TOPIC:

Frank
It was shortage of money that did it for me. Switching employment by a mining company to the ivory tower existence in museums was one of the many mistakes I made in my life. It was certainly the most costly one.
Regards
Brett

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg_Reform_Committee

When I posted the news about the Rand Club, I was hoping that someone well-informed about the role its members played in events leading up to the Boer War would share their knowledge on this forum. Very much second best is the Wikipedia link given above. For those who do not know, it was members of the Rand Club who formed the Johannesburg Reform Committee and plotted the overthrow of the Transvaal Government. This led first to the Jameson Raid, and, later, contributed to the Boer War itself. It was also Club members who founded the Imperial Light Horse, the outstanding Colonial regiment of the war. Perhaps someone can still write an essay on 'The Rand Club and the Anglo-Boer War' for this forum.

Brett

Brett,
My own digging into family history confirms your observation.
John Douglas Forster, my great grandfather, was a member of the Rand Club.... his contact details appear (Sideways in the margin!) on my Grandfather's WO 76 302.
In brief, JDF was politically active in Johannesburg and had a price put on his head by F E T Krause. He had to flee JB, being Chair of The Transvaal Branch of the South African League. He faced Krause back in England the following year, when Krause was tried and convicted for incitement to JDF's murder.

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/papers...d&d=HNS19020315.2.52

JDF served for a time on Roberts' Intelligence Staff and then as Legal Adviser during the early weeks of Roberts' occupation of JB.
He was an early member of the Kimberley Club too - another that Rhodes helped fund.

Like Rhodes, he was a Colonialist rather than an Imperialist and was involved in drawing up a 'draft' post war government with Wyberg, Hoyle, Evans, MacKenzie, Fitzpatrick and others, with particular reference to not importing Westminster 'lackeys'..... But that's another story.
I have loads of jpegs of newspaper clippings of the antics of the SAL and JDF should anyone need source material for an essay.
PB

PB
Many thanks for a most interesting post. There is indeed 'always something new out of Africa' (and the Boer War)! The Forster/Krause story is a fascinating one, and probably not widely known. It was certainly new to me. I hope that you will post other bits of 'hidden history' from your files.
Regards
Brett

Ok Brett..... Well, you did ask.....

These are the notes I made whilst digging into my Ex-Rand Clubbing Great Grandfather, John Douglas Forster (JDF). I've kept it relevant to his 'feud' with Krause. There was a lot more to his life than this lively 6 or 7 years and I'm sure that, as a 50 year old 'duffer', he thought the much younger Krause was a bit of a 'whippersnapper'.

It has to be remembered that the political tensions back in England played a large part in this little story. Pro- and anti-war elements as well as Colonialist and Imperialists were in play. Interestingly, my Great Grandfather's two trials were heard in front of the Lord Chief Justice - an unusual occurrence that didn't go unnoticed by the Press at the time. Politics and Justice, eh?

Anyway, the notes are referenced where necessary - and to remind me of the background, I've expanded some parts.

1895, July
Started practice in Johannesburg, as Consulting Counsel and Jurist. Not admitted to the South African Republic Bar. Joined the South African League (SAL). SAL was opposed to ‘The abuses of the Republican Govt.’ Krause was Public Prosecutor for the Transvaal Govt.

1899, March
Drafted petition to Queen Victoria for a Military presence to kerb the Boer strangulation of British interests in southern Africa. Bloemfontein Conference resulted.

1899, July
Elected President of SAL. The League was the upholding British supremacy in SA. Dr. Krause was also practising at Johannesburg and became Republican Govt Chief Public Prosecutor
Note: At about this time, an Englishman named Edgar was shot and killed by a Johannesburg Policeman named Jones. Krause bailed Jones for £200. JDF believed that the evidence and depositions had been shoddily handled and took witness statements himself and had them published in the Johannesburg Star. He questioned Krause’s judgement imposing such a low bail, when British subjects were being bailed for £1000 or more for far less serious charges. The beginnings of the feud?

1899, July
Correspondent to the (by then, Right Wing) Pall Mall Gazette. Weekly letters (under a pseudonym) until 1901.

1899, Sept 29th
Left Johannesburg to avoid arrest by the Republican Government. Warrant for his arrest issued by Public Prosecutor Krause. Due, in large part, to his position in the SAL, but also his anti-Boer correspondence for the Pall Mall Gazette and Johannesburg Star! (Who's Editor was an old acquaintance of Milner)

1899, Oct
Escaped via Natal to Cape Town

1899, Nov - 1900, May 14th
Head of Civil Branch of Military Intelligence Department in Capetown.

1900, Jan - May
Involved with others of the SAL to decide upon the future Transvaal Cabinet. Proposed members were Wyberg, Sam Evans, JDF, William Dalrymple, Thomas Dodd, William Hosken, William St John Clair, A. Mackenzie Niven, Charles Mullens, H.A. Rodgers and Fitzpatrick as PM. General consensus that no ‘English Gentleman’ were to be imported! See: Fitzpatrick: South African Politician: Selected Papers, 1888-1906. Duminy & Guest (Ends), 1976.
Note: The SAL were primarily Colonialists - keen to promote British interests but, at the same time, to maintain a degree of Political and Economic autonomy. Imperialists, on the other hand, wanted less autonomy and strong direction from Westminster. The SAL was keen to promote their stance and utilised the printed media, particularly in the UK, to ‘inform’ the public of events in the south of Africa. They consisted of Mine Owners, Financiers, Lawyers and Politicians, so had control over what information was relayed to the British Press.

