Original Anglo-Boer War Photographs: Pres.Kruger's Capital on Wheels

. As the British forces approached Pretoria during the Anglo-Boer War, President Kruger and his government withdrew eastwards along the railway line to Delagoa Bay. They left Pretoria on the 31st May 1900. The Volksraad, civil servants and their president spent some time at Machadodorp, their temporary capital, and Waterval Onder. During this time, the presidential carriage became home from home to the President, and several vital state departments were also housed in railway carriages.

The photographs offered here are on three old album pages which bear 12 prints showing the “Capital on Wheels” at Machdodorp and its surroundings. There are twelve pictures 108mm x 155mm in size [approximately 4¼ x 6 inches} and are probably contact prints from so-called “half plate” negatives. The annotations in the margins date the photographs as being taken in September 1902. President Kruger, however, was persuaded to leave the country, crossing the border into Portuguese territory on 11th September 1900. He departed from Lourenco Marques, for Europe shortly thereafter in the Dutch Cruiser Gelderland. One of the photographs shows a row of six carriages labelled in the caption below the picture. This caption identifies the Right Hand carriage as being the telegraph office and the telegraph lines can be seen in the photograph. Although the date 1902 seems to be wrong other facts can be confirmed by an examination of the prints.