The following article concerns the postal history connections between the Anglo-Boer War and the earlier Matabele Rebellion, as studied in detail by author Campbell Buchanan. The article was submitted by APS Affiliate The Philatelic Society for Greater Southern Africa as an Article of Distinction for 2023 and originally appeared in volume 36, no. 2 (May-August 2023) of the society's journal, Forerunners.

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I collect stamps and postal history from both Rhodesia and the 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War. I recently acquired three covers that combined both these philatelic interests; they were mailed by troops active in the Anglo-Boer War, yet the contents were connected to the Matabele Rebellion that occurred a few years earlier in Rhodesia. These “covers” were actually forms to be filled out by the recipients confirming they had received their 1896 British South Africa Company medals for service during the Matabele Rebellion. While researching these covers and re-examining some of my other Boer War covers, I realized there were numerous connections between the Matabele Rebellion and the Boer War.

This was not entirely unexpected because these conflicts were only a few years apart and in close proximity to each other. Also, Cecil John Rhodes was a leading instigator of both the Matabele Rebellion and the Boer War. He was an arch imperialist who had amassed a huge fortune from his De Beers diamond mining company in Kimberley, which gave him considerable political power. He became Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope Colony and was granted a Royal Charter to develop the Central African territory between the Limpopo and Zambezi Rivers – a region then controlled by Lobengula, the King of the Matabele (now known as Ndebele). In 1888, Rhodes persuaded Lobengula to sign a treaty for the administration and mining rights in the territory under Lobengula’s control (both Matabeleland and Mashonaland) and in 1890 the Pioneer Column, a group of settlers protected by well-armed British South Africa Company Police (BSAP), moved through Matabeleland into Shona territory to establish Fort Salisbury (now Harare). Before discussing the covers, here are brief summaries of the Matabele Rebellion and the Anglo-Boer War.

The Matabele Rebellions

There were actually two separate rebellions, the first occurring between 1893 and 1894 when the Matabele warriors revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company but gradually succumbed to the B.S.A. Company's superior firepower. Lobengula died from smallpox in January 1894, and soon after the king's death, the Matabele submitted to the British South Africa Company.

The second Matabele Rebellion occurred between 1896 and 1897 when the M’limo (the Matabele spiritual leader) convinced the Matabele and the Mashona (now Shona) tribes that the settlers (almost 4,000 strong by then) were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the rinderpest cattle disease ravaging the country at the time. Their timing was fortuitous because only a few months earlier the Administrator General, Leander Starr Jameson, had led most of the British South Africa Company’s troops and armaments to fight the Transvaal Republic in the ill-fated “Jameson Raid”, leaving the country nearly defenseless. To fill the vacuum, British troops led by General Carrington, his chief-of-staff Colonel Robert Baden Powell, and Colonel Herbert Plumer were sent to Rhodesia in an effort to quell the violence, but at a cost of many lives on both sides.

In order to end the Rebellion, Cecil Rhodes, unarmed, met with Matabele elders for peace talks which eventually brought the conflict to an end. This so-called “Indaba”, which took place on a large ant heap among the Matopos (now Matobo) Hills, was portrayed on a 1940 3d Southern Rhodesia stamp (Scott 40, SG 58) commemorating the Golden Jubilee of the British South Africa Company (Figure 1b). The stamp vignette shows Cecil Rhodes assisted by Capt. Colenbrander (on his right) at the 1896 peace talks with Matabele warriors. The vignette is based on a sketch by Colonel Robert Baden-Powell who was an accomplished artist (see Figure 1a and Note 2).

Figure 1. Baden Powell sketch, 1940 Southern Rhodesias stamp

In 1896, Queen Victoria sanctioned the issue by the British South Africa Company of a medal to troops who had been engaged in the First Matabele War. In 1897, the award was supplemented to those engaged in the two campaigns of the Second Matabele War, namely Rhodesia (1896) and Mashonaland (1897). The three medals are the same except for the name of the campaign for which the medal was issued is inscribed on the reverse. The majority of awards were to colonial and locally raised troops, rather than members of the regular British Army.

