Friday Boer War Cartoon

This cartoon was published in March 1900. The title is Full of Resource. 

The caption is:-

PRESIDENT KRUGER (reading the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s speech on the Budget debate):-

“I am not going to bind myself as to what I will do on the termination of the War. I look first to the Transvaal.”

“Oh, DOES he? I know what I’M going to do on the termination of the war. I’M going through the BANKRUPTCY COURT!”

Paul Kruger was the president of the Transvaal Republic. His appearance made him something of a gift to cartoonists like John Tenniel. He wore a moustacheless, Amish style beard, and usually dressed in a plain black coat and top hat, a style of dress adopted by members of the Doppers, the religious sect to which he belonged. He’s a very interesting character. Kruger’s ancestors emigrated from Germany to the Cape Colony. When he was a child, he and his family took part in the Great Trek. This was the migration of Dutch speaking settlers who did not want to live under British colonial administration. When he had grown up, Kruger would serve the Transvaal republic as a soldier and then a statesman. He was a gifted orator, despite the fact that he (claimed he) had only ever read one book, the Bible. His nickname, certainly amongst the Boers, was Oom Paul – or – Uncle Paul.

I’m not totally sure that I completely understand the cartoon. By the time it was published in March 1900 the ineffective and unsuccessful Sir Redvers Buller had been replaced as British Commander in Chief by Lord Roberts, and the sieges of Kimberly and Ladysmith had been raised. British public opinion was mistakenly starting to feel that the war was all over bar the shouting. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had made this statement which seemed to be saying that the Boer Republics would be expected to pay reparations after the end of the war, without actually making a hard and fast commitment to the policy. Kruger’s response in the caption seems to be saying – well, there will be no chance of that happening since there will be no wealth left here to take. I’m unsure, though, on exactly what Tenniel is saying. The expression on Kruger’s face seems to suggest he isn’t unhappy about this. Likewise, it seems to be more of a criticism of the Government’s attitude, suggesting that the idea of forcing the Boers to pay for the cost of the war is pie in the sky. As indeed it turned out to be.

The 2^nd Boer War was the most expensive war Britain had ever fought and remained so until the First World War. Far from imposing war reparations, the Treaty of Vereeniging which officially ended the war saw the British government commit to paying £3 million for reconstruction in the two former republics and for repatriation of the Boers.

Thursday Boer War Cartoon

In March 1900, Sir John Tenniel published this cartoon in Punch. He has a different target in this cartoon.

 

The cartoon has the title “Who said “Dead”?”. The cartoon shows a donkey running away for its life from a roaring lion emerging from a cave. The donkey has ‘Continental Press’ written on its back. By March 1900 the sieges of Kimberley and Ladysmith had been relieved and the British and Empire army under the new commander in chief, Lord Roberts, had begun to win some successes. The message of the cartoon seems pretty much to be that the British and Empire forces have now roused themselves to their warlike best, and proven to the world – well, to Europe at least – that the reports of the death of the Empire have been greatly exaggerated.

Portraying the European media as a donkey shows a certain contempt for them – they are donkeys, or asses, fools in other words. The European reactions to the circumstances of the Boer War were pretty much universally condemning of the British actions in provoking the war, and British Imperialism. There was just a little whiff of hypocrisy about this considering that some of the countries that were the strongest critics had also been willing and enthusiastic participants in the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’ themselves.

Wednesday Boer War Cartoon

I haven’t found any Tenniel cartoons referring to the so-called ‘Black Week’ of 10-17^th December 1899, when British forces suffered three major defeats to Boer forces. Following a further defeat in January in the Battle of Spion Kop (if you ever wondered why part of Liverpool’s Anfield stadium – and some other grounds – have the name the Kop, they were named after this battle) Redvers Buller was replaced as Commander in Chief by Lord Roberts. In March 1900, this cartoon was published in Punch.

With the situation seemingly changed, Tenniel reverted to the figure of John Bull to represent the British (English) nation. The heading is “Never Say Die!” and the long caption underneath reads,

“JOHN BULL (to himself in the “Mark Tapley” vein). – “NOW, MR. JOHN BULL, JUST YOU ATTEND TO WHAT I’VE GOT TO SAY. THINGS HAVE BEEN LOOKING ABOUT AS BAD AS THEY COULD LOOK, OLD MAN. YOU’LL NOT HAVE SUCH ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR SHOWING YOUR JOLLY DISPOSITION, MY FINE FELLOW, AS LONG AS YOU LIVE. AND THEREFORE, JOHN B., NOW’S YOUR TIME TO COME OUT STRONG; NOW OR NEVER!” And J.B. has come out strong at Kimberley and after.)-Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxiii.

Mark Tapley, as the captions suggests, is a character in Dickens’ novel Martin Chuzzlewit whose speciality is deliberately looking on the bright side and staying cheerful in the most awful of situations. The cartoon, without actually saying that things have been going very badly for the British and Empire army, pretty much concedes this. Even the notice behind John Bull, while trumpeting Lord Roberts’ advance and the relief of Kimberley still admits that there have been unexpectedly heavy casualty lists. With the rather smug look on John Bull’s face, you get the idea that the feeling the cartoon is trying to convey is a message of nothing to worry about folks, normal service has been resumed. Which would turn out to be misplaced confidence.

Although the coming months would see the relief of Mafeking and the occupation of the two Boer capitals, Pretoria and Bloemfontein, the war was actually a long way from being over. Indeed, Lord Roberts announced that the war was over on 3^rd September 1900 and formally annexed the South African Republic. But actually the Boers would continue to fight, only changing their tactics to wage a pretty successful guerilla campaign against supply and communication lines.

Tuesday Boer War Cartoon

Today’s Tenniel Boer War cartoon I’ve copied was published on 20^th December 1899 and it’s entitled “The Sullied White Flag”.

 

THE SULLIED WHITE FLAG

JOHN BULL “IF YOU ABUSE THAT FLAG, I WON’T ANSWER FOR MY MEN.”

The caption is :-

JOHN BULL “IF YOU ABUSE THAT FLAG, I WON’T ANSWER FOR MY MEN.”

Now, I’ve tried hard to find out exactly which specific incident prompted this cartoon, and all I’ve managed to find out is that there was some incident involving a flag of truce in Mafeking, which was under siege at the time. What happened, I have not to this point been able to find out.

However, I think that the message within the images seems pretty clear. The Boer on the left looks sly and shifty. His eyes particularly are dark and evil looking. If anything his posture suggests that he is cringing away from John Bull. While John Bull himself looks clean, upright, immaculate and his revolver is pointed towards the ground and not at the back of the Boer. The relationship between the two figures suggests that the British have been having the upper hand, while the Boers have to resort to subterfuge. Yet up to this point the Boers had very much the better of the fighting and action. When I look at the caption I am irresistibly reminded of President Donald Trump threatening there would be ‘no more Mr. Nice Guy’ towards Iran a week or two ago, with much the same effect. At best it’s a misrepresentation of the state of the war at this time.

I’ve no doubt that I haven’t seen every cartoon John Tenniel made between October and December of 1899, but I haven’t seen any cartoon he made in this period which even acknowledged any setbacks suffered by the British army. Tenniel could be a trenchant critic of politicians and governments on purely domestic issues, but when it came to foreign relations he was strongly pro-British. After he was knighted in 1893 at the age of 73, it probably shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise that he would be a strong supporter of the official line on the war.

Monday Boer War Cartoon

This next Boer War cartoon is from November 29th1899. We see a lion advancing through a rocky southern African landscape, underneath which is the title ADVANCING. There is no further caption.

