Ladysmith is a town situated in the Uthukela district of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, 230 kilometres north-west of Durban and 365 kilometres south of Johannesburg. Important industries in the area include: textiles, food processing and tire production. 

Both Alfred Duma Local Municipality and the Uthukela District Municipality are situated in Ladysmith.

In 1900, the unincorporated town of Oyster Harbour, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, was renamed ‘Ladysmith’ by James Dunsmuir, in honor of the lifting of the siege of Ladysmith by the British during the Second Boer War. The siege had been lifted on the 28th of February in the same year.

After buying land from the Zulu king Mpande in 1847, a number of Boers led by Andries Spies settled in the area calling it the ‘Republic of Klip River’. In the same year, the republic was annexed by the British who later proclaimed it to be a township called Windsor (20 June 1850). On 11 October 1850 the name was changed to ‘Ladysmith’ after the Spanish wife of the British general governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner.

In 1860 a fort was built to protect the villagers from the Zulu.