Boer Boy: Memoirs of an Anglo-Boer War Youth

More than a hundred years later, there is still a great interest in Boer War literature. It is an event that has captured the imagination of readers more than most other events in South African history have. While there have been many accounts by people who experienced the war as adults, this book is unique in that it narrates events from the perspective of a child, giving a fascinating view of history. Based on original documents that have not been published before.

Boer Boy is the touching personal narrative of a ten-year-old farm boy’s harrowing but fascinating experiences during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. Charles du Preez recounts his life on his family’s Eastern Free State farm; their harassment by the Khakis; the destruction of their farm and their desperate flight during Lord Kitchener’s ‘scorched-earth’ campaign; and the capture of his mother and siblings, who were sent to the Winburg concentration camp. He recalls the time hiding in the mountains with his father; their capture and voyage aboard the Aurania to India as prisoners of war; life in the intense heat of the POW camps of Umballa and Solon, where he was the youngest inmate; and their repatriation to South Africa, reuniting with the family and coming home to the ruins of their farm to start again.

Based on an account Du Preez wrote later in life as well as other oral and documentary sources, including a dairy kept by his mother during the war, this is a rich, poignant and valuable addition to the history of the Anglo-Boer War.
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