Archives in Oxford Relating to the South African War

Abstract

It seems appropriate for there to be a paper at this conference on archives in Oxford relating to the Anglo-Boer War, for it was, at least in part, an imperialist war, and, as Richard Symonds has so ably chronicled in his book Oxford and Empire, the links between the two were very strong. Not so strong that there was much inclination amongst Oxonians for military service, however. Symonds draws attention to an article in the 23 May 1900 issue of the Oxford Magazine which whilst lamenting that Cambridge was providing more volunteers than Oxford took consolation in the fact that Cambridge also had more men fighting on the other side, including Generals Reitz, De Wet, Smuts and Villiers.