'A Boer and his Gun and his Wife are Three Things Always Together': Republican Masculinity and the 1914 Rebellion

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 737-751

  Swart, Sandra ^a  

^a MAGDALEN COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0002972027     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057079808708599     Document Type: Article

References (114)

1. There has been no previous analysis of the Rebellion in terms of gender. It has largely been understood as a manifestation of embryonic Afrikaner nationalism, by both the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist schools. John Bottomley, 'The South African Rebellion: the Influence of Industrialisation, Poverty and Poor Whitism' (African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Seminar Paper, June, 1982). T. R. H. Davenport, 'The South African Rebellion', English Historical Review, 78 (1963); N. G. Garson, 'South Africa and World War I', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History VIII (1979); G. D. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, 1914-1915 (Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, 1942); and S. B. Spies, 'The Rebellion in South Africa 1914-1915' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1962).
2. There has been no previous analysis of the Rebellion in terms of gender. It has largely been understood as a manifestation of embryonic Afrikaner nationalism, by both the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist schools. John Bottomley, 'The South African Rebellion: the Influence of Industrialisation, Poverty and Poor Whitism' (African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Seminar Paper, June, 1982). T. R. H. Davenport, 'The South African Rebellion', English Historical Review, 78 (1963); N. G. Garson, 'South Africa and World War I', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History VIII (1979); G. D. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, 1914-1915 (Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, 1942); and S. B. Spies, 'The Rebellion in South Africa 1914-1915' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1962).
3. There has been no previous analysis of the Rebellion in terms of gender. It has largely been understood as a manifestation of embryonic Afrikaner nationalism, by both the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist schools. John Bottomley, 'The South African Rebellion: the Influence of Industrialisation, Poverty and Poor Whitism' (African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Seminar Paper, June, 1982). T. R. H. Davenport, 'The South African Rebellion', English Historical Review, 78 (1963); N. G. Garson, 'South Africa and World War I', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History VIII (1979); G. D. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, 1914-1915 (Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, 1942); and S. B. Spies, 'The Rebellion in South Africa 1914-1915' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1962).
4. There has been no previous analysis of the Rebellion in terms of gender. It has largely been understood as a manifestation of embryonic Afrikaner nationalism, by both the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist schools. John Bottomley, 'The South African Rebellion: the Influence of Industrialisation, Poverty and Poor Whitism' (African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Seminar Paper, June, 1982). T. R. H. Davenport, 'The South African Rebellion', English Historical Review, 78 (1963); N. G. Garson, 'South Africa and World War I', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History VIII (1979); G. D. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, 1914-1915 (Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, 1942); and S. B. Spies, 'The Rebellion in South Africa 1914-1915' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1962).
5. There has been no previous analysis of the Rebellion in terms of gender. It has largely been understood as a manifestation of embryonic Afrikaner nationalism, by both the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist schools. John Bottomley, 'The South African Rebellion: the Influence of Industrialisation, Poverty and Poor Whitism' (African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Seminar Paper, June, 1982). T. R. H. Davenport, 'The South African Rebellion', English Historical Review, 78 (1963); N. G. Garson, 'South Africa and World War I', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History VIII (1979); G. D. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, 1914-1915 (Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, 1942); and S. B. Spies, 'The Rebellion in South Africa 1914-1915' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1962).
6. The self-conception of Boer men has not received historiographical analysis. The identity and role of Boer women has been analysed: see, for example, Elsabe Brink, 'Man-made Women: Gender, Class and the Ideology of the Volksmoeder', in Cherryl Walker (ed), Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 (Cape Town, David Philip, 1990).
7. P. H. Frankel, Pretoria's Praetorians, Civil-Military Relations in South Africa (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984).
8. A commando system is a method of military organisation in which an army is divided into units by drawing soldiers from a particular place and then using them in that area largely. Kommando refers to the commando system, with its socio-political implications. The term 'republican' is used to refer to a broad definition of the ontology of the state; 'Republican' here refers to specific Boer Republican ideology.
9. Interestingly, it was also the name of Paratus' predecessor, the official monthly magazine of the South African Defence Force.
