The Second Boer War, also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa.
The 1st Division is an infantry division of the British Army that has been formed and disestablished numerous times since 1809 and is still currently active as the 1st Division. Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley raised the division for service in the Peninsular War, which was part of the Coalition Wars of the Napoleonic Wars. The division was disestablished in 1814 but reformed the following year for service in the War of the Seventh Coalition. It then fought at the Battle of Waterloo, where it repulsed numerous attacks, including the final attack of the day that was launched by the French Imperial Guard. Following the battle, the division marched into France and became part of the Army of Occupation before being disbanded a few years later.
Black Week refers to the week of Sunday 10 December – Sunday 17 December 1899 during the Second Boer War, when the British Army suffered three devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg on Sunday 10 December, Magersfontein on Monday 11 December and Colenso on Friday 15 December 1899. In total, 2,776 British soldiers were killed, wounded and captured during this period.
The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but subsequent contingents were more significantly working class in their composition. The existing yeomanry regiments contributed only a small proportion of the total Imperial Yeomanry establishment. In Ireland 120 men were recruited in February 1900. It was officially disbanded in 1908, with individual Yeomanry regiments incorporated into the new Territorial Force.
The Johannesburg Light Horse Regiment, is a reserve armoured car reconnaissance unit of the South African Army.
The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley.
The Battle of Magersfontein was fought on 11 December 1899, at Magersfontein, near Kimberley, South Africa, on the borders of the Cape Colony and the independent republic of the Orange Free State. British forces under Lieutenant General Lord Methuen were advancing north along the railway line from the Cape to relieve the siege of Kimberley, but their path was blocked at Magersfontein by a Boer force that was entrenched in the surrounding hills. The British had already fought a series of battles with the Boers, most recently at Modder River, where the advance was temporarily halted.
The Great Boer War is a non-fiction work on the Boer War by Arthur Conan Doyle and first published in 1900 by Smith, Elder & Co. By the end of the war in 1902 the book had been published in 16 editions, constantly revised by Doyle. The Introduction describes the book as:
A very thorough account, including tables at the end of those killed or wounded up until the 8th September when he left South Africa. This account is compiled with as much accuracy as was attainable at this date, and with as much detail as a single volume will permit. In frequent conversations with Boers, Conan Doyle has endeavoured to get their views upon both political and military questions. Often the only documents he had to consult were the convalescent officers and men under his care, therefore some errors may have crept in. The closing scenes of the Boer War have necessarily been treated with less detail than the earlier.
The Battle of Belmont was an engagement of the Second Boer War on 23 November 1899, where the British under Lord Methuen assaulted a Boer position on Belmont kopje.
The Berkshire Yeomanry was a part time regiment of the British Army formed in 1794 to counter the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was the Royal County of Berkshire's senior volunteer unit with over 200 years of voluntary military service. After taking part in the Second Boer War, it saw action as mounted troops in the First World War and as artillery in the Second World War. Its lineage is maintained by 94 Signal Squadron, part of 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment. The Headquarters of the Squadron is based in Windsor, Berkshire. The Berkshire Yeomanry had a number of battle honours won from Europe to the Far East and Private Frederick Potts was awarded a Victoria Cross for service during the Gallipoli Campaign.
George Henri Anne-Marie Victor count de Villebois-Mareuil or by his shortened name George de Villebois-Mareuil was a former colonel in the French infantry who fought and died on the side of the Boers during the Second Anglo-Boer War. He was the first of only two foreign volunteers to be given the rank of Major-General in the armed forces of the Boer Republics. The other being his second in command Yevgeny Maximov (1849–1904) after the death of Villebois-Mareuil.
The 155 mm CreusotLong Tom was a French siege gun manufactured by Schneider et Cie in Le Creusot, France and used by the Boers in the Second Boer War as field guns.
The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony, when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the area when war broke out between the British and the two Boer republics in October 1899. The town was ill-prepared, but the defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence that was able to prevent it from being taken.
The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH) was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army's auxiliary forces, formed in 1798. It saw service in the Second Boer War with 40 and 59 Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry and was the first Yeomanry regiment to serve in Belgium and France during the Great War. After almost four years of Trench warfare on the Western Front, where cavalry had been superfluous, the QOOH led the advance during the Allies' victorious Hundred Days Offensive in 1918. In 1922, the QOOHt became part of the Royal Artillery and during World War II it served as anti-tank gunners at Singapore and in North West Europe. After a series of postwar mergers and changes of role, the regiment's lineage is maintained by 142 Vehicle Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps.
The Yorkshire Hussars was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed in 1794. The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry (Yeomanry) in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars and served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. It was converted to an armoured role during the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with two other Yorkshire yeomanry regiments to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The 19th Battalion was a unit of the Imperial Yeomanry raised by George Paget as auxiliaries to the British Army during the Second Boer War. The men were mainly upper middle class and recruited from the gentlemen's clubs of London. The unit saw action at Faber's Put, Elands River, Lichtenburg, and numerous engagements on the lines of communication. The battalion was disbanded after the war.
The 9th (Welsh) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry was a unit of the British Imperial Yeomanry (IY) raised for service in the Second Boer War. Equipped as Mounted infantry, the battalion served in South Africa from April 1900 until the end of the war. Its companies took part in numerous anti-guerrilla 'drives' with mobile columns that eventually brought the war to an end.
Sarel Petrus du Toit was a Second Boer War Boer general for the South African Republic. In 1896 he was elected representative to the Eerste Volksraad in Pretoria for the district of Wolmaransstad.
The Advance on Pretoria was a military operation during the Second Boer War. From May–June 1900, Lord Roberts and his force began a strategic offensive from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, with the goal of capturing the Pretoria, the capital of the South African Republic (Transvaal) in hopes of ending the war, and forcing the Boers into surrendering. After the clearing of the South East of the Orange Free State, Lord Roberts began his offensive on 3 May 1900, gathering a force around 40,000-50,000 strong. The Army formed three lines of advance. On the far left, a force commanded by Lord Methuen advanced from Boshof, in the center, Lord Roberts led the main army up the railway from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, and on the right, Redvers Buller led an army up through Northern Natal from Ladysmith to Pretoria. The military operation was a success, with British Forces entering Pretoria on 5 June, and the Boers surrendering the capital shortly after. On 8 June, the country was annexed, and formed into the Transvaal Colony in 1902. Methuen managed to clear the Orange Free State, and had a force relieve Mafeking whilst doing so.
United Kingdom 
Comte de Villebois-Mareuil † 
