This thesis gives an account of the Treasury's role in preparing for, and conducting, the South African War, at a time when the orthodox Gladstonian principles of public finance were being challenged. It is a case study, in an exceptional instance, of the nature and effectiveness of Treasury control over expenditure on imperial expansion; of the Treasury's view of how a colonial war should be financed and who was to pay for it, of what cost-benefit analysis the Treasury applied to a colonial war, and of why it relied on recouping a substantial part of the war cost from an indemnity levied on a defeated Transvaal. The thesis is an attempt to define the vague concept of "Treasury control", not in constitutional theory, but as it worked in practice. It is argued that Treasury control and the rigidity of the annual peace time budget obstructed before the war the taking of any serious military precautions, left no reserve fund for war contingencies, and made any long-term strategic planning almost impossible. Rather than run the risk of asking money from Parliament for reinforcements to South Africa, which would be unpopular, as it might require increased taxation, and which might prove unnecessary, the Cabinet waited till the need to spend taxpayers' money had been demonstrated, although it could result in initial setbacks and in a longer and more expensive campaign. This, in conjunction with Milner's and Chamberlain's political strategy, dictated a military solution to the crisis. It is further argued that at first the Treasury estimated the cost of the war at £10 million, while assuring Parliament that a substantial part of it would be recouped by way of indemnity from the Transvaal. But the colonial expedition turned into a war on a European scale, the final charge to the British Exchequer was £217 million, and not a penny of indemnity was exacted from the Transvaal. The Treasury's view was restricted largely to the current year's budget and the following year's estimates, and how to secure their approval in Parliament. In this case, Treasury control was as ineffective during the war, as its estimates of the cost of the war and who would pay for it, were unrealistic.

This thesis examines the controversial South African War's influence on English poetry, highlighting the individual responses of established poets and drawing on the work of numerous minor verse-writers to define the changing tradition of 'patriotic' and 'war' poetry. Chapter I sketches the historical and social background, noting how events in South Africa assumed great magnitude for contemporaries whose popular Imperialism was severely tried and who made an unprecedented national 'war-effort'. In Chapter II the late-nineteenth-century tradition of 'patriotic' poetry is identified, through analysis of verse-anthologies and contemporary critical opinion, and by briefly studying the war's lesser poetry which confirmed this mood of Art-for-Morality's-sake writing. Chapter III describes Kipling's personal affection for South Africa, and the political aspirations which were related to his dedicated 1890s' verse-lessons. His reactions to the conflict reveal the disillusionment which distanced Kipling from his audience and changed his patriotic and imperialistic teaching. Inflated by the war, 'Rudyard Kiplingism' became a powerful literary movement. Chapter IV explains the discredit brought by Robert Buchanan's 'Hooligan' criticism, Edgar Wallace's 'barrack-room ballad' imitations, and Kipling's own ill-judged verses 'The Absent-Minded Beggar', but also argues that certain soldier-poets usefully exploited his reputation. Chapter V evaluates the contributions of four respected and influential patriotic poets: the 'undistinguished adequacy' of Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate; the strident verses of W.E. Henley; Henry Newbolt's strongly idealistic encouragement and consolation; and William Watson's brave but costly anti-war stance. Chapter VI considers a variety of poets in demonstrating how, while religious sanction for human conflict and empire-building was emphatically re-affirmed, some questioned the principle of War (including Meredith and Hardy) and denounced the sufferings inflicted on the Boers. The strain imposed on fireside poets' customary responses and rhetoric is outlined in Chapter VII, which also discusses the sentiments of Hardy's discontented 'war-poetry' and The Dynasts, before assessing the impact of personal bereavement on A.E. Housman's loyal poetry.

Thesis (M.A.(History)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1949 -(Dept. of) History. / Bibliography: 5 leaves at end of volume.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Historical and Heritage Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1951. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 552-558).

This dissertation deals with the efforts of the British forces to regain control of northern Natal from the Boers, during the second quarter of 1900. In March Boer forces had dug themselves in along the Biggarsberg. In early May a British force advanced on the Biggarsberg. Exploiting their numerical superiority and with a turning movement to their right, the British army forced the Boers to retire to the Drakensberg in the Majuba area. There followed a period of re-organisation and preparation during which General Buller attempted to persuade the Boers to lay down their arms. When this failed he launched another attack on the Boer defence line. In quick succession the British force gained success at Botha's Pass (8 June) and at Alleman's Nek (11 June). These reverses forced the Boers to retire from their Drakensberg positions and they thereby relinquished all control of Natal to the British forces / History / M.A. (History)

D.Litt. et Phil. (English) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study focuses on the creative adaptation of Anglo-Boer War material in Ingrid Winterbach’s (Lettie Viljoen) Niggie [Cousin] (2002) with specific reference to the Oorlogsdagboek van Jan F.E. Celliers, 1899-1902 [War Diary of Jan F.E. Celliers, 1899-1902] (1978) and other texts written during or shortly after the Anglo Boer War in Dutch, such as Totius’ Vier-en-sestig dae te velde: ‘n Oorlogsdagboek [Sixty Four Days Afield: A War Diary] (1977) and in English, Woman’s Endurance (1904) by A.D.L. and Deneys Reitz’s Commando. A Boer Journal of the Boer War (1929). More recent Afrikaans novels dealing with the same war are also analysed, such as Ons oorlog [Our War] (2000) by Klaas Steytler, Op soek na Generaal Mannetjies Mentz [In Search of General Mannetjies Mentz] (1998) by Christoffel Coetzee and Etienne Leroux’s Magersfontein O! Magersfontein (1976). A literary analysis is done of the novel Niggie, with specific focus on the nature and function of Anglo-Boer War material in Winterbach’s text. The question is posed why there is such a sustained focus and creative adaptation of Anglo-Boer War texts in Winterbach’s oeuvre (especially in Belemmering [Impediment], 1990, Karolina Ferreira, 1993, Buller se plan [Buller’s Plan], 1999, and Niggie [Cousin], 2002)? This novel has a profound effect on the reader a century after the war, because it addresses postcolonial issues and predicaments such as a defragmenting identity, as well as the possible demise of the Afrikaans language and culture, faced by the descendants of those involved in the war a century ago. In her reworking of the past to come to grips with the present, Winterbach confronts difficult South African topics, such as interracial relationships, racism, the relationship with the land, possible language death, gender relationships, the role of the supernatural and the unconscious in everyday life (in the form of dreams and trickster figures), amongst many others. The dissertation offers an intertextual study as well as a literary analyses of the literary techniques used, and the characteristics of this magisterial novel, which deservedly won the Hertzog prize in 2004, the highest accolade possible for an Afrikaans novel. The anomaly of such a novel in 2002 seemingly dwelling on the past, is shown up for what it is: a metaphor for the present and its dilemmas, reflecting the social conflicts existing at present in the crumbling Afrikaans community.

This dissertation intends to reconstruct accurately the events in the vicinity of the Pretoria-Pietersburg railway during the South African War (Anglo-Boer War) of 1899-1902 that influenced both the Boer and British war efforts and comment on the role played by the railway line in such events. The research question at the centre of this dissertation is the role and impact of the Pretoria-Pietersburg railway line on the trajectory of the War. / Dissertation (MSocSci (History))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / 2022/12/30 / Historical and Heritage Studies / MSocSci (History) / Restricted