Anglo-Boer War

New Zealand and the Boer War

Some more interesting Articles

The South African War of 1899-1902, often called the Boer War (sometimes the Second Boer War), was the first overseas conflict to involve New Zealand troops. Fought between the British Empire and the Boer South African Republic (Transvaal) and its Orange Free State ally, it was the culmination of longstanding tensions in southern Africa.

Bound to the 'Mother-country' by the 'crimson tie' of Empire, Premier Richard Seddon made the offer of troops the Britain in late 1899, two weeks before conflict finally broke out. Hundreds of men applied to serve, and by the time war began on 11 October 1899, the first contingent were already preparing for departure. Within a few months, they would be engaging the Boers.

By the time peace was concluded two and a half year later, ten contingents of volunteers, totalling nearly 6,500 men with 8,000 horses had sailed for Africa, along with doctors, nurses, veterinary surgeons and a small number of school teachers. Seventy New Zealanders died in the war as the result of action, with another 158 killed accidentally or dying by disease.

In many ways the South African war also set the pattern for New Zealand’s later involvement in the two world wars. Specially raised units, consisting mainly of volunteers, were despatched overseas to serve with forces from elsewhere in the British Empire. The success enjoyed by the New Zealand troops fostered the idea that New Zealanders were naturally good soldiers, who required only a modicum of training to perform creditably.
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New Zealand women actively supported their country's participation in the war, which gave women, recently enfranchised, an opportunity to move into the public arena. A small number who voiced an anti-war attitude were labeled pro-Boer, and received little support even from groups known for their anti-military position. After Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain's pacifist speech at the 1900 conference of the National Council of Women, the Executive officially distanced itself from her statements.

A small number of New Zealand women went to the war as nurses and teachers. On the home front women demonstrated their support in many ways. Mothers, sisters, wives and sweethearts personally encouraged enlistment, and some wrote rousing poems, songs and music. Spurred on by the example of Queen Victoria's knitted scarves for soldiers, women made items for New Zealand soldiers ranging from biscuits and other foodstuffs to pajama suits, socks, handkerchiefs, Crimean caps (balaclavas), and flannel cholera belts (waistbands or cummerbunds of flannel or silk believed, incorrectly, to protect against gastrointestinal ailments by keeping away the cold and damp). Women working in woollen mills and sewing shops manufactured over 10,000 new uniform items.
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Even before the outbreak of the war, some Maori wanted to contribute to the imperial cause in South Africa. The failure of the Jameson raid, and the subsequent Anglo-German crisis in 1896, induced Te Arawa, for example, to offer to raise a guerrilla unit for service there. When the government offered a contingent of volunteers for service in South Africa, Premier Richard Seddon implied that Maori men would be accepted for service, and that it was possible that a Maori contingent would be sent.
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Despite this patriotic support, the imperial authorities ruled out direct Maori participation. The idea of using of non-white troops in a 'white man's' war was deplored by some sectors of New Zealand society.
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Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain was one of those who opposed the war. She spoke to the National Council of Women's annual conference in Dunedin in April 1900 on the topic of peace and arbitration, wryly acknowledging the untimeliness of the topic. 'With all the ardour of its young, strong nationality,' she said, New Zealand

'had thrown itself headlong into the melee of old-world turmoil. We had selected from our young men those of the very finest physique . and we had sent them across the Tasman Sea and the Indian Ocean to slay boys of 16 and old men of 70, or be slain in the attempt. our poor British boys were led through the black night. that they might bayonet to death Boers slumbering within their tents, and the horror was justified. . When the Boers committed any special atrocity, our language failed to express enough reprobation.'

(Otago Daily Times, 11 May 1900, p. 2)

Not all the delegates at the conference supported Bain's arguments, but they did unanimously pass a motion condemning militarism and supporting international arbitration.

The press condemned Bain's speech. The Lyttelton Times, in an editorial, felt that she had 'cast the most atrocious aspersions on her own countrymen', (14 May 1900, p. 4) and the Otago Daily Times took the time to argue for the necessity and basic righteousness of the war. Bain was unrepentant, arguing that 'human warfare has done service in the past; but one believes that the race is now capable of developing competition into emulation, and that the battlefield has ceased to be necessary.' (ODT, 14 May 1900, p. 2)
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http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-south-african-boer-war/introduction

and here are some photo's

Digitised book written in 1900 - titled Why Kruger made War ( .pdf 4.21megs)

Foreword of book above
My purpose is principally directed to answering the astonished inquiry that frequently rises to the lips of even well-informed people "Why did Kruger declare war? What in the world could have induced him and his confederates, the 'slimmest of the slim,' to have committed themselves to apparently so suicidal a venture? They had everything to lose and nothing to gain ! Therefore, on the face of it, it would seem, indeed, that they had no choice! "
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It is written from "the english side" so interesting to read both sides of the story

here are some early SA recipes for interest sake
 
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