First Boer War (1880-1881): Transvaal Revolt and Majuba Hill

The First Boer War, also called the Transvaal War, was a short conflict fought from 16 December 1880 to March 1881 between Britain and the Boers of the Transvaal. Boer volunteers rose against the British annexation of their republic, won a string of battles culminating at Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881, and persuaded William Gladstone’s government to restore their self-government. It was one of the few colonial wars of the period that Britain lost.

Background

The Boers of the Transvaal were descendants of Dutch, German and French settlers who had left the Cape during the Great Trek. In 1852 Britain recognised the independence of the territory north of the Vaal River, which became the South African Republic.

By the 1870s the republic was nearly bankrupt, had been defeated by the Pedi king Sekhukhune in 1876 and faced the powerful Zulu kingdom on its border. Britain, under Colonial Secretary Lord Carnarvon, hoped to unite southern Africa in a confederation. On 12 April 1877 the special commissioner Sir Theophilus Shepstone annexed the Transvaal with only a small escort, claiming it could no longer govern itself.

Many Boers rejected annexation from the start. Paul Kruger and Piet Joubert led delegations to London in 1877 and 1878 and organised petitions, without success. Britain’s defeat of the Zulu in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 removed the main external threat that had made British protection seem useful. When Gladstone’s Liberals took office in 1880, Boer leaders hoped for a reversal, but the new government kept the annexation.

Outbreak

The immediate spark came in November 1880, when a farmer named Piet Bezuidenhout refused to pay an inflated tax bill at Potchefstroom and his wagon was seized. Armed Boers took it back. From 8 December some thousands of burghers met at Paardekraal and voted to restore the republic, choosing a ruling triumvirate of Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert and Marthinus Wessel Pretorius.

The republic was proclaimed at Heidelberg on 16 December 1880, and the first shots were fired at Potchefstroom the same day. Boer commandos then besieged the small British garrisons scattered across the territory, including those at Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Lydenburg, Rustenburg and Standerton.

Course of the war

On 20 December 1880 a column of the 94th Regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Anstruther was stopped at Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria. Boer marksmen opened fire at close range and within minutes the column had lost more than 150 men killed or wounded, more than half its strength. Anstruther died of his wounds.

Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, governor of Natal, gathered a relief force, the Natal Field Force, of roughly 1,200-1,400 men, and marched north. To enter the Transvaal he had to pass Laing’s Nek, a pass in the Drakensberg held by Boers under Joubert. His frontal attack on 28 January 1881 failed with heavy losses. On 8 February, at Ingogo (Schuinshoogte), Boer riflemen pinned down a British force guarding the road to Natal, and the British again suffered heavily before withdrawing at night.

The Boers fought as mounted infantry. They used cover well, moved quickly, and relied on accurate long-range rifle fire. British troops, still trained for close-order fighting and wearing conspicuous uniforms, were at a disadvantage in this terrain.

Majuba Hill

On the night of 26-27 February 1881 Colley led about 400 men, drawn from the 58th and 92nd Regiments and a naval brigade, up Majuba, a steep mountain overlooking the Boer positions at Laing’s Nek. He hoped the position would force the Boers to abandon the pass. The troops did not dig in properly, and Colley did not bring artillery.

In the morning groups of young Boer volunteers, led by commanders including Nicolaas Smit, climbed the slopes using the cover of rocks and folds in the ground, while older men gave covering fire. By early afternoon they had reached the summit and the British line collapsed. Colley was killed. British losses were about 92 killed, 134 wounded and 59 taken prisoner. The Boers lost one man killed and a handful wounded, one of whom later died.

Key people

• Paul Kruger (1825-1904), a veteran of the Great Trek and member of the ruling triumvirate. He led the political campaign against annexation and was president of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900.
• Piet Joubert (1831-1900), commandant-general of the Boer forces. He directed the defence of Laing’s Nek and the operations against Colley’s column.
• Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (1819-1901), former president of the republic and the third member of the triumvirate.
• Sir George Pomeroy Colley (1835-1881), governor of Natal and commander of the British field force, regarded as one of the most able staff officers of his generation before his defeats in 1881. He was killed on Majuba.
• Sir Evelyn Wood (1838-1919), who took command after Colley’s death and negotiated the ceasefire on the government’s instructions, against his own preference for renewed fighting.
• William Gladstone (1809-1898), the Liberal prime minister, who had criticised the annexation while in opposition and chose a negotiated settlement over a long campaign.

Peace and consequences

Gladstone’s government, already doubtful about the annexation and unwilling to fight a long war, agreed to an armistice on 6 March 1881. Sir Evelyn Wood, who succeeded Colley, signed a preliminary peace with the Boer leaders on 23 March near Laing’s Nek.

The Pretoria Convention of 3 August 1881 restored self-government to the “Transvaal State” under British suzerainty. Britain kept control of the territory’s foreign relations and a right to move troops through it. Kruger became president in 1883, and the London Convention of 27 February 1884 dropped the explicit reference to suzerainty and restored the name South African Republic.

Over the war as a whole, British dead numbered roughly 400, while Boer losses were well under 100 killed. Critics in Britain called the settlement a humiliation; supporters saw it as a sensible end to an unjust annexation.

Legacy

The war strengthened Afrikaner national feeling and gave the Boers confidence in their fighting methods. For many in the British army and public, “Remember Majuba” became a cry for revenge. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 transformed the Transvaal’s importance, and disputes over its independence and the rights of foreign miners led to the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.

Military observers also drew lessons. The power of accurate rifle fire from concealed positions, so clear at Majuba, foreshadowed problems that British commanders would meet on a much larger scale in 1899.

Timeline

• 1877, 12 April: Shepstone proclaims the British annexation of the Transvaal.
• 1880, from 8 December: Mass meeting at Paardekraal votes to restore the republic.
• 1880, 16 December: Republic proclaimed at Heidelberg; first shots at Potchefstroom.
• 1880, 20 December: British column ambushed at Bronkhorstspruit.
• 1881, 28 January: Colley’s attack at Laing’s Nek is repulsed.
• 1881, 8 February: Heavy British losses at Ingogo (Schuinshoogte).
• 1881, 27 February: Boer victory at Majuba Hill; Colley killed.
• 1881, 23 March: Preliminary peace agreed near Laing’s Nek.
• 1881, 3 August: Pretoria Convention restores Transvaal self-government.
• 1884, 27 February: London Convention revises the settlement.

Why it matters

The First Boer War was brief, but it restored Boer independence, made Paul Kruger the dominant figure in the Transvaal and created a lasting grievance on both sides. Its memory shaped the far bloodier conflict that followed less than two decades later.