DOCSLIB.ORG

In Defence of Breaker Morant

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In Defence of Breaker Morant military history History of the Boer Wars Kitchener’s predecessor:2 treated with no less consideration than 1880 - 1902 ‘There are no more great battles to were the Boers who were responsible for The second Boer War commenced be won, the war has degenerated into similar outrages. The Boers were usually on 11 October 1899, and was fought guerrilla warfare’. set free by their own military courts In Defence of 6 in three distinct phases. During and later by civilian courts.’ the first phase the Boers were in The Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC) the ascendancy. In their initial The task of hunting down the James Francis Thomas offensive moves, 20,000 Boers swept remaining Boer commandos required new Born on 25 August 1861, Thomas Breaker Morant into British Natal and encircled the and irregular military formations. These attended school in Sydney and strategic rail junction at Ladysmith. new formations were to be manned, in graduated in law from Sydney University. In the following weeks, Boer troops the most part, by colonial troops who He established a law firm in Tenterfield A Review of Major James Francis Thomas, besieged the townships of Mafeking had won a reputation for independence, and became a notable community leader. and Kimberley. Phase 1 reached its initiative and ‘hardness’. Qualities which ‘In Tenterfield the sort of law that needed climax in what has become known matched those of the bittereinders. practising was pretty straightforward, Defending Officer as ‘Black Week’ – 10 to15 December Morant, Handcock and Witton wills, conveyancing, bills of sale, nothing 1899. In this one week, three British joined the BVC and served along side dramatic or outstanding.’7 In addition Commander James Unkles, RANR Four men from Australia who joined imprisonment following military Courts armies, each seeking to relieve the volunteers from United States, New to his social pursuits, Thomas took If you encounter any Boers, You the Boer war were to be connected by Martial in 1902. besieged townships, suffered massive Zealand, Great Britain and Canada. The active interest in regional politics, really must not loot ‘em, And, if you destiny in events that still intrigue This article attempts to review and humiliating defeats in the BVC was one of many irregular units the movement towards Federation wish to leave these shores, For pity’s historians to this day. Harry ‘Breaker’ the experiences of Major Thomas, battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein that fought with the British during the and all things military. He joined the sake, don’t shoot ‘em. Morant, Peter Handcock, George a mounted infantry officer from and Colenso. war. In the words of Arthur Davey: local Upper Clarence Light Horse as a Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant Ramsdale Witton and James Francis Tenterfield who joined British Forces These defeats shook the British ‘The Bushveldt Carbineers came into volunteer and then commissioned into Thomas were to meet in circumstances as a volunteer and ended up defending Empire. In response, Britain being in 1901 for a particular purpose, the New South Wales (NSW) Mounted that saw Morant and Handcock six officers, including Breaker Morant despatched two regular divisions the subjugation of an out laying area Infantry Regiment based in Tenterfield. executed and Witton sentenced to life on charges of shooting Boer prisoners and replaced the ill-starred General of the Northern Transvaal in which In 1894, Thomas completed his training Sir Redvers Buller, with the Empire’s there was sporadic guerrilla activity. In at the Cavalry School of Instruction, most eminent soldier, Field Marshall the language of our time, it was to be promoted to First Lieutenant and Lord Roberts VC, as its commander in a counter insurgency unit’.3 In its short took command of the Tenterfield South Africa. These changes marked life span, the BVC was an effective Half Company (A). In 1895, he was the commencement of Phase 2. During fighting formation. Its detachments, promoted to Captain. He purchased the this phase, the British wrestled the unencumbered by transport wagons, local newspaper, the Tenterfield Times ascendancy back from the Boers, travelled light and fast. Initiative and and used it to support the cause of destroying the main Boer forces and combative spirit were evident on more Australian federation. capturing Pretoria. At this point, it