TOPIC:

In 1899 Boers on the whole did not own cameras and even if some did, there was little or no incentive to take these on commando (cumbersome, what to do with exposed negatives etc.). There were professional photographers accompanying the Boers during the first stages of the war but the vast majority of photographs they produced are well-known posed scenes. Of the candid shots depicting Boers, the majority were taken by British officers or civilians and show prisoners. Candid photographs of Boers in battle or on commando are few and far between and this thread is an appeal to members to share candid shots of Boers in their possession.

Below is one of those rare not-posed photographs I found in an album. It shows a commando crossing a river most likely in the very early stage of the war. What seems like a Kommandant (Piet Joubert? Lucas Meyer?) is riding a pony on the makeshift bridge (from the shadows it seems in a southerly direction) and a few burgers are filling their water canisters. The post coach seems to be heading in the opposite direction.

Although not exactly “candid” photographs, these images are or interest because they were captured by a young professional photographer while he was serving with the Pretoria Commando. Reginald Sheppard (or Shepperd) photographed the Carolina Commando on Spion Kop a few hours before the battle. The circumstances surrounding the event make interesting reading:

In the Pretoria commando there was a young professional photographer named Reginald Shepperd who carried his camera and apparatus with him during the greatest part of the campaign, and took photographs whenever he had an opportunity. On the morning of the Spion Kop fight, when the burghers were preparing to make the attack on the enemy, Mr. Shepperd gathered all the burghers of the Carolina laager and posed them for a photograph. He was on the point of exposing the plate when a shrapnel shell exploded above the group, and everyone fled. The camera was left behind and all the men went into battle. In the afternoon when the engagement had ended it was found that another shell had torn off one of the legs of the camera’s tripod and that forty-three of the men who were in the group in the morning had been killed or wounded (Howard Hillegas, With the Boer Forces).

As far as I am aware, Sheppard was the only professional photographer who was also a Boer combatant.

A quick search of the Bloemfontein database comes up with just one result: a Henry William Halse Sheppard, who served with the Staatsartillerie. As this is such an unusual name for a Boer fighter, I suspect Henry was closely related to Reginald, perhaps a brother.




Z.11 – A Commando (Carolina) of Boers photographed on Spion Kop, who 2 hours after were engaged and suffered heavily, 46 being killed and wounded. Copyright “S”.


It is fortuitous that Hillegas described the taking of the above photograph, as this allows us to attribute all prints signed with a simple “S” to Sheppard. It is also worth noting that he gave his ABW views image numbers with a “Z” prefix.







The photograph below is blind-embossed “The ‘Central Studio’ / Reg. Sheppard, Manager” and is printed on matt “art” paper. Other copies, on standard glossy photographic paper, are signed with the distinctive “S”.













..

Neville, great photographs, with the "Boer Outpost exchanging shots" probably one of the best "Boer"action photographs of the war. The young Staatsartillerie Corporal is Veldt Cornet A. G. (Alex) Boshoff who fought under Kommandant Bouwer and General Smuts a.o. in the Cape.

EFV,
Your photo shows the northern end of the Boers’ floating bridge across the Tugela just north of Hlangwane.
My money is on Lucas Meyer as the horseman as he was active in this sector, followed by what looks like his agterryer.
The photo can be dated to The second half of February 1900.
Rob

Everhard,

Here is Caney's view of the floating bridge across the Tugela (constructed from NGR rails and sleepers), showing the spot depicted in your photograph.





..

And the approximate location based on a number of photographs taken from different angles. Being a "floating" bridge it moved a lot.

When the water was low (as in the aerial view below) the bridge would have rested on the bedrock, which is presumably why the Boers built it here.






..