Club Meeting - Speaker

Plympton based author Jane Robinson has written a book about the second Boer War which took place in South Africa at the turn of the last century.  Entitled Boer War Ancestors: Soldiers of the Forgotten War, the book is due to be published later this year.

Jane will be coming to the club this Thurdsay to tell us about this book and some of the research she undertook which includes details about Plymouth people who fought, died, or were affected by the conflict.

She said "There's a Boer War memorial on the Hoe, but it has no names of people, only of battles.  The book will focus on the soldiers who died or were wounded, and what then happened to their families in Britain in a time before state benefits and compensation pay-outs. She was particularly keen on stories about non-commissioned officers and enlisted men at a time when there was no support or social security."

The Boer War was fought between 1899 and 1902 by the British Empire against settlers in two independent Boer republics: the Orange Free State and Transvaal.

Although the British won, it was after a long and bitter guerrilla campaign, which became unpopular at home when it was revealed that it involved "scorched earth" tactics, internment of civilians in concentration camps and the deaths of thousands of people from starvation.

"It was the little war that was not a little war," said Jane. "It affected lots of people."

She has written a novel set during the Boer War and it was while she was searching for a publisher that Pen and Sword asked her to write a non-fiction book.  Jane has carried out extensive research, scoured archives, interviewed many people and visited key battlefields in South Africa.

This promises to be another very interesting talk so if you would like to come along, please let the club know by Wednesday lunchtime so that we can book you in for the two course meal that accompanies our meetings and which costs a reasonable