The doctor and the rebels--the diary of Charles Molteno Murray, recorded during the 1914 Boer rebellion.
Just 12 years after the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer war, South Africa was led by ex-Boer Generals Botha and Smuts into what was to become the Great War, on the side of the British. This was utterly unacceptable to thousands of Boers who had engaged in a bitter struggle, against overwhelming odds, to prevent their country from becoming part of the mighty British Empire. Led by Generals de Wet, Beyers, and de la Rey, Lieutenant-Colonel Maritz and Major Kemp, they took up arms in a doomed rebellion, without proper weapons, equipment or organisation--by the time they were defeated the casualty figures for both sides exceeded those that would later result from the German South West campaign. Charles Molteno Murray, 37 years old, was a GP in Kenilworth, Cape Town, at the time. His father was an Irish immigrant doctor, his mother the daughter of the first Prime Minister of the Cape, Sir John Charles Molteno. In spite of having a busy and successful practice, with a surgical appointment at Victoria Hospital, Charles Murray volunteered for duty and soon found himself in the Orange Free State and northern Cape, caring for the wounded and dying of both sides in the rebellion. He kept a meticulous record of his experiences, written on loose-leaf pages sent as letters to his wife, which were later bound into leather-backed diaries. These diaries were passed on to his grandson, Dr Robert Murray, who had them transcribed into modern format. They contain details of daily life in the midst of military action, and also insights into important and little-publicised events of the Boer Rebellion of 1914.
Borders General Hospital, Melrose, Scotland.
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D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel; D013019:South Africa; D014857:Warfare