than one occasion.’4 In South Africa, Thomas was the was assumed that the war was as good The BVC had a reputation for Officer Commanding A Squadron, as over. Lord Roberts departed South rough play and military action, often New South Wales Citizen’s Bushmen. Africa in November 1900 to receive undisciplined but effective in fighting He sailed for South Africa on 28 the plaudits of a grateful empire, a guerrilla war. February 1900 and disembarked on leaving General Lord Kitchener the ‘The Bushweldt Carbineers certainly 12 April 1900. His squadron served task of mopping up the remnant Boer had its share of rough characters and at the relief of Mafeking. Thomas forces. The phase of set-piece battles scoundrels but these were just the type then served with Colonel Plumer in and sieges was, indeed, over but the of men wanted for the job.’5 the General Baden Powell column. fighting was not. The BVC’s reputation for fighting a Thomas also served with A Squadron Kitchener reacted to the guerrilla guerrilla war under British command as part of the Elands river garrison operations by burning Boer farms, created circumstances in which the that was besieged by a large number rounding up civilians and confining line between ‘war crimes’ and fighting of Boers under the command of de la them in ‘Concentration Camps’ and to meet conditions adopted by the Rey. He distinguished himself with by building block-houses to defend Boers, became blurred. Author, William three Mentioned in Dispatches and supply points. He then extended Woolmore explained it as follows: the Queen’s Medal with four clasps. the block-house system into a grid ‘There is no question that war crimes He was promoted to the rank of Major. pattern across the Transvaal, bottling were committed by members of the Having served for 12 months in South up the bittereinders (die-hards) in BVC, even if there were extenuating Africa, the NSW Bushmen’s Contingent isolated areas where they could be circumstances and often purposely returned to Australia disembarking An unidentified member of the NSW Imperial Bushmen systematically hunted down.1 vague orders from above. Crimes were on 11 June 1901. In August 1901, looking at a bridle while standing next to a chestnut Britain’s view of the dirty war was committed on both sides in this conflict Thomas returned to South Africa, horse which is feeding from a nose bag. Note the aptly summed up by Lord Roberts, Lord and the BVC officers deserved to be having recruited 200 volunteers primitive quarters in the background. AWM Neg. A04298 78 79.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Bruce Beresford's Breaker Morant Re-Viewed
    FILMHISTORIA Online Vol. 30, núm. 1 (2020) · ISSN: 2014-668X The Boers and the Breaker: Bruce Beresford’s Breaker Morant Re-Viewed ROBERT J. CARDULLO University of Michigan Abstract This essay is a re-viewing of Breaker Morant in the contexts of New Australian Cinema, the Boer War, Australian Federation, the genre of the military courtroom drama, and the directing career of Bruce Beresford. The author argues that the film is no simple platitudinous melodrama about military injustice—as it is still widely regarded by many—but instead a sterling dramatization of one of the most controversial episodes in Australian colonial history. The author argues, further, that Breaker Morant is also a sterling instance of “telescoping,” in which the film’s action, set in the past, is intended as a comment upon the world of the present—the present in this case being that of a twentieth-century guerrilla war known as the Vietnam “conflict.” Keywords: Breaker Morant; Bruce Beresford; New Australian Cinema; Boer War; Australian Federation; military courtroom drama. Resumen Este ensayo es una revisión del film Consejo de guerra (Breaker Morant, 1980) desde perspectivas como la del Nuevo Cine Australiano, la guerra de los boers, la Federación Australiana, el género del drama en una corte marcial y la trayectoria del realizador Bruce Beresford. El autor argumenta que la película no es un simple melodrama sobre la injusticia militar, como todavía es ampliamente considerado por muchos, sino una dramatización excelente de uno de los episodios más controvertidos en la historia colonial australiana. El director afirma, además, que Breaker Morant es también una excelente instancia de "telescopio", en el que la acción de la película, ambientada en el pasado, pretende ser una referencia al mundo del presente, en este caso es el de una guerra de guerrillas del siglo XX conocida como el "conflicto" de Vietnam.
