1.
British Cape Colony
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The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony, was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, the Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province, South Africa became fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time, from 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands, both in what is now Namibia. An expedition of the Dutch East India Company led by Jan van Riebeeck established a trading post, van Riebeecks objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for Dutch ships during the long voyages between Europe and Asia. Reflecting the multi-national nature of the trading companies, the Dutch also granted vrijburger status to a number of former Scandinavian and German employees as well. In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon the Edict of Fontainebleau. There was a degree of assimilation due to intermarriage. Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent, known as Boers, they migrated westwards beyond the Cape Colonys initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland. Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as trekboers, Dutch traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East Indies and other parts of Africa. By the end of the century the Capes population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic. The British, who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, in 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London. The British started to settle the border of the colony
2.
Colony of Natal
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The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It is now the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, fierce conflict with the Zulu population led to the evacuation of Durban, and eventually the Boers accepted British annexation in 1844 under military pressure. A British governor was appointed to the region and many emigrated from Europe. The British established a sugar industry in the 1860s. Farm owners had a difficult time attracting Zulu labourers to work on their plantations, as a result of the importation of Indian labourers, Durban became the home to the largest concentration of Indians outside of India. In 1823 Francis Farewell, formerly a lieutenant in the British navy, with merchants of Cape Town. In the brig Salisbury, commanded by James S. King, the voyage was not successful as a trading venture, but Farewell was so impressed with the possibilities of Natal both for trade and colonization that he resolved to establish himself at the port. He went on with ten companions, among them Henry Francis Fynn, all the rest save Farewell and Fynn speedily returned to the Cape, but the two who remained were joined by three sailors, John Cane, Henry Ogle and Thomas Holstead. On the 27th of the same month Farewell declared the territory he had acquired a British possession, Farewell, King and Fynn made independent settlements at various parts of the bay. Both Dr Smith and Uys travelled overland through Kaffraria, and were received by the English living at the bay. The next step was taken by the settlers at the port, who in 1835 resolved to lay out a town, to all these requests no official answer was returned. The settlers had joined in the year named by Allen Francis Gardiner. With the support of the traders he founded a station on the hill overlooking the bay. In 1837 Gardiner was given authority by the British government to exercise jurisdiction over the traders and they, however, refused to acknowledge Gardiners authority, and from the Cape government he received no support. The next wave of immigration consisted of Voortrekkers fleeing British rule in Cape Colony, in May 1838 the Boers took control of the port and soon afterwards established the Natalia Republic. The Republic suffered from disorganized government and poor relations with the Zulus, on 2 December 1841, Sir George Thomas Napier, governor of Cape Colony, issued a proclamation declaring his intent to resume British military occupation of Port Natal. Most of the Voortrekkers left by 1843, Natal was proclaimed a British Colony in 1843, and administered from the Cape Colony in 1844. However, it was not until the end of 1845 that an administration was installed with Martin West as lieutenant-governor that the power of the Boer Volksraad finally came to an end
3.
Orange Free State
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It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. In the northern part of the territory a Voortrekker Republic was established at Winburg in 1837 and this state was in federation with the Republic of Potchefstroom which later formed part of the South African Republic. The new republic incorporated the Orange River Sovereignty and included the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic and it ceased to exist as an independent Boer republic on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Boer War. Following a period of rule by the British, it joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 as the Orange Free State Province, along with the Cape Province, Natal. In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa. The republics name derives partly from the Orange River, which in turn was named in honour of the Dutch ruling royal family, the official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch. Europeans first visited the north of the Orange River towards the close of the 18th century. At that time, the population was sparse, early in the 19th century Griquas established themselves north of the Orange. Between 1817 and 1831, the country was devastated by the chief Mzilikazi and his Matabele in the known as the Mfecane. Up to this time the few Europeans who had crossed the Orange had come mainly as hunters or as missionaries and they were followed in 1836 by the first parties of the Great Trek. These emigrants left the Cape Colony for various reasons, but all shared the desire to escape from British authority. When Boer families first reached the area discovered that it had been devastated by a section of the Zulu tribe under Mzilikazi and his people. The Matebele had swept the country, destroying the fields, carrying off the cattle, the Boers soon came into collision with Mzilikazis raiding parties, which attacked Boer hunters who crossed the Vaal River. Reprisals followed, and in November 1837 the Boers decisively defeated Mzilikazi, in the meantime another party of Cape Dutch emigrants had settled at Thaba Nchu, where the Wesleyans had a mission station for the Barolong. The emigrants were treated with kindness by Moroka II, the chief of that tribe. In December 1836 the emigrants beyond the Orange drew up in general assembly an elementary form of government. After the defeat of Mzilikazi the town of Winburg was founded, a Volksraad elected, the emigrants already numbered some 500 men, besides women and children and many servants. Dissensions speedily arose among the emigrants, whose numbers were added to
4.
South African Republic
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The territory of the ZAR became known after this war as the Transvaal Colony. Constitutionally the name of the country was Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, many people also called the ZAR Transvaal, in reference to the area over the Vaal River including the British press and the press in Europe. In fact the name Transvaal was later so often used later the British objected to the use of the real name. The British pointed out that the Convention of Pretoria of 3 August 1881 referred to the Transvaal Territory and that the Transvaal and the South African Republic did not have the same boundaries. However, in the London Convention dated 27 February 1884, a subsequent treaty between Britain and the ZAR, Britain acquiesced and reverted to the use of the true name and this proclamation was issued during the Second Boer War and whilst the ZAR was still an independent country. On 20 May 1903 an Inter Colonial Council was established, to manage the colonies of the British Government, the name Transvaal was finally changed in 1994, when the ANC government broke up the Transvaal area and renamed the core to Gauteng. In paleolithic times, between 2.2 and 3.3 million years ago, hominids lived within the area of the ZAR. The earliest hominid bones, between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, were discovered at Sterkfontein in 1994, in 1938 Paranthropus robustus bones were found at Kromdraai, and during 1947 several more examples of Australopithecus africanus were uncovered in Sterkfontein. The capital was established at Potchefstroom and later moved to Pretoria, the parliament was called the Volksraad and had 24 members. The South African Republic became fully independent on the 27 February 1884 when the London Convention was signed, the country independently also entered into various agreements with other foreign countries after that date. On 3 November 1884 the country signed a Postal convention with the government of the Cape Colony, on the November 1859 the independent Republic of Lijdenburg merged with the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek. On 9 May 1887, burghers from the territories of Stellaland, on 25 July 1895 the burghers that took part in the battle at Zoutpansberg, were granted citizenship of the ZAR. The constitution of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek has been referred to as interesting for its time. It contained provisions for the division between the leadership and office bearers in government administration. The legal system consisted of higher and lower courts and had adopted a jury system, the laws were enforced by the South African Republic Police which were divided into Mounted Police and Foot Police. Also established was a Municipal Government, Witwatersrand District court and the High Court of Transvaal, initially the State and Church were not separated in the constitution of the ZAR, citizens of the ZAR had to be members of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1858 these clauses were altered in the constitution to allow for the Volksraad to approve other Dutch Christian churches. The Reformed Church was approved by the Volksraad in 1858, which had the effect of allowing Paul Kruger, the Bible itself was also often used to interpret the intention of legal documents
5.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
6.
1900
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As of the start of 1900, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. As of March 1, when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, january 2 – U. S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote American trade with China. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announces a theory about the cause of the Earths magnetism, january 6 – Second Boer War, Boers attempt to end the Siege of Ladysmith, which leads to the Battle of Platrand. January 9 – S. S. Lazio, an Italian professional sports club, is founded in Rome, january 14 Puccinis opera Tosca premieres in Rome, Italy. The U. S. Senate accepts the British-German treaty of 1899, january 24 – The Second Boer War, At the Battle of Spion Kop, Boer troops defeat the British Army. January 27 – Boxer Rebellion, Foreign diplomats in Peking, Qing dynasty China, january 31 – Datu Muhammad Salleh, leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion in North Borneo, is shot dead in Tambunan. February 5 – The United Kingdom and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal across Central America in Nicaragua, february 6 – The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree. February 8 – Second Boer War, British troops are defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith, february 14 – Second Boer War – Battle of Paardeberg,20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State. February 15 – Second Boer War, The Siege of Kimberley is lifted, february 17 – Second Boer War, Battle of Paardeberg, British troops defeat the Boers. February 27 FC Bayern, Germanys most successful club, is founded in Munich. Second Boer War, British military leaders accept the notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé. British Labour Party, officially established in London, England, United Kingdom, March 5 – Two U. S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. March 6 – A coal mine explosion in West Virginia, U. S. A. kills 50 miners, March 14 – Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendels Laws of Heredity. March 15 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard, March 16 – The British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on Crete on which the ruins of the palace of Knossos stand. He begins to unearth some of the three days later. March 18 – AFC Ajax, a most successful club in Netherlands. March 27 – The arrival of a Russian naval fleet in Korea causes concern to the Imperial Japanese government, april 14 – The Paris World Exhibition opens. April 22 – Battle of Kousséri, French forces secure their domination of Chad, warlord Rabih az-Zubayr is defeated and killed
7.
