HANDWRITTEN LETTER RELATING TO THE 1906 BAMBATHA REBELLION (1906)

A handwritten letter by General Sir Redvers Buller (1839–1908) who was a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the 1879 Zulu War. He is best known for commanding British forces in South Africa during the early months of the Second Boer War, where he famously faced military setbacks before later adapting his tactics.

The date and contents of the letter correspond with an event in South Africa known as the Bambatha Rebellion, which was a 1906 armed uprising against British colonial rule in the colony of Natal.

The letter has the Downes, Crediton, Devonshire letterhead of the Buller family and consists of two separate leaves with handwriting on all four sides. Time staining evident but still legible. 

"April 17, 1906

Dear George Smith,

When you have men in Natal like Colonel Mackenzie and Colonel Leuchars I do not think you want anyone from England to help to keep your Kaffirs[sic] in order. You will (...) up some day and perhaps have to help yourself to keep Kaffirs [sic] in order. Kaffirs[sic] are very like silly boys - Foolish, and ignorant, they are also kindly, good, willing fellows in their own way, and very faithful also. It is only when they are misled by wicked and designing men that they give trouble.

I hope before you get this that all this (...) of the trouble in Natal will be over and your (...) back again to teach you. And what should you try to learn - Why to be generous, kind and sympathetic. A generous man thinks more of others than of himself, and gives what he has to those who want it. A kind man is appealed to by the sufferings and wants of others; and a sympathetic man is able to put himself in the place of others, to understand their feelings to (respect?) their wishes and to decide fairly without altering his own wishes or desires under weight.

Those are the sort of men that are, I hope, going up in Natal for they will be wanted. With all good wishes, your very truly, Redvers Buller."

Colonel Duncan McKenzie (mentioned in the letter) led British colonial forces against Chief Bambatha during the Rebellion and successfully trapped Bambatha's warriors at Mome Gorge, where superior colonial firepower crushed the uprising and Bambatha was killed.

Colonel George Leuchars (mentioned in the letter) commanded the Umvoti Mounted Rifles and the Umvoti Field Force during the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion in the Natal Colony. He actively led colonial military operations against Chief Bambatha, culminating in the shelling of Bambatha's kraal and the Mpanza bush in April 1906.

Images in the image box of Colonels Mackenzie and Leuchars are from the book A History of the Zulu Rebellion 1906 and of Dinuzulu's Arrest, Trial and Expatriation (1913). They have been added for illustrative purposes only and do not form part of this lot. The image describing Buller's gallantry and subsequent V.C. is from the book The Victoria Cross - The Empire's Roll of Valour (1916). Both titles are listed in other lots on this auction.