TOPIC:

Gouvernement’s Noten were the paper currency issued by the ZAR Government during the Boer War. The first issue (May 1900) was made from Pretoria, the second in 1901 from Pietersburg and the final issue, produced in Pilgrim’s Rest in early 1902 and issued from wherever the Government had hitched its tents during the final stages of the war.

Contrary to popular belief, Gouvernement’s Noten were not brought into circulation because Kruger and his Government had run out of money. As a matter of fact, the Government’s financial position was very much better by the time the first Gouvernement’s Noot hit the streets of Pretoria than at the beginning of the war, courtesy of a number of goldmines operating for the Government’s account. The true reason for the issue of the Gouvernement’s Noten was the fact that the Government fully realized that financial assets were essential to keep the war efforts going and that from that perspective it was crucial to preserve the ZAR reserves of gold coins and bullion as long as possible. In this regard a number of, sometimes controversial, decisions were taken, the most important of which was to ship the bulk of ZAR gold reserves to Holland. This decision, coincidentally, was taken well before Smuts’ final dash to retrieve the remaining gold from the coffers of the Mint and Nationale Bank in the early days of June 1900.

It is in this context that from May 1900 ZAR commando units in the field found themselves with a stack of Gouvernement’s Noten to pay for sustenance and other necessities. Noten were universally hated by recipients (“hakskeenpleisters”) who distrusted the Government’s future ability to exchange them into coin. Because of this, Noten were only reluctantly accepted, at steep discounts to face value and/or because loaded Mausers in the hands of desperate men provided a convincing argument to do so. In effect Gouvernement’s Noten used in the field could be considered little more than an IOU issued by the ZAR Government and only differ from the manuscript IOUs proffered by the OVS commandos in that they were pre-printed and had a set value.

Gouverment’s Noten used by the Boers in the field form a very small minority of the Noten that survive to these days. The few that have come to market over recent years are often in a condition that would make one reach for snuffbox and hand-sanitizer, possibly the reason for which such examples sell for less than their uncirculated brethren sealed in plastic with a grading number and a silly logo.

From a historical perspective the Noten used by the Boers in the field are more interesting than most others. A Noot used in payment by a commando always carries a text on the reverse to state it was issued for a valid reason and then signed (but never dated) by an officer usually indicating his rank and commando. Research to date indicates that the Swazieland, Utrecht and Piet Retief commandos were the most prolific users of these Noten in payment but because of the suspected high attrition rate, this assertion may be wrong.

Over the next few posts I intend to present a few Gouvernements Noten that were used by the commandos in the field and, to the extent possible, will provide some circumstantial information. If any forum member owns one of these Noten, please contribute to this thread as this will assist with further research into this topic.

Below example is a 1 Pond Noot from the Pretoria issue.



The text on the noot read: Op eerlijke wijze ontvangen, (sgnd) J.A.D. Kruger Commandant Swazieland. (Received for honest reasons..)
The Noot was used in payment by the Swazieland Commando and is signed by J.A.D. Kruger, at the time of payment Commandant of the Swazieland Commando. Because the date of his promotion to Commandant is known, this Pretoria Noot would have been issued after the end of September 1901, i.e. months after the Pietersburg Noten entered circulation. Anecdotally, J.A.D. Kruger is the only Boer officer known (to me) to have made payments in Noten of all three issues (Pretoria, Pietersburg and Pilgrim’s Rest).



Jacobus Andries Frederick Kruger (ABO, DTD, :int voor Verwonden) is one of those half-sung Boer officers that would probably have a DSO and a few statues in Britain if he had been British and fighting on the other side. Jacobus was born in 1871 as the son of Daniel Frederik Kruger (1836-1878) and Catharina Johanna Cecilia Jansen van Rensburg (1846-?) and grew up with 10 siblings on the farm Rietvlei in the Potchefstroom District. Aged 20, he joined the Transvaal Staats Artillerie but sometime later switched over to serve with the Swazieland Rijdende Politie. Jacobus entered the war with the rank of Police Sergeant under Generaal Chris Botha (Commandant of the Sawzieland Politie). He fought with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in important battles (Colenso, Bosrand, Pietershoogte, Helpmekaar, Scheepersnek, Allemansnek and many others) was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in August 1901 and shortly after the battle of Talene (itala) appointed Commandant of the Swazieland Commando. Jacobus Kruger was seriously wounded on multiple occasions and stayed in the field to the bitter end. Kruger married twice, firstly with Rosina Adrian Lewies (1894) and after Rosina's death, with Anna Magdalena Du Plooy (1902). J.A.D. Kruger died in 1957, aged 85, in Ludritz (South West Africa) and was buried in the cemetery of Keetmanshoop.