Cape Colony
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The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony, was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, the Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province, South Africa became fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time, from 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands, both in what is now Namibia. An expedition of the Dutch East India Company led by Jan van Riebeeck established a trading post, van Riebeecks objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for Dutch ships during the long voyages between Europe and Asia. Reflecting the multi-national nature of the trading companies, the Dutch also granted vrijburger status to a number of former Scandinavian and German employees as well. In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon the Edict of Fontainebleau. There was a degree of assimilation due to intermarriage. Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent, known as Boers, they migrated westwards beyond the Cape Colonys initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland. Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as trekboers, Dutch traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East Indies and other parts of Africa. By the end of the century the Capes population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic. The British, who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, in 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London. The British started to settle the border of the colony
8.
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner
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He was the key imperial official in using poor diplomacy that helped cause the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. From December 1916 to November 1918, he was one of the most important members of David Lloyd Georges War Cabinet, an influential public servant for three decades, Milner was a visionary exponent of imperial unity at a time when imperialism was beginning to be called into question. His reputation exceeded his achievements, Office and honours were heaped upon him despite his lack of identification with either political party. Milners partial German ancestry dates to his grandmother, married to an Englishman who settled in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. His wife was a daughter of Major General John Ready, former Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, in 1885 he abandoned journalism for a potential political career as the Liberal candidate for the Harrow division of Middlesex, but lost in the general election. He remained in Egypt for four years, his period of office coinciding with the first great reforms, returning to England in 1892, he published England and Egypt which, at once, became the authoritative account of the work done since the British occupation. Later that year he received an appointment as chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, in 1894 he was made CB and in 1895 KCB. Alfred Milner remained at the Board of Inland Revenue until 1897, the moment for testing his capacity in the highest degree had now come. In April, Lord Rosmead resigned his posts of High Commissioner for Southern Africa, the situation resulting from the Jameson raid was one of the greatest delicacy and difficulty, and Joseph Chamberlain, now colonial secretary, selected Milner as Lord Rosmeads successor. The choice was approved by the leaders of the Liberal party. Between August 1897 and May 1898 he travelled through Cape Colony, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Rhodesia, and Basutoland. To better understand the point of view of the Cape Dutch and he came to the conclusion that there could be no hope of peace and progress in South Africa while there remained the permanent subjection of British to Dutch in one of the Republics. Milner was referring to the situation in the Transvaal where, in the aftermath of the discovery of gold, thousands of fortune seekers had flocked from all over Europe, but mostly Britain. This influx of foreigners, referred to as Uitlanders, threatened their republic, independent Transvaal thus stood in the way of Britains ambition to control all of Africa from the Cape to Cairo. Milner realised that, with the discovery of gold in the Transvaal and this gave Milner the pretext to use the Uitlander question to his advantage. Later in 1899, Milner would meet Violet Cecil, the wife of Major Lord Edward Cecil, Edward Cecil was commissioned to South Africa after serving in the Grenadier Guards. Milner and Violet would begin an affair that would last until her departure in late 1900 back to England. She had an effect on his disposition, Milner himself wrote in his diary that he was feeling very low indeed
9.
Charles Mitchell (governor)
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Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell GCMG was a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Marines, before joining the Colonial Service, in which he served in British Honduras, British Guiana, Natal. He then served as Governor of Fiji, of the British Colony of Natal & Zululand and he attended the Royal Naval School and joined the Royal Marines in 1852. He served with them in the Baltic campaigns from 1854-1856 and he retired from the marines in 1878. Mitchells first wife Fanny Rice died in 1885 and he had a son, Colonel Hugh Mitchell, RM, Mitchell died on 7 December 1899. Governor of the Colony who died in Singapore on 7 December 1899 and this tablet is erected by the members of the Civil Service of the Straits Settlements. Marines from the HMS Hermione served as a guard and pallbearers for the Mitchells funeral Mitchell Park Zoo in Durban. Obituary, The Times, Friday 8 December 1899, pg.6 The Knights of England Image of Sir Charles Mitchell
10.
Martinus Theunis Steyn
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Martinus Theunis Steyn was a South African lawyer, politician, and statesman, sixth and last president of the independent Orange Free State from 1896 to 1902. The Steyn family farmed near Winburg on the farm Josephinesdal, Steyn was born on 2 October 1857 on the farm Rietfontein near Winburg in the Orange Free State. His father Marthinus was away from home, after the death of his own father and this was around trip of three months from Winburg to Swellendam in the Cape Colony. As Cecilia, Steyns mother was pregnant with Marthinus Theunis, they thought it saver for her to stay with her sister Gertruida, that was married to Theunis Wessels, in later years his family always called him Theunis. During the Basotho War of 1858, the Steyns was driven from their farm, after the death of Steyns two grandfathers, his Wessels grandmother convinced his father to buy his own farm. They bought the farm Suurfontein/Zuurfontein, on the Modder River, about 13 miles from Bloemfontein and it is on this farm that Steyn spent most of his youth years. It was here that he experienced and came to love the open and it was days of hard work and assisting with everything on the farm. Steyn started his school years in a farm school, on the farm Rooiwal. The school was about forty minutes per horse and the teacher was a Mister Wiggins, another Basoeto War started in 1864. At the age of 16 he left school with his brother Tewie to farm on Zuurfontein, Steyns family lived right across from the then president of the Free State, J. H. Brand, in Bloemfontein. The family formed part of the Dutch families that where socially active, the Steyn home in Bloemfontein, Green Lodge, was the meeting place for the young people of Bloemfontein. According to Judge Buchanans daughter, he was set on convincing Steyns father that they needed to send Steyn to the Netherlands to study law at the Rijks University in Leiden, Leiden University. Steyn and his friend Harry Vels left in May 1877 on the Dunrobin Castle from Port Elizabeth for Cape Town, in Cape Town more passengers, including Rev. J. P. Steyn and Vels did preparatory studies under W. F. P, wisselink at the Gymnasium in Deventer. In September 1879 they would have written their admission exams for the Leiden University, however and this decision was made as they needed an English certificate and training to be allowed to practice law in South Africa. Steyn wrote his admission exam in January 1880 for the Inner Temple in London, Steyn was called to the English bar in November 1882 and shortly afterwards returned to South Africa. After his return to South Africa he set up practice as barrister in Bloemfontein, in 1889 Steyn was appointed state attorney of the Orange Free State. A few months afterwards he became second judge, and in 1893 first puisne judge of the high court
11.
Paul Kruger
–
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Paul Kruger was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. Born near the edge of the Cape Colony, Kruger took part in the Great Trek as a child during the late 1830s. He had almost no education apart from the Bible and, through his interpretations of scripture, in 1863 he was elected Commandant-General, a post he held for a decade before he resigned soon after the election of President Thomas François Burgers. Kruger was appointed Vice-President in 1877, shortly before the South African Republic was annexed by Britain as the Transvaal, Kruger served until 1883 as a member of an executive triumvirate, then was elected President. In 1884 he headed a deputation that brokered the London Convention. Kruger left for Europe as the war turned against the Boers in 1900 and spent the rest of his life in exile, refusing to return home following the British victory. After he died in Switzerland at the age of 78 in 1904, his body was returned to South Africa for a state funeral, the family was of Dutch-speaking Afrikaner or Boer background, of German, French Huguenot and Dutch stock. His paternal ancestors had been in South Africa since 1713, when Jacob Krüger, from Berlin and his mothers family, the Steyns, had lived in South Africa since 1668 and were relatively affluent and cultured by Cape standards. Krugers great-great-uncle Hermanus Steyn had been President of the self-declared Republic of Swellendam that revolted against Company rule in 1795, Bulhoek, Krugers birthplace, was the Steyn family farm and had been Elsies home since early childhood, her father Douw Gerbrand Steyn had settled there in 1809. The Krugers and Steyns were acquainted and Casper occasionally visited Bulhoek as a young man and he and Elsie married in Cradock in 1820, when he was 18 and she was 14. A girl, Sophia, and a boy, Douw Gerbrand, were born before Pauls arrival in 1825 and his mother died when he was eight, Casper soon remarried and had more children with his second wife, Heiletje. Beyond reading and writing, which he learned from relatives, Krugers only education was three months under a tutor, Tielman Roos, and Calvinist religious instruction from his father. In adulthood Kruger would claim to have never read any book apart from the Bible, in 1835 Casper Kruger, his father and his brothers Gert and Theuns moved their families east and set up farms near the Caledon River, on the Cape Colonys far north-eastern frontier. The Cape had been under British sovereignty since 1814, when the Netherlands ceded it to Britain with the Convention of London and they had given little thought to the idea of leaving the Cape. A group of emigrants under Hendrik Potgieter passed through the Krugers Caledon encampments in early 1836, Potgieter envisioned a Boer republic with himself in a prominent role, he sufficiently impressed the Krugers that they joined his party of Voortrekkers. Krugers father continued to give the religious education in the Boer fashion during the trek, having them recite or write down biblical passages from memory each day after lunch. At stops along the journey classrooms were improvised from reeds and grass, the Voortrekkers faced competition for the area they were entering from Mzilikazi and his Ndebele people, a recent offshoot from the Zulu Kingdom to the south-east. Kruger and the small children assisted in tasks such as bullet-casting while the women and larger boys helped the fighting men
12.
