FV Engelenburg Tydens Die Anglo-Boereoorlog

F.V. Engelenburg tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog: ’n oorsig Linda (L.E.) Brink Linda (L.E.) Brink, Departement Geskiedenis, Noordwes-Universiteit (Vaaldriehoekkampus) Opsomming Frans Vredenrijk Engelenburg (1863–1938) kan as een van die leidende Afrikaans- Nederlandse intellektuele van die 19de en 20ste eeu beskou word. Tog is sy bydrae op talle terreine in die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika nooit volledig opgeteken nie. Ook is sy invloed op die regering van die Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) en die Transvaalse samelewing nie voorheen nagevors nie. Geen omvattende werk is nog oor Engelenburg geskryf nie. ’n Paar biografiese sketse het wel ná sy dood verskyn en daar is ook in ’n aantal geskrifte kursoriese verwysings na hom. In die bestaande Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedskrywing is daar weinig inligting oor Engelenburg se rol gedurende die Anglo-Boereoorlog (ABO) (1899–1902). Die aantal verwysings na hom, byvoorbeeld in die Leyds-biografie deur L.E. van Niekerk en in die werk van O.J.O. Ferreira oor die Boere-geïnterneerdes in Portugal, verskaf nie voldoende inligting om ’n idee te vorm van die besondere bydrae wat Engelenburg gedurende die oorlog aan die ZAR-regering en die Boerebevolking gelewer het nie. In die Biografiese Woordeboek, Deel I, verskyn wel ’n artikel oor Engelenburg, maar met slegs verwysing na sy rol heel aan die begin van die oorlog. Engelenburg was een van ’n paar prominente persone wat in die buiteland gebore is en grootgeword het en gedurende die oorlog die ZAR in hulle persoonlike hoedanigheid bygestaan het. In dié verband kan veral ’n paar ander name uitgesonder word, byvoorbeeld Herman Coster, wat in die 1890’s uit Nederland na die ZAR verhuis het. Hy het vroeg in die oorlog sy lewe aan die front verloor. Soos Coster, was heelparty Nederlandse immigrante lede van die Hollanderkorps en op 21 Oktober het ’n groot groep van die korps in die Slag van Elandslaagte gesneuwel. Nog ’n persoon wat sy lewe vir die Boeresaak opgeoffer het, was die Franse kolonel Georges De Villebois-Mareuil, wat op 5 April 1900 naby Boshoff in die Vrystaat gesneuwel het. Aan die hand van beskikbare argivale bronne en ’n aantal sekondêre werke word in hierdie artikel die rol geskets wat Engelenburg homself gedurende die oorlog opgelê het. Hy het nie aan gevegte aan die verskillende fronte deelgeneem nie, maar daar was ander belangrike sake waaraan hy aandag bestee het en wat ’n verskil gemaak het in die lewe van die burgers te velde. Toe hy in Julie 1900 noodgedwonge na Europa uitgewyk het, het hy in Portugal aan 136 die Boeregeïnterneerdes en in Brussel aan W.J. Leyds hulp verleen. Hoewel hy nie gedurende die oorlog prominent op die voorgrond was nie, het hy, eie aan sy teruggetrokke geaardheid, die Boere en die Republiek se saak op ’n besondere wyse bevorder. Trefwoorde: Anglo-Boereoorlog; Boeregeïnterneerdes; Boererepublieke; Britse imperialisme; De Volksstem; Delagoabaai; F.V. Engelenburg; gesantskap; Haagse konferensie; Hollanderkorps; oorlogskorrespondente; Portugal; Uitlanders; velduitgawe; Vrede van Vereeniging; W.J. Leyds; Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. Abstract F.V. Engelenburg during the Anglo-Boer War: an overview F.V. Engelenburg (1863–1938) is regarded as one of the leading Afrikaans-Dutch intellectuals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Current South African historical records contain little information about the role Engelenburg played during the Anglo-Boer War (1899– 1902). The number of references to him, such as in the Leyds biography by L.E. van Niekerk and the work by O.J.O. Ferreira on the Boer internees in Portugal, do not provide sufficient information to form an idea of the contribution that Engelenburg made to the Transvaal government and the Boers during the war. The South African biographical dictionary, Volume I contains an article on Engelenburg, but merely makes reference to his role at the very beginning of the war. Engelenburg was one of a few prominent people who were born and grew up in another country, but who helped the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic during the war in their personal capacity. Other names that may be singled out in this regard include Herman Coster, who moved from the Netherlands to the Transvaal in the 1890s and who lost his life at the front early in the war. Like Coster, many Dutch immigrants were members of the Dutch Corps, and on October 21, 1899 a large group of the corps was killed at the Battle of Elandslaagte. Another person who sacrificed his life for the Boer cause, the French Colonel Georges de Villebois-Mareuil, was killed near Boshoff in the Free State on 5 April 1900. Frans Vredenrijk Engelenburg was born in Arnhem into a prominent Dutch family in 1863. After completing his schooling he went on to qualify as a lawyer at