Francis William Reitz was not a soldier. He was a lawyer, a scholar, a poet and a politician – a multi-talented man who was educated in Scotland, became Chief Justice of the Orange Free State, President of the Orange Free State, and then State Secretary to Paul Kruger in the old South African Republic – subsequently renamed the Transvaal.

As State Secretary, he played a key role in negotiations with the British, and he was responsible for signing the ultimatum that led to the declaration of war, and to three years of hostilities. In fact, he personally delivered the ultimatum to Cunningham Greene, the British representative in Pretoria. As an educated man, fluent in English, he was a remarkable contrast to the dour, illiterate, Calvinistic farmer, President Paul Kruger.

Having received his legal training in Edinburgh, where he met Sir Walter Scott, he was in tune with the culture and literature of Great Britain. As a poet, he was the first person to use the fledgling language of Afrikaans (viewed in Europe as a barbarous patois) as a literary language, and he translated poets such as Robert Burns, William Cowper, William Wordsworth and others into Afrikaans, as well as writing many poems of his own.

In all his writing, he showed a great sensitivity to his native land, abiding nationalism, and a passionate belief in the future independence of his people. The Boer War was a severe emotional strain for him, because of the conflict between his love for the literature of Great Britain, and his love for his country, and this shows through in his writing.

He published a little book of poems about the war, called Oorlogs en ander gedigten – War and other poems – and included in it was a poem about Paardeberg – Majoeba uitgewist - which means "Majuba expunged." You may recall that the British suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Boers in 1881 at Majuba Hill, and during the Battle of Paardeberg the British and the Canadians redeemed themselves. Roughly translated, the poem reads in part:

What the Boers could accomplish

During his lifetime he had fifteen children – fourteen sons and one daughter. Four of his sons were old enough to fight in the war, as they were between the ages of 22 and 17. For them it was a great adventure, as they rode off on commando, and this is vividly reflected in Deneys Reitz’s book, Commando, which is probably one of the best books to emerge from the war. It has gone through many editions and translations, and is really worth reading.

All four boys served in other parts of the country, when the Battle of Paardeberg took place, the Boers were defeated and General Cronje was captured. Deneys writes in his book:

Several months later, Deneys encountered General de la Rey in the field:

It is my job as a librarian to provide information to students, faculty and the public on any conceivable topic. I have found that there are some quite good resources available locally on the Boer War, particularly those that present the British or Canadian side. For instance, there are contemporary accounts such as Stanley McKeown Brown's With the Royal Canadians (published in 1900), W. Hart McHarg's From Quebec to Pretoria with the Royal Canadian Regiment (published in 1902) and Thomas Guthrie Marquis's Canada's sons on kopje and veld (published in 1900).

Apart from Commando, the only other personal Boer narrative that is available locally was written by the famed guerilla leader, General Christiaan de Wet, with the unimaginative title Three years war, published in English in 1902. Deneys writes about General de Wet:

De Wet, unlike Deneys, was a participant in the Battle of Paardeberg, and arrived in the middle of the British bombardment of Cronje's forces. He writes:HHH

This was a decisive turning point in the war. De Wet sent the renowned despatch rider Danie Theron to urge Cronje to retreat, but Cronje, with characteristic obstinacy, insisted on maintaining his position. If General Cronje had taken General de Wet's advice, abandoned his position, and made his escape, the Boers' morale would not have suffered such a shattering blow, and the outcome of the war might have been quite different.

He concludes: No words can describe my feelings when I saw that Cronje had surrendered, and noticed the result which this had on the burghers. Depression and discouragement, were written on every face. The effects of this blow . it is not too much to say, made themselves apparent to the very end of the war.

The British eventually captured Pretoria, and ransacked State Secretary Francis William Reitz's house, confiscating, among other things, his family Bible. This family heirloom, which I now have, was returned to him fifteen years later, and in an annotation, he leaves it to his eldest grandson, Frank - my father.

Deneys encountered Jan Smuts, the State Attorney, in the field, and persuaded him to indicate where Francis William and President Kruger had gone, and what the general position was.

Among this group were two men who became Prime Ministers of the future united South Africa: Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

Deneys and Hjalmar travelled to Waterval Onder, where they received news of the safe survival of their brothers Joubert and Arnt, although Arnt was seriously ill with fever.

Shortly after this, Paul Kruger left for Holland via Portuguese territory, and died in exile in Switzerland in 1904.

My grandfather Hjalmar, in his autobiography, provided a translation of Francis William's descriptions of the events in Vereeniging, where the peace negotiations took place, and in Pretoria, where he was one of the signatories to the Peace Treaty.

Francis William respected Lord Kitchener, because he felt that he was simply a soldier carrying out his duties. However, he had the greatest contempt for Sir Alfred Milner, whom he blamed for the breakdown of negotiations that might have avoided the war. After the signing of the treaty, he shook Kitchener's hand, but pointedly avoided Milner.

On May 31 1901, the day that the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed, he wrote a poem, subsequently set to music, that is still relevant today as an anthem for the battles between the forces of nationalism and of imperialism. He called it Vaarwel aan de Vierkleur - Farewell to the quadricolor, and I find the ringing, sonorous tones of the Afrikaans very moving:

He provided his own English translation of this poem:

To those who bore our flag on high

And in conclusion, on an even more personal level, his son Joubert wrote a poem – in English – while he was a prisoner of war in Bermuda in October 1901.

With bitterness in his heart, Francis William left his native land for Holland and the United States, where he undertook a lecture tour, even visiting local towns such as Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan. After a failed attempt to settle in Texas, he, his wife and his four sons, who had been prisoners-of-war, returned to South Africa at the request of General Smuts.

Joubert died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919. Deneys went on to write a best-selling autobiography about his experiences as a colonel in the British Army during World War I. He became a cabinet minister in the pre-World War II government of General Smuts, and subsequently High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Hjalmar had a successful career as a member of Parliament, and Arnt became an attorney. Francis William Reitz served a term as President of the Senate in the first Parliament of the new Union of South Africa, retired from public life, and lived to the ripe old age of 90. He died in March 1934, exactly nine months before I was born. Coincidence? I think not!

Thankyou for your attention.