William Schreiner
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William Philip Schreiner CMG QC was a barrister, politician, statesman and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the Second Boer War. Schreiner was born at Wittebergen Mission Station near Herschel, Eastern Cape and he was the tenth child of two missionaries Gottlob Schreiner and his wife, the former Rebecca Lyndall, and a younger brother of the writer Olive Schreiner. He was educated at Bedford, the South African College in Cape Town, the University of the Cape of Good Hope and he took a First in the London LL. B. Examination and was senior jurist in the Cambridge Law Tripos and he was admitted to the English bar in 1882, returned to Cape Town as an advocate of the Cape Supreme Court and established a thriving law practice. Schreiner became a draughtsman in 1885, and acted as legal adviser to the gGovernor. His proximity to parliamentarians gave him an entrée to political life, Schreiner was elected member for Malmesbury in 1898 and later that year became prime minister himself, heading a cabinet that included John X. Merriman and Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer. As prime minister Schreiner favoured negotiation rather than hostilities, to the chagrin of the governor and high commissioner, Alfred Milner, Schreiner was forced to resign from the premiership and from Parliament in June 1900. He failed to win a seat in 1904, but returned in 1908 as the member for Queenstown and he now adopted a liberal Bantu policy, influenced by a visit he had made in 1899 to the Transkei and the African leader John Tengo Jabavu. Schreiner advocated integration and equal rights for all civilised men, with the forming of the Union in 1910 he became one of the first senators nominated to look after Black interests. Schreiner was on holiday in England at the outbreak of the First World War and was asked by Gen. Botha to fill the post of High Commissioner for South Africa in London and he died in office on 28 June 1919, the day the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Schreiner was married in 1884 to Frances Hester Reitz, a sister of President F. W. Reitz and they had four children, including Oliver Schreiner, who became a judge. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Schreiner, William Philip, portraits of William Schreiner at the National Portrait Gallery, London The papers of WP Schreiner held by the University of Cape Town Libraries
13.
Gordon Sprigg
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Sir John Gordon Sprigg, GCMG, PC was a British administrator, politician and four-time prime minister of the Cape Colony. Sprigg was born in Ipswich, England, into a strongly Puritan family and his father was a pastor and his strictly conservative up-bringing had a lifelong effect on Spriggs values. He was educated at Ipswich School, as well as a series of private schools. He started his career in an office, and then switched jobs to become a short-hand writer and reporter. However, his health caused him to emigrate to the Cape Colony in 1858 to recuperate. He managed to acquire a farm in what was known at the time as British Kaffraria. His newly acquired property lay near the Capes frontier, and was surrounded by a large population of non-Christian Xhosa people – whom Sprigg regarded with considerable suspicion. This led him to become concerned about issues of frontier security. In 1869, he became the member of the Cape Parliament for East London, both suggestions were rejected outright by the Prime Minister at the time, John Molteno, a strong advocate of racial and regional unity in the Cape. Sprigg was to remain a federalist for the remainder of his career, as the previous opposition leader, John X. Merriman converted and joined the Molteno government, Sprigg and Paterson became the de facto leaders of the opposition. As the machinations began for bringing the states into the British confederation. Offers of titles and threats of dismissal failed to persuade him to back down, in 1878, Governor Frere appealed to the authority of the British Colonial Office to suspend the elected Cape government, and assumed direct control of the country. Freres first attempts to find a replacement government were unsuccessful, as the Capes most influential local leaders all refused his request to take office, Frere then turned to Sprigg, his closest local ally, and offered him the position of Prime Minister and Colonial Secretary. In spite of the war, Sprigg famously left his family and farm on the border immediately. It was a favour which Frere greatly valued, and, writing to Carnarvon, he praised the important, Frere appointed Sprigg on condition that he supported confederation, so Sprigg dutifully began making arrangements for a Federal Conference in June 1880. However, local Cape opposition to it was so strong and widespread that Sprigg had to give up on the idea, elsewhere in southern Africa, Freres attempts to enforce confederation were sparking wars with the Xhosa, the Zulu Kingdom, the Pedi and the Transvaal Republic. A consequence of this was that Sprigg was Prime Minister during the disastrous First Boer War and this period also saw massive spending on defence and the accumulation of a large government debt. In response, Sprigg revived the deeply unpopular hut tax which had been terminated by his predecessor, at the time of taking office, Sprigg faced a parliament which was overwhelmingly supportive of the previous government which Frere had deposed
14.
Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
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Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD, PC was a British soldier who was one of the most successful commanders of the 19th century. He served in the Indian Rebellion, the Expedition to Abyssinia and he also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904. Born at Cawnpore, India, on 30 September 1832, Roberts was the son of General Sir Abraham Roberts, at the time Sir Abraham was commanding the 1st Bengal European Regiment. Roberts was named Sleigh in honour of the commander, Major General William Sleigh. His mother was Edinburgh-born Isabella Bunbury, daughter of Major Abraham Bunbury from Kilfeacle in County Tipperary, Roberts was educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and Addiscombe Military Seminary before entering the East India Company Army as a second lieutenant with the Bengal Artillery on 12 December 1851. He became Aide-de-Camp to his father in 1852, transferred to the Bengal Horse Artillery in 1854 and was promoted to lieutenant on 31 May 1857 and he was awarded the Victoria Cross medal for actions on 2 January 1858 at Khudaganj. The citation reads, Lieutenant Roberts gallantry has on occasion been most marked. On following the enemy on 2 January 1858, at Khodagunge. Lieutenant Roberts put spurs to his horse, and overtook them just as they were about to enter a village and he also, on the same day, cut down another Sepoy who was standing at bay, with musket and bayonet, keeping off a Sowar. Lieutenant Roberts rode to the assistance of the horseman, and, rushing at the Sepoy, with one blow of his sword cut him across the face and he was also mentioned in despatches for his service at Lucknow in March 1858. In common with other officers he transferred from the East India Company Army to the Indian Army that year. Having been promoted to lieutenant colonel on 15 August 1868 and to the substantive rank of captain on 18 November 1868. He was promoted to the rank of major on 5 July 1872, appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath on 10 September 1872. That year he became Quartermaster-General of the Bengal Army, in September 1879 he was despatched, along with Maurice Abraham Cohen an expert in the Urdu language, to Kabul to seek retribution for the death of Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British envoy there. He was also given the rank of lieutenant-general on 11 November 1879. He was commander of the Kabul Field Force and brought at least 20 field guns with his army during the conquest and this was followed by his promotion to a supernumerary general on 28 November 1890 and to the substantive rank of general on 31 December 1891. On 23 February 1892 he was created Baron Roberts of Kandahar in Afghanistan and he was promoted field marshal on 25 May 1895 and received the Order of St Patrick during 1897. While in Ireland, Roberts completed a memoir of his years in India and his appointment was a response to a string of defeats in the early weeks of the war and was accompanied by the despatch of huge reinforcements
15.
