Boer personalities L - O

Lemmer, General Hermanus Richardus

A cattle farmer born in 1859, he fought in the native campaigns and was elected to the Volksraad.  He started the Boer War as a burger but quickly gained promotion to general on the basis is his fighting ability.   He led the Litchenburg commando and was killed in 1900.

Lemmer, General Lodewyl

He was born near Marico in 1964.  He fought in the First Boer War and subsequently worked as a teacher and customs official.  During the war, he was promoted to the rank of commandant in 1901 and general shortly afterwards.  In 1907 he was elected to the Transvaal Parliament.  During the Great War he saw action in German South-West Africa.  Later, he was a  member of the Union House of Assembly and was a member of the Native Affairs Commission under General Smuts.

Leyds, Doctor Willem Johannes

He was was born at Java in 1859.  He was recommended to Mr Kruger in 1884 by Professor Moltzer of Amsterdam University because of his potential.  He served as Attorney General in 1884.

Lotter, Commandant J C     

Lotter ran a business in Naauwpoort, Cape Colony and was branded a 'Cape Rebel' when he joined the Boer cause.  He operated with Commandant Kritzinger and Commandant Fouche in the Cape.  he was wounded in the engagement of Jackalsfontein near Craddock on 21 July 1901.   He was captured at Bouwershoek on 5 September 1901.  He was tried for treason and other charges and found guilty.  He was executed in Middelburg.

Lynch, Colonel Arthur Alfred

Born in Australia. After the Boer War broke out he swore allegiance to the SAR, and became a burgher of that State. He was appointed to the command of the Irish Brigade, fighting on the Boer side. He was elected MP for Galway in Jan, 1900. He subsequently took up his residence in Paris, describing himself as a journalist. In connection with Colonel Lynch's fighting in the Boer ranks, he came over to England voluntarily to answer to the charge of high treason, for which crime he was sentenced to death by Mr Justice Wills on Jan 23, 1903. The sentence was immediately commuted to penal servitude for life, but he was released after twelve months' imprisonment in Lewes Gaol.

Malan, Francois Stephanus

Member of the Legislative Assembly (Malmesbury), of Schoongezicht, Kloof St, Cape Town, is the son of Daniel G Malan, of Leeuwenjacht, Paarl, and is descended from French Huguenot stock, Jacques Malan, his direct ancestor, having landed in SA in 1689. Born March 12, 1871, in the district of the Paarl, he was educated at Paarl; Victoria College, Stellenbosch; and Cambridge, graduating BA (Science) Cape University; also LLB Cambridge Admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court, Cape Colony, Aug, 1895 Appointed editor, November 15, 1895, of Ons Land, one of the leading Dutch newspapers in Cape Colony Elected unopposed Member of the Legislative Assembly for Malmesbury in succession to the Hon W P Schreiner, Sep, 1900; re-elected Feb, 1904; was convicted for publishing defamatory libel on General French, April 19, 1901, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment without hard labour. He is one of the most prominent politicians of the SA party, and commands a very large following among the Dutch. Married to Miss Johanna Brummer, Sep 21, 1897.

Maritz, General Saloman Gerhardus

He was born in 1876.  During the Boer War he fought in Natal and served under General de Wet in his raids into the Cape Colony in 1900.  He was promoted to commandant.  Towards the end of the war he was fighting in the north west Cape and capturing the town of Springbok in 1902.  After the war he went to Madagascar and Europe, and did not return until after 1910.  When the Union Defence Force was established in 1912 he was granted a commission, and stationed as District Staff Officer near Upington.  He refused in 1914 to take part in the campaign against German south west Africa and, instead, started a rebellion.  He joined forced with the Germans.  When the Union forces under General Botha, took south west Africa, he crossed the border to Angola and later travelled to Portugal and Spain.  He remained in Europe until 1923 when he returned and was tried as a rebel.  He was found guilty in 1924 but was freed with the help of General Hertzog.  He farmed for a while and then started his own pro-fascist movement in the 1930s.  He was killed in a car accident near Pretoria.  Deneys Reitz described him as "cruel and illiterate".  Maritz was responsible for some of the worst atrocities against Africans during the war.

McBride, Major

Commanded the Irish Brigade with the Boer Forces in the Boer War. He married an Irish agitator, named Miss Maud Gonne, who obtained a divorce from him.

