On 11 October 1899 the Boer Republics (South African Republic and Orange Free State) declared war on the British Empire. The war continued until 31 May 1902 with the defeat of the Boers.
The Boers used guerrilla hit and run tactics but Britain pursued a scorch earth policy. Britain also instigated the use of something new – concentration camps – 100,000 Boers were imprisoned in them. 26,000 died in the camps from disease and starvation. 20,000 native Africans died who had also been interred by the British in separate camps.
South African Gold
The war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging signed on 31 May 1902.
In 1902 with a British victory, the former Boer republics were transformed into the British colonies of the Transvaal and Orange River, and in 1910 were merged with the Natal and Cape Colonies to form the Union of South Africa, a self-governing colony within the British Empire.
In 1902 a court-martial of war crimes committed by Britain took place. Six officers – Lieutenants Harry “Breaker” Morant, Peter Handcock, George Witton, Henry Picton, Captain Alfred Taylor and Major Robert Lenehan – of the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC) a British Army irregular regiment of mounted rifles were put on trial. The trial opened in Pietersburg during January 1902.
The charges, which were in part prompted by a “letter of complaint” which was written by BVC Trooper Robert Mitchell Cochrane and signed by James Christie and 14 other members of the BVC, were that Lieutenant Morant had incited the co-accused to murder some 20 people, including the wounded prisoner of war (POW) Floris Visser, a group of four Boer prisoners of war (POWs) and four Dutch schoolteachers, Boer civilian adults and children, and a Lutheran missionary named Rev. Daniel Heese. Morant and Handcock were acquitted of killing Heese, but were sentenced to death on the other two charges and executed within 18 hours of sentencing. Their death warrants were personally signed by Lord Kitchener.
The war mobilised the resources of the British Empire and cost the British government £210 million (over £25 billion today). It resulted in more than 120,000 British and Imperial casualties, including 22,000 dead. Two thirds of the deaths were caused by disease and inadequate medical provision. – National Army Museum
Thousands of horses and mules were killed – a foreshadow of World War 1. The average life expectancy of a British horse, from the time of its arrival in Port Elizabeth, was around six weeks. The Horse Memorial in Port Elizabeth is a tribute to the 300,000 horses that died during the conflict.
