Today’s John Tenniel Boer War cartoon is another from 1899, published on 1st 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
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