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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 220
unscathed and wrote, in Cape Dutch, a superb journal of his experience.
Deneys was the third son of Francis William Reitz (1844–1934), President of the Orange Free
State, 1887–95, and later Secretary of State in President Kruger’s administration in the Transvaal
(South African Republic). He and his brothers were brought up in Bloemfontein and he was at school
there when, in July 1899, his father summoned the boys to Pretoria in anticipation of the outbreak of
war. Although under age, Deneys was supported by Kruger in his wish to enlist.
His service took him to Natal, at the siege of Ladysmith, and the Battles of Spioenkop and the
Tugela Heights. He fought against the British at the Battle of Bergendal and then throughout the
guerrilla war, finally joining Smuts’s Commando on its foray into Cape Colony culminating at the
siege of O’Okiep.
At the end of the war, in sympathy with his father, he refused to take the oath to abide by the
peace terms and consequently was exiled. He tried to build up a transport business in Madagascar,
but it failed and he was persuaded to return to South Africa by Jan Smuts’s wife, Isie. It took him
three years to recover his health. He served once more under Smuts in the First World War, first
against former comrades who rose in rebellion against the British in 1914, then against the Germans
in both Southwest Africa and East Africa, and finally in France where he eventually commanded the
1st Royal Scots Fusiliers with the rank of Lieutenant-colonel. After that war he held government
office in a number of posts before taking up his final appointment as High Commissioner in London,
England, in 1942. He died in 1944. His three books are a lasting testament to his quiet courage and
humanity.
See also:
Bergendal, Battle of; Guerrilla War; Ladysmith, Siege of; O’Okiep, Seige of; Smuts, Assistant
Commandant-general Jan; Talana, Battle of.
Reference:
Marix Evans, Martin, The Boer War: South Africa 1899–1902 (Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 1999);
Reitz, Deneys, Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War (London, Faber & Faber, 1929;
Prescott, Arizona, Wolfe Publishing, 1994); Reitz, Deneys, No Outspan (1942; Prescott,
Arizona, Wolfe Publishing, 1994); Reitz, Deneys, Trekking On (1933; Prescott, Arizona, Wolfe
Publishing, 1994).
Rhodes, Cecil,
1853–1902
Rhodes’s influence in shaping the events that led to war in 1899 was profound. He was a successful,
if unscrupulous, businessman and a determined imperialist. His ambition to see the British Empire
govern from the Cape to Cairo led to his disgrace when he fomented the unsuccessful Jameson Raid
to overthrow Boer government in the Transvaal. He was present in Kimberley throughout the siege
and was able to ease conditions there by offering the resources of the De Beers Company. At the
same time he caused the officer commanding, Colonel Kekewich, endless trouble, going as far as
deliberately undermining his authority.
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