10. Central Archives Bureau (SAB) A 139, 'Burgher Service', Blackwood's Magazine, February 1914, p. 271.
11. Frankel, Pretoria's Praetorians, p. 24.
12. Christiaan Grimbeek, 'Die Totstandkoming van die Unieverdegingsmag met Spesifieke verwysing na die Verdedigingswette van 1912 and 1922' (DPhil thesis, University of Pretoria, 1985), p. 7.
13. Ben Viljoen, My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War (Cape Town, C. Struik, 1973), p. 309.
14. This was the case in theory - but very few Boers with ten farms or more would be found below the rank of veldcornet. See Stanley Trapido, 'Reflections on Land, Office and Wealth in the South African Republic, 1850-1900', in Shula Marks and Anthony Atmore (eds), Economy and Society in Pre-Industrial South Africa (London, Longman, 1980).
15. Donald Denoon, A Grand Illusion (London, Longman, 1973), pp. 17-18; D. Denoon, 'Participation in the "Boer War": People's War, People's Non-War or Non-People's War?', in B. A. Ogot (ed), War and Society in Africa (London, Cass, 1972). This is a little simplistic: for example, Piet De Wet, a landed farmer, was not only a hendsopper but also a joiner, and leader of the Orange River Colony Volunteers.
16. Donald Denoon, A Grand Illusion (London, Longman, 1973), pp. 17-18; D. Denoon, 'Participation in the "Boer War": People's War, People's Non-War or Non-People's War?', in B. A. Ogot (ed), War and Society in Africa (London, Cass, 1972). This is a little simplistic: for example, Piet De Wet, a landed farmer, was not only a hendsopper but also a joiner, and leader of the Orange River Colony Volunteers.
17. Albert Grundlingh, 'Die Vrystaatse en Transvaalse Burgers wat die Republikeinse oorlogspoging vanaf 1900 versaak het: Hulle rol en posisie gedurende die tydperk 1900 tot 1907' (MA Thesis, University of South Africa, 1976); The Handsuppers', Military Historical Journal, 3, 1 (1974).
18. Albert Grundlingh, 'Die Vrystaatse en Transvaalse Burgers wat die Republikeinse oorlogspoging vanaf 1900 versaak het: Hulle rol en posisie gedurende die tydperk 1900 tot 1907' (MA Thesis, University of South Africa, 1976); The Handsuppers', Military Historical Journal, 3, 1 (1974).
19. Albert Grundlingh, 'Collaborators in Boer Society', in Peter Warwick and S.B. Spies (eds), The South African War - The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 (London, Longman, 1980), p. 272.
20. Bronislaw Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (Glencoe, 1948), p. 79.
21. Robert Nyc, Masculinities and Male Codes of Honour in Modern France (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 215.
22. Translation from the Afrikaans. Grimbeek, 'Die Totstandkoming van die Unieverdegingsmag', p. 7.
23. Translation from the Afrikaans. Harm Oost, Wie is die Skuldiges? (Johannesburg, Afrikaanse Pers Boekhandel, 1956), p. 298.
24. Translation from the Afrikaans. J.D. Kestell, Generaal De Wet (Cape Town, De Nationale Pers, 1920), p. 189.
25. Judith Lorber, Paradoxes of Gender (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1994).
26. Bottomley has theorised the distinction between heerenboeren and bywoner in 'The South African Rebellion: the influence of industrialisation, poverty and poor whitism'. For a discussion of this phenomenon and its immediate ramifications, see Sandra Swart, 'Black Peril, White Rebel' (unpublished paper, delivered at the Biennial Conference, South African Historical Association, Pretoria, July 1997).
27. Bottomley has theorised the distinction between heerenboeren and bywoner in 'The South African Rebellion: the influence of industrialisation, poverty and poor whitism'. For a discussion of this phenomenon and its immediate ramifications, see Sandra Swart, 'Black Peril, White Rebel' (unpublished paper, delivered at the Biennial Conference, South African Historical Association, Pretoria, July 1997).
28. The rebel leader Maritz, for example, was prone to saying publicly that he did not want 'the land ruled by Englishmen, niggers and jews'. U.G. 10-15, p. 28, 63.
