Two photograph albums recording the Boer War and its immediate aftermath (items 4151 and 4152 sold together for £950)

Album of photographs relating to the work of the South African Constabulary taken in the summer of 1902 immediately following the end of the Boer War.

South Africa, 1902. Thirty-seven black and white photographs (c95x115mm) inserted back-to-back in card mounts (145x170mm) bound in a small oblong album (155x185mm). The spine to the album is missing and there is some marginal staining to some of the mounts but the photographs are in very good condition although seven have faded but the images are still visible. Details of some of the photographs are handwritten in black ink in the margins of the mounts and the first mount has been inscribed in pencil "No. 9 Troop SAC F.H.White. E. Transvaal". An excellent, rare record of life in the Eastern Transvaal in the aftermath of the Boer War. The South African Constabulary was formed in 1900 as a paramilitary force under the control of the British Army. Recruited from British settlers in South Africa and from other colonies, its aim was to oversee and police those parts of the Transvaal and Orange Free State that had been seized by the British during the Second Boer War (11 October 1899-31 May 1902). The first Inspector-General of the SAC was Robert Baden-Powell, who had commanded the British garrison at the Siege of Mafeking and is best known now as the founder of the Scout Movement. When the war ended, Transvaal and Orange Free State became British colonies and the role of the SAC diminished resulting in its being disbanded in 1908. Of the dated photographs in this album, the earliest is June 6th 1902 and the latest is September. The atmosphere in most of the pictures is one of calm and a sense of relief although one image shows a pair of gravestones marking the death in action of two members of the SAC. A number of photographs show scenes of the town of Ermelo and groups "On trek to Ermelo". Ermelo was a Transvaal town razed to the ground by the British in 1901. In 1903 it was rebuilt and it seems that these photographs show member of the SAC in or on their way to Ermelo to begin its reconstruction. One photograph is of Lance Corporal Westhall who, we are told, died at Ermelo on 10th February 1902, perhaps in the town's rebuilding. Other photographs show SAC members at rest in their smart uniforms (which Baden-Powell used as the basis for his Scout kits). One rather amusing image shows a tall man in a hat with what appears to be a pony-tail at the back of his neck. He is described as Piet Viljoen, "the man who is not going to have his hair cut until the Dutch get independence back". Whether he was related to General Ben Viljoen or Commandant Piet Viljoen we cannot say. Another photograph shows a blameless looking man described simply as "Trooper Mason. The awful man of Amsterdam". And there is a photograph of "Some of No 9 Troop Black Staff". Taken together, this fascinating album shows how one small part of the British military rebuilt a life in a corner of South Africa after the intensity of the Boer War.