    [Show full text]
  • The British Concentration Camp Policy During the Anglo-Boer War
    Barbaric methods in the Anglo-Boer War Using Barbaric Methods in South Africa: The British Concentration Camp Policy during the Anglo-Boer War James Robbins Jewell. The Boer War, which is frequently referred to as Britain's Vietnam or Afghanistan, was marked by gross miscalculations on the part of both British military and political leaders. In their efforts to subdue the Boers, Britain used more troops, spent more money, and buried more soldiers than anytime between the Napoleonic wars and World War I - a century during which it had been busy expanding its empire. Despite the miscalculations, lapses in judgement, and blatant stupidity demonstrated throughout the war by the British leaders, historically speaking, one policy remains far more notorious than any other. Unable to bring the war to a conclusion through traditional fighting, the British military, and in particular the two men who were in command, Frederick, Baron Roberts and Herbert, Baron Kitchener, responded to the Boer use of guerilla warfare by instituting a scorched earth combined with a concentration camp policy.! Nearly forty years later, Lord Kitchener's decision to institute a full-scale concentration camp strategy came back to haunt the British. On the eve of the Second World War, when a British ambassador to Gernlany protested Nazi camps, Herman Goering rebuffed the criticism by pulling out an encyclopedia and looking up the entry for concentration camps, which credited the British with being the first to use them in the Boer War.2 Under the scrutiny that comes with the passage of time, the concentration camp policy has rightfully been viewed as not only inhumane, but hopelessly flawed.
    [Show full text]
  • RECONNAISSANCE Autumn 2021 Final
    Number 45 | Autumn 2021 RECONNAISSANCE The Magazine of the Military History Society of New South Wales Inc ISSN 2208-6234 BREAKER MORANT: The Case for A Pardon Battle of Isandlwana Women’s Wartime Service Reviews: Soviet Sniper, Villers-Bretonneux, Tragedy at Evian, Atom Bomb RECONNAISSANCE | AUTUMN 2021 RECONNAISSANCE Contents ISSN 2208-6234 Number 45 | Autumn 2021 Page The Magazine of the Military History Society of NSW Incorporated President’s Message 1 Number 45 | Autumn 2021 (June 2021) Notice of Next Lecture 3 PATRON: Major General the Honourable Military History Calendar 4 Justice Paul Brereton AM RFD PRESIDENT: Robert Muscat From the Editor 6 VICE PRESIDENT: Seumas Tan COVER FEATURE Breaker Morant: The Case for a Pardon 7 TREASURER: Robert Muscat By James Unkles COUNCIL MEMBERS: Danesh Bamji, RETROSPECTIVE Frances Cairns 16 The Battle of Isandlwana PUBLIC OFFICER/EDITOR: John Muscat By Steve Hart Cover image: Breaker Morant IN FOCUS Women’s Wartime Service Part 1: Military Address: PO Box 929, Rozelle NSW 2039 26 Service By Dr JK Haken Telephone: 0419 698 783 Email: [email protected] BOOK REVIEWS Yulia Zhukova’s Girl With A Sniper Rifle, review 28 Website: militaryhistorynsw.com.au by Joe Poprzeczny Peter Edgar’s Counter Attack: Villers- 31 Blog: militaryhistorysocietynsw.blogspot.com Bretonneux, review by John Muscat Facebook: fb.me/MHSNSW Tony Matthews’ Tragedy at Evian, review by 37 David Martin Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHS_NSW Tom Lewis’ Atomic Salvation, review by Mark 38 Moore. Trove: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-532012013 © All material appearing in Reconnaissance is copyright. President’s Message Vice President, Danesh Bamji and Frances Cairns on their election as Council Members and John Dear Members, Muscat on his election as Public Officer.
