30 000 Blacks fight for Britain in Anglo-Boer War

Date: 20 Mar 1902
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

David Lloyd George stated in the British House of Commons that as many as 30 000 armed Blacks were at that stage employed in the British army during the Second Anglo Boer War. Although theoretically both the Boer and the British sides were opposed to using armed Blacks in the war, realities gradually started to influence their approach. Since the 1980s, the perception that the war was a 'White man's war' was considerably weakened.

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How we know this

01BBC News, "Race and apartheid", from BBC News, [online], Available at www.bbc.co.uk [Accessed: 14 March 2014]
02Cloete, P.G. (2000). The Anglo-Boer War: a chronology, Pretoria: Lapa.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). 30 000 Blacks fight for Britain in Anglo-Boer War. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011246

South African History Online (2011) '30 000 Blacks fight for Britain in Anglo-Boer War', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011246 (Accessed: 28 August 2026).

South African History Online, 30 000 Blacks fight for Britain in Anglo-Boer War [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011246, (accessed 28 August 2026).

"30 000 Blacks fight for Britain in Anglo-Boer War." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011246. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "30 000 Blacks fight for Britain in Anglo-Boer War." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011246.