The medal on the left in Figure 2 was awarded to Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (1861-1947) who was an American scout known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa. He taught scouting techniques and woodcraft to Robert Baden Powell while in Rhodesia which helped inspire the founding of the international Scouting movement.

Figure 2. Obverse and Reverse of BSAC Medals

The 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War

The Dutch first settled the strategically important Cape of Good Hope in 1652, but following the occupation of the Dutch Republic in Europe by the French during the Napoleonic Wars, the British formally took over the Cape territory in 1814. Many of the Cape Dutch settlers (collectively known as “Boers”) resisted British rule and in 1836 migrated northward into the sparsely populated hinterland (this mass emigration is known as “The Great Trek”) forming two autonomous republics: the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (more commonly known as the Transvaal).

The political dynamics emphatically changed in 1884, when gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand area of the Transvaal which resulted in a large influx of Uitlanders (foreigners), mainly English-speaking men from Britain in search of a fortune. The Uitlanders demanded full voting rights, but the president of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger, realized this would eventually result in the loss of ethnic Boer control of his territory. Cecil Rhodes’ failed Jameson Raid of 1895 into the Transvaal, led by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, further escalated the tensions between the British and the Boers.

Concessions offered by President Kruger at a conference in Bloemfontein in June 1899 were rejected by the British which resulted in Kruger issuing an ultimatum on 9 October 1899, giving the British government 48 hours to withdraw all their troops from the borders of both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, failing which the Transvaal, allied to the Orange Free State, would declare war on the British government. Kruger’s ultimatum was met with outrage and laughter in London, and was rejected by the British government.

The Boers had no regular army units, apart from a small Staatsartillerie, but were able to muster about 33,000 members of civilian militias and decisively outnumbered the British, who could move only 13,000 troops to the front line. Their new-found wealth from the gold mines had allowed the Boers to purchase advanced armaments, such as modern, smokeless, Mauser rifles and Krupp field guns from Germany as well as Creusot “Long Tom” cannons from France, which were superior to the British weapons. On 11th October 1899, the Boer troops attacked on two fronts, into Natal from the Transvaal and into the northern Cape from the Orange Free State. The Boers defeated the British in a number of major engagements forcing them to retreat to their garrisons at Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley. Colonel Baden-Powell was in charge of the British troops during the Mafeking siege (Note 2), and Cecil Rhodes moved into Kimberley just prior to that town being besieged. Siege life took its toll on both the defending soldiers and the civilians as food began to grow scarce after a few weeks.

In response to these setbacks, the commanding officer, General Redvers Buller, was replaced by Field Marshal Lord Roberts and his chief of staff Lord Kitchener. A considerable number of soldiers were brought to Southern Africa from throughout the British Empire, including contingents from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. By the time the war ended the total British military strength in Southern Africa reached nearly 500,000 men, while the Boers numbered about 87,000 men and boys including over 2,000 foreign volunteers.

The British troops eventually relieved Ladysmith (on 28th February 1900), Kimberley (15th February 1900) and Mafeking (17th May 1900). Roberts occupied Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, on 13th March 1900, and the province was annexed and renamed the Orange River Colony. By 31st May 1900, British troops had entered Johannesburg; on 5th June Pretoria was taken; and by 1st September 1900, the entire Transvaal was annexed. To many it seemed that the war was over. At the end of November 1900, Roberts made a triumphant return to England leaving Kitchener to do the mopping up.

However, the Boers resorted to guerrilla tactics, relying on small, mobile military units to attack British troop columns, and to sabotage telegraph sites, railways, and storage depots. To protect the railways the British built 8,000 blockhouses guarded by 50,000 troops. In response, the British embarked on a scorched earth policy to deny supplies to the fighters, destroying approximately 30,000 farms and sending their families into concentration camps. These measures were largely responsible for bringing the Boers to the negotiation table to end the War on 31st May 1902, but at a terrible cost; around 28,000 mostly women and children died in the concentration camps, there were 120,000 British and Imperial casualties, including 22,000 dead two thirds of which were caused by disease (mostly enteric fever) and inadequate medical provision, and over 7000 Boer commandoes were killed.

