The Battle of Paardeberg – Canada’s Vimy before Vimy

​Most Canadians know about the impressive Canadian success in the Battle of Vimy Ridge that was fought in the First World War on the Western Front (April 1917). From that success onwards it was increasingly seen by Canadians as a glorious nation-building battle that proclaimed to the world that Canada was not a mere colony of the British Empire, but increasingly a peer worthy of national status.
 
But few Canadians know that there was a battle that predated Vimy, a battle fought not in Europe but in Africa. And in its day it was seen by Canadians to be the nation-building battle where Canada had demonstrated its military prowess and its maturity as a growing Dominion.
 
The battle was the Battle of Paardeberg (18-27 February 1900). And the war was the South African War, 1899-1902 (often called the Boer War).

I learned about the Battle of Paardeberg in my doctoral research into the Canadian churches and the South African War.[1]The war was between the British Empire and the Boers in the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State. It was the largest war that the British faced between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War, with a tragically high rate of casualties among soldiers and civilians.
 
Canada sent 7,000 troops to fight in the conflict, and it was the first overseas engagement of Canadian troops. The best book on Canada and the political and military aspects of the war is Carman Miller’s Painting the Map Red.[2]
 
The war had started poorly for the British, but in early 1900 events on the ground began to take a positive turn for the Empire. One key battle that started a cascading of British successes was the Battle of Paardeberg.[3] And suffice it to say that Canadians played a key role in the victory.
 
My research interest in the conflict was looking at the Canadian Protestant churches and how they preached, wrote, sung, prayed, and organized throughout the war. The self-proclaimed nation-building churches were enthused by the victory, and they, like many Canadians, felt proud that the colony had begun to grow up and become a vital and mature member of the Empire – worthy of respect on the international stage.
 
For instance, commenting on the British victories after Paardeberg, the Toronto-based Canadian Baptist enthused that “Toronto [had] not witnessed an outburst of loyal patriotism” like that for “many a year.”[4] There was no sympathy for those opposed to the war, for as the Canadian Baptist went on to say, if “there was a Boer sympathizer in the land that was a day for him to keep indoors, and be indoors, and be quiet as a spy in the enemy’s camp or the traitor at home, for loyalty ruled in every British home and hearth in the land.”[5] After the capture of Pretoria soon after Paardeberg, and the subsequent celebrations in Canada, the Methodist paper Onward noted with pleasure and with poetic flare that the “bonfires kindled in the streets were but a symbol of the patriotism glowing in every heart.”[6]
 
There was a flurry of poetry published that sang the praises of the Empire’s advance as well as the prowess of Canada’s soldiers. One such poem entitled “Well Done” was penned in Manitoba by a man named George (his last name was undecipherable in the original).[7] The author introduced the poem with the statement “A Message from the people of Canada to the Contingent in South Africa after Paardeberg and the relief of Mafeking.”
 
“Well Done” 
 
Well done, brave sons!  Your every move we’ve traced;
            With eager eyes—through tears—we’ve scanned the news;
            You are of us, and so we could not choose.
But stand with you or fall at Fate’s behest.
 
We knew your valour.  In your veins you bear
            The chivalry of France—the Britons pride--
            With names like “Daulae” or “Champlain” to guide;
Or “Brant” or “Brock” to teach you how to dare.
 
But never did we dream that you might do
            Such deeds as late have set us wild with joy;
            Such fearless feats—fit boast for fabled Tory--
As give the palm of Paardeberg to you.
 
We wait, impatient till the war is o’er.
To do you honour on your proud home shore.
 
The battle remained in Canadian lore up to the Great War, but the European war’s Canadian deaths (60,000) and injuries (150,000), and stellar successes on the battlefield such as Vimy (1917), meant that Paardeberg quickly became a distant or even lost memory. 
 
This blog is my small attempt to remind us today of a battle that is now basically forgotten by Canadians. And in the words of the poem above, it is my attempt to “honour” those who rose to the occasion and braved the waves of the ocean and grass of the veldt to defend what was seen at the time as a vital conflict of national interest.
 
Today is the 124th anniversary of the start of the battle. Lest we forget.
 
 


[1] Feel free to purchase the book that came from the dissertation. It is entitled Gordon L. Heath, A War with a Silver Lining: The Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899-1902 (MQUP, 2009). https://www.amazon.ca/War-Silver-Lining-Protestant-1899-1902/dp/0773534806
[2] Carman Miller, Paining the Map Red: Canada and the South African War, 1899-1902 (MQUP, 1993). https://www.amazon.ca/Painting-Map-Red-African-1899-1902/dp/0773517502
[3] Desmond Morton, Canada at Paardeberg (Ottawa: Balmuir Book Publishing Limited, 1986).
[4] Canadian Baptist, 8 March 1900.
[5] Canadian Baptist, 8 March 1900.
[6] “Peace at Last,” Onward, 23 June 1900.
[7] George Graham C--------, “Well Done,” Onward. July 14.