29. Union of South Africa House of Assembly, Reports of the Select Committees (SC) 1915, 1, p. 295.
30. Timothy Keegan, Rural Transformations in Industrialising South Africa (Johannesburg, Ravan Press 1986) p. 20.
31. Trapido, 'Reflections on Land, Office and Wealth', p. 359.
32. Quoted in Trapido, 'Reflections on Land, Office and Wealth', p. 359.
33. Bottomley, Public Policy and While Rural Poverty, p. 248.
34. Bottomley makes this point well in his analysis of public policy, Public Policy and White Rural Poverty, p. 250.
35. L. Salomon, 'Socio-Economic Aspects of South African History, 1870-1962' (PhD thesis, Boston University, 1962), p. 107. The stereotypes persist today in jokes about ignorant, naive 'Van der Merwe'.
36. R. Shell, 'The Family and Slavery at the Cape, 1680-1808', in W. G. James and M. Simons (eds), The Angry Divide: Social and Economic History of the Western Cape (Cape Town, David Philip, 1989), p. 29. 'Patriarchal' refers to a family structure in which fathers control the lives and labour of family members, children, slaves, servants, wives. J. E. Mason, 'The Slaves and their Protectors: Reforming Resistance in a Slave-Society, the Cape Colony, 1826-1834', Journal of Southern African Studies, 19, 1 (1991).
37. R. Shell, 'The Family and Slavery at the Cape, 1680-1808', in W. G. James and M. Simons (eds), The Angry Divide: Social and Economic History of the Western Cape (Cape Town, David Philip, 1989), p. 29. 'Patriarchal' refers to a family structure in which fathers control the lives and labour of family members, children, slaves, servants, wives. J. E. Mason, 'The Slaves and their Protectors: Reforming Resistance in a Slave-Society, the Cape Colony, 1826-1834', Journal of Southern African Studies, 19, 1 (1991).
38. G. Cronje, 'Die Huisgesin in die Afrikaanse Kultuurgemeenskap', in Kultuurgeskiedenis van die Afrikaner (Cape Town, Nasionale Pers, 1945), p. 273.
39. This reverse of the usual pattern of black migrant labour may be explained by the sexual division of labour. Control over black women's labour within black societies by the bridewealth system meant male migrant labour could occur without the household collapsing and rural production carrying on much as before. The Boer traditional household was less flexible in the face of industrialisation. Female heads of families seldom stayed on in the rural areas. Young women would move to the towns on a permanent basis and send back a little money to their families. J. Grosskopf, Rural Impoverishment and White Exodus, Carnegie Commission on the Poor White Question in South Africa, vol 1, pp. 214-229.
40. The ORC Minister of Public Works told the legislature in 1908: 'There is unfortunately a foolish pride to be met with which prevents parents from allowing their children to work', Keegan, Rural Transformations, p. 32.
41. Salomon, 'Socio-Economie Aspects of South African History, p. 116. Quoted in J. Bottomley, 'Public Policy and White Rural Poverty' (PhD thesis, Queens University, 1990), p. 248.
42. Salomon, 'Socio-Economie Aspects of South African History, p. 116. Quoted in J. Bottomley, 'Public Policy and White Rural Poverty' (PhD thesis, Queens University, 1990), p. 248.
43. Such a reclamation agenda was adopted by the Free State government: the Land Bank, established in 1908, loaned money to the landless on the security of promissory notes signed by two landowners. As many as 884 loans were granted to poor whites by 1912 when the Union Landbank was established. The Transvaal Land Bank was leery of cash loans without collateral, but did provide cattle and donkeys to those threatened by dispossession.
44. J. K. O'Connor, The Africander Rebellion (London, Allen and Unwin, 1915), p. 12. Many discouraged men must have remembered the old Republican days when they could receive a free rifle on receipt of a certificate of poverty. While on campaign, burghers had been fed and clothed by the state and their families received support.
45. C. T. Gordon, The Growth of Boer Opposition to Kruger, 1890-1895 (Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 1970).
46. At the same time, a number of Boer leaders used those same patron-client relationships to keep their 'clientage' out of Rebellion. One must be careful not to overstate this portrayal of the old republics - they had begun to embrace modernity, albeit tentatively, as they recognised the imperial threat posed by Britain.