Cape Town
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Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg and it is also the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. As the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, it is also the capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, in 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both the American New York Times and the British Daily Telegraph. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was first developed by the Dutch East India Company as a station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India. Jan van Riebeecks arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa, the earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as Cape of Good Hope because of the optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India. Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, in the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English but mainly Portuguese ships regularly stopped over in Table Bay en route to the Indies. They traded tobacco, copper and iron with the Khoikhoi in exchange for fresh meat, the settlement grew slowly during this period, as it was hard to find adequate labour. This labour shortage prompted the authorities to import slaves from Indonesia, many of these became ancestors of the first Cape Coloured communities. Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, had an important, the Dutch Republic being transformed in Revolutionary Frances vassal Batavian Republic, Great Britain moved to take control of its colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain and it became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s. With expansion came calls for independence from Britain, with the Cape attaining its own parliament. Suffrage was established according to the non-racial, but sexist Cape Qualified Franchise, the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1867, and the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in 1886, prompted a flood of immigrants to South Africa
16.
Redvers Buller
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Redvers Buller was born at the family estate of Downes, near Crediton in Devon, inherited by his great-grandfather James Buller from his mother Elizabeth Gould, the wife of James Buller, MP. The Bullers were an old Cornish family, long seated at Morval in Cornwall until their removal to Downes, after completing his schooling at Eton he was commissioned into the 60th Rifles in May 1858. He served in the Second Opium War and was promoted captain before taking part in the Canadian Red River Expedition of 1870, in 1873–74 he was the intelligence officer under Lord Wolseley during the Ashanti campaign, during which he was slightly wounded at the Battle of Ordabai. He was promoted to major and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and he then served in South Africa during the 9th Cape Frontier War in 1878 and the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. In the Zulu War he commanded the infantry of the northern British column under Sir Evelyn Wood. He fought at the British defeat at the Battle of Hlobane, the following day he fought in the British victory at the Battle of Kambula. After the Zulu attacks on the British position were beaten off, in June 1879, he again commanded mounted troops at the Battle of Ulundi, a decisive British victory which effectively ended the war. His VC citation reads, For his gallant conduct at the retreat at Inhlobana, on the 28th March,1879, in having assisted, whilst hotly pursued by Zulus, in rescuing Captain C. DArcy, of the Frontier Light Horse, who was retiring on foot, also for having on the same date and under the same circumstances, conveyed Lieutenant C. Everitt, of the Frontier Light Horse, whose horse had been killed under him, Buller. it was discovered that the mountain was surrounded by a vast horde of Zulus. An attempt was made to descend on the side opposite to the pass, ashby and his little party endeavoured to fight their way down, and at last he and a man named Andrew Gemmell, now living in New Zealand, were the only ones left. With their faces to the foe, firing as they retired, then an unfortunate thing happened, Cpl. Ashbys rifle burst, but, fortunately for him, Col. Buller, afterwards Sir Redvers Buller, who was one of the party, came galloping by, Col. Buller was a heavy man, and his horse was a light one, and realizing this, Cpl. But the Colonel stayed with him, and, Cpl, ashby having picked up a rifle and ammunition from a fallen comrade, the two men retired, firing whenever a foeman showed himself. They eventually reached the camp, and for this service. Out of 500 men who made the attack on the Zjilobane Mountain, in the First Boer War of 1881 he was Sir Evelyn Woods chief of staff and the following year was again head of intelligence, this time in the Egypt campaign, and was knighted. He was sent to Ireland in 1886, to head an inquiry into moonlighting by police personnel and he returned to the Army as Quartermaster-General to the Forces the following year and in 1890 promoted to Adjutant-General to the Forces, becoming a Lieutenant general on 1 April 1891. On 24 June 1896 Buller was promoted to full General, Buller became head of the troops stationed at Aldershot in 1898
17.
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
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His term as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India saw him quarrel with another eminent proconsul, the Viceroy Lord Curzon, who eventually resigned. Kitchener then returned to Egypt as British Agent and Consul-General, in 1914, at the start of the First World War, Kitchener became Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet Minister. Kitchener died on 5 June 1916 when HMS Hampshire sank west of the Orkney Islands and he was making his way to Russia in order to attend negotiations when the ship struck a German mine. He was one of more than 600 killed on board the ship, Kitchener was born in Ballylongford near Listowel, County Kerry, in Ireland, son of army officer Henry Horatio Kitchener and Frances Anne Chevallier. His father had recently bought land in Ireland under a scheme to encourage the purchase of land after selling his commission. They then moved to Switzerland where the young Kitchener was educated at Montreux, then at the Royal Military Academy, pro-French and eager to see action, he joined a French field ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War. His father took him back to England after he caught pneumonia after ascending in a balloon to see the French Army of the Loire in action. Commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871, his service in France had violated British neutrality, and he was reprimanded by the Duke of Cambridge, the commander-in-chief. He served in Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus as a surveyor, learned Arabic, Sir Walter Kitchener, had also entered the army, and was Governor of Bermuda from 1908 to 1912. In 1874, at age 24, Kitchener was assigned by the Palestine Exploration Fund to a mapping-survey of the Holy Land, replacing Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake, who had died of malaria. Conder and Kitchener’s expedition became known as the Survey of Western Palestine because it was confined to the area west of the Jordan River. The survey collected data on the topography and toponymy of the area, as well as local flora, the results of the survey were published in an eight-volume series, with Kitchener’s contribution in the first three tomes. This survey has had an effect on the Middle East for several reasons, The ordnance survey serves as the basis for the grid system used in the modern maps of Israel. The collection of data compiled by Conder and Kitchener are still consulted by archaeologists, the survey itself effectively delineated and defined the political borders of the southern Levant. For instance, the border between Israel and Lebanon is established at the point in upper Galilee where Conder and Kitchener’s survey stopped. In 1878 having completed the survey of Western Palestine, Kitchener was sent to Cyprus to undertake a survey of newly acquired British protectorate. Then in 1879 he became vice-consul in Anatolia, in 1883 Kitchener became a Freemason. On 4 January 1883 Kitchener was promoted to captain, given the Turkish rank bimbashi, Egypt had recently become a British puppet state, its army led by British officers, although still nominally under the sovereignty of the Khedive and his nominal overlord the Sultan of Turkey
18.
Siege
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A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. This derives from sedere, Latin for to sit, Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy, a siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by direct assault and refuses to surrender. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease and this form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. During the process of circumvallation, the force can be set upon by another force of enemies due to the lengthy amount of time required to starve a position. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world, during the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork, Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined, with the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, the Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified, by about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets, mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun-dried bricks. City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East, the walls were built of mudbricks, stone, wood, or a combination of these materials, depending on local availability. They may also have served the purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation, the walls were 9.5 km in length, and up to 12 m in height. Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats, in Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities atop hillsides, taking advantage of the terrain. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards squared
19.
Boer
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Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer. As used in South Africa, it was used to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century. For a long time the Dutch East India Company controlled this area, in addition the term was applied to those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State, Transvaal, and to a lesser extent Natal. They left the Cape primarily to escape British rule and get away from the constant border wars between the British imperial government and the tribes on the eastern frontier. The Dutch East India Company had been formed in the Dutch Republic in 1602, in 1648 one of their ships was stranded in Table Bay, and the shipwrecked crew had to forage for themselves on shore for several months. The result was that in 1652, a Dutch expedition led by surgeon Jan van Riebeek constructed a fort, landing at Table Bay, Van Riebeek took control over Cape Town, the settlement developed during the previous 10 years. In 1671 the Dutch first purchased land from the native Khoikhoi beyond the limits of the built by Van Riebeek. They formed a class of a class of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers, a large number of vrijburgers became independent farmers and applied for grants of land, as well as loans of seed and tools, from the Company administration. Political refugees from the wars in France, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, they were settled at Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Franschhoek. The influence of small body of immigrants on the character of the Dutch settlers was marked. The Company in 1701 directed that only Dutch should be taught in the schools and this resulted in the Huguenots assimilating by the middle of the 18th century, with a loss to the community in the use and knowledge of French. The little settlement gradually spread eastwards, and in 1754 the country as far as Algoa Bay was included in the colony, at this time the European colonists numbered eight to ten thousand. They possessed numerous slaves, grew wheat in sufficient quantity to make it a commodity crop for export, but their chief wealth was in cattle. Through the latter half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century, the administration of the Dutch East India Company was extremely despotic. Its policies were not directed at development of the colony, the effect of this tyranny was inevitable, it drove men to desperation. They fled from oppression, and even before 1700 trekking began, in 1789, so strong had feeling amongst the burghers become that delegates were sent from the Cape to interview the authorities at Amsterdam. After this deputation, some reforms were granted. It was largely to escape oppression that the farmers trekked farther and farther from the seat of government, the company, to control the emigrants, established a magistracy at Swellendam in 1745 and another at Graaff Reinet in 1786
20.