Meiring, Johannes Hendricus

Descended from a French refugee family who fled to Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1684, his direct descendant, Arnoldus Mauritius Meiring, having gone to the Cape as minister of the PR Church at Tulbagh, Cape Colony, in 1734. The subject of our sketch is the son of J W H Meiring, Mayor of Worcester, Cape Colony, where Mr J H Meiring was born Oct 22, 1849. He was educated in that town; was Headmaster of the Government School at Murraysdorp, Cape Colony, in 1872, and in 1881 went to the OFS as Secretary, to the Mining Board at Jagersfontein, when he subsequently entered the Free State Civil Service as Public Prosecutor to the Special Court for the trial of IPB cases, as well as to the Magistrates' Court. In 1886 he became Landdrost Clerk and Public Prosecutor at Harrismith, and in 1889 when the OFS entered into a Customs Union with the CO, he was appointed Collector of Customs of the State. He attended the Customs Conferences of 1896 and '98. He retained this appointment until the British occupation on March 1 3, 1900. Seven days later, however, he was reinstated by Lord Roberts, and on the military regime being superseded by Civil Government, his position as Collector of Customs for the ORC was confirmed by Lord Milner. In 1902 Mr Meiring was nominated a member of the Legislative Council for the ORC, and he took part in the Customs Conference in 1903 as Customs Adviser. From 1883 to 1894 he was JP for the respective districts in which he held office, and from the latter year has been a JP for the whole Colony. He married, Jan 30, 1872, Anna, daughter of J G de Wet, of Worcester, Cape Colony.

Meyer, General Lucas Johannes

he was born in 1846 in the OFS.  In 1884 he was President of the New Republic established in Northern Zululand but this territory became part of the Transvaal in 1888.  Meyer was a member of the Volksraad as was reportedly sympathetic to the case of the Uitlanders.  He sometimes clashed with the policies of President Kruger but took up arms at the start of the Boer War.  He commanded the Boer forces attacking Dundee at the Battle of Talana.  He participated in the battle of Modder Spruit but collapsed due to ill health.  After a convalescence in Pretoria, he returned to Natal where he commanded the Boer forces on the Tugela.  Lack of confidence in him by his men led to his removal from command and his return to Pretoria.  He was serving in the Transvaal government, under Schalk Burger, Acting President, when it was on the move in Tautesberg in north east Transvaal in December 1901.  He attended the conference between the two Boer governments April 1902 to prepare for the peace negotiations.  He signed the peace treaty in his role as a member of the Executive Council of the Transvaal.  He died in August 1902 and was interred at Vryheid.

Muller, General Christiaan Hendrik

He was born in 1865 and moved to the Transvaal in his teens and to the Rand in his twenties.  He saw service during the Jameson Raid.  He fought with distinction during the Boer War where he rose through the ranks.  At Helvetia, he captured the gun called Lady Roberts.  He was a Bitter Ender and took part in the peace negotiations.  He worked in banking and joined the rebel cause in 1914 when he was wounded and sentenced to a goal term of 2 years.  He was elected to Parliament in 1920 and died in 1945.

Minnik, J H

Landdrost at Boksburg, Transvaal, until he joined the Boers on the outbreak of the War in 1899, remaining in the field until captured by Colenbrander's Scouts in April, 1901. He then spent fifteen months as a prisoner of war in India. Until peace was signed Mr Munnik was an irreconcilable, but he then determined to accept the inevitable and became a loyal British subject. Mr Munnik occupied his leisure time as a prisoner in writing a romance of the Boer War, entitled Major Greville, VC, DSO.

Myburgh, General Martinus Wilhelmus

During the Boer War he led the Vryheid Commando and rose to the rank of general.  He later served in both the Natal and Union Parliaments.  He fought in the Great War in the 3rd Mounted Brigade in German South West Africa.

Naude, Jacobus Johannes

He was born in 1876 in Smithfield, OFS.  He fought in native wars and in the Jameson Raid.  He started the Boer War in Natal as an ambulance helper but took a fighting role and was in action at Willow Grange and Colenso.  When the Boers evacuated Pretoria, Botha left behind Naude and a few picked men to act as spies.  He was betrayed but was in the field at the time and evaded capture.  He moved to the eastern Transvaal and saw action at Bakenlaagte.  After the war, he returned to Pretoria and wrote his autobiography.

Olivier, General J H

He was born in 1848 and joined the Orange Free State Border Police at the age of 15.  By the age of 17, he was serving as a Field Cornet.  He saw action in the Basotho wars.  He entered politics and became a member of the Free State Volksraad in 1883.  At the start of the Boer War, he commanded the Rouxville and Thaba Nchu Commandos.  His area of operation was Colesberg, Barkly East and Dordrecht.  He commanded the successful engagement at Stormberg in December 1899. He later operated with General de Wet in the east of the Free State and around Brandwater Basin.  He left de Wet aftyer a disagreement and was captured while he was trying to join the commando in Transvaal.  He and his three sons were sent as prisoners to Ceylon.