EFV wrote:
” Lars, in Part 1 of Skandienawiers in Die Tweede Anglo-Boere-Oorlog as translated into Afrikaans by Cornelis de Jong (University of SA) that was published in Amsterdam in 1983 it is written that the majority of the Scandinavians in the Corps had already been in the Transvaal, implying a minority of the Corps members had come over for the occasion (de Jong doesn't cite where that iformation came from). This latter category must however have been a low number (a couple of dozen at most) as the Scandinavian Corps was small (at Magersfontein the Corps was composed of 45 Swedes, 23 Danes, 13 Norwegians, 18 Finns, 7 Germans, 3 Hollanders, 2 Russians and a lone Italian). I was mixed up with the Irish Volunteers, the majority of which came from outside the Republics (notably the USA). So, it could very well be that your statement “For some time I realised that the Scandinavians on British side were as many and more as on the Boer side” is correct. The only proviso is that I do not have any data on the number of men of Scandinavian descent who fought in other Boer Commandos, something that could skew the comparison into the other direction. Do you have any information about the number of men of Scandinavian descent fighting on the British side?”
I have not done an exact tally of the Scandinavians I’ve seen in the locally raised units like Brabant’s Horse, Steinaecker’s Horse, Cape Mounted Rifles, BSAP, Kitceners Fighting Scouts, Kimberley Town Guard snd others. Some followed the British Regular unit doctrine and did not recruit foreigner. An estimate would be around 2-300 though. But it would need a thorough check of all nominal rolls, and a margin for names that sound scandinavian but could be 2nd or 3rd generation.
ATB,
Lars