Figure 3. BSAP Lobatsi Cover

Boer War Covers with Matabele Rebellion Connections

Cover from Lobatsi, Bechuanaland to Bulawayo, Rhodesia

In July 1899, even before the commencement of the Boer War on 11th October, Colonel Baden-Powell had been sent to Rhodesia and the Bechuanaland Protectorate to organize defenses to protect the borders of both regions and to ensure that the railway from Bulawayo to Mafeking remained open in the event of war breaking out. Colonel Plumer, who was recipient of the BSAC medal for his role on the Matabele Rebellion and had been present at Cecil Rhodes “Indaba” peace talks, was placed in charge of troops from the Rhodesia Regiment as well as members of the British South Africa Police. His force moved to Fort Tuli (now Thuli) near the Transvaal border and was involved in a number of small actions which frustrated any Boer incursions into Rhodesia.

Mafeking was besieged by the Boers on 13th October 1899 so Plumer moved his forces into Bechuanaland towards Mafeking, reaching Lobatsi (now Lobatse) 60 miles from Mafeking, on 6th March. The force was involved in frequent engagements and took heavy casualties near Mafeking before taking part in its successful relief on 17th May 1900.

The “On Active Service” cover shown in Figure 3 was mailed from Lobatsi to Bulawayo, Rhodesia by a corporal, G.P. Oliver, in Plumer’s British South Africa Police contingent just over two weeks after the Relief of Mafeking. The cover was marked “Urgent” and was countersigned by “Major M.H.G. Mundell, Commanding Detachment B.S.A. Police”. Major Marmaduke Howell Gwinn Mundell had been a member of Cecil Rhodes’ original Pioneer Corps that moved into Rhodesia in 1890 and was a member of the botched Jameson Raid into the Transvaal in 1895 (where he was taken prisoner). Mundell had also taken part in the 1896 Matabele Rebellion for which he was awarded a BSAC Medal.

There is a Bulawayo arrival postmark 4 June 1900 on reverse and a similar 6 June 1900 postmark cancelling the postage due (T =Taxe) indication, probably after the postage due was paid. There is a pencil notation on reverse: “These are the sort of letters we get from the front. Always a 1d to pay as they have no stamps JEJ”. The violet PASSED PRESS CENSOR cachet was applied in Bulawayo, the only British civilian censor location outside South Africa (the cachet, designated BLW1, has known use 4 April 1900 to 13 August 1900.)

Cover from Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts

Figure 4. Kitcheners Fighting Scouts Cover

Figure 4 shows a stampless official cover mailed by a member of Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts. Formed in December 1900, Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts was an irregular unit, mostly made up of troops recruited from the Cape Colony and Natal to fight in the Transvaal. Their reputation as hard riding and drinking toughs and ferocious opponents made them feared in the Transvaal. The unit was commanded by the legendary frontiersman, Natal-born Johan Wilhelm Colenbrander (1855-1918). After seeing action in the 1883 Zulu War in Natal, Colenbrander moved to Mashonaland in 1889. He won the trust of Matabele King Lobengula and even accompanied two of Lobengula’s envoys to visit Queen Victoria in London, but fought against him in the 1893–1894 First Matabele War as a scout alongside Frederick Russell Burnham (Figure 2 shows Burham’s BSAC medal). Colenbrander also took part in the 1896 Second Matabele War and was one of the men on the ant hill with Cecil Rhodes at the “Indaba” peace talks (the person to the right of Rhodes in Figure 1) where he acted as interpreter. Sadly, he met an untimely death in 1918 when he and two other actors were drowned in a swollen river near Johannesburg while filming a movie about the Zulu War.

