The Botha collection...

[Chris Boonzaier]

One of the worlds greatest "simple man" generals. Botha was a simple farmer who rose to Gemeral, and then Prime Minister.

Not highly educated, but a man with gret feeling, intelligence and mounds of common sense.

This small collection of Postcards, Ciggie cards and silks are chance buys over ebay.

ist off a glass slide for amagic lantern.

[Chris Boonzaier]

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[Chris Boonzaier]

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[Chris Boonzaier]

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[Chris Boonzaier]

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[Chris Boonzaier]

I must admit, this is one of those examples of why Ebay is just super .

It would take a lifetime of looking through catalogs, junk shops..whatever, to find these obscure items.

This little lot come from sellers in Germany, New Zealand, England, Australia and believe it or not ... Brazil !!!

It would otherwise have been impossible to collect them together....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Another Botha card

[Chris Boonzaier]

A scarce letter of introduction, signed by Botha as prime minister, to W. Schreiner, the South African high Commissioner in london.

it concerns Henry Roydon Tapson who served in the South African army in German South West and East Africa, asking Schreiner to get him into the Royal artillery.

[Chris Boonzaier]

An origianl photoof Botha and his staff in the boer war...

Botha sitting in the middle

[Chris Boonzaier]

A post card after the fall of GSWA.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Original photo of him on his horse in the Boer war.

[Paul R]

Chris,

Thanks for posting this thread. I found the photos and information very interesting. I looked up some basics on this great man... I learned something today!

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Botha )

Louis Botha (September 27, 1862 ? August 27, 1919) was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the modern South African state, then called the Union of South Africa.

He became a member of the parliament of Transvaal in 1897, representing the district of Vryheid. Two years later he was made a general in the Second Boer War, fighting with impressive capability at Colenso and Spion kop. On the death of P. J. Joubert, he was made commander-in-chief of the Transvaal Boers, where he demonstrated his abilities again at Belfast-Dalmanutha. After the fall of Pretoria, he led a concentrated guerrilla campaign against the British together with Koos de la Rey and Christiaan de Wet.

He later worked towards peace with the British, representing the Boers at the peace negotiations in 1902. His war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, becoming Prime Minister of Transvaal on March 4, 1907. In 1911, together with another Boer war hero, Jan Smuts, he formed the South African Party, or SAP. Widely viewed as too conciliatory with Britain, Botha faced revolts from within his own party and opposition from James Barry Munnik Hertzog's National Party. When South Africa obtained dominion status in 1910, Botha became the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.

After the First World War started, he sent troops to take German South West Africa, a move unpopular among Boers, which provoked the Boer Revolt.

At the end of the War he briefly led a British Empire military mission to the Second Polish Republic during the Polish-Soviet War. He argued that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were too harsh on the Central Powers, but signed the treaty.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Chris,

Thanks for posting this thread. I found the photos and information very interesting. I looked up some basics on this great man... I learned something today!

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Botha )

Hi,

he was indeed a great man, a truly inspired leader of men. during the 1914 Rebellion many Boers, even if they believed that South Africa would be better off without the British, still went along with Botha because they thought that any descision he made was a wise one. Coen Britz, one of the Biggest drinkers, brawlers, whip swingers of the time reported to duty with his commando saying to botha (by telex) "my men and I are ready, who do we fight, the british or the germans..."

Many British officers were on his staff in WW1 and on occasion he dropped a clanger, refering to the german Enemy as "The Khakis" (the Boer name for the British).

I think he was the only head of state that led his army in the field and his campaign in german South west was really a great but often overlooked one.

[Kev in Deva]

An origianl photoof Botha and his staff in the boer war...

Botha sitting in the middle

Hallo Chris

looking at your picture, was it printed from the wrong side of negative as the letters on the flag look backwards???

I copied and reversed it in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, please see attached.

Kevin in Deva.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hallo Chris

looking at your picture, was it printed from the wrong side of negative as the letters on the flag look backwards???

I copied and reversed it in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, please see attached.

Kevin in Deva.

I dont think so Kev ;-) you have just put the bolts on the left side of the rifles....

[DutchBoy]

Hi Chris,

That's a very interesting guy from a very interesting period in South African history. Do you have any connections to South Africa? I remember in one of my threads you mentioning that your uncle had a John Chard medal...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Yup, I was born and grew up there ;-)

[DutchBoy]

Cool! Grew up there too, in Pretoria....small world!

p.s. was the late PW Botha related to Louis Botha? Tried to find out on the web but no luck. It's quite a common name, so maybe not.

Yup, I was born and grew up there ;-)

[Kev in Deva]

I dont think so Kev ;-) you have just put the bolts on the left side of the rifles....

Boer secret weapon for left-handers?? but at least you can read the flag now

Kevin in Deva

[Chris Boonzaier]

Ironic that I should think of botha as maybe the greatest South African....

But that my Great-grandfather destroyed him politically... He was a political cartoonist from the newspaper "Die Burger"...

"In 1941 the internationally known political cartoonist Daniel Cornelius Boonzaier,father of the celebrated artist Gregoire, left the mouthpiece of the National Party, Die Burger. Honiball had big boots to fill indeed, for DC Boonzaier was known as the man who destroyed the political career of Louis Botha, toppling him as premier of South Africa by means of an almost cruel lampooning campaign. Honiball, a gentle soul by comparison, initially tried to continue in Boonzaier?s style of cartooning, making use of the Jewish capitalist character Hoggenheimer that Boonzaier had created and used to great effect. But not for long. Honiball had no love for politics, but he was an artist with his own very distinctive creative style. While his predecessor was feared but respected, Honiball was respected, yet never quite feared ? nor hated."

[Guest Rick Research]

Simpler times...

imagine having careers destroyed by CARTOONS, today.

Now we have the internet and Conspiracy lunatics!

[DutchBoy]

Chris,

Out of curiosity, do you have any of those cartoons you can post here? Sounds very interesting!

[peter monahan]

Simpler times...

imagine having careers destroyed by CARTOONS, today.

Now we have the internet and Conspiracy lunatics!

Yes, but it does answer the question "What did they do before the telly?". Besides having more kids, they READ, the newspaper among other things!

[Harvey]

Here's a picture of Jan Smuts and Louis Botha, taken from the book "The Boer War" by Thomas Pakenham - IMHO the seminal work on the 2nd Boer War.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Smuts was a hard bugger, but also a great statesman.

Here is an original pencil drawing of Smuts, WW2 era. It is signed by him and the guy who drew it.... also an ebay buy...