Royal Signals Museum - Displays - The Boer War

The Second Boer War
1899 - 1902

The crisis in the Transvaal at the end of the 19th Century was the culmination of 250 years of Afrikaner expansion and conflict with Africans and the British. The Boers of the Orange Free State and Transvaal attacked the British in Natal and Cape Colony and what was to ensue was more wasteful and reckless in terms of lives and money than any war experienced by the British since 1815.

War commenced in October 1899 and lasted until May 1902. These near 1000 days cost the lives of about 20,000 imperial and colonial troops of the 500,000 who participated; 16,000 of them died of wounds or disease. Over 7,000 of the 88,000 Boers perished. The carnage also included over 400,000 horses, mules and donkeys. The war cost the British Government over £200 million.

Military communications at the outset of the war comprised visual, telegraph and telephone, and despatch means.

Visual Communications

This form of communications reached its peak during the war and was the primary means of communications for forward control. Large and small flags, heliograph and oil lamps with shutters for night communications were all utilised. Skilled operators could signal at from 8 to 12 words per minute. The climatic conditions were ideal for heliograph and the 10" mirror could be seen for up to 100 miles. The Museum has equipment to demonstrate all these forms of communications.

Telegraph and Telephone Communications

Strategically, telegraph was used for communications back to the Home Government by submarine cable. In theatre, land line was used to control formations down to the level of divisions and occasionally lower later in the war.

Civil telephones were used extensively in many of the large cities such as during the defence of Ladysmith, and lines between Pretoria and Johannesburg were greatly increased. During the Boer War the Telegraph Battalion's section laid 18,000 miles of telegraph and telephone cable. A total of 13,500,000 messages were handled in 4 years and the Battalion grew in strength from 600 to 2,500 men. The first time a telegraph battalion provided technical and strategic communications for the army was when General French used telegraph and telephones to control artillery fire. Telegraph and telephone wires for the railway defences were added to the existing railway routes which were used extensively.

As the war progressed the whole of the Telegraph Service was put under military control based on the four Provinces.

The despatch service was a major means of communications at all levels. Horses, trains and runners were all important elements of the communications system.

Wireless

Wireless was not used as an act of war in this conflict. However, some early equipment was transported to the theatre for testing by Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Limited. For this reason the Boer War is often described as the first war that utilised the wireless. Perhaps it is more accurate to say it was the war that realised the potential of the wireless.

Summary

No fundamental changes in the techniques of providing signal communications took place during the war in South Africa though undoubtedly it paved the way for the subsequent improvements that were to take place.

Various telephones and wireless are on display in the Boer War Section. In 1900 Queen Victoria sent every British soldier serving in South Africa a tin of chocolate. One such tin can be seen in the Museum. The chocolate has survived for over a century.

Displays