Pretoria at War 1899 1900

The effect of the war on schools in Pretoria, on commerce and industry, social activities and the provision of public amenities is described, as well as the way in which residents dealt with new challenges such as treatment of the wounded and the influx of prisoners of war. When the British troops under Lord Roberts began their inexorable march towards Pretoria, the people were thrown into panic. Would the town be defended, and if so what would become of them? As Roberts drew ever nearer, tension and dismay gave way to utter disbelief when President Kruger and his senior government officials left and the republic’s funds were removed from the National Bank. There is also insight into why this general state of panic flared up into a period of crazy looting and disorder at the end of May 1900. Finally you will read of the occupation of Pretoria and how the ordinary people reacted when Roberts’s weary troops plodded into Church Square in their thousands on the winter afternoon of 5 June 1900.