Louis Botha

Born in Greytown in 1862, Louis Botha joined the war at Dundee as an advisor to Lucas Meyer. Ten days later, on 30th October 1899, he was promoted to Assistant General when Meyer became incapacitated. He was married to Annie Emmett, the English daughter of John Cheere Emmett and often visited her husband in the field.                                               

When General Piet Joubert was injured at the Battle of Willow Grange and unable to continue his command Botha was promoted this time to Commander in Chief and like Winston Churchill became “a man of his time”. At the age of 35 years old he was not popular amongst older Boers who often refusing to obey his orders often calling him “boy”. Some even went as far as to complain to the War Cabinet in Pretoria. His efficient handling of the Colenso and Spioenkop battles soon made them change their minds however.  

Botha is credited by Winston Churchill for his capture at the Train Disaster. In a letter to The Secretary of State in Pretoria this is disproved by Captain Danie Theron claiming that it was a Veldt Cornet by the name of Oosthuisen that captured Churchill. At various meetings after the war Botha “corroborates” Churchill’s story.

“After signing the Treaty of Versailles, Botha returned to South Africa in triumph. But the end was near. Suffering from heart trouble and obesity, he was desperately ill. ‘ He looks like a man stricken with an incurable illness whose sun was setting’, wrote a colleague.” A comment by Phillip Bateman in his book “Generals of the Anglo-Boer War”.

“Today it is general knowledge that General Louis Botha committed suicide by cutting his wrists at the age of 57 on 27th August 1919″. Taken from a book by Professor AWG Raath, “Seer van Rensburg and the Rebellion”. NOTE: The latest word (April 2007) from the Bloemfontein museum curator Johan Woolfaardt is that this supposed fact cannot be substantiated.

Adriaan Snyman in his book “Voice of a Prophet” says, “This was after Botha contracted Spanish ‘flu in the great epidemic. Van Rensburg foresaw the death of Botha, as he did that of De la Rey. He goes on to quote a friend of the Seer, Rev. Van der Horst, as commenting that Botha’s body was not embalmed, but placed in a lead coffin because he had committed a deed for which no Statesman would receive a State funeral