The Figure 4 cover was postmarked in Port Elizabeth on 31 May 1901 and mailed to “C.R.O.” (possibly Central Recruiting Office), Drill Hall, Durban. There is a Durban arrival postmark dated 4 June 1901 on the reverse. The cover is signed “R. FitzStubbs, Lieut.” above a two-line “Recruiting Officer/Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts” handstamp. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, replaced by King Edward VII, so technically the cover was sent On HIS Majesty’s Service.

During the 1896 Matabele uprising in Rhodesia, FitzStubbs had been the second in command of Colenbrander’s Native Contingent and was a recipient of the 1896 British South Africa Company medal.

BSAC Medal Acknowledgement Forms

I acquired three medal acknowledgement forms, two from 1900 printed on blue paper perforated along one edge with dimensions 9¼x7 5/8 inches (235x194mm), and one from 1902 printed on buff-colored paper with dimensions 10¾x7½ inches (273x190mm). The wording is identical on all three forms, but the return addresses differ - the blue forms were returned to the Military Secretary, Cape Town, whereas the buff form was mailed to the Military Secretary, Johannesburg (which had been occupied by the British by 1902.)

Form from Trooper E.P. Palmer, British South Africa Police

Figure 5 shows a blue form sent to Trooper E.P. Palmer, BSA [British South Africa] Police to confirm that he had received his BSAC medal. These forms may have been included in the package containing the medal. The form was signed by Trooper Palmer but both his address, “A Troop of M.I. [Mounted Infantry] Natal”, and the date, “17 August 1900”, were added in pencil after the form arrived in Cape Town.

The form had been folded into a tiny cover, measuring a mere 2¾ x 3¼ inches (71x83mm), then mailed to The Military Secretary, Cape Town (see Figure 6). It was postmarked with a large circle Army Post Office rubber date stamp dated 25 July 1900 inscribed “Army Post Office 3MB [3rd Mounted Brigade.]” A Cape Town postmark dated 14 August 1900 was applied on arrival.

The 3rd Mounted Brigade, commanded by Major General, the Earl of Dundonald, was one of a large number of Mounted Infantry (M.I.) units raised by the British to counter the Boers’ mobility on horseback over the rugged South African veldt, often with little equitation training. They did not fight on horseback; their mounts were used as means of transport unlike the cavalry who held them in contempt. Many colonial troops, such as Trooper Palmer, along with soldiers from different regiments, were formed into Mounted Infantry units resulting in a loss of regimental affiliation. These lines extracted from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “M.I.”, emphasize the disdain faced by the Mounted Infantry troops:

I used to be in the Yorkshires once,

(Sussex, Lincolns, and Rifles once),

Hampshires, Glosters, and Scottish once!

But now I am M.I.

That is what we are known as; we are the beggars that got

Three days “to learn equitation,” an’ six month o’ blumin’ well trot!

Figure 5. Palmer's Form

E.P. Palmer had served in the British South Africa Police with a rank of Trooper during the 1896 Matabele Rebellion, and was clearly serving in the Mounted Infantry, Natal in July 1900 when he mailed the form. I found a record in the AngloBoerWar.Com website that Trooper Edgar Pearson Palmer joined the Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts on 22nd March 1901 but was discharged as medically unfit on 8th August 1901.

Figure 6. Palmer's Cover

Form from Quarter Master Sergeant George G. Finch

Figure 7 shows a blue BSAC Medal acknowledgement form signed by QM Sergeant George G. Finch, Salisbury Field Force on 4 December 1900. He writes his address as simply Bloemfontein. The form was folded and sealed with small piece of selvage as shown in Figure 8. Addressed to The Military Secretary, Cape Town, it was postmarked Bloemfontein 4 December 1900 and there is a Cape Town arrival postmark on reverse dated 7 December 1900. The violet straight line PASSED CENSOR cachet was applied in Bloemfontein. Designated BFN7, this cachet was used in Bloemfontein from 30 November 1900 to 8 December 1900.

