Joe had become an avid collector and reader of various newspapers and periodicals. He would collect them daily, spending his meagre spare pennies and time on them, or finding discarded papers, he studied them in his bed by candlelight every night. Labourer by day and Boer War student by night he had become fascinated and a little obsessed with this distant war. But he was not alone. Across the whole of the British Empire, both young men and old debated the pros and cons of British involvement in the conflict.
The 2nd Anglo-Boer War was the first major conflict to occupy the public consciousness since Britain had advanced toward widespread literacy. There had been huge growth in the number of newspapers and periodicals available to satisfy the public’s newfound appetite. The biggest sellers were those that concentrated on the armed forces. Learning about British achievements in a foreign land allowed the public back home to wallow in reflected glory.
In the weeks before the war, the Times kept its readers informed about the inevitable conflict with detailed maps and articles on the situation in South Africa. That the paper was in favour of military action came as no surprise; the directors were all strong Cecil John Rhodes supporters.
The Times was not
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This time a larger crowd of family men and friends had assembled to hear the latest instalment about events in South Africa. Needless to say he didn’t need to pay for his beer that night! This time he spoke about the Relief of Kimberley – very much in the minds of all British and Colonial citizens. He started with the losses suffered by Lieutenant-General Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen. Born at Corsham Court, Wiltshire in 1846, Methuen served in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War in 1873. He also served in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland in the mid-1880s. In this war he was General Officer Commanding of the 1st