TOPIC:

Hello everyone,

I'm a second year undergraduate student of at Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) and I'm preparing to write my English and History dissertation based on the Boer War. This will require hefty analysis of primary sources - such as diaries - to support my arguments.

Because there is such a wealth of material on the subject, I was wondering if anyone was aware of an anthology of primary source materials available to purchase? Or if there are any accounts which you have read that particularly stand out as worthy of further research and analysis.

I have read several histories on the subject and I'm fairly familiar with the subject in general, but a brief glance on these forums show that there are many enthusiastic amateur historians and professionals that frequent this website whose knowledge monumentally eclipses my own.

Any replies will be greatly appreciated, I thank you for your time.

Kind regards,

Mark

Hi Mark,

And a warm welcome to the forum.
Good luck with your dissertation, there are several books that David has added to the site, link here www.angloboerwar.com/books
Although I have not read all of them "The Times History of the war" Amery is very concise and well written.

Good luck
Paul

Dear Mark,

Welcome to the forum. I also wrote my dissertation on the Boer War but that was many years ago.

What's the title/subject of your dissertation? Without that we can't point in you in the right direction to the primary sources.

Best wishes,

Justin

Welcome Mark,

I am sure we can provide some guidance for you. As Justin asks, knowing the title will be a good place to start.

Best wishes
David

Dear Paul, Justin and David,

Thank you for your hearty welcome and Paul's introduction to Amery's collection.

As an English and History student my topic is interdisciplinary and will therefore be analysing literary themes through a historical framework. This is in order to see whether literary representations influenced historical events or vice versa.

My main argument will rest upon colonial anxieties which are prevalent in colonial fictions. The fears within these narratives are multi-faceted. There is the fear of 'reverse-colonisation' prevalent in the aptly entitled "invasion stories" of the late nineteenth century - ie. in Bram Stoker's Dracula which elicits fear of a dark foreigner coming to England to take over London. Another fear is that of 'going native' such as Kurtz in Conrad's Heart of Darkness who loses his civilised nature and becomes "savage". There is the prevalent fear of isolation within an environment hostile to imperial rule, fears of interracial mixing and hybridity, and fears of individual regression or 'atavism' that were pseudo-scientific applications of Darwinism.

These fears which feature predominantly in ghost stories, and the horror genre in general have been discussed by many literary critics, although historians are largely concerned with events rather than the emotional responses of the participants within these environments.

Therefore, I am proposing an analysis of Boer War diaries, first person accounts, military despatches etc. to see whether or not this fear actually exists in reality, whether it is vocalised by those that had first hand experiences, whether their families held any of these fears, and if these fears were merely a product of sensationalist media and had no real substance in reality.

As a military veteran myself (an ex-sniper from the Rifles), I am certain that military diaries may hold honest and unashamed accounts of anxieties and wish to explore these in some detail.

I understand that this topic is quite specialised and probably largely outside the interests of most of the people that use this forum. Although, you may be aware of these anxieties through historical accounts which you may have read without being aware of them.

I will reiterate, however, that you guys are clearly the subject matter experts in this field and I appreciate any help that you can give and will of course publish any interesting findings that my research unearths on this website as well. I'm sure that digging around in the National Archives will be a challenging and rewarding experience that will benefit anyone interested in such a rich topic.

Regards,

Mark

Mark

I think that a significant anxiety amongst many Colonials was centred on 'belonging' in their new home. In the 1890's, many of the settlers in Natal had been born and bred there, but there were also many who had only recently arrived, mainly from Britain. For them, "home" meant Britain, and I suspect this also applied to at least some of the Natal-born people.

Natal, perhaps like other colonies, tried to be more British than the British well into the 20th Century. Place names, 'English country gardens', churches and much more besides are evidence of the allegiance of early Natalians. It was still jokingly called "the last outpost of the British Empire" long after the Empire ceased to exist.

The insecurities of settlement in South Africa are well illustrated by the displacement of "Uitlanders" (foreigners) from the Boer Republics before the start of the Boer War. These people moved to both Natal and the Cape Colony and included many nationalities besides British. Significantly, they also included people who had been born in South Africa but, because of their language (mainly English), they had not identified themselves with the 'Dutch' rulers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

Whether or not any of the above can be related to your thesis on colonial fictions I do not know, but perhaps it is something else to consider.

Good luck with your investigation. I hope it goes very well and that you are suitably rewarded.

Regards
Brett