Post cards

Among the various documents produced at the time and relating to the struggle are a number of interesting postcards. At the turn of the century, the postcard industry was booming and the period was to become known as the ‘golden age of postcards’. The postcard was a powerful medium as every small event could be used as a pretext for publication, either as a photograph or as cartoon. They were accessible to a large number of people as they were both cheap and entertaining and provided a quicker means of communication than the normal letter. 

When the war broke out, British editors started producing postcards that praised the Empire and the politicians who controlled it, as well as Queen Victoria’s powerful colonial troops, who defended it. Europeans, who bore a grudge against England, drew cartoons that lampooned Britannia and her ‘Tommies’. Some of the best examples however were produced by the Boers.