Louis Botha
Louis Botha | |
---|---|
1st Prime Minister of South Africa | |
In office 31 May 1910 – 27 August 1919 | |
Monarch | George V |
Governors‑General | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Jan Smuts |
Prime Minister of the Transvaal | |
In office 4 March 1907 – 31 May 1910 | |
Monarchs | Edward VII George V |
Governor | The Earl of Selborne |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Himself (as Prime Minister of South Africa) |
Personal details | |
Born | 27 September 1862 South-West Africa Campaign |
Louis Botha (Afrikaans pronunciation:
Early life
Louis Botha was born in
Zulu conflict
Louis Botha led "
Politician
Botha later became a member of the parliament of Transvaal in 1897, representing the district of Vryheid.
Second Boer War
Early battles
In 1899, Louis Botha fought in the
Capture of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill revealed[4] that General Botha was the man who captured him at the ambush of a British armoured train on 15 November 1899. Coetzer 1996, p. 30 also claims that Botha captured Churchill at train ambush 15 November 1899. Churchill was not aware of the man's identity until 1902, when Botha travelled to London seeking loans to assist his country's reconstruction, and the two met at a private luncheon. The incident is also mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyle's book, The Great Boer War, published in 1902. However more recent sources claim that Field cornet Sarel Oosthuizen was in fact the Boer soldier who, at gunpoint, captured Churchill.[5] Another version claims that the unit to capture Churchill was the Italian Volunteer Legion and its commander, Camillo Ricchiardi.[6]
Later campaigns
After the fall of
Role after the Boer War
Botha was prominent in efforts to achieve a peace with the British, representing the Boers at the peace negotiations in 1902, and was signatory to the Treaty of Vereeniging. In the period of reconstruction under British rule, Botha went to Europe with de Wet and de la Rey to raise funds to enable the Boers to resume their former avocations.[7] Botha, who was still looked upon as the leader of the Boer people, took a prominent part in politics, advocating always measures which he considered as tending to the maintenance of peace and good order and the re-establishment of prosperity in the Transvaal. His war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, founding with Jan Smuts the Het Volk Party in the Transvaal Colony in 1904, which served as a springboard to campaign for responsible self-government for the colony.[8]
After the grant of self-government to the Transvaal on 6 December 1906 and the success of his Het Volk Party at the first elections in February 1907, Botha was called upon by Lord Selborne to form a government as Prime Minister on 4 March 1907, and in the spring of the same year he took part in the conference of colonial premiers held in London.[8] During his visit to England on this occasion General Botha declared the wholehearted adhesion of the Transvaal to the British Empire, and his intention to work for the welfare of the country regardless of racial differences. The following year Botha participated in the National Convention (South Africa) which opened up the way for the passage of the South Africa Act of 1909 by the British parliament which in turn allowed for the formation of the Union of South Africa.[8]
When South Africa obtained
Later career
After the
Praise for the British
At Versailles on 1 June 1919, 17 years after the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, General Botha, now a member of the British Empire Delegation, put his hand on
At the end of the War he briefly led a
Death
General Louis Botha died of heart failure at his home following an attack of Spanish influenza on 27 August 1919 in the early hours of the morning. He was 56. His wife Annie was at home and was joined by Engelenburg who had acted as a private secretary to Botha.[12][13] Botha was laid to rest in the Heroes' Acre of the Church Street Cemetery in Pretoria.
Of Botha, Winston Churchill wrote in Great Contemporaries "The three most famous generals I have known in my life won no great battles over a foreign foe. Yet their names, which all begin with a 'B', are household words. They are General Booth, General Botha and General Baden-Powell...."[14]
Honours
Sculptor
Sculptor Anton van Wouw created a statue of Botha in Durban unveiled in 1921.
Sculptor Coert Steynberg was commissioned to create the equestrian statue of Botha in front of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. It was unveiled in 1946.
The General Botha Regiment of the South African Army is named after Botha.[15][16]
References
- ^ a b "Genl. Louis Botha". geni.com. Geni. A MyHeritage Company. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ "Italian Volunteer Legion (The English War 1899–1902) – Piet Rudolph". volkstaat.net. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ Churchill 1996, p. 253.
- ^ "Churchill, Sir Winston". Prominent people. 14 July 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- ^ Lupini, Mario. "Italian participation in the Anglo-Boer War". The South African Military History Society. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
- ^ "Boer Leaders Coming Here: Botha and De la Rey to Visit America" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 July 1902. p. 3.
- ^ a b c "Louis Botha". sahistory.org.za. South African History Online. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
- ^ "Notable South African Freemasons" (PDF). Freemasons.org.za. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "Louis Botha | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ Wrench, John Evelyn, Alfred Lord Milner, pg. 238
- ^ Engelenburg 1928, p. 355.
- ^ Meintjes 1970, p. 302.
- ^ Churchill 1948, p. 287.
- ^ "Fact file: Regiment Botha". defenceWeb. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "Renaming process has resulted in an Army structure that truly represents SA". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
Sources
- ISBN 9781931313704.
- ISBN 978-0-684-82345-4.
- Coetzer, Owen (1996). The Anglo-Boer War: The road to Infamy, 1899–1900. W. Waterman. ISBN 978-1-874959-10-6.
- Engelenburg, Frans Vredenrijk (1928). General Louis Botha. J.L. Van Schaik.
- MacBride, John (2006). Jordan, Anthony J. (ed.). Boer War to Easter Rising: The Writings of John MacBride. Westport. ISBN 978-0-9524447-6-3.
- ISBN 9780304935017.
- Texts on Wikisource:
- Peace of Vereeniging
- "Botha, Louis". Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.
- Wrench, John Evelyn, Alfred Lord Milner, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1958, pg. 238. OCLC Number: 1630758
Further reading
Biographical
- Spender, Harold (1916). General Botha, The Career and the Man. London: Constable.
Historical
- Farwell, Bryon (1976). The Great Boer War. London: Allen Lane. (insights of Botha)
- Williams, Basil (1946). Botha Smuts and South Africa. London: Hodder and Stoughton. (comprehensive commentaries on Smuts and Botha, or as William's titled them in the last chapter of this book par nobile fratrum: 203
- C.J.Barnard (1970). Generaal Louis Botha Op Die Natalse Front 1899–1900. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema.
Fiction
- O'Brien, Antony (2006). Bye-Bye Dolly Gray (illustrated ed.). Hartwell: Artillery Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9758013-2-1. (a heroic Boer character in this Australian/Boer War novel)
External links
- Newspaper clippings about Louis Botha in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Anne Samson: Botha, Louis, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.