Figure 7. George Finch's Form

Figure 8. George Finch's Bloemfontein Cover

George G. Finch took part in the Matabele Rebellion as a Quarter Master Sergeant in the Salisbury Field Force but I cannot find evidence of any Boer War military service for a George Finch. The form was mailed from the civilian post office in Bloemfontein so he may have been a civilian living in Bloemfontein which was in British control at this time (the British had occupied Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900.)

Form from Private John Barrie

Unlike the earlier blue forms, the form shown in Figure 9 has the identical wording but is printed on thick, buff-colored paper. It was sent in 1902 to Private John Barrie who wrote his address as Cape Town Highlanders, Touws River, Cape Colony. “3/Supplementary/96” is written at the top of the form; this is possibly a reference to the 1896 medal which was supplemented to include other campaigns in Rhodesia.

The form as folded for mailing is shown in Figure 10. The mailing address, “The Military Secretary Johannesburg”, differs from the blue forms which were addressed to Cape Town (the British had occupied Johannesburg on 31 May 1900.) It was postmarked Touws River on 23 April 1902 and arrived in Johannesburg on 26 April 1902. Touws River is a small town in the Western Cape province located on the Cape Town Kimberley railroad about 100 miles (160km) north-east of Cape Town.

There are two censor cachets: a red, double triangle PASSED PRESS CENSOR TOUWS RIVER cachet (type TOU3) and a faint black oval Johannesburg censor cachet (type JHB16). The red Touws River censor cachet is scarce; Peter Prime only shows a single example, dated 19th May 1902, in his book listing all known civil censor cachets (see References). This example extends the known range of use for the TOU3 censor cachet from 23 April 1902 to 19 May 1902.

Figure 9. Barrie's Form

Figure 10. Barrie's Cover

The form from Private John Barrie was enigmatic; it was confirmation that he had received a British South Africa Company medal yet there is no soldier named Barrie on the BSAC Medal rolls in the AngloBoerWar.Com website. Nor were the Cape Town Highlanders involved in the Matabele Rebellion.

A name-search for troops with last name Barrie who participated in the Boer War gave two results:

Barrie J, Cape Town Highlanders (Source: QSA and KSA medal rolls)

Barrie John, No. 20, Trooper, Rhodesia (Regiment Source: Nominal roll in WO127)

QSA (Queen’s South Africa) and KSA (King’s South Africa) refer to British campaign medals awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and also to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the 1899-1902 Boer War in South Africa (the Queen’s medal became the King’s medal following Queen Victoria’s death.)

Figure 11. Barrie's Medals

The “J. Barrie, Cape Town Highlanders” record matches the address on the acknowledgement form but where is the Rhodesia connection? On the other hand, “Trooper John Barrie” served in the Rhodesia Regiment. Could they be one and the same person?

By luck, I discovered two medals, a BSAC medal (yellow & black ribbon) and a Queen’s South Africa medal (black, red & orange stripes), belonging to a Trooper John Barrie being offered for sale by medal dealer, Liverpool Medals Ltd., Altrincham, England (see Figure 11, reproduced with permission by Liverpool Medals Ltd.). The rim engravings show that Barrie served in the Bulawayo Field Force during the Matabele Rebellion and in the Rhodesia Regiment during the Boer War. But what was his connection to the Cape Town Highlanders?

Fortunately, the Liverpool Medals Ltd. webpage also included an extract from a Scottish newspaper which describes John Barrie’s convoluted involvement in the Bulawayo Field Force, the Rhodesia Regiment, AND the Cape Town Highlanders, and also how he met an unfortunate death in 1903, a year after the Boer War was over.

Murder of a Hawick Man in Central Africa

Mr. John Barrie was an adventurous Scotsman, from the town of Hawick [see Note 3] in the Scottish Borders, Roxburghshire. The Scottish Borders perhaps not providing much excitement for a young man, he first journeyed to South Africa about 1895, In 1896 he served in the locally raised Bulawayo Field Force under Selous during the 1896 Campaign where he “saw a varied experience in the Matabele War.”

