BROTHERS IN ARMS, Hollanders in the Anglo-Boer War

248pp., illus., hardback, d.w., Cape Town, 2011

South African historian and journalist Chris Schoeman on how volunteers from the Netherlands and other Dutch expatriates joined the Boers. Prominent figures in the book include Cornelius van Gogh, brother of the painter Vincent van Gogh; the Dutch artist Frans Oerder, who became the Transvaal’s first official war artist; