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South African Historical Journal Volume 19, 1987 - Issue 1
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ARTIKELS/ARTICLES

Missionary Imperialism and Colonial Warfare: London Missionary Society Attitudes to the South African War, 1899–1902

GREG CUTHBERTSON University of South Africa,
Pages 93-114 | Published online: 14 Jan 2009

  • Elphick , R. 1981 . “ ‘Africans and the Christian Campaign in Southern Africa’ ” . In The Frontier in History: North America and Southern Africa Compared Edited by: Lamar , H. and Thompson , L. 279 New Haven and London in, eds.
  • See my thesis, 'The Nonconformist Conscience and the South African War, 1899–1902’ (unpub. D.Litt. et Phil, thesis, University of South Africa, 1986), 1–29. I have used the term ‘Nonconformists’ to mean Protestants in Britain and their missionary counterparts in South Africa whose antecedents were to be found in the Dissenting movement of the seventeenth century or the Evangelical revival, and who fought for the disestablishment of the Church of England. The Nonconformist churches are often referred to in the literature as Free Churches, i.e. Methodist, Congregationalist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Quaker, and Unitarian
  • Hinchliff , P. 1974 . ‘The “English-speaking” Churches and South Africa in the Nineteenth Century’, in . Journal of Theology for Southern Africa , 9 Elphick, 'Africans and the Christian Campaign’, 285. See also (28–38;and C. Villa-Vicencio, 'Race and Class in the English-speaking Churches’ (unpub. paper presented at the Conference on Economic Development and Racial Domination, University of the Western Cape, Oct. 1984), 3–23
  • de Gruchy , J. W. 1979 . The Church Struggle in South Africa 13 Cape Town
  • Williams , D. 1970 . ‘African Nationalism in South Africa: Origins and Problems’ . Journal of African History , 11 See (371–83;and A.P. Walshe, 'The Origins of African Political Consciousness in South Africa’, Journal of Modern African Studies 7 (1969): 589–92
  • Hind , R. J. 1984 . ’ “We Have No Colonies”-Similarities Within the British Imperial Experience’ . Comparative Studies in Society and History , 26 Quoted in (21
  • Bebbington , D. W. 1982 . The Nonconformist Conscience: Chapel and Politics, 1870–1914 4 – 8 . London See
  • Gruchy , De . Church Struggle in South Africa 11 – 14 . See also Hinchliff, ‘English-speaking Churches’, 28–38
  • Schapera , I. , ed. 1974 . David Livingstone: South African Papers, 1849–1853 67 – 95 . Cape Town See, for example,, ed.,;and M. Boucher, ed., Livingstone Letters, 1843–1872: David Livingstone Correspondence in the Brenthurst Library, Johannesburg (Johannesburg, 1985), 29, 51, 68–9
  • Majeke , N. 1952 . The Role of the Missionaries in Conquest Johannesburg SeeM. Wilson, Missionaries: Conquerors or Servants of God? (Lovedale, 1976);and R. Strayer, 'Mission History in Africa: New Perspectives on an Encounter’, in African Studies Review 19 (1976): 1–15
  • Elphick, 'Africans and the Christian Campaign’, 280
  • Prendergast , P. A. 1968 . 15 – 38 . ‘A History of the London Missionary Society in British New Guinea’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Hawaii,,;Elphick, 'Africans and the Christian Campaign’, 280
  • Hinchliff, ‘English-speaking Churches’, 34
  • Warwick , P. 1983 . Black People and the South African War, 1899–1902 181 – 4 . Johannesburg See, andB. Willan, Sol Plaatje: A Biography-Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, 1876–1932 (London, 1984), 104–5
  • Hinchliff, ‘English-speaking Churches’, 34
  • Wardlaw Thompson , R. and Marks , A. 1905 . The Churches and the South African War London London Missionary Society (LMS) Papers, Council for World Mission Archives, South Africa (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London): Incoming Letters, 1900–1902, box 58, Richardson to
  • See reports in The Christian World The British Weekly, the two most influential Nonconformist newspapers
  • Bebbington . Nonconformist Conscience 114
  • LMS Papers, South Africa, Incoming Correspondence, box 57, Mudie to Wardlaw Thompson, 20 Feb. 1900
  • 2 Nov. 1899 . The Christian World 2 Nov. , 9 Nov. 1899;12 Dec. 1899
  • 18 Jan. 1900 . Ibid. 18 Jan. ,
  • LMS Papers, box 58, Mudie to Wardlaw Thompson, 18 Feb. 1900
  • LMS Papers, box 58, J. Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 26 Feb. 1900
  • Ibid.
