1 Rupee Diyatalawa; PoW Camp

Diyatalawa, in the hill country of Ceylon, held Boer prisoners captured during the South African War — at its peak, several thousand men were interned there. The British Army established an internal scrip system to allow basic canteen transactions without real currency passing through the camp, which is the only reason these notes exist at all. They circulate in a closed economy of captivity, not commerce.

Campbell 4802 is among the scarcer denominations from this camp. Prisoner-of-war scrip of this period survives poorly — subject to destruction upon repatriation, confiscation, or simple loss — and Diyatalawa material is substantially less common than the parallel Deadwood Camp issues from St. Helena.