Posted on 08/02/2016 5:58:56 AM PDT by C19fan
A rare and extraordinary photo album documenting a British army regiment in the the Boer War has been discovered after more than 100 years. The album contains more than 150 black and white images of the First Battalion Rifle Brigade and provide a fascinating record of their battles with the Boers in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. The annotated images show a large parade of men before embarking on a ship on the Isle of Wight to take them to South Africa in 1899.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The first concentration camps.
Thanks for posting. Archival pictures are always interesting.
We bequeath a parting tip
For sound advice to such men
As come across in transport ship
To polish off the Dutchmen.
If you should chance across a Boer
You really mustn’t loot ‘em
And if you wish to leave this shore
For pity’s sake, don’t shoot ‘em!
— Henry “Breaker” Morant, executed Feb. 1902 for “war crimes” committed while serving with the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Northern Transvaal. Sometimes known as the “Scapegoat of the Empire.”
That was an ugly nasty little war, fought for no good reason.
One of my favorite movies. And Woodward recites this poem so well.
That’s what comes of Empire building!
One of the photos labeled English Soldiers was in fact a group of Boers. The labels were in Afrikaans and the uniforms semi civilian. However, a very interesting find. Thanks for the post.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/144779/Little-Princess-The-Original-Trailer-.html
Daddy is off fighting those nasty old Boers.
To think the Dutch were once the wealthiest and most powerful empire in Europe. Funny how history works (or doesn’t) sometimes.
“Rule 303! We executed them under Rule 303!”
Morant and Hancock were hardly the angels the movie portrayed them as being. But there is no way they were accorded a fair trial. Practically every rule of procedure, evidence, and testimony was violated by the Crown prosecutors. The trial was a sham from the outset, and both men were doomed. I especially felt the frustration of Maj. Thomas, the defense counsel, who tried his best to defend his client ethically, relying on a system that was grossly corrupt.
The movie is very well done, even if the presentation is biased and incomplete. It’s one of my favorites too.
The Boer War was simply England stealing the land because of the gold and diamonds.The English had a proud tradition of being conquerors.
The worls has suffered many wars fought only to benefit a greedy few in positions of power.
So we agree, then.
The photo that was misidentified as British soldiers at Pretoria is marked “Artillerists, 1900 War”, and is signed by the photographer Jan van Hoepen of Pretoria. Other photos by him, such as the picture of the Bren Brandwacht commando on Spion Kop, and the Netherlands Ambulance team at Modderspruit, were signed the same way, so this picture could have been taken anywhere. Van Hoepen, by the way, took the famous photo of Louis Botha under a tree, that is on Botha’s wiki page.
See Van Hoepen Photos: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photographs_by_Jan_van_Hoepen
About this group: This looks like a crew to service a Long Tom, which required at least 9 men at one time. 5 are wearing uniforms, 4 of which are regular Boer Police uniforms, and one, (the reclining man to the group’s left,) is wearing a tunic with an 18 button front from the full dress artillery uniform of the Orange Free State Artillery. The rest are in civilian clothes.
(Correct my guess if I am wrong.) The spotter is on the left with a spyglass beside his flap holster. The man in the center with the white turtleneck shirt, has over his shoulder a thin leather strap for a small pouch that holds his sighting tools. The tall man offering him the pipe tobacco? Well, he’s the commander of this unit, no?
Thanks for the response. I read the term you call “artillerists” as “Artiller-ISTEN which would be Germanic.
One could argue that Indian reservations are the “first” concentration camps...
Well, of course, it’s an Australian movie and naturally they feel protective of one of their own. It’s beautifully done. Bruce Beresford is one of my favorite directors.
Being a New Yorker, I’m well aware of the Dutch! I spent the weekend in the Hudson River Valley and looking over the gorgeous river I thought of ‘Henrick’ Hudson sailing his little Half Moon on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. They conquered NY.
First, it may have helped to bring about the peace conference. Second it taught the Australians to be cautious in their dealings with the mother country. And certainly, it also caused Australia to remove the power of the British Army to execute Australian citizens which probably saved lives directly and indirectly during the later world wars!
Edward Woodward portrayed Morant as believing this and acting heroically. Lord Kitchener believed no such thing. Years later he refused to attend some memorial occasion until a Morant marker was taken down. They did take it down for the duration of his visit and immediately put it back up after he left.
The Brits scapegoated Morant and Hancock to conciliate the Boers and bring them to the negotiating table. The men were sacrificial lambs. Maybe they saved lives by speeding the peace, but I doubt that was much consolation as they faced the firing squad.
“Shoot straight, ya bastards! Don’t make a mess of it.”
Kitchener was an ass.
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