1900, March - May
Actively involved with the ‘Uitlanders Committee’ (UC) to help distribute funds raised in London and Capetown for the displaced (British) refugees from Johannesburg.
Note: The UC grew from the SAL and gave the impression it was Democratic in order to present a united political front for fundraising purposes. In fact it was made up of the usual suspects from the SAL. Needless to say, the funds were distributed to those who toed the line… When local meetings were called and agendas didn’t suit the SAL, then those meetings would be cancelled on some pretence. The UC was also the conduit for (selected) information coming in to southern Africa from London.

1900, May 16th
Joined Military Intelligence Department of Lord Roberts’ Headquarters Staff.
Note: Remained ‘in mufti’ throughout the Boer Campaign. Although enrolled in the Rand Rifles (a condition of residence in South Africa for Brits) JDF did not see action.

1900, May 18th
Wired by Maj Francis Davies, Dir of Military Intelligence for Gen Roberts, to head North with, amongst others, Sam Evans (who had served with Gen Milner in the early part of the war and worked for Ecksteins, a large mining company). Joined the column at Kroonstad. Gen Roberts and Staff had to install a civil administration in Johannesburg to take over from the Boers. Sam Evans was to be Civil Commissioner; Wyberg, (another former President of the SAL) Mining Advisor; Maj Davies to run the Police; J Emrys Evans, Financial Advisor and JDF was legal adviser to Col Mackenzie, Military Governor.
See: The Rand at War, 1899-1902: The Witwatersrand and the Anglo-Boer War, Diana Rose Cammack.

1900, May 30th
With Maj Davies and Sam Evans to negotiate the transfer of power at Johannesburg from Krause, the commandant.
Note: After complaining of JDF's presence at the meeting, Krause negotiated a 24 hour delay before the British entered Johannesburg. He argued that this would ensure a peaceful transition of power. The reality was that it gave the remaining Boer fighters and their gold a chance to escape. It is generally accepted that this prolonged the War for a further two years. This after Krause gave his word not to give information or aid to British enemies…

1900, June/July
JDF instructed by Mackenzie to instigate ejection of squatters using ‘military escorts’. Boers had adopted an anti ‘rentier’ policy that restricted landlords’ rights. Many tenants had refused to pay rent as a result. JDF also drafted a notice to make it punishable under Marshall Law to live off immoral earnings.
Note: Krause actively promoted Boers’ rights and applied to appear on their behalf at Roberts’ Military Tribunals. JDF, as Legal Advisor, recommended that those who had not taken an oath of allegiance could not practice. Krause refused to swear allegiance (so probably saved himself from hanging at the subsequent trial) and had to wind up his Legal Practice. The letters in which Krause incited the murder of JDF were written after this, when, having been given parole to travel to England, he continued to correspond with Boer activists and sympathisers, including Broeksma, who was arrested in Johannesburg and later executed. Given that Krause’s financial situation was poor and his conditions of parole banned him from returning to South Africa, Krause would have been aggrieved. The political becoming personal?

1900, July 24th
Ceased to be the legal adviser to the military governor

1901, August
Finished as correspondent to the Pall Mall Gazette in Johannesburg

1901, Oct 8th
Key Witness at first Old Bailey hearing. Krause accused of Treason and Incitement to Murder. Case adjourned until evidence arrived from SA. Krause remanded.
See: New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11813, 16 November 1901, Page 2

1902, January 24th
Witness again at The Old Bailey in the Krause Trial. Confirmed he was a Member of the English Bar and a Justice of the Peace for Johannesburg. Krause found guilty to Incitement to Murder JDF, but the Treason and (thanks to his refusal to swear allegiance to The Crown) Attempted Murder charges were dropped. Sentenced to the maximum two years imprisonment. Received a pardon after serving his sentence.
Note: The irony of Krause receiving a British trial, as opposed to the Boer Justice that he dispensed to Brits in southern Africa, was not lost on the Press.
See: The Star, Putanga, 5th Feb, 1902, page 4.

1902, Feb 12th
Awarded £2,000 after suing Arthur B Markham, Liberal Member of the House of Commons, for libel. Markham published a letter in the Times in Feb 1901, quoting approvingly of Dr Krause’s description of JDF as being a ‘man of very doubtful character’. The same Markham had been defended by Krause when he was allowed to practice in the UK whilst on parole from the Transvaal Military Government.
See: The Register, Adelaide, 14th Feb, 1902, page 5

1902, March 15th
Departed Southampton for Natal on the RMS Walmer Castle

1902, May 4th
Sworn in at the first sitting of the High Court of the Colony of the Transvaal in the Palace of Justice at Johannesburg.
See: Forum article in The Advocate, Aug, 2002

1903
Offices in the Hoskens Buildings, Johannesburg.
See: Legal Handbook for Br. South Africa, 1903
Note: Hoskens was fellow a member of the SAL

1905, May 10th
Krause was re-admitted to practice as an Advocate at the Supreme Court in Pretoria. - By then JDF had seen the writing on the wall and huffed off back to London to live in sin with a French woman nearly 30 years younger than him! Definitely not a 'Rumpole' of the Bailey type.....

Footnote: The newspaper references for the trials have been chosen for their brevity! If you want some Victorian 'sophistical rhetoric inebriated by the exuberance of it's own verbosity', it was well covered by the Times and syndicated widely in the UK at the time.....



John Douglas Forster in 1899

PB
Well, you have certainly enlightened me! Thank you for sharing a very interesting story about a very interesting man. Finding solace in the arms of a French woman 30 years his junior seems to me to be just reward for keeping the conservative flag flying under very trying circumstances!
Regards
Brett