Barend Hendrik Breytenbach was born in 1862 in the District of Utrecht as son of Jan Andries Nicolaas Bretyenbach (1823-1892) and his wife Anna Susanna Breytenbach-Beukes (1828-1901). Barend had nine siblings. At 17 he joined a Vrijwiligers Korps under Piet Uijs and, from age 19, was involved in various battles against the Zulus. Barend Breytenbach fought as Korporaal during the First Boer War of 1880-1881 and was elected Veld Cornet of a Wijk of the Utrecht Commando in 1894. In 1887 Barend married at the farm Geelhoutboom the then 20 year old Maria Elizabeth van Deventer with whom he had 4 children.
VC Breytenbach entered the Anglo Boer War with his Utrecht commando under General Lucas Meyer and was involved in many of the great battles in Natal. Barend was appointed Kommandant of the Utrecht commando in the later stages of the war and was elected by the Burgers of that commando to represent them at the Peace Negotiations where he voted for Peace. Barend died in 1933 aged 70 in Louwsburg, Natal. (Louwsburg is a small, scenic town near the Ithala game reserve, about 100 km east of Utrecht,)

Below, a 1 Pond Pietersburg Noot used by Barend Breytenbach in payment for unspecified goods “voor Commando dienst” which can be loosely translated as “for use by the commando.” Barend signed this as VC, I have not (yet) encountered Gouvernements Noten that he signed as Kommandant.




Geelhoutboom 65 (yellow wood tree) is located a few miles NE of Utrecht. This is the farm where Barend married Maria Elizabeth van Deventer in 1887.


One of the signatures of Barend Breytenbach in a document relating to the peace negotiations in Klerksdorp and Vereeniging.

Note that Breytenbach lists his rank as VC notwithstanding the fact that he had been appointed Kommandant some time before. This may also explain why no Gouvernements Noten with him signing as Kommandant have dropped from the woodworks as yet.

Johannes Izaak Bierman


Kommandant Johannes Iza(a)k Bierman (1860-1926) entered the war as a Burger in the Utrecht commando. Preciously little has been written about his exploits during the war, but it can be assumed that he participated in most battles the Utrecht commando was involved in over the course of the war. Van Zyl (“Onze Krijgsofficieren”) states that shortly after the war commenced Bierman was appointed Adjutant (a rank not officially recognized in the commando hierarchy) and that during the absence of the Veld Cornet he often assumed the absentee's role in his unit. On November 18, 1901 he officially was appointed Veld Cornet by the Burgers of his Wijk. Fighting General Marthinus Wilhelmus Myburgh, who, after General Emmet’s capture in March 1902, took over the command of the Utrecht (and Vryheid) commando and appointed Johannes Bierman to Kommandant of the Utrecht Commando. Bierman was a bitter-einder who was in the field for the entire duration of the war.

Kommandant Johannes Izaak Bierman was one of the 15 children resulting from the marriage of Johannes Izaak Biierman Snr. and Johanna van der Schijjf. He was married three times, from 1884 to 1890 to Magdalena Susanna Opperman, from 1892 to 1901 to Louisa Wilhelmina Jordaan and from 1903 to his death to Anna Jacoba Potgieter. Bierman had two children with each wife. His oldest child (Francina Elizabeth born in 1885) perished on 18 December 1901 in the Meerebank Concentration Camp. Kommandant Bierman died in July 1926, aged 65, at his farm Vaalbank in the Utrecht district.

Kommandant Johannes Izaak Bierman was awarded (posthumously?) an ABO but, although he clearly qualified, is not mentioned among the DTD recipients. In most publications his second initial is erroneously listed as “T”. Adding to the confusion, Kommandant Johannes Bierman is often simply referred to as Kommandant Izaak Bierman.

Below a 1 Pond Pietersburg Noot of the April 1901 issue used by Bierman in payment during the war. It looks that he writes “Door mij gegeven” (issued by me) and signed by him as Commandant. The latter feature implies that the Noot was used in the period between 13 March 1902 (Emmet’s Capture) and the declaration of peace on May 31, 1902.





Interestingly, this noot must have been presented by the recipient to the CJC commission for compensation after the war because it was demonetized by the Commission with the unusual and very unsightly double punch cancel.


Searching for the farm Vaalbank owned by Bierman in the Utrecht District turned out to be as challenging as looking for Moshe Cohen in Tel Aviv. I located three but there may be more.