Louis Botha
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Louis Botha was a South African politician who was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer War, he would fight to have South Africa become a British Dominion. He was born in Greytown, Natal as one of 13 children born to Louis Botha Senior and he briefly attended the school at Hermannsburg before his family relocated to the Orange Free State. The name Louis runs throughout the family, with every generation since General Louis Botha having the eldest son named Louis, Botha led Dinuzulus Volunteers, a group of Boers that had supported Dinuzulu against Zibhebhu in 1884. He later became a member of the parliament of Transvaal in 1897, in 1899, Botha fought in the Second Boer War, initially under Lucas Meyer in Northern Natal, and later as a general commanding and fighting impressively at Colenso and Spion Kop. On the death of P. J. Joubert, he was made commander-in-chief of the Transvaal Boers, after the battle at the Tugela, Botha granted a twenty-four-hour armistice to General Buller to enable him to bury his dead. Winston Churchill revealed that General Botha was the man who captured him at the ambush of a British armoured train on 15 November 1899, coetzer 1996, p.30 also claims that Botha captured Churchill at train ambush 15 November 1899. Churchill was not aware of the mans identity until 1902, when Botha travelled to London seeking loans to assist his countrys reconstruction, the incident is also mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyles book, The Great Boer War, published in 1902. But more recent sources claim that Field-Cornet Sarel Oosthuizen was in fact the Boer-soldier who, at gunpoint, another version claims that the unit to capture Churchill was the Italian Volunteer Legion and its commander, Camillo Ricchiardi. After the fall of Pretoria in June 1900, Botha led a guerrilla campaign against the British together with Koos de la Rey. The success of his measures was seen in the resistance offered by the Boers to the very close of the three-year war. Botha was a representative of his countrymen in the negotiations of 1902. He later worked towards peace with the British, representing the Boers at the negotiations in 1902. In the period of reconstruction under British rule, Botha went to Europe with de Wet and his war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, becoming Prime Minister of Transvaal on 4 March 1907. In 1911, together with another Boer war hero, Jan Smuts, he formed the South African Party, widely viewed as too conciliatory with Britain, Botha faced revolts from within his own party and opposition from James Barry Munnik Hertzogs National Party. When South Africa obtained dominion status in 1910, Botha became the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, after the First World War started, he sent troops to take German South-West Africa, a move unpopular among Boers, which provoked the Boer Revolt. At the end of the War he briefly led a British Empire military mission to Poland during the Polish-Soviet War and he argued that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were too harsh on the Central Powers, but signed the treaty. Botha was unwell for most of 1919 and he was plagued by fatigue and ill-health that arose from his robust waist-line. ”General Louis Botha died of heart failure following an attack of Spanish influenza on 27 August 1919 in the early hours of the morning
21.
Battle of Spion Kop
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The Battle of Spion Kop was fought about 38 km west-south-west of Ladysmith on the hilltop of Spioenkop along the Tugela River, Natal in South Africa from 23–24 January 1900. It was fought between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on the one hand and British forces during the Second Boer War campaign to relieve Ladysmith. General Sir Redvers Buller, VC, commander of the British forces in Natal, was attempting to relieve a British force besieged in Ladysmith, the Boers under General Louis Botha held the Tugela River against him. Although Bothas men were outnumbered, they were equipped with modern Mauser rifles and up-to-date field guns. In late December,1899, Buller made an assault on the Boer positions at the Battle of Colenso. The result was a heavy British defeat, over the next few weeks, Buller received further reinforcements, and also acquired sufficient carts and transport to operate away from the railway line which was his main supply line. Buller devised a new plan of attack to relieve Ladysmith and his army was to launch a two-pronged offensive designed to cross the Tugela River at two points and create a bridgehead. They would then attack the line that blocked Bullers advance to Ladysmith. The area was only 32 kilometres from Ladysmith, Buller delegated control of his main force to General Sir Charles Warren, to cross at Trichardts Drift. Buller would then send a smaller force, under Major General Neville Lyttelton to attack east of Warrens force as a diversion at Potgieters Drift. Once across the Tugela the British would attack the Boer defensive positions, Warrens force numbered 11,000 infantry,2,200 cavalry, and 36 field guns. On the 11th they marched westward to cross the Little Tugela, however their march was easily visible to the Boers, and so slow that by the time they arrived at the Tugela, the Boers had entrenched a new position covering it. Once all his force had crossed the river, Warren sent part of a division under Lieutenant General Francis Clery against the Boer right flank positions on a plateau named Tabanyama. The Boers had once again entrenched a new position on the slopes of the plateau. Meanwhile, the secondary British attack by Lyttelton at Potgieters Drift had yet to commence in full, Spion Kop, just northeast of Warrens force, was the largest hill in the region, being over 430 metres in height. It lay almost exactly at the centre of the Boer line, if the British could capture this position and bring artillery to the hill then they would command the flanks of the surrounding Boer positions. On the night of 23 January, Warren sent the larger part of his force under Major General Edward Woodgate to secure Spion Kop, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Thorneycroft was selected to lead the initial assault. The British climbed up the hill at night and in dense mist and they surprised the small Boer piquet and drove them off the kop at bayonet point
22.
George Labram
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George Labram was an American engineer employed as Chief Mechanical Engineer at the De Beers diamond mines in Kimberley during the Siege of Kimberley. Labram was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1859, but attended school at the Quincy Mine after his parents moved there around 1864. Labram started his career at Samuel F. Hodge & Company in Detroit before moving to Chicago where he first worked at the MC Bullock Manufacturing Company. From Chicago Labram moved to the Silver King Mine in Arizona, at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in 1893 Labram ran a machinery exhibition. In 1893 Labram was employed by the De Beers company in Kimberley to build, in 1898 he was promoted to chief engineer. Under Labrams supervision as manager of the plant, Fred Kirsten devised an automated diamond extraction process. Up to that all diamonds were manually extracted by sight. Labram assisted Major General Robert George Kekewich in preparing Kimberleys defenses prior to the siege, including the construction of a 155-foot watch tower, search lights, many of the tools needed for the manufacture of the gun had to also be manufactured in the De Beers workshop. Long Cecil was rifled with a bore of 4.1 inches capable of propelling a 28.5 pounds shell over 6,500 yards. Labram was killed on 9 February 1900, less than a week before the siege was lifted, Kekewich gave Labram a full military funeral, that was attended by thousands despite Boer shelling specifically targeting the procession. De Beers provided well for Labrams widow and son after his death, with Mrs. Labram receiving $500 per year for the remainder of her life, great Britain also granted Mrs. Labram a once-off sum of £1,000 for the services her husband rendered during the siege. I write to offer you and your son the deepest sympathy of my staff, I can assure you my dear madam, that the whole of Kimberley mourns the loss of our dear friend George Labram as we would the loss of a dear relative. Yours, sincerely, The one request from the people of Kimberley that Labram was unable to deliver on was to produce some whiskey, the modern day suburb of Labram in Kimberley is named after George Labram. The Honoured Dead Memorial, which prominently features Long Cecil and a plaque to George Labram on its stylobate, is situated adjacent to the neighbourhood. E. LONG CECIL - The Gun made in Kimberley during the Siege, the South African Military History Society. Media related to George Labram at Wikimedia Commons
23.
Long Cecil
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In 1902, during Cecil Rhodes funeral procession in Cape Town, his coffin was carried on top of the Long Cecil carriage. Today the gun is located on the stylobate of the Honoured Dead Memorial in Kimberley, at some time before 1915 Pratt & Whitney built a model of this gun as a gift to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The defenders at Kimberley had only the relatively small RML2.5 inch Mountain Gun at their disposal, labram and Edward Goffe, Chief Draughtsman at the mine, reviewed the limited number of textbooks and publications on gunmaking that were available in Kimberley. From this and calculations on what it would require to build a gun capable of firing a shell over 7,600 metres, they decided that it was feasible to build the gun with the materials at hand. Construction of the gun began on 26 December 1899 with rough-turning of the barrel, the barrel was constructed from a 10-foot-long,10. 5-inch-diameter billet of mild steel. The steel billet was originally ordered as a shaft for one of the De Beers workshop machines, as with all the components, custom ammunition for the gun had to be manufactured in the De Beers workshops. The first proving shot was fired a little over three weeks later on 19 January 1900 at a Boer encampment near Kamfers Dam, north of the city. Contemporary accounts state that the Boers were initially surprised by range of the new gun, the gun fired a total of 255 shells onto Boer positions from the time of its manufacture until the end of the siege about a month later. The gun did not change the balance of power for long, the shelling of the besieged residents thereby escalated and soon became more lethal than before. The shelling ended only with arrival of Major-General Frenchs 8, 000-strong cavalry on 15 February 1900, notes on the construction of Long Cecil, a 4.1 inch rifled breachloading gun, in Kimberley, during the siege 1899-1900. Media related to Long Cecil at Wikimedia Commons
24.
