ANGLO-BOER WAR. A MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNT FROM THE HOME FRONT.

Thought to be the account written by Grace Gordon-Thompson of Sandgate, Kent from31st January to 5th February 1901 with a concluding entry May 31st 1902 the day peace was declared. By way of introduction she write, ‘A diary written under ordinary circumstances is for the most part, monotonous reading, but the idea occurred to me than a war diary written by an English girl in England during the dark and anxious days of the South African War, might be interesting reading in the far future…..but mine will be only a little simple record from day to day, just as news from the front his flashed home.’

179 pages, mostly written one side of the page only, with occasional maps and newspaper cuttings pasted in opposite, in a lined note book with a black cloth back and marble paper-covered sides.

It starts with a summary of the main dates from 12th October  to January 15th 1900 and then daily entries from 31st January mostly from Sandgate but occasionally she mentions spending time in London.

Her main source of news are the newspapers and the Post Office telegrams – a subscription service by which important war news was circulated – and the entries convey the anxiety of the public in England awaiting news and eventually the elation of receiving better news from the front. She mentions troops arriving back in Sandgate which was a garrison town. ‘The soldiers came in at about 4.30. We had such fun and cheered them right well. Poor fellows, some of them looked so ill and all terribly bronzed. They seemed to be delighted with their welcome.’ She feels premonitions of a European war, ‘I can’t help feeling that in the dim future there will be war.’ Of the Boer prisoners ‘It would be better to ship them all to St. Helena.’ The death of Queen Victoria, 22nd January 1901, ‘Our beloved Queen is dead, how can I ever write it!...I am glad to be in London, for in the midst of the overwhelming sorry and sadness it is magnificently grand. Everybody dressed in black – a coloured dress is remarkable.’