THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIARIES [NATAL] OF SIR GARNET WOLSELEY / THE SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL [ZULULAND / TRANSVAAL] OF SIR GARNET WOLSELEY

Volume 1: THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIARIES [NATAL] OF SIR GARNET WOLSELEY, 1875; x, 293 pages: illustrations, portraits. (South African biographical & historical studies; number 11). Skivertex spine & paper covered boards, dust wrapper browned on spine. "Authentic day-to-day record of one of the ablest and most controversial administrators of the mid-Victorian age". Front cover.                                                                                                    

Volume 2: THE SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL [ZULULAND / TRANSVAAL] OF SIR GARNET WOLSELEY, 1879-1880; viii, 359 pages: illustrations, portraits. (South African biographical & historical studies; number 12). Skivertex spine & paper covered boards, dust wrapper browned on spine. "Military campaigns / Cetewayo / Sekukhuni / Negotiations with Boer Committee" Front cover.                                                                                       

Sir Garnet (1833-1913) is an important figure in Victorian England's history. More than any other person he represents the confluence of military and political power and the manner in which that power was employed in furthering the aims of Empire. A general by 1871, Wolseley joined the army after leaving school in Ireland at fourteen and he saw service all over the world. He was repeatedly mentioned in dispatches and wounded on a number of occasions. He was prominent in efforts to modernise the British Army and by 1873 had become Governor of Sierra Leone. He later accepted a seat on the Council of India in 1876. His role in South Africa was important as it was Wolseley who reorganized the colonial service and "pacified" the area after the upheaval of 1878-1880. His careful diaries and writings throw light on colonial control during this period.