Siege of Kimberley
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The Siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony, when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the British enclave when war broke out between the British and the two Boer republics in October 1899, the town was ill-prepared, but the defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence that was able to prevent it from being taken. Cecil Rhodes, who had made his fortune in the town, and his presence was controversial, as his involvement in the Jameson Raid made him one of the primary protagonists behind war breaking out. Rhodes was constantly at loggerheads with the military, but he was instrumental in organising the defence of the town. The Boers shelled the town with their artillery in an attempt to force the garrison to capitulate. The British military had to change its strategy for the war as public opinion demanded that the sieges of Kimberley, Ladysmith, the first attempt at relief of Kimberley under Lord Methuen was stopped at the battles of Modder River and Magersfontein. The 124-day siege was relieved on 15 February 1900 by a cavalry division under Lieutenant-General John French. The battle against the Boer general Piet Cronjé continued at Paardeberg immediately after the town itself was relieved, South Africa was initially a Dutch colony after the Dutch East India Company set up a shipping station at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Many Dutch farmers elected to move away from British influence into the hinterland, the discoveries led to a massive influx of Uitlanders into the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and Transvaal. Tensions soon started rising between the British Empire and the two Boer republics, discussions broke down in October 1899 when the British ignored a Boer ultimatum to stop concentrating forces on the borders of the Boer republics. The town had a population of 40,000, of which 25,000 were white, the closest Boer settlements were Jacobsdal to the south and Boshof to the east. The De Beers company was concerned about the defence of Kimberley some years before the outbreak of the war, in 1896, an arms depot was formed, a plan of defence sent to the authorities and a local defence force set up. His reply to an appeal for arms in September 1899 stated, There is no reason whatever for apprehending that Kimberley is or will be in any danger of attack, the town next appealed to the High Commissioner, this time with more success. On 4 October 1899, Major Scott-Turner was permitted to summon volunteers to join the town guard and raise the Diamond Fields Artillery. Three days later, the town was placed under the command of Colonel Robert Kekewich of the 1st Battalion, Loyal Regiment, and secured against a coup de main, but not against sustained siege. Colonel Kekewichs troops consisted of four companies of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, some Royal Engineers, six RML2.5 inch mountain guns and two machine guns. Also at his disposal were 120 men of the Cape Police,2,000 irregular troops, the Kimberley Light Horse, eight Maxim machine guns were mounted on redoubts built atop tailing heaps around the town. Cecil John Rhodes, the founder of De Beers, was contemplating moving into the town, the citizens feared that his presence there, given his prominent role in the breakdown of Anglo-Boer relations leading up to the war, would antagonise the Boers
25.
Battle of Vaal Krantz
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The Battle of Vaal Krantz was the third failed attempt by General Redvers Bullers British army to fight its way past Louis Bothas army of Boer irregulars and lift the Siege of Ladysmith. The battle occurred during the Second Boer War, in the first and second attempts at relieving Ladysmith, Bullers army was defeated by Botha and his Boer army at the battles of Colenso and Spion Kop. British casualties soared to 3,000 men, while the Boers lost only a few hundred, Vaal Krantz was a ridge of kopjes a few miles east of Spion Kop. Buller tried to force a bridgehead across the Tugela River with the Rifle Brigade, after three days of skirmishing, the British general found that his position was so cramped that there was no room to drag his superior artillery up to support the British infantry attacks. Buller called a council of war and, All his generals agreed that there was nothing for it except to try a new attempt elsewhere, pakenham wrote that the British suffered 333 casualties. But Symonds put the British casualties at 30 dead and 350 wounded with Boers casualties were 30 dead and 50 wounded, Vaal Krantz was a minor defeat. On 14 February, Buller launched his attempt at the Relief of Ladysmith
26.
Cavalry
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Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, an individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used animals, such as camels. Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent. In Europe cavalry became increasingly armoured, and eventually became known for the mounted knights, in the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, modern usage of the term generally refers to specialist units equipped with tanks or aircraft. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is filled by units with the armored designation. Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots, the chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, Cavalry techniques were an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and Iranian steppe and pastoralist tribes such as the Persian Parthians and Sarmatians. The photograph above left shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865–860 BC, at this time, the men had no spurs, saddles, saddle cloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs, the reins of the archer were controlled by his neighbours hand. Even at this time, cavalry used swords, shields. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist, Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddle cloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse. As early as 490 BC a breed of horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour. However, chariots remained in use for purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The southern Britons met Julius Caesar with chariots in 55 and 54 BC, the last mention of chariot use in battle was by the Caledonians at the Mons Graupius, in 84 AD. During the classical Greek period cavalry were usually limited to citizens who could afford expensive war-horses
27.
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
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Born in Kent to an Anglo-Irish family, he saw brief service as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, before becoming a cavalry officer. He achieved rapid promotion and distinguished himself on the Gordon Relief Expedition, French had a considerable reputation as a womaniser throughout his life and his career nearly ended when he was cited in the divorce of a brother officer whilst in India in the early 1890s. French became a hero during the Second Boer War. He won the Battle of Elandslaagte near Ladysmith, escaping under fire on the last train as the siege began and he then commanded the Cavalry Division, winning the Battle of Klip Drift during a march to relieve Kimberley. He later conducted Counter-insurgency operations in Cape Colony, during the Edwardian Period he commanded I Corps at Aldershot, then served as Inspector-General of the Army, before becoming Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1912. During the Curragh incident he had to resign as CIGS after promising Hubert Gough in writing that the Army would not be used to coerce Ulster Protestants into a Home Rule Ireland. French’s most important role was as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force for the first year and he suffered an immediate personality clash with the French General Lanrezac. By summer 1915 French’s tenure of command was being criticised in London by Kitchener and other members of the government, and by Haig, Robertson. Haig, formerly his trusted subordinate and who had saved him from bankruptcy by lending him a sum of money in 1899. French was then appointed Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces for 1916–18 and this period saw the country running increasingly short of manpower for the Army. Frenchs family was related to the French/De Freyne family which had gone to Wexford in the century and had substantial estates at Frenchpark. French always regarded himself as Irish, although his branch of the family had lived in England since the eighteenth century. He was born the son of Commander John Tracey William French, RN, of Ripple Vale in Kent and his mother was Margaret Eccles from Glasgow. He was educated at a Harrow preparatory school and Eastmans Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth before joining the Royal Navy in 1866 and he joined the Royal Navy because it gave him a chance to leave home four or five years earlier than the Army. From August 1866 he trained on board the three-decker battleship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth, in 1869, he served as a midshipman on HMS Warrior, commanded by Captain Boys, an old friend of Frenchs father. He resigned from the Royal Navy in November 1870, as he was discovered to be acrophobic, French joined the Suffolk Artillery Militia in November 1870, where he was expected to put in about two months a year with the regiment. He initially failed his exams for a commission, and had to hire a new tutor. He was posted to Aldershot Command, which contained a division under Sir Hope Grant
28.
Battle of Paardeberg
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The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley, Lord Methuen advanced up the railway line in November 1899 with the objective of relieving the besieged city of Kimberley. Battles were fought on this front at Graspan, Belmont, Modder River before the advance was halted for two months after the British defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein, in February 1900, Field Marshal Lord Roberts assumed personal command of a significantly reinforced British offensive. An earlier British attempt to relieve Kimberley, led by Lieutenant General Lord Methuen, had been opposed by Boers under Cronjé, over the next two months, the front south of Kimberley stagnated. A substantial Boer detachment under De la Rey was sent to Colesberg where, in contrast to the situation elsewhere, Cronjés remaining forces were weakened by lack of grazing for their horses. Many of the Boer fighters families joined Cronjés main encampment at Jacobsdal, the presence of large numbers of non-combatants with their slow-moving ox-drawn wagons would later prove a fatal handicap to Cronjé. Field Marshal Roberts had been appointed to command the British forces in South Africa in December 1899 and he intended to outflank the Boer left and pass his cavalry around them to relieve Kimberley, while his infantry secured vital fords behind them. Roberts had two divisions each of two infantry brigades, and a mounted division of three brigades under Major General John French. Another infantry division was formed during the campaign, by the evening of 12 February, his leading horsemen had secured fords across the first obstacle, the Riet River. The next day,13 February, the British mounted force made a march of 30 miles under a blazing sun to capture fords across the Modder. The effect of the heat was made worse when the dry grass of the veld caught fire from a carelessly discarded match, Frenchs division had to wait at the fords during the next day until the leading infantry reached them, after making an equally exhausting march. Luckily for the British, the move had taken the Boers by surprise, early on 15 February, Frenchs division began the final march to relieve Kimberley. Only scattered and disorganised Boers opposed them, and the mass of British horsemen broke through their thin line. Late that evening they reached Kimberley, where they were greeted with cheering crowds, French should by rights have gone to the military commander of the besieged garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Kekewich. Instead he called first on Cecil Rhodes, the former Prime Minister of Cape Colony and foremost Imperialist, the final days ride had crippled most of Frenchs division. Most of his British regular cavalry carried too much equipment and their horses were exhausted. His effective force was reduced to two regiments of New Zealand and Australian light horse, and two brigades of mounted infantry. French was to further tire his men on 16 February by futile attempts to intercept one of the Boers Creusot 40-pounder siege guns which was withdrawing to the north
29.