the University of Leiden. Following his doctoral studies he tried to start an advocate’s practice in The Hague, but after a year he abandoned the legal profession and became a journalist at a newspaper in that city. He had been at the paper for only a year when he came to South Africa in 1889. While still a student in Leiden he had noted that there was a need in the Transvaal for foreigners with specific skills. Barely a month after his arrival in Pretoria, Engelenburg was appointed editor- in-chief of De Volksstem. He soon became known as a political commentator, in particular criticising the British government's interference in the affairs of the Transvaal. Like many of his countrymen he was, on his arrival in the Transvaal in 1889, initially negative about the Afrikaners. In correspondence with his friends and acquaintances he did not hide his critical attitude towards the "petty" rural Transvaal people. However, in the months before the outbreak of the war, and especially during the war, he underwent a spiritual transformation and identified strongly with the right of the Republican Government to take a stand against the imperial threats. 137 This article makes use of available archival sources and a number of secondary sources to outline the role played by Engelenburg during the war. Although he never participated in battles on the different fronts, he attended to other important issues which made a difference in the lives of the “burghers” in the field. When he was forced to flee to Europe in July 1900 he assisted the Boer internees in Portugal as well as W.J. Leyds in Brussels. Although he was not, owing to his reclusive nature, at the forefront of the war, he supported the Boers’ and the Republic's cause in a special way. In the last decade of the 19th century Britain tried increasingly to get a grip on the ZAR, and after gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, Britain interfered constantly in the ZAR’s domestic affairs. It is well known that during the Anglo-Boer War a special relationship between the Netherlands and the ZAR existed. The actions of the British Empire in South Africa during the war were strongly condemned and the Dutch openly gave their support to the republics of the Orange Free State and Transvaal. Dutch citizens who lived in the Transvaal even took up arms against Britain. Engelenburg and Leyds were good friends. Shortly after his arrival in Brussels in 1898, Leyds, as an envoy of the ZAR, made numerous unsuccessful attempts to convince the Republican government that Engelenburg should be sent to Europe to assist him in Brussels. Engelenburg's extended stay in South Africa, however, gave him first-hand experience of the events before and during the war. Until the last, Engelenburg hoped that a solution would be found, but when it seemed that war was inevitable, he prepared to go to the front. Nevertheless, we know little about the role of Engelenburg during the war. Like Leyds, he was an advisor to Paul Kruger, but more important is the fact that, as the highly regarded editor of De Volksstem and also as a foreign correspondent for European media in the years that preceded the war, he meticulously set out the republican case in the dispute instituted by the British Empire. Personally Engelenburg was opposed to armed conflict, but by 1899, when war seemed to be inevitable, he went over completely to the Boer side. The Anglo-Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899. Engelenburg had already prepared for war and to go to the battlefront. In the midst of the war activities, as a Dutchman and as editor-in-chief of De Volksstem he played an important role in support of the ZAR. He published a field edition of De Volksstem under increasingly difficult circumstances in order to keep the people in the towns abreast of events on the battlefield. Compared with the British reports of the day, which were very one-sided, there was little information on the Boers who made it abroad. Engelenburg's versatility and his transnational identity came in handy during the war and he played a key role in sending reports about the war to other countries to promote the cause of the Boers. When the British took Pretoria on 5 June 1900, Engelenburg was told by the British military authorities to go to the Cape Colony. However, he obtained permission from the British administration in Pretoria to go to Europe. On 4 June the publication of De Volksstem stopped and the paper appeared again only after the war. Like many Dutch in South Africa, Engelenburg had interesting experiences during the war before he left the country. In Europe, however, he maintained a low profile since he had defied the British administration's instructions to go to London. For most of the rest of the war he lived and worked in Portugal and was a great support for the Boer internees who were detained in various towns around Lisbon.

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