TOPIC:

Many books have been written about Field Marshall, the Right Honourable, The Earl Horatio Herbert Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC. Depending on the perspective of the author, Lord Kitchener was either one of the greatest, most decorated military commanders of the late Victorian and Edwardian times or an utter villain. On my travels through the Free State a few decades ago, it was not uncommon for my Boer interlocutor to spit on the ground at the mentioning of his name, followed by a summing-up of all the ancestors who died as a result of Kitchener’s scorched earth policy and his ill-managed concentration camps. The Boer hatred for the man is understandable but is probably not entirely warranted. Not only was the scorched-earth policy devised by Kitchener’s predecessor Lord Roberts (or his dreadful wife), It was also Kitchener who forcefully opposed Milner’s insistence that the surrender of the Boers should be unconditional. Kitchener had realized that unconditional surrender could never be acceptable to the Boers and his successful opposition to Milner during the Peace Negotiations in that respect probably saved the Boers from the latter achieving his true objective: the permanent elimination of the Boers as a relevant economical-, military- and political power.

When reading up about the Roodewal Disaster I stumbled upon a paragraph of an endlessly long article by one Cecil Domville, published on July 30, 1900 in the Morning Post. The context was the aftermath of the Wet’s capture and destruction of a large quantity of British supplies at the station. Methuen troops were at laagered at Leeuwspruit, the South Wales Borderers were at Vredefort and the Boers were in strong positions on the hills south of Rhenosterspruit from where they were fighting off attacks by Shropshires, North Lancashires, Northamptons, and Black Watch Regiments supported by a number of guns.




Approximate position of the various units as I gather from non displayed text in the news paper article.

Kitchener was a complex man. Irish born, Swiss educated, not-so-closet gay yet macho poster-boy for the WW1 recruitment drive. About Kitchener is said that he could watch men die on the battlefield without any emotion but also that he took three days off in the middle of a military campaign to nurse a wounded bird back to health. Herbert collected China porcelain and is rumored to have schlepped a piano with him during the South African campaign. So not the average career soldier. Whatever your opinion about the man, according to Cecil we can add an ability to handle artillery to his illustrious CV.

EFV wrote: Kitchener was a complex man. Irish born, Swiss educated, not-so-closet gay yet macho poster-boy for the WW1 recruitment drive.

This famous photograph shows "K" with his ADC, Captain Frank Maxwell, V.C. (aka "The Brat"), for whom Kitchener reputedly had a bit of a thing for.
Pakenham writes: "Kitchener, in keeping with his waywardness as an administrator, had a hungry eye for talent, and no scruples about hustling a bright young man to the front, over the heads of his superiors, especially if he was one of his 'band of boys' from the Sudan. Hence the way that he favoured Rawlinson and Broadwood - and, more eccentrically, Captain Maxwell, V.C., the handsome young ADC whom Kitchener allowed to play the fool, teasing the Chief, like a court jester, to the amazement of outsiders".

Captain Maxwell wrote of this photograph: "K made a vile fuss about my appearance".



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Neville, many thanks for putting pictures to words..
Pakenham also wrote about Roberts’ wife, Lady Nora. She accompanied her husband on campaign, highly unusual at the time and something that even the British Queen had expressed serious objections against.
Pakenham (page 448) writes:
… “In and out of the hospitals, so the gossip went, Nora Robert’s interference was a menace. People spoke of “petticoat government” as though the Field Marshall’s baton was in Nora’s large knapsack (and large she was, towering over the little man). Was there any truth in these stories? Lord Kerry, Bob’s [Lord Roberts, efv] ADC, was asked this precise question by his mother, wife of the War Minister. He defended the Chief, while admitting that Bob’s recent [July/August 1900, efv] conversion to a tougher line against Boer women and children was probably due to Lady Roberts’ violent hostility towards them”

Most family photographs show Bobs the true Field Marshall either sitting or, when standing, appearing almost as tall as his buxom better half. (The photograph below comes from Lord and Lady Roberts’ personal photograph album. On the right Freddy, Roberts’ only son. Freddy died at Colenso in a doomed effort to save some guns).



I did, however, find one photograph on the internet which sets the happy couple to true scale. Perhaps the family snapshots were made with help of a skilled cobbler?




So, was “Bob’s” a hen-pecked man? His wife probably told him to deny the rumors or sleep on the couch for the rest of the week. Anyway, besides Pakenham’s mention, this matter seems to be shunned by his contemporary biographers; too much in awe of the hero and possibly fearful of a woman scorned.

Hi EFV,

In addition to Lord Kitchener the other personality I have been fascinated with is "Fighting Mac" Hector McDonald:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_MacDonald

Fighting Mac had an incredible military career but it all fell apart in Sri Lanka in 1902 ending with him taking his life shortly thereafter (no judgment here).

The other fascinating aspect is the politics of the time and the two "purple circles" as we say in Aus; the Wolseley and Roberts Rings.

Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley had the "Wolseley Ring":
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolseley_ring

Black Week in South Africa in 1899 I think put out the flame of Wolseley Ring and allowed the Roberts Ring to rise to ascendancy.

If Lady Roberts had influence over her husband then she could have been a de facto leader of the ring? Maybe that's why she had so much influence; a mastermind who wanted to be close to the action in South Africa (cue dramatic music).

I suspect she would have been bitter at the Boers for the loss of her son Freddie at Colenso; possibly not the right combination of power and emotional state for the time (that's my inner voice speaking).

According to some sources Lord Kitchener was able to manoeuvre the politics of the time and never found himself in one group or the other; I'll never know.

Whatever the outcome the personalities were fascinating; they were the military titans of the age.

Regards,
Sturgy

Sturgy, you raise a valid point about the “Indian” and "African" rings. Redvers Buller belonged to the African ring and since the history of the Boer War was mostly written by admirers of the Indians (Roberts & Co), Buller suffered accordingly. I have read somewhere that the animosity between the rings was at times more intense than the animosity between Boer and Brit. Homosexuality was at the time illegal which put many a public-school boy and Aldershot graduate in a precarious (and blackmailable) position. If one looks at the higher hierarchy of the British in South Africa, one can identify as homosexual: Rhodes, Kitchener, McDonald, Maxwell, Baden Powell, Jameson and perhaps Milner (yes, he got married at a later age, but many homosexuals did in those days). Rhodes and Milner are squarely responsible for starting the war, so perhaps a budding psychologist should consider writing a book about the relation between suppressed homosexuality and bellicose inclinations. Statistically, there must have been gay Boers but as I can’t think of anything more un-Boer as homosexuality beside atheism, I have not come across any mention thereof.

As for eccentricity the war saw eccentric behaviour on both sides. The fact that the eccentrics fighting on the side of the Empire are better known is due to some extent to the information hunger of “people back home” fed by a large number of war correspondents accompanying the force and the avalanche of books written by rank and file after the war. As for eccentrics on the Boer side there were ample. Just read up on “Ziener van Rensburg” and Fritz Joubert Duquesne or whatever the real name of that mental patient was. Even Paul Kruger would be considered an eccentric today with his literal interpretation of the Old Testament and flat earth views. Anecdotally, when a film company wanted to show Kruger a film reel in his house it had brought a piano for the soundtrack. Kruger exploded when he saw the “Godless” instrument in his living room and refused to re-enter before it had been replaced by a good-protestant pump organ.

But, as Mark Twain wisely said: “To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man’s character, one must judge it by the standards of its time, not ours.”