47. Annette Seegers, The Military in the Making of Modern South Africa (London, Tauris, 1996), p. 10.
48. ibid.
49. B. Lanz, 'Hertzog and the Leaders of the 1914 Rebellion' (BA Honours thesis, University of Natal, 1976).
50. C. Louis Leipoldt asked a bushveld farmer the same question over the coffee cups. The farmer was 'a violently Anti-Botha man' who held that if Botha had only declared the independence of the Transvaal in 1914 there 'would now have been a republic embracing the whole of Africa south of the Zambezi'. Leipoldt asked: 'But, Uncle, you know a republic means liberty ... [a]nd equality ... and brotherhood. Are these possible when three-quarters of your citizens are natives?' The farmer explained: 'You do not understand, Doctor. We were a republic in the old days ...'. Leipoldt countered this: 'Scarcely that, Uncle. You were an oligarchy ... a state of whites ruled by an executive committee elected by the whites alone.' The old man replied that: 'the native cannot be a citizen. He must be a ward [because] [y]ou would not give burghership to children [and the native] ... would not grow up in the lifetimes of his children, nor his children's children's'. C. Louis Leipoldt, Bushveld Doctor (Braamfontein, Lowry, 1980, 1937), p. 147.
51. For example, Kommandant-Generaal A. H. Potgieter was replaced upon his death in 1854 by his son. Andries Pretorious was succeeded by his son, M. W. Pretorious who was later elected to the position of Transvaal president. This remained evident well into the twentieth century and was, Ian Van der Waag notes, to a certain extent entrenched by the Broederbond. Personal communication.
52. J. S. Marais, The Fall of Kruger's Republic (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1961), pp. 11-21, 19-21.
53. Union of South Africa House of Assembly, Reports of the Select Committees, 1915, (SC) 1, p. 295.
54. Oost, Wie is die Skuldiges? p. 35.
55. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, p. 15 and F. V. Engelenburg, Generaal Louis Botha (Pretoria, J. L. Van Schaik, 1928), p. 218.
56. Scholtz, Die Rebellie, p. 15 and F. V. Engelenburg, Generaal Louis Botha (Pretoria, J. L. Van Schaik, 1928), p. 218.
57. H. C. Armstrong, Grey Steel (London, Arthur Baker, 1937), p. 50.
58. As Prime Minister, Botha did keep the older protocols, but with his increasingly poor health and his concentration on other issues, it was mainly Smuts as Minister of Defence who dealt with military issues. Mrs Williams-Wynne, a member of Smuts's secretarial pool, has made this facet clear. She describes him as cold, with little capacity for casual friendship. Personal interview with Williams-Wynne, 15 March 1996.
59. L. M. Thompson, The Unification of South Africa (Oxford, 1960).
60. B. G. Simpkins, Rand Light Infantry (Cape Town, 1965), p. 1.
61. Staatskoerant, G.K. no. 1, 31 May 1910; 871, 22 July 1912.
62. Staatskoerant, G.K. no. 1, 31 May 1910; 871, 22 July 1912.
63. Act 13 of 1913.
64. South African Defence Force Archive. DC group, 26, Smuts's Portfolio, file no. 1(a) 530: Some notes on the condition of service in the Swiss army.
65. 'South African News', The Daily Telegraph, 6 August 1912.
66. Attempts to popularise it included the short and alarmingly dull film 'A Day in the Life at Potchefstroom Training Camp', 1916.
67. Translation from the Afrikaans. 'De Onderwerp - Krygswet', Die Volkslem, 13 February 1912.
68. The Defence Force', Evening Standard, 25 January 1913, SAB A139.
69. 'The South African Defence Act', The Morning Post, 2 July 1912.
70. Translation from the Afrikaans. J. C. G. Kemp, Die Pad van die Veroweraar (Johannesburg, 1946), p. 108.
71. 'South African News', The Daily Telegraph, 20 August 1912.
72. HAD, 1914, col. 1289. It is interesting that in the early 1920s there was a move to introduce a green uniform for the UDF units, but a suitable dye proved elusive until 1930. A green veld uniform was worn in the 1930s but phased out between 1940 and 1942 in a return to khaki.