He was still working in Rhodesia afterwards when the “Rhodesia Regiment” recruiting began on 10th August 1899, the exact day that John Barrie signed up for service, being one of the first members recruited when the regiment was raised by Colonel Baden-Powell, after raising the regiment he passed it off to Colonel Plumer before heading to Mafeking with his Bechuanaland Regiment. (Only to be besieged in the town for Months as soon as the war began).

He served through the early part of the Boer War earning his [Queen’s South Africa] medal and Rhodesia Clasp, with his discharge in 1900 he returned home [to Hawick, Scotland].

After his experiences in Rhodesia it would seem that he did not like to remain at home in quiet Hawick, so he went back there once more without wasting much time, and saw further war services in the Cape Town Highlanders

After peace was declared he found work as a Prison Warder [in Bulawayo, Rhodesia].

Information has been received from Bulawayo giving details of the trial of the native man Gona, who shot Mr. John Barrie in August last [27th August 1903], when he was a warder at Bulawayo Jail.

Some prisoners under the charge of the guard Barrie were employed in collecting stones from the road. Barrie placed his gun behind a rock and took up a pick, and showed them how they had to do the work. The accused picked up the gun and ran away. Barrie then followed him, but the accused stopped, turned round, and fired. Barrie fell back and died immediately. The Prisoner was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Barrie, who went through the recent war with honour, was very much respected, and the Jail Officials have erected a memorial stone over his grave. – Southern Reporter, 10th December 1903

Conclusion

Very few postal history covers have their original contents so their importance is usually confined to postal rates, postal markings, cachets, and destinations which are the essential requirements for philatelic exhibits, but have little significant human interest. Sometimes the background stories of the correspondents are a lot more fascinating than scarce postal markings.

Notes

1. Baden Powell was not actually present at Rhodes’ Peace Talks because he had come down with dysentery at that time.
2. During the Mafeking Siege, groups of boy cadets were formed into the Mafeking Cadet Corps to support the troops, carry messages, and help in the hospital which freed up men for military duties. They became the inspiration for the international Boy Scout movement.
3. Hawick (pronounced “Hoik”) is a small village in south-east Scotland that was once a center for the production of tweed and cashmere.

References

Pakenham, Thomas, “The Boer War”, Random House, 1979

Baden Powell, Robert, “The Matabele Campaigns 1896”, Methuan & Co. 1901/Project Gutenberg eBook

Prime, Peter, “British Press Censor Cachets of the Anglo-Boer war 1899 to 1902”, ABWPS, 2012.

Prime, Peter, “British Army Postal Cancellations of the Anglo-Boer War”, ABWPS, 2003.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/

AngloBoerWar.Com: https://www.angloboerwar.com/

South African Military History Society: http://samilitaryhistory.org/

National Army Museum-Boer War: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/boer-war

ZimFieldGuide.Com: https://zimfieldguide.com/

Archives at Yale, Frederick Russell Burnham papers:  https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/3802

Liverpool Medals Ltd., England website: https://www.liverpoolmedals.com/product/bsa-qsa-pair-rhodesiamurder

Postscript: The First Matabele War

To complete the story is shown a recipient letter from a Trooper in the First Matabele War of 1893. A former trooper of the Bechuanaland Border Police acknowledges in 1897 he has received a medal from the British South Africa Company for his contribution to the Matabeleland campaign in 1893. The silver medal was sanctioned by Queen Victoria in 1896 and granted to military personnel. Below is an example of the medal’s reverse with the Matabeleland 1893 inscription.

The medal records shows that there were two recipients of the medal with the last name Charles:

Joseph Kirk-Bridge Charles, No. 1313

Trooper, BSACM

Matabeleland 1893

Willian Leonard Charles, No. 1735

Trooper, BSACM

Matabeleland 1893

Source: BSACM rolls, Bechuanaland Border Police.

The latter was the person who signed the letter below.