Siege of Ladysmith
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The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. Some of these troops were diverted while returning to Britain from India, others were sent from garrisons in the Mediterranean, lieutenant General Sir George White was appointed to command this enlarged force. White was 64 years old and suffered from a leg injury incurred in a riding accident, having served mainly in India, he had little previous experience of South Africa. Instead, they regarded it as evidence of Britains determination to control of the Boer republics. With the complete breakdown in negotiations, both declared war and attacked on 12 October. A total of 21,000 Boers advanced into Natal from all sides, White had been advised to deploy his force far back, well clear of the area of northern Natal known as the Natal Triangle, a wedge of land lying between the two Boer republics. Instead, White deployed his forces around the town of Ladysmith, with a detachment even further forward at Dundee. The entire British force could concentrate only after fighting two battles at Talana Hill and Elandslaagte, as the Boers surrounded Ladysmith, White ordered a sortie by his entire force to capture the Boer artillery. The result was the disastrous Battle of Ladysmith, in which the British were driven back into the town having lost 1,200 men killed, wounded or captured, the Boers then proceeded to surround Ladysmith and cut the railway link to Durban. Major General French and his Chief of Staff, Major Douglas Haig escaped on the last train to leave and this town was then besieged for 118 days. White knew that large reinforcements were arriving, and could communicate with British units south of the Tugela River by searchlight, meanwhile, his troops carried out several raids and sorties to sabotage Boer artillery. Louis Botha commanded the Boer detachment which first raided Southern Natal, on 15 December, the first relief attempt was defeated at the Battle of Colenso. Temporarily unnerved, the force commander, General Redvers Henry Buller, suggested that White either break out or destroy his stores and ammunition. White could not break out because his horses and draught animals were weak from lack of grazing and forage, but also refused to surrender. On Christmas Day 1899, the Boers fired into Ladysmith a carrier shell without fuze, the shell is still kept in the museum at Ladysmith. The Boers around Ladysmith were also growing weak from lack of forage, with little action, many fighters took unauthorised leave or brought their families into the siege encampments. The British line south of Ladysmith ran along a known as the Platrand. The occupying British troops had named its features Wagon Hill to the west, under Ian Hamilton, they had constructed a line of forts, sangars and entrenchments on the reverse slope of the Platrand, of which the Boers were unaware
30.
Relief of Ladysmith
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When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley, the Colony of Natal was bisected from east to west by the Tugela River which rose in the Drakensberg and flowed into the Indian Ocean to the east. The colony was bisected from north to south by the line that linked Durban. The railway line crossed the river at Colenso, Ladysmith lies on the Durban–Johannesburg railway line in a hollow on the Klip River some 20 km north of Colenso. When the Second Boer War broke out the Boer forces had 21,000 men under the command of General Piet Joubert ready to invade the Colony of Natal, ranged against them, the British had 13,000 men under the command of Lieutenant General Sir George White. Churchill asserts that the British Government plan, to which he became privy in later life, was for White to fall back to a position south of the Tugela River. After the ensuing Battle of Ladysmith on 28 October, the Boers succeeding in entrapping White, on the day that the encirclement of Ladysmith was completed, reinforcements headed by General Sir Redevers Buller arrived in Cape Town en route to Natal. Buller remained in Cape Town for three weeks before pressing on to Pietermaritzburg, on 15 November a raiding party ambushed an armoured train at Frere,11 km south of Colenso taking 70 prisoners including Winston Churchill. After another raiding party was surprised on 23 November at Willow Grange,10 km to the south of Estcourt, during these operations Joubert fell from his horse and sustained injuries from which he was to die on 28 March 1900 – four weeks after the relief of Ladysmith. He effectively relinquished control of the Boer forces to Louis Botha, 28°44′3″S 29°49′21″E By the middle of December, British and Empire troops were pouring into the Colony and Buller, now heading an army of 20,000 men moved his headquarters northwards to Frere. Bullers first attempt at crossing the river was the Battle of Colenso, from the British point of view, the battle was a fiasco. On the western flank the British forces suffered losses when the Irish Brigade were trapped in a loop in the river 3 km upstream from Colenso. In the centre they lost ten guns while on the eastern flank, six Victoria Crosses were awarded for gallantry during the battle. During this battle, Freddie Roberts, son of Lord Roberts was mortally wounded, 28°39′0″S 29°30′59″E Reinforcements continued to pour into Natal and with the arrival of Sir Charles Warrens division, Buller had 30,000 men under his command. Some 30 km west of Colenso, Spion Kop, a hill that rose 430 m above the plains dominated Trichardts Drift, Buller resolved to capture the hill and so ensure an entry to Ladysmith from the west. The main attack was entrusted to Warren and simultaneously a diversionary attack under Major General Edward Woodgate was launched at Potgieters Drift,4 km to the east. From their position on the hills, the Boers were able to watch the British force moving upstream on the bank of the river. On 18 January the British built a bridge across the river
31.
Bloemfontein
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Bloemfontein is the capital city of the province of Free State of South Africa, and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africas three national capitals. Bloemfontein is the sixth largest city in South Africa, Bloemfontein was popularly and poetically known as the city of roses, owing to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there. The citys Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning place of cheetahs, Bloemfontein has since 2011 formed part of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, having previously been part of the Mangaung Local Municipality. Bloemfontein is situated at an altitude of 1,395 m above sea level, the city is home to 369,568 residents, while the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has a population of 645,455. Although modern day Bloemfontein has a reputation for its flowers in an arid region. Bloemfontein literally means fountain of flowers or flower spring in Dutch, with colonial policy shifts, the region changed into the Orange River Sovereignty and eventually the Orange Free State Republic. From 1902–10 it served as the capital of the Orange River Colony, in 1910 it became the Judicial capital of the Union of South Africa. Warden originally chose the site largely because of its proximity to the route to Winburg, the spacious open country. Bloemfontein was the farm of Johannes Nicolaas Brits born 21 February 1790, owner. Johann – as he was known – sold the farm to Maj Warden, as the capital of the Orange Free State Republic the growth and maturing of the Republic resulted in the growth of the town. Numerous public buildings remain in use today were constructed. This was largely facilitated by the excellent governance of the Republic, the old Orange Free States presidential residence the Old Presidency is currently a museum and cultural space in the city. A railway line was built in 1890 connecting Bloemfontein to Cape Town. The writer J. R. R. Tolkien was born in the city on 3 January 1892, though his family left South Africa following the death of his father, Arthur Tolkien and he recorded that his earliest memories were of a hot country. In 1899 the city was the site of the Bloemfontein Conference, the conference was a final attempt to avert a war between Britain and the South African Republic. With its failure the stage was set for war, which broke out on 11 October 1899, the rail line from Cape Town provided a centrally located railway station, and proved critical to the British in occupying the city later. On 13 March 1900, following the Battle of Paardeberg, British forces captured the city and built a concentration camp nearby to house Boer women and children. The National Womens Monument, on the outskirts of the city, the hill in town was named Naval Hill after the naval guns brought in by the British in order to fortify the position against attack
32.
Abraham Fischer
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Abraham Fischer was a South African statesman. He was the sole Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony in South Africa, and he was educated at the South African College, and became a lawyer in Cape Colony, joining the bar in 1875. In 1873 he married Ana Robertson, the daughter of Scottish immigrants to the Free State and he became interested in the politics of the Orange Free State, and in 1878 became a member of the Orange Free States Volksraad. He became vice-president of the Volksraad in 1893, a member of the council in 1896. On 27 November, he was chosen as Prime Minister, and he then joined the cabinet of the Union of South Africa as Minister of Lands. He was made Privy Councillor in 1911 and became Minister of the Interior and he was the grandfather of Bram Fischer, a noted anti-apartheid activist
33.