Theo Meyer, Piet Retief



Theodor Christian Gotthard Meyer was born on 23 October 1863 (some sources state 1862), in Umpumulo, Natal, South Africa out of the marriage between Friedrich Albrecht Meyer and Johanna Amalie Dollenberg. On May 10, 1889 Theodor married Henriette Anna Magdalene Volker, in Vryheid and together they had 4 sons and 5 daughters. The couple lived at the farm Amalienruh in the Luneburg area of the Piet Retief District. (A place I have not been able to locate) When war broke out in October 1899, Christian joined with the rank of Corporal the Piet Retief commando that fell under the operational command of Asst. Kommandant-Generaal General Lukas Meyer (later Christian Botha, both of the Swazieland commando). Meyer crossed with his commando the Natal border and fought in the battles of Talana, Dundee, Ladysmith, Spionkop and many others thereafter. Theodor Meyer was elected Veld Cornet after his elder brother Friedrich was taken prisoner at the end of February 1901, and 3 months later, on June 6, 1901, was elected Kommandant of the Piet Retief commando. This latter rank was later approved and confirmed by the ZAR Government under acting State President Schalk Burger who was camping out somewhere in the North-Eastern Transvaal. Theodor Christian Gotthard Meyer stayed in the field for the entire duration of the war. He fought in most if not all battles the Piet Retief commando was involved in and, miraculously, was never wounded. Theodor applied for -and was awarded- both the ABO and DTD medals. It appears that after the war he returned to the farm Amalienruh (“Post office Dunkolsdrift”) and lived to the ripe old age of 89. Theodor died on July 26, 1952 in Braunschweig, Natal and was laid to rest there.

Theodor Meyer seems to have been a prolific user of Gouvernement’s Noten in payment for goods and services but apparently only from the time he became Kommandant of the Piet Retief Commando in June 1901. He annotated the Noten either with:

“Op eerlijke wijze ontvangen (van)” Received for honest reasons (from)
or,
“Op rechtvaardige wijze ontvangen (van)” Received for righteous reasons (from)

Below a Gouvernement’s Noot for 1 Pond from the Pretoria issue. The Noot was used by Meyer at least 3 months after the Pietersburg issue had become available and that gives some indication of the reluctance of sellers of goods to accept Noten in payment.





As evidenced by the stamp, this particular Noot was presented by the recipient to the Central Judicial Commission (CJC) after the war as part of a claim for compensation. If a claim was honored (“Allowed”), the recipient would have received slightly more than a Shilling for it if he had claimed against the Ex-Burger Compensation Fund or about 8 to 9 Shilling if he claimed against the Protected Burger Fund (British Subjects, hensoppers, joiners). Overall payout on CJC claims lodged by Boers who hadn’t surrendered or joined the enemy was a paltry 4% something that became a great source of bitterness among the conquered volk. Anecdotally, General Louis Botha, whose war losses amounted to more than 20.000 Pond (two million in today’s money) received after a long wait a cheque for 900 Pond. He considered this low pay-out ratio so offensive that he reputedly returned the cheque, un-cashed. Knowing the General’s temperament, the envelope in which he returned the cheque must have contained some explicit suggestions to the CJC commissioner about where he should store it in rolled-up form.

Another officer of the Piet Retief commando known to have signed off on Gouvernement’s Noten is Veld Cornet Barend Johannes Roos. The search for Barend Johannes quickly produced a hit in the Bloemfontein museum database and subsequent research on the internet rendered enough information to create a short CV of the man who joined the war aged 16 and who stayed in the field to the bitter end. There were, however, two elements that didn’t fit: A photograph in the iBoerre Offisiere showed Barend Johannes Roos as a man in his 40’s and van Zyl mentioned in his book that Veld Cornet B. Roos was elected by the burgers of the Piet Retief commando to represent them at the peace negotiations at Vereeniging, something that didn’t seem appropriate for a 19-year-old. Fortunately, the research also divulged that Barend Johannes had the same Christian names as his father, something that was (is?) quite common in Boer families with generous offspring.



