The Jameson Raid and Resolven

"The Resolven Man who volunteered"

One of the less glorious episodes in the annals of the British Empire is that of the attempted land grab of the Jameson Raid orchestrated by Cecil Rhodes of the gold fields of the Transvaal around Johannesburg.

The Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid on Paul Kruger’'s Transvaal Republic and carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96. It was intended to trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate workers (known as Uitlanders) in the Transavaal but failed to do so. The workers were called the Johannesburg conspirators. They were expected to recruit an army and prepare for an insurrection. The raid was ineffective and no uprising took place, but it was an inciting factor in the Second Boer War and the Second Matabele War.

Mr Glyn Davies has unearthed this gem of a story from the Herald of Wales, printed on September 26^th 1936. Click on the image for the full story of Mr Edward Holden Place,Licensee of the Farmers Arms, Resolven who was resident in Johnannesburg at the time.