Jeffrey Maxwell is a stamp collector who hangs out in the Amazon Rainforest in Peru 
with his two jungle girls -- his wife Meche and her daughter Irina. 
Jeffrey collects topical stamps from nature, flora and fauna, 
and used stamps from countries of South America.

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Just a little over 100 years ago today, Great Britain was at war with South Africa's 2 Boer Republics, The Orange Free State and Transvaal (The land beyond the great Vaal River). Initially, things appeared to go badly awry for the British forces and they suffered 3 major defeats at the hands of the determined Boers (or farmers), at Colenso, Magersfontein and the battle of Stormberg mountain.

But in spite of setbacks, stories of valour and true grit emerged to rekindle the spirit and strengthen flagging resolve. Not the least of these sprang from events directly concerning local post offices, which found themselves embroiled in what has often been described as "the last gentleman's war."

First there was the courageous example set by the intrepid, though formerly humble postmistress, Mrs. Sarah Gluck. After their early victories a large boer commando (mounted guerilla force) descended upon the erstwhile peaceful hamlet of Lady Grey, named after the wife of a popular British Colonial Governor. Undeterred, Sarah refused to hand over the keys of the little post office and placed herself in front of the flagstaff, denying any boer soldier access to it. Apparently, out of a sense of chivalry,  Mrs. Gluck was not manhandled and the Union Jack was left to flutter a while longer. This defiant gesture is the stuff that instant legends are made of and Sarah Gluck became a national heroine overnight. The South African post office gained another feather in its cap, having already quite an illustrious history stretching back to its novel triangular stamps of 1853.

Although Sarah's fame and published photograph spread far and wide throughout the British Empire, and patriotic poems were penned in her honour, we are not sure what became of her in the end. Can anybody out there please enlighten us?. Its never too late to start a Sarah Gluck Society.

 
Click stamp  for enlargement

On 9 April 1900 the town of Mafeking was besieged by the Boers. Colonel Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scout movement in 1908) managed to hold out. To keep up morale, he set up a local Bicycle Post to enable the troops to communicate with each other. A corps of cadets mounted on bicycles delivered the mail inside Mafeking while runners slipped through enemy lines to deliver mail to post offices from where they could be dispatched to friends and relatives. And when the stamps ran out they made their own. The Id design was drawn by Dr. W.A. Hayes, a local medico, and showed Sergeant-Major Goodyear of the Cyclist Cadet Corps riding on his bicycle. He had been entrusted with local post deliveries. The 3d value, which appeared in two sizes, was designed by Captain Greener and depicted a portrait of Colonel Baden-Powell himself. The stamps were photographically produced by Dr. D. Taylor on horizontally laid paper with a sheet watermark "Oceana Fine". Since they were produced in a process similar to that used in the manufacture of draughtsman’s blueprint plans the stamps themselves were blue. After a few thousand were issued they were discontinued when the siege ended about a month later. 

Because Baden-Powell had implemented the makeshift stamp solution without reference to higher command, and particularly because he had replaced the Queen's official portrait with his own, he was severely reprimanded by Queen Victoria who, as the saying goes, was not amused.

Many forgeries of these stamps exist. Both Siege stamps were featured on the 15c 1982 Bophuthatswana stamp commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the Boy Scouts.

The Editor's great grandfather served with a colonial regiment called Brabant's Horse, and Driscoll Scouts as a recruiting sergeant during the Boer War. Strangely the record shows that he recruited many Cape Afrikaners ( Boers) to fight for the Queen's shilling. His medal battle bars include the Siege of Wepener (Jammersburg Drift), a lesser known siege town. Here a relatively small force under Colonel Dalgetty was hopelessly outnumbered by the Boer General de Wet's commando. They clung on desperately for 21 days under appalling conditions before the siege was lifted. It appears the reason for this courageous stand was simply that, had they surrendered, many of their number would have had to face the serious consequences of betraying the Afrikaner Volk. At that time, several Boer prisoners of war were known to have been executed for masquerading in British uniform.

To lend atmosphere to this historical period, an old family photograph shows Sgt. George Kilgour standing 2nd from right. He never dreamed that 100 years later his image would be launched into cyberspace.