 

To me, this cartoon really displays misplaced confidence. The lion is surely the British lion, and I’ve said before that when Tenniel uses this particular representation of Britain he is usually doing so to stress the power and might of Britain and the British Empire. By the time that the cartoon was published, Boer forces were besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking and public opinion in Britain pretty much demanded that actions were taken to end the sieges. The advance that the cartoon seems to be referring to may well have been Lord Methuen’s advance with three brigades with the intention of raising the siege of Kimberley. On 23^rd November 1899 the forces ran into 2000 entrenched Boers on Belmont Kopje (hill). Poor tactics and inaccurate maps resulted in large casualties, although the British could claim victory of a sort after eventually driving the tenacious Boers into retreat.

However, Methuen’s forces would suffer losses and then a serious defeat on 11^th December in Magersfontein. As for Kimberley, the siege would continue until the following February. 

Sunday Boer War Cartoon

Today’s John Tenniel Boer War cartoon is another from 1899, published on 1^st November, right at the time when large numbers of soldiers were being sent to South Africa on ships.

 

Jack Tar “GOOD LUCK, MATE! YOU’RE GOIN’ TO DO THE JOB ON LAND.
IF THERE’S ANYTHING WANTED AT SEA – AGAINST OTHER PARTIES – I’M ON!”

The title is “TO THOSE IT MAY CONCERN”. The caption beneath this is –

Jack Tar “GOOD LUCK, MATE! YOU’RE GOIN’ TO DO THE JOB ON LAND. IF THERE’S ANYTHING WANTED AT SEA – AGAINST OTHER PARTIES – I’M ON!”

The message seems pretty straightforward, a message of support for the troops heading off to war and also one of confidence in them. As for what the sailor says, maybe I’m reading too much into it, but perhaps this is meant as a reminder that Britain had the most powerful navy in the world. The mention of other parties suggests an awareness that international opinion was pretty solidly against the British Empire, and this is a recognition of the Royal Navy as a deterrent to other countries becoming involved militarily, which I have no doubt that it was.

Other countries did not intervene officially. However, volunteer units who fought for the Boers were formed from Dutch, German and Irish volunteers, and volunteers came from many other parts of Europe. The influx of volunteers began to arrive immediately with the declaration of war and would continue at the rate of about 600 men a month.

Again, maybe I’m reading too much into what appears to be a pretty straightforward cartoon, but I do, with the benefit of hindsight, see an overconfidence here. Despite the lessons of the First Boer War, less than a decade earlier, it does seem to be true that at all levels of British society people did seem to genuinely believe that the British Empire army would just quickly steamroller the Boers into submission in a few weeks.

Didn’t happen

Saturday - Boer War Cartoon

The next John Tenniel Boer War cartoon I’ve copied was published just a few days before war was declared. Here it is.

JOHN BULL (to Orange Free State) “STAND ASIDE YOUNG MAN-
I’VE NO QUARREL WITH YOU!”

 

JOHN BULL (to Orange Free State) “STAND ASIDE YOUNG MAN- I’VE NO QUARREL WITH YOU!”

It’s titled A Word to the Un-Wise. Basically this is Britain, in the shape of John Bull, warning Orange Free State not to get involved in the looming conflict with the Republic of Transvaal. The caption – I’ve no quarrel with you! – is disingenuous. It was never a question that Orange Free State would not be involved in the Boer War, but even if it had not been I can’t believe that the British Empire would not have annexed the republic again even without the excuse of the war. As it was, though, the two Boer Republics had concluded a military pact in 1897.

I find it interesting that Tenniel chose to depict John Bull in army uniform. The subtext to me seems to be – look, this war is going to happen, and if you have any sense whatsoever you’ll keep out of our way, or we’ll crush you like we’re going to crush them. – The caption, calling Orange Free State ‘young man’ is very patronising. Also, the Boer from the Transvaal is the only one of the three figures with a visible gun, a way of suggesting without saying so outright that it is Boer aggression that can be blamed for bringing the countries to the brink of war.

Fair? No, I don’t think so. With hindsight, following the Jameson Raid, and with the British Government’s refusal to compromise on terms for addressing the grievances of the Uitlanders, war was pretty much inevitable.