    [Show full text]
  • An Infantry Officer in Court – a Review of Major James Francis Thomas As Defending Officer for Lieutenants Breaker Morant, Pe
    An Infantry Officer In Court – A Review of Major James Francis Thomas as Defending Officer for Lieutenants Breaker Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton – Boer War Commander James Unkles, RANR Introduction Four men from Australia who joined the Boer war were to be connected by destiny in events that still intrigue historians to this day. Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Peter Handcock, George Ramsdale Witton and James Francis Thomas were to meet in circumstances that saw Morant and Handcock executed and Witton sentenced to life imprisonment following military Courts Martial in 1902. This article attempts to review the experiences of Major Thomas, a mounted infantry officer from Tenterfield who joined British Forces as a volunteer and ended up defending six officers, including Breaker Morant on charges of shooting Boer prisoners History of the Boer Wars 1880 - 1902 The Boer War commenced on 11 October 1899, and was fought in three distinct phases. During the first phase the Boers were in the ascendancy. In their initial offensive moves, 20,000 Boers swept into British Natal and encircled the strategic rail junction at Ladysmith. In the following weeks, Boer troops besieged the townships of Mafeking and Kimberley. Phase 1 reached its climax in what has become known as ‘Black Week’ – 10 to15 December 1899. In this one week, three British armies, each seeking to relieve the besieged townships, suffered massive and humiliating defeats in the battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso. These defeats shook the British Empire. In response, Britain despatched two regular divisions and replaced the ill-starred General Sir Redvers Buller, with the Empire’s most eminent soldier, Field Marshall Lord Roberts VC, as its commander in South Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Australia's South African War 1899-19021
    http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za Australia's South African war 1899-19021 DR CRAIG WILCOX Australian War Memorial historian o/the Anglo-Boer War, Sydney, Australia Around twenty thousand Australians fought in the great war between the British empire and the republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Those Australians constituted five in every thousand of their people, or three in every two hundred of their male workers. In South Africa they made up just one in every twenty-five soldiers in a British army of almost half a million.2 As these bald figures immediately suggest, Australia's contribution to the war was too small to be decisive, and its experience of the war involved too few of its people to make a powerful impact on its society, let alone wrench its history onto some different course. Still, that contribution and that experience were unprecedented for a people who had never before gone to war as a people, and deserve more attention - and more balanced, dispassionate, critical attention - than they've yet received from historians of the war, of Australia, and of the British empire.3 In this lecture I'll strive for such balance by outlining why and how Australians went to war in South Africa, what their soldiers did there, and the war's legacy for their country and their descendants today. This lecture, presented at the South African Military Academy on 28 September 1999, rests on research toward a new history of Australians and the South African war commissioned by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and due for publication in May 2002.
    [Show full text]
  • ':, Bruce Beresford's ~Breaker Morant'
    Kunapipi Volume 3 Issue 1 Article 6 1981 Can you imagine anything more Australian?':, Bruce Beresford's ~Breaker Morant' Susan Gardner Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Gardner, Susan, Can you imagine anything more Australian?':, Bruce Beresford's ~Breaker Morant', Kunapipi, 3(1), 1981. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol3/iss1/6 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Can you imagine anything more Australian?':, Bruce Beresford's ~Breaker Morant' Abstract The guerrilla war was fast brutalizing both adversaries. The worst scandals on the British side concerned colonial irregulars - Australians, Canadians and South Africans - whose official contingents, onicallyir , had won a reputation for gallantry in so many set-piece battles. The most notorious case involved a special anti-commando unit, raised by Australians to fight in the wild northern Transvaal, and called the Bush Veldt Carbineers. Six of its officers (five Australians, one Englishman) were court-martialled for multiple murder. The facts were admitted: in August 1901, 12 Boers, earlier taken prisoner, had been shot by the Carbineers on the orders of their officers. Theustr A alians' defence: as a reprisal, shooting prisoners was now accepted practice. Two of the Australian officers, Lieutenants 'Breaker' Morant and Handcock, were executed in February 1902, on the orders of Kitchener. The affair caused an outcry in Australia. There arose a misconception (still current) that foreign political pressures had induced Kitchener to make scapegoats of Morant and Handcock.
