Jameson Raid

Did You Know?

• Jameson later became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (1904–08) and a founder of the Union of South Africa.
• Jameson was buried next to Cecil Rhodes and the 34 BSAC soldiers of the Shangani Patrol in the Matobos Hills.
• Sir Graham Bower's account, published in 2002, suggested that Joseph Chamberlain and his staff hid their own involvement in the raid.

Background

The territory that later became South Africa was not politically unified in the late nineteenth century. It comprised two British colonies—Cape Colony and Natal—and two Boer republics: the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal). European settlement began near present-day Cape Town under the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Although VOC officials discouraged permanent European settlement, some retired employees remained as private citizens, eventually forming a class of vrijburgers (free citizens). Over generations, this population developed a distinct Afrikaner (or Boer) identity. In 1806, the British Empire colonised the Cape, initially to protect the trade route to the East from Napoleon. British rule introduced new systems that bred antipathy among many Boers. Between 1834 and 1840, about 15,000 Boers left the Cape Colony in ox-wagons during the Great Trek, seeking sovereignty beyond British territory.

Jameson force and the initiation of the raid

As part of the plan, a force was assembled at Pitsane on the Transvaal border under Cecil Rhodes's orders, ready to support an Uitlander uprising. Leander Starr Jameson, administrator general of the chartered company for Matabeleland, commanded the force, with Raleigh Grey among the other commanders. The force numbered about 600 men, roughly 400 from the Matabeleland Mounted Police and the rest volunteers, equipped with rifles, eight to sixteen Maxim machine guns, and three to eleven light artillery pieces. The plan called for Johannesburg to revolt and seize the Boer armoury in Pretoria, after which Jameson would dash across the border to restore order and control the gold fields. While Jameson waited, disagreements arose among the Johannesburg reformers about the post-coup government, and some advised him to stand down. Frustrated by delays, Jameson decided to proceed, sending a telegram on 28 December 1895 warning Rhodes of his intentions. The first telegram was delayed, and by the time both arrived on 29 December, Jameson's men had cut the telegraph wires. That day, his column crossed into the Transvaal, hoping for a three-day dash to Johannesburg before Boer commandos could mobilise.

Aftermath

The Boer government handed the captured raiders over to the British for trial, and they were returned to London. A few days after the raid, Kaiser Wilhelm II sent the Kruger telegram, congratulating President Kruger on his success without help from friendly powers, which sparked anti-German feeling in Britain. Dr. Jameson was lionised by the press and London society amid anti-Boer and anti-German sentiment; he was sentenced to 15 months in Holloway Prison, while his second-in-command Willoughby received 10 months. The British South Africa Company paid the Transvaal government almost £1 million in compensation. Members of the Reform Committee, including Colonel Frank Rhodes and John Hays Hammond, were jailed, found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to death, later commuted to 15 years' imprisonment; all surviving members were released in June 1896 after paying stiff fines. Colonel Rhodes was placed on the retired list by the British Army. Cecil Rhodes resigned as Cape Colony prime minister in 1896 and, with Alfred Beit, resigned as a director of the British South Africa Company.