  • Warwick . Black People and the South African War; SeeW.R. Nasson, ‘“Doing Down Their Masters”: Africans, Boers and Treason in the Cape Colony during the South African War of 1899–1902’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 12 (1983): 29–53;and W.R. Nasson, ‘“The Bite of the Black Mosquito”: Black Participation in the South African War, and Social Control in the Cape Colony’ (unpub. Commonwealth and Overseas History Seminar Paper, Cambridge University, 1979), passim.
  • Nasson , W. R. 1983 . See, 'Black Society in the Cape Colony and the South African War of 1899–1902: A Social History’ (unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University,, conclusion
  • LMS Papers, box 58, Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 26 Feb. 1900
  • LMS Papers, box 58, Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 16 Mar. 1900;Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 2 Apr. 1900
  • LMS Papers, box 57, D. Mudie to Wardlaw Thompson, 28 Feb. 1900
  • See LMS Papers, South Africa, Incoming Correspondence, 1900–1902, boxes 57–60
  • Moffat , R. U. 1921 . John Smith Moffat, C.M.G., Missionary: A Memoir 324 London
  • Ibid. 325 – 6 .
  • van Heyningen , E. B. 1976 . “ ‘The Relations Between Sir Alfred Milner and W.P. Schreiner's Ministry’ ” . In Archives Year Book for South African History For the political effects of this election, see
  • Moffat . John Smith Moffat 327 – 8 .
  • Moffat to W.P. Schreiner, 11 July 1899, quoted in Moffat, John Smith Moffat, 328
  • Cook , E. T. 1902 . Rights and Wrongs of the Transvaal War London 283
  • LMS Papers, box 57, Moffat to Wardlaw Thompson, 30 Jan. 1900
  • 26 Mar. 1900 . Ibid. 26 Mar. , E. Anderson to Wardlaw Thompson
  • 7 Apr. 1900 . Ibid. 7 Apr. , W. Oates to Wardlaw Thompson
  • 8 June 1900 . Ibid. 8 June , J.H. Walton to Wardlaw Thompson
  • 18 Aug. 1900 . Ibid. 18 Aug. , Oates to Wardlaw Thompson
  • Howard , M. 1981 . “ ‘Empire, Race, and War in pre-1914 Britain’ ” . In History and Imagination: Essays in Honour of H.R. Trevor-Roper Edited by: Lloyd-Jones , H. , Pearl , V. and Worden , B. 340 – 55 . London Hind, 'We Have No Colonies’, 22–3. See also in, eds.
  • LMS Papers, box 57, Oates to Wardlaw Thompson, 18 Aug. 1900;Oates to Wardlaw Thompson, 7 Apr. 1900;The Diamond Fields Advertiser 4 Jan. 1901
  • 1984 . Theologia Evangelica , 17 On the structural forces underlying the war, see my article, ‘War, Imperialism, and the British Nonconformist Conscience’, in (66–71
  • Moffat to Milner, 3 Feb. 1900, quoted in Moffat, John Smith Moffat, 330
  • Warwick . Black People and the South African War 127 – 78 . Nasson, 'Doing Down Their Masters’, 29–30
  • 18 Oct. 1899 . The Christian World 18 Oct. , supplement
  • 2 Nov. 1899 . Ibid. 2 Nov. , 9 Nov. 1899
  • Odendaal , A. 1984 . Vukani Bantu: The Beginnings of Black Protest in South Africa to 1912 30 – 39 . Cape Town Warwick, Black People and the South African War 110–114
  • Walshe . 4 Jan. 1900 . The Christian World 4 Jan. , See also, 'Origins of African Political Consciousness’, 598–9
  • LMS Papers, box 57, J.S. Moffat to Wardlaw Thompson, 30 Jan. 1900
  • 8 Mar. 1900 . The Christian World 8 Mar. ,
  • LMS Papers, box 57, Moffat to Wardlaw Thompson, 4 Mar. 1900;Moffat to Wardlaw Thompson, 17 Apr. 1900;box 59, Moffat to Wardlaw Thompson, 9 Apr. 1901
  • LMS Papers, box 57, D. Mudie to Wardlaw Thompson, 20 Mar. 1900.