    [Show full text]
  • Scapegoats of the Empire Handout
    Scapegoats of the Empire Author background: First published in 1907 in Australia: Its author, George Witton, wrote it after returning from three years in military jail in England, following his prosecution for the killing of prisoners during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902. Witton had served first in the Australian artillery, then joined the Victorian Imperial Bushmen as an NCO before being commissioned as officer in the Bushveldt Carbineers in 1901. Author motivation: The book presents Witton’s account of the events leading to his arrest, trial and imprisonment, as well as his experience in jail. Witton was one of three officers (along with Harry “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock) sentenced to death, following accusations that they had violated the rules of war by shooting Boer prisoners. Witton and his co-defendants claimed that British military commanders had issued orders not to take prisoners, and authorized harsh measures against Boer guerilla tactics. Morant and Handcock were executed in 1902; Witton’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The book asserts Witton’s innocence on the charges against him. Book’s Context: The Second Boer War pitted the citizen-soldiers of the independent republics, Transvaal and the Orange Free State, against the forces of the British Empire. The early phases of the war featured pitched battles and sieges, as Boer forces equipped with modern rifles and artillery inflicted defeats on British troops who were using out-of-date tactics, and then cut off and besieged the cities of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley. Once British reinforcements began arriving from across the Empire, these sieges were lifted, and the tide of the war turned.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Australian Literary Myths from the Boer War
    Kunapipi Volume 18 Issue 2 Article 4 1996 'A Man Never Knows his Luck in South Africa': Some Australian Literary Myths from the Boer War Shirley Walker Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Walker, Shirley, 'A Man Never Knows his Luck in South Africa': Some Australian Literary Myths from the Boer War, Kunapipi, 18(2), 1996. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol18/iss2/4 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] 'A Man Never Knows his Luck in South Africa': Some Australian Literary Myths from the Boer War Abstract One night late in 1901, in the Spelonken district to the North of Pietersburg, a certain Australian Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers lay with his men in ambush above the laager of Field-Cornet Tom Kelly, a notorious Boer irregular leader: The night was intenselv cold, but we lay there w1thm 50 yards of them until the first streak of dawn. During the n1ght a dog scented us and started to bark, a Boer got up and gave 11 a kick to quieten 1t, at which Morant remarked, 'A man never knows his luck m South Africa'.1 This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol18/iss2/4 :4 Man N~·ver Knows h1::. luck 111 South llfnca ' 1~ SHIRLEY WALKER 'A Man Never Knows his Luck in South Africa': Some Australian Literary Myths from the Boer War O ne night late in 1901, in the Spelonken district to the North of Pietersburg, a certain Australian Lieute nant in the Hushveldt Carbineers lay with his men in ambush above the laager of Field­ Cornet Tom Kelly, a notori ou s Boer irregular leader: The mght was mtensclv ~:old, but we lay there w1thm 50 yards of them unhl the first s treak of dawn.
    [Show full text]
  • It's Been 109 Years Since Renmark Horseman Breaker Morant Was Executed but There's a New Fight to Clear His Name
    SCAPEGOAT OR KILLER? It’s beEN 109 YEARS SINCE RENMARK HORSEMAN BREAKER MORANT WAS EXECUTED BUT THERE’s A NEW FIGHT TO CLEAR HIS NAME WORDS TANALEE SMITH Edward Woodward as Breaker Morant in the 1980 film. saweekend_april 09 history 13 HARRY Morant wouldn’t recognise Renmark these Morant would never have been heard of much again. But days, especially the pub. The trendy Renmark Hotel of he became friends with some of the local young men and 2011 is a far cry from the rough and ready establishment in 1900 a group of them signed up to help the British into which – legend has it – the Breaker once rode his horse fight the Boers, joining 18,000 other Australians who to order a drink at the bar. Today you can order lunch or a headed to South Africa between 1899 and 1902. He would coffee on the balcony overlooking a trimmed lawn leading never see the town, or Australia, again. Morant joined a to the high Murray River, where a paddleboat waits for regiment known as the Bushveldt Carbineers, made up its daily tour of the locks. In Morant’s time, early last Breaker Morant mostly of Australians. A close friend of his, Capt. Percy century, the outlook from the old stone building would Hunt, was part of this regiment. During leave from the have been more rugged and swampy. fighting, Morant and Hunt had gone to Devon, England, Even so, riding a horse into the pub would still have and become engaged to sisters. But back in South Africa, been wildly uncouth behaviour.