Cornelius Hermanus Wessels
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Sir Cornelius Hermanus Wessels was a South African politician and statesman. Wessels stemmed from an important Orange Free State family clan, dedicated to farming, mainly self-educated, he turned to politics in his early thirties. In 1896 he was appointed president of the Volksraad, after the war Wessels sided with De Wet and Hertzog and became a cabinet minister in the Free State government. In 1915, the government appointed Wessels as administrator of the Orange Free State. He was awarded a knighthood for his services to the state in 1920, Wessels was the youngest son of three boys and two girls born to Johannes Jacobus Wessels and Hester Sophia Antonetta Wessels. His first wife was Christina Magdalena Wessels, with whom he had five sons and he remarried in 1907 with Eliza Alice Bosman née Keytler, a widow. Wessels grew up in the Boshof District in the Orange Free State, here he received some private tuition, before – still at a young age – becoming a full-time and successful farmer. In 1892 he bought the farm Kwagafontein just outside Bloemfontein, Wessels life was marked by two activities, farming and politics, and in both he was mainly self-educated. In 1885, at age thirty-four, Wessels was elected to the Volksraad for the Modderrivier area of Boshof and he was to represent this constituency for fourteen years, until the outbreak of the South African War in 1899. Wessels was a leader, and this was the main reason for his continued election to office. However, being a member of the influential and large Wessels clan helped, from 1897 he represented the Orange Free State in the Council of Representatives that monitored the co-operation. The same holds true for the efforts to forge a South African customs union in the 1890s, Wessels was a very practical man and was qualified by he British as the business brain in the Orange Free State government. For several years he was a director of the National Bank of the Orange Free State, Wessels political acumen brought him high office, from 1894 to 1896 as representative of the Volksraad in the Executive Council, and eventually as vice-president and president of the Volksraad. In this position Wessels diplomatic skills and strict impartiallity acquired him great respect, during the South African War Wessels was recruited by President Steyn as a member of his war cabinet, the Krijgscommissie. When the war progressed and the Boer republics were looking for support from European states and the United States and it consisted of A. Fischer as chairman and for the Orange Free State, A. D. W. Wolmarans and Wessels as members for the South African Republic and the Orange Free State respectively, in Europe the deputation met up with W. J. Leyds, ambassador for the South African Republic in Brussels and H. P. N. Muller, consul general and special envoy of the Orange Free State in the Netherlands, the delegations mission to Europe failed, and was caught out by history in the United States. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Vereeniging Wessels and the member of the delegation returned to South Africa
34.
Maputo
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Maputo, known as Lourenço Marques before independence, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias, in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues, today, it is a port city, with its economy centered on the harbour. According to the 2007 census, the population is 1,766,184, cotton, sugar, chromite, sisal, copra, and hardwood are the chief exports. The city manufactures cement, pottery, furniture, shoes, the city is surrounded by Maputo Province, but is administered as its own province. They explored the lower courses of the rivers emptying their waters into Delagoa Bay, the forts and trading stations that the Portuguese established, abandoned and reoccupied on the north bank of the river, were all called Lourenço Marques. The existing town dates from about 1850, the settlement having been entirely destroyed by the natives. The town developed around a Portuguese fortress completed in 1787, on the 9th of December 1876, Lourenço Marques was elevated to the category of village and on the 10th of November 1887 it became a city. The Luso-British conflict for the possession of Lourenço Marques ends on the 24th of July 1875 with the ruling by the French President Patrice Mac-Mahon in favor of Portugal. The growing importance of the Transvaal led, however, to greater interest being taken back in Portugal in the development of a port. A commission was sent by the Portuguese government in 1876 to drain the land near the settlement, to plant the blue gum tree, and to build a hospital. A city since 1887, it superseded the Island of Mozambique as the capital of Mozambique in 1898, in 1895, construction of a railroad to Pretoria, South Africa, caused the citys population to grow. It was served by British, Portuguese, and German liners, and the majority of its goods were shipped at Southampton, Lisbon. Portuguese, Islamic, Indian and Chinese communities managed to achieve great prosperity —, before Mozambiques independence in 1975, thousands of tourists from South Africa and Rhodesia frequented the city and its scenic beaches, high-quality hotels, restaurants, casinos, and brothels. The Mozambique Liberation Front, or FRELIMO, formed in Tanzania in 1962 and led by Eduardo Mondlane, the Mozambican War of Independence lasted over 10 years, ending only in 1974 when the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in Lisbon by a leftist military coup — the Carnation Revolution. The new government of Portugal granted independence to all Portuguese overseas territories, the words Aqui é Portugal were once inscribed on the walkway of its municipal building. The Peoples Republic of Mozambique was proclaimed on 25 June 1975 in accordance with the Lusaka Accord signed in September 1974, however, after independence, the citys name was changed to Maputo. After the independence, the statues to Portuguese heroes in the city were removed. Black soldiers carrying Russian rifles replaced Portuguese Army soldiers with arms in city barracks
35.
Second Boer War
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The Second Boer War, usually known as the Boer War and also at the time as the South African War, started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902. Great Britain defeated two Boer states in South Africa, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, Britain was aided by its Cape Colony, Colony of Natal and some native African allies. The British war effort was supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India. All other nations were neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain, inside Britain and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. The British were overconfident and under-prepared, the Boers were very well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, the British brought in numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener and they relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defense of their homeland, the British quickly seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile. In conventional terms, the war was over, Britain officially annexed the two countries in 1900, and called a khaki election to give the government another six years of power in London. However, the Boers refused to surrender and they reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey. Two more years of attacks and quick escapes followed. As guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, the British solution was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. The civilian farmers were relocated into concentration camps, where very large proportions died of disease, especially the children, then the British mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile Boer guerrilla units. The battles at this stage were small operations with few combat casualties The war ended in surrender, the British successfully won over the Boer leaders, who now gave full support to the new political system. Both former republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, the conflict is commonly referred to as simply the Boer War, since the First Boer War is much less well known. Boer was the term for Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans descended from the Dutch East India Companys original settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. It is officially called the South African War and it is known as the Anglo-Boer War among some South Africans. In Afrikaans it may be called the Anglo-Boereoorlog, Tweede Boereoorlog, in South Africa it is officially called the South African War
36.
Boer Republics
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Two of the Boer Republics achieved international recognition and complete independence, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The United Kingdom took over from the Netherlands as the power at the Cape of Good Hope in 1806. Subsequently, a number of its Dutch-speaking inhabitants trekked inland, first in smaller numbers, then in groups as large as almost a hundred people, there were many reasons why the Boers left the Cape Colony, among the initial reasons were the language laws. The British had proclaimed the English language as the language of the Cape Colony. As the Bible, churches, schools and culture of many of the settlers were Dutch, Britain abolished slavery in 1834 and allocated the sum of 1,200,000 British pounds as recompense for the Dutch settlers slaves. The Dutch settlers disputed the requirement that they had to lodge their claims in Britain and this caused further dissatisfaction among the Dutch settlers. The settlers believed incorrectly that the Cape Colony administration had taken the money due to them as payment for freeing their slaves, in truth, the allocated money was simply too little to cover even half of the claims. In 1835, one of the groups of Boers arrived at the Vet river. Louis Trichardt and Jan van Rensburg split off from Hendrik Potgieters group, Potgieters group remained at the Vet river and founded a town called Winburg. Potgieter declared the north and south of the Vaal river as Boer lands. During April 1838 Potgieter returned to the north of the Vaal river. At this time, this new country included the north and south of the Vaal river. In 1848 the British Governor of the Cape, Sir Harry Smith, issued a proclamation declaring British sovereignty over all the lands to the north, Commandant-General Andries Pretorius led the commandos against the British forces later that year, at the battle of Boomplaats, near Smithfield. The Boer commandos were defeated and General Pretorius and the remainder of his men fled north across the Vaal river, the Volksraad from Winburg was transferred to Potchefstroom and the South African Republic was established as the name of the new country. The people north of the Vaal River in the South African Republic were recognized as an independent country by Great Britain with the signing of the Sand River Convention on 17 January 1852, in April 1837, a party under leadership of Piet Retief arrived in Thabanchu. In June 1837, in Winburg, the newly elected Boer Volksraad appointed Piet Retief as Commandant-General, an argument between Maritz and Potgieter, both elected to the Volksraad, led to a split. Maritz and Piet Retief decided to secede from the Potgieter- and Uys-led Boer country, dinganes impis then killed almost 300 Boers who had settled in the Natal region. The Natalia Republic was established in 1839 by the local Boers after Pretorius entered into an alliance with Mpande, in June 1852 a public meeting was held in Bloemfontein where all the European people voted on a resolution whether to pursue independence or remain under British rule
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