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1899. Pro-Boer Leaflet- "Enlisting in the English Army is Treason to Ireland"
Medium: letterpress, 1p, printed by Doyle, Trade Union Printer, 9 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin Dimensions: 23 by 14cm., 9 by 5.5in. "Fellow-Countrymen - The Irishmen in England's Service who are sent to South Africa will have to fight against Irish Nationalists, who have raised Ireland's flag in the Transvaal, and have formed an I... Irish Brigade to fight for the Boers against the oppressor of Ireland. REMEMBER NINETY-EIGHT. REMEMBER THE PENAL LAWS. REMEMBER THE FAMINE. Think of the ruined homes and emigrant ships. Within sixty years our population has been reduced by one-half as a direct result of English rule. The Boers are making a brave fight against this rule. Let no Irishman dare to raise a hand against them and their enemy, England! In all our towns and villages we see the recruiting sergeants trying to entrap thoughtless young boys into joining the British Army.......In preventing recruiting for the English Army you are working for Ireland's honour.....help the Boers in their Struggle for Liberty. By order, IRISH TRANSVAAL COMMITTEE. Dublin, 12th October, 1899. This committee was formed on 7th October 1899, the Saturday before the Transvaal war was formally declared on Oct 12th, the date this leaflet was issued. The leaders of the group include O'Brien, Davitt & Yeats. The first chairman was Maud Gonne, the daughter of an English soldier. She financed the beginnings of the movement & later headed an anti-recruiting campaign with extensive leafleting, meetings, demonstrations and alleged threats to newspapers carrying recruiting adverts. This leaflet appears to be a smaller version of a placard put up around Dublin on the night of October 22nd, 1899. Thereafter, and particularly after Irish regiments were despatched to South Africa, the committee organised frequent demonstrations, celebrating British defeats in South Africa, riots & attacks on police and even on uniformed soldiers in the streets. Rare more