Two Irish Commandos, volunteer military units of guerrilla militia, fought alongside the Boers against the British forces during the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

Background

Irish support for the Boers can be traced back to 1877 when several Irish parliamentarians, such as Charles Stewart Parnell, opposed laws to annex the South African Republic under British rule. Although the annexation was successful, many Irishmen continued to show support for the Boers during the First Anglo-Boer War; especially in 1881 following the British defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill where an Irishman Alfred Aylward served as an adviser to the Boer General Piet Joubert during the battle. When rumours of a second war with the Boers began to surface, protesters led by James Connolly took to the streets in Dublin in August 1899 and public meetings were held across Ireland in support of the Boers. Several weeks later in Dublin, nearly twenty thousand marched in protest against the planned invasion of the South African Republic.

War followed from President Paul Kruger's ultimatum of 9 October 1899, which gave the British government 48 hours to comply. He declared war on Britain on 11 October.

The Irish Transvaal Brigade was established days before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War and initially consisted of Irishmen who worked in the Witwatersrand. The volunteers were given full citizenship and became Burghers of the Boer republics. The brigade was formed by Colonel John Blake, an Irish-American former officer in the US Army, who was later succeeded by John MacBride. Under the leadership of MacBride, the brigade was strengthened by volunteers travelling from Ireland who entered South Africa via Portuguese Mozambique.

The Brigade would come to be known as MacBride's Brigade, after their commander, John MacBride. It was operational from September 1899 to September 1900, when the brigade fought in about 20 engagements, with 18 men killed and about 70 wounded from a complement of no more than about 300 men at any one time. When it disbanded, most of the men crossed into Mozambique, which was a colony of neutral Portugal. Colonel John YF Blake, a former US Army officer was the brigade's commander. When he was wounded, his second-in-command, Major John MacBride, took command.

See also

  • Boer foreign volunteers

References

Sources

  • Anthony J. Jordan, "Major John MacBride 'MacDonagh & MacBride & Connolly & Pearse'". Westport Historical Society, 1991. .
  • Prof. Donal P. McCracken, MacBride's Brigade: Irish Commandos in the Anglo-Boer War, Dublin, 1999
  • Ireland: Green Flag