THE JAMESON RAID

ABOUT

Please join us on THURSDAY 17^th August at Formosa Garden Village where Rodney Grosskopff will be telling us about the ill-judged and ill-fated Jameson Raid which took place in Krugersdorp on the 29^th December 1895.

This event remains one of the great mysteries and controversies of British imperial history.

It certainly raised tensions between Cecil John Rhodes and Paul Kruger and was undoubtedly a contributory cause of the Anglo-Boer War.

Set against the discovery of gold in Paul Kruger’s Transvaal Republic 1884 and the influx of foreigners set on making their fortunes from the untold riches which lay under the ground, the objective of the raid was for the “Uitlanders” to stage a coup-d-etat, throw Kruger out and make some changes to the existing legislation which heavily penalised the “ Uitlanders” and denied them the vote.

In fact Jameson had not actually been authorised to stage this attack and the Boers were lying in wait.

The consequences of this ill-judged raid were far reaching and undoubtedly changed the course of South Africa’s history and affected many lives.