73. Oost, Wie is die Skuldiges?, p. 156.
74. HAD, 1913, col. 350.
75. Report of Select Committee, 1912, Second Session, vol II, SC 7-12, p. 13.
76. SC 1-15, Testimony of Sub-Inspector Alfred Ernest Trigger, p. 47. Leipoldt found several rebels in the Transvaal bushveld. Anyone in uniform was highly suspect: the nurse dubbed a 'government woman', had her equipment attacked and her hair pulled. Leipoldt, Bushveld Doctor, p. 86.
77. Oost, Wie is die Skuldiges?, p. 89.
78. Oost, Wie is die Skuldiges?, p. 265.
79. Ben Viljoen, My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War (Cape Town, C. Struik, 1973), p. 302.
80. Translation from the Afrikaans. Transvaal Archives Bureau, TAD W 90 DS Van Warmelo, 'Kommando en Guerillalewe', 1899-1902, p. 91.
81. J.C. Smuts, Jan Christiaan Smuts, (Cape Town, Cassel, 1952), p. 137.
82. I am indebted to Major-General Philip Pretorius, Director of the South African National Museum of Military History, for a copy of the regulations.
83. Barton C. Hacker, 'Military Institutions and Social Order: Transformations of Western Thought since the Enlightenment', War and Society, 11, 2 (1993).
84. The Pretoria News, 30 November 1911.
85. The Pretoria News, 2 December 1911.
86. 'Voice of the Native', The Star, 2 January 1912.
87. Robert Morrell, 'White Farmers, Social Institutions and Settler Masculinity in the Natal Midlands, 1880-1920' (PhD thesis, University of Natal, 1996), p. 129.
88. HAD, 1915 col. 361.
89. 'Besware teen die Wet', Die Volkstem, 22 February 1912.
90. Volksraad debates, 29 February, 620 and 23 February, 491.
91. Volksraad debates, 26 February, 1912, 517.
92. SC 1-15, Testimony of Senator A. D. W. Wolmarans, p. 326.
93. Translation. TAD, Accession W/87/4, Jan-Petrus, 'Die siener van Lichtenburg' 22 October 1914.
94. 'De Krygswet' and 'Bezware teen die Wet', Die Volkstem, 22 February 1912.
95. 'Bezware teen de wet', De Volkstem, 22 February 1912.
96. 'Territorial Movement in South Africa', The Morning Post, 22 October 1913.
97. The Act had provided for 201 officers and 50 drill instructors. Of these, 100 were from the former Departments of Defence of the late Colonies, of whom 38 were bilingual; 27 were from other government departments, of whom 25 were bilingual and 74 were new appointments, of whom 60 were bilingual. A large percentage of the 50 drill instructors would qualify to instruct in both languages.
98. Van der Merwe, 'Die Militere Geskiedenis van die Oranje-Vrystaat 1910-1920', p. 7.
99. Daily News, 23 June 1899, quoted in A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996).
100. Daily News, 23 June 1899, quoted in A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996).
101. Oost, Wie is die Skuldiges?, p. 153.
102. J. N. Brink, Oorlog en Ballingskap (Cape Town, Nasionale Pers, 1940), p. 115.
103. The Pretoria News, 30 November 1911.
104. G. G. Aston, 'South Africa and Imperial Defence', Address to Pretoria Cadets, 19 June 1909, p. 9.
105. G. D. Scholtz, General Christiaan Frederick Beyers (Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, 1941), pp. 122-123.
106. House of Assembly, Report of Select Committee, 1912, Vol. II, p. 5.
107. My translation from the Afrikaans. D. J. Opperman, Senior Verseboek (Cape Town, Tafelberg, 1984), p. 56.
108. A 333 Krause Collection, p. 32.
109. A 333, Krause Collection, p. 31.
110. Translation from the Afrikaans. A 947 Die Suid-Afrikaanse Protes 1914 - Wedevaringe en herinneringe van J. D. T. (Japie) Krynauw, p. 2.
111. SC 1-15, Testimony of Charles Gustav Fichardt, p. 307.
112. A 333, Krause Collection, p. 35.
113. Bengt Abrahamsson, Military Professionalization and Political Power (Beverly Hills, Sage, 1972).
114. Volksraad debates, 16 February to 3 July 1917, vol II.