  • LMS Papers, box 58, G.C.H. Reed to Wardlaw Thompson, 13 Apr. 1900
  • Odendaal . Vukani Bantu Rubusana Papers: Unpub. biography (in Xhosa) of Dr Walter Rubusana (Cory Library, Rhodes University, Grahamstown). See also, 15
  • 13 Aug. 1901 . 13 Aug. , See, for example, Izwi Labantu;20 Aug. 1901;27 Aug. 1901;3 Sept. 1901;21 Feb. 1902
  • The Future of the South African Natives: Is it to be Better or Worse? , (Transvaal Archives Pamphlets, vol. 33).It should be noted, however, that the APS was ambivalent in its attitude to black rights, as B. Willan indicates in 'The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society and the South African Natives’ Land Act of 1913’, Journal of African History 20 (1979): 83–102
  • Odendaal . Vukani Bantu 40 – 3 .
  • LMS Papers, box 57, W.B. Rubusana to Wardlaw Thompson, 20 June 1900
  • British Parliamentary Debates (House of Commons) 4th ser., 1xxxvii, col. 271, 19 Oct. 1899;(House of Lords) 1xxxviii, col. 257, 1 Feb. 1900;Cd. 528 (1901), Papers Relating to Negotiations Between Commandant Louis Botha and Lord Kitchener no. 10, telegram, Kitchener to St John Brodrick, Secretary for War, 20 Mar. 1901, 6
  • Odendaal . Vukani Bantu 43
  • LMS Papers, box 59, J. Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 14 Feb. 1901
  • Moffat , J. S. 1900 . The Black Man and the War , South African Vigilance Committee Paper, no. 8 1 – 8 . Cape Town
  • 12 Apr. 1900 . The Christian World 12 Apr. ,
  • 28 Feb. 1900 . 28 Feb. , See The British Weekly, editorial, 15 Mar. 1900, and 'The Dutch Reformed Church and the Boers’, in The South African News
  • Moffat . The Black Man and the War 8 – 11 .
  • 15 Feb. 1900 . The Daily News 15 Feb. ,
  • Denoon , D. 1973 . A Grand Illusion: The Failure of Imperial Policy in the Transvaal Colony During the Period of Reconstruction, 1900–1905 London 127, 136
  • Piggin , S. 1978 . “ ‘Assessing Nineteenth-Century Missionary Motivation: Some Considerations of Theory and Method’ ” . In Religious Motivations: Biographical and Sociological Problems for the Church Historian Edited by: Baker , D. 327 – 37 . Oxford in, ed.
  • See my 'Nonconformist Conscience and the South African War’, 116–23
  • Moffat . John Smith Moffat 331 – 2 .
  • LMS Papers, box 59, J.S. Moffat to Wardlaw Thompson, 9 Apr. 1901. See also Moffat's article on blacks and the war in The Nineteenth Century, Aug. 1900
  • LMS Papers, box 60, Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 24 Jan. 1902
  • Warwick . Black People and the South African War , 21 120
  • LMS Papers, box 59, Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson, 12 Oct. 1901
  • 3 Oct. 1901 . Ibid. 3 Oct. , Tom Brown to Wardlaw Thompson
  • Ibid.
  • 4 Jan. 1901 . The Diamond Fields Advertiser 4 Jan. ,
  • LMS Papers, box 59, Tom Brown to D. Mudie, 14 Oct. 1901
  • Bundy , C. 1979 . The Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry 38 London
  • Schapera , ed. ed., David Livingstone, South African Papers, 67–95
  • Howard . ‘Empire, Race and War’, 340–55
  • 12 Apr. 1900 . The British Weekly 12 Apr. ,

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