Lecture 30: MacBrides Brigade: Irishmen in the Boer War by Professor Donal McCracken

The Irish Transvaal Brigade would come to be known as MacBride's Brigade, after their commander, John MacBride. It was operational from September 1899 to September 1900, when the brigade fought in about 20 engagements, with 18 men killed and about 70 wounded from a complement of no more than about 300 men at any one time. When it disbanded, most of the men crossed into Mozambique, which was a colony of neutral Portugal. Colonel John Y. F. Blake, a former US Army officer was the brigade's commander. When he was wounded, his second-in-command, Major John MacBride, took command. Professor Donal McCracken is the world leading expert on the Irish involvement in the second Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. Now resident in South Africa Donal McCracken has been an academic for over 30 years, with a research interest divided between environmental history, media history and the Irish diaspora in Africa. Books to his credit include nine sole-authored, two joint-authored and six edited. He has been named South African Genealogist of the Year and won the Zululand Historical Society Award. He was the founding chair of the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust; is a former president of the Irish History Students’ Association; and was Irish Universities’ Debating Champion. He is currently Senior Professor at University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society His lift of publications include: Teddy Luther’s War: The diary of a German-American in an Irish-Boer commando, 30̊ South Publishers, Johannesburg, 2013. Forgotten Protest: Ireland and the Anglo-Boer wars, Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast, 2003 [Revised 2nd edition of The Irish Pro-Boers, 1877-1902] MacBride’s Brigade: Irish commandos in the Anglo-Boer war, Four Courts Press, Dublin 1999 The Irish pro-Boers, 1877-1902, Perskor Books, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 1989