War Correspondents: The Boer War

Britain went into the Boer War in the autumn of 1899 feeling ambivalent about clashing with the small Boer republics in southern Africa. At home there was opposition to the war and in Europe there was considerable sympathy for the underdogs taking on the mighty British Empire. Initial Boer successes compounded such attitudes. When, in 1900, British reinforcements finally secured the relief of Ladysmith and Mafeking and the defeat of all Boer armies in the field, the Boers resorted to guerrilla tactics. Britain's uncompromising response, including the construction of 'concentration camps' for Boer families, where over 20,000 died before the end of hostilities in May 1902, added to the controversy surrounding the British government's conduct of the war.

This collection of reports sent back to Britain by newspaper correspondents in the field reflects the tensions felt during the progress of the war, including the uneasy match between patriotism and a critical appreciation of events on the battlefield. The individualism of the Victorian reporters shines through, despite the haphazard attempts of the State to manage the news, presenting, along with over fifty contemporary photographs, a fresh, first-hand perspective on a campaign which heralded the advent of twentieth-century warfare.