Ragama; PoW Camp

Ragama, a small town north of Colombo in Ceylon, housed Boer prisoners captured during the South African War — one of several camps the British established outside South Africa itself to reduce escape risk and logistical pressure on the Cape Colony. This note was issued within that camp as internal scrip, allowing prisoners to make purchases from the canteen without handling official currency. The British military ran a parallel economy inside these facilities; scrip prevented hoarded sterling from funding escape attempts.

Campbell 4821 is among the rarer denominations from Ragama. Most camp scrip was destroyed or surrendered at repatriation in 1902.