Barend Johannes Roos VC Wijk 1, Piet Retief

Barend Johannes Roos Snr was born on December 23, 1858 in Middelburg, Stormberg District, Cape Colony. His father was Petrus Gysbertus Roos (1833-1913) and his mother Anna Catharina Vorster (1837- 1922). He had 12 siblings. In 1878 Barend married in Pretoria Catharina Helena Christina Hermann. Catharina unfortunately died in 1894 at the young age of 35. That same year Barend remarried in Piet Retief with the 23-year-old Martha Louise Nel (1871-1963). Between Catharina and Martha Barend had 12 children, among which Barend Johannes Jnr (1882-1961). In October 1899 Barend Johannes Roos was a cattle rancher and lived at the farm Edenburg (Edinburg 91) in the Piet Retief District. (erroneously listed as Edenburg, OVS in the Bloemfontein website). Barend Johannes joined the Piet Retief commando with sons Barend Johannes Jnr., Matthys Johannes (1881-1969) and quite likely Petrus Gysbertus (born1879, no DoD.) At some point in time before or during the war, Roos Snr was appointed Veld Cornet of Wijk 1 of the Piet Retief commando and fought under Kommandant Theo Meyer (see previous post) for the entire duration of the war. Roos must have carried some clout in the commando as he was chosen to represent Piet Retief during the Peace Negotiations at Vereeniging where he voted for peace. Barend Johannes Roos did not apply for either ABO or DTD (Of his family only Matthys applied for the ABO medal) and curiously is listed, together with his wife Martha and son “Pieter” Gysbertus, as an inmate of the Volksrust internment Camp between 26 July and 11 of August 1902. (Something to do with the fact that he was born in the Cape?)
At some point in time Barend Johannes Roos moved to Witpoort, Pretoria District where he died aged 68, on August 16, 1927.

Roos’ signature on a document signed at Vereeniging



Roos either annotated the Noten he used in payment with “Deze nood [sic] op eerlijke wijze ondvangen [sic]”(received honestly) or, as the Pietersburg Noot below, “Deze noot is op een wettige wijze ontvangen” (received in a lawful manner).




Barend’s residence before and after the war.

A rather unusual annotated Gouvernement’s Noot was issued by Kapitein F.W. von Wichmann


Photo credit: Neville Constantine

From what I could gather, Friederich Wilhelm von Wichmann was born in Prussia (Germany) in 1872 from the marriage between Karl Otto Herman (von) Wichmann and Helene von Borcke. Friedrich joined the Prussian army and attained the rank of Lieutenant, serving with the 1st Regiment Garde Infantry at Potsdam, located to the south-east of Berlin. At some stage (early to mid 1890’s) Friedrich moved to South Africa where he worked for a short time at the Surveyor-General’s office in Pretoria before joining the Transvaal Staats Artillerie (Garrison Artillery of Johannesburg) with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. On the 29th of September 1899 he travelled with the German Commando (which fell under the command of General Jan Kock) to Kliprivier but then was recalled to the main Boer Laager at Zandspruit to join the 3rd Battery of the Staats-Artillerie under Lukas Meyer. It was with the latter unit that he entered Natal. The transfer may have saved his life as the German Corps was heavily implicated in the bloody battle at Elandslaagte on October 19, 1899. Von Wichmann fought with distinction in the main battles in Natal (Dundee, Modderspruit, Colenso etc.) and was (with Major Wolmarans) responsible for the highly effective shelling of British troops on Spionkop, firing 75 mm Creusot’s from a distance of 4200 meters. After the Boer retreat from Natal, von Wichmann joined, with an Artillery uni, Generaal Chris Botha (Swazieland but also commanding other units of the Eastern Districts) ) and fought bravely until the end of the war. After the battle of Bakenlaagte (30 October 1901) he was promoted to the rank of Kapitein.

I could not find anything concerning F.W. von Wichmann after the war other than that he wrote some booklets on Artillery and that he died in France in 1914, aged 42, quite likely in battle. This would explain the reason why no ABO or DTD was applied for.

There is some confusion about von Wichmann’s rank. Although there is no doubt about his promotion to the rank of Kapitein (Captain) in 1901, He refers to himself on the picture above as Majoor (Major) while his uniform clearly indicates the rank of Captain. In a photograph in one of Neville’s posts, von Wichmann even penned himself in as Oberst-Lieutenant; the German/Scandinavian equivalent of lieutenant Colonel. Although the rank of Majoor may have been attained by him during the war (refer Gouvernement’s Noot below), the rank of Oberst-Lieutenant must have dated from the period after the war or was a deliberate inflation of his Boer War rank in order to be able to slot into a higher position upon rejoining the German forces. It is also possible that it was just a bit of snobbery, something that would be commensurate with the fact that at some stage he (or his father?) added the preposition “von” to the family name, implying an aristocratic lineage.

The Gouvernement’s Noot that follows hereunder was signed in the margin by (von) Wichmann "Door mij uitgegeven" (Issued by me). Please note that von Wichmann lists his rank as “Majoor”. This Noot was presented to the Central Judicial Commission for compensation after the war, as evidenced by the double-punch demonetization cancel.





Below the signature of (von) Wichmann for comparison, courtesy Neville Constantine