    [Show full text]
  • The True Story of Breaker Morants Bushveldt Carbineers Free
    FREE SCAPEGOATS OF THE EMPIRE: THE TRUE STORY OF BREAKER MORANTS BUSHVELDT CARBINEERS PDF Edward Witton | 194 pages | 14 Oct 2010 | Benediction Classics | 9781849026215 | English | Garsington, United Kingdom Breaker Morant: Scapegoats of Empire | The Current | The Criterion Collection Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morants Bushveldt Carbineers Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Scapegoats of the Empire by George Witton. High quality reprint of Witton's scathing political indictment of the British Empire, originally published in Illustrated with half-tone photographs. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 7. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Scapegoats of the Empireplease sign up. Be the first to ask a question about Scapegoats of the Empire. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. One of them, a big powerful Dutchman, made a rush at me and Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morants Bushveldt Carbineers the end of my rifle, with the intention of taking it and shooting me, but I simplified matters by pulling the trigger and shooting him. I never had any qualms of conscience for having done so, as he was recognized by Ledeboer, the intelligence agent, as a most notorious scoundrel who had previously threatened to shoot him, and was the head of a band of marauders.
    [Show full text]
  • George Witton and the Breaker Morant Affair
    Empire: Scapegoat of the George Witton and the Breaker Morant Affair MARK CRYLE, FRYER LIBRARY MANAGER, EXAMINES THE ROLE OF GEORGE WITTON IN SHAPING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BREAKER MORANT AFFAIR. Above: Bruce Beresford’s 1980 feature film The Witton character in the film George Witton, possibly Breaker Morant retells an incident that epitomises naïve imperial idealism. He taken at his brother’s took place during the Anglo-Boer War, in is a young man who “believed in the property at Lancefield, which a number of Australian officers in a British Empire”2 and yet becomes a Victoria in 1907. This photo unit under British command, the Bushveldt repudiated victim of it. It is a powerful appears in one of Fryer’s copies of Scapegoats of the Carbineers, were court martialled for trope in the mythology of Australia’s Empire and appears not shooting Boer prisoners of war. In the “war of independence” from Britain to have been published closing sequence of the film, the character which surfaces again 13 years later when previously. George Witton is standing at a train station the sacrifice of thousands of Australian on his way to prison. He hears the volley soldiers on the beaches of Gallipoli is so of rifle fire as his Australian mates, Harry readily attributed to the incompetence Morant and Peter Handcock, are executed of their British commanders. Like that by a British firing squad. He too had been of the Anzacs, Witton’s “innocence” is sentenced to death but learns subsequently transformed into cynicism, not just by the that “Lord Kitchener has been pleased to general war experience, but specifically commute your sentence to penal servitude by the callous machinery of the British for life.” A caption then appears on the military, in this case, under the command screen: “George Witton was released of the arch villain, Lord Horatio Kitchener.
    [Show full text]
  • National Winner Australian Wartime Experiences Charles Merrifield
    National winner Australian Wartime Experiences Charles Merrifield Denmark Senior High School and GT Online Breaker Morant National History Challenge 2020 Breaker Morant Contested Histories Charles Merrifield Year 9 Denmark SHS/ G and T Online “The first casualty of war is truth”.1 Such is the story of Breaker Morant and the punishment he faced after following the orders of his superiors in the Boer War of 1899-1902. Fighting within an irregular unit practicing guerrilla warfare in the Northern Transvaal of South Africa, Breaker Morant and his comrades were court martialled for the murder of a prisoner of war and multiple Boers. Found guilty, Morant was executed by firing squad. With regard to the result of the trial, some, such as Morant’s companion Lieutenant George Witton, held the view that Morant was made a scapegoat by the British authorities in South Africa.2 Furthermore, Witton believed that Morant was a victim of a serious miscarriage of justice. Others, such as Australian historian Craig Wilcox, believe that Morant had a fair trial. Whether or not Breaker Morant was a victim of a serious miscarriage of justice is highly debated among historians. Breaker Morant was a typical young British colonial with a thirst for adventure. He was born as Edwin Henry Murrant on the 9th December 1864 in Bridgewater, England to mother Catherine (nee O’Reilly) and father Edwin Murrant.3 At the age of eighteen, Edwin Henry Murrant migrated to Australia, arriving in Townsville, Queensland on the 1st April 1883. About a year later, he changed his name to Harry Harbord Morant, claiming to be the son of Admiral Sir George Morant, although the Admiral later denied that Morant was related to him in any way.4 Living in South Australia, Morant gained a reputation as a drover, steeplechaser, polo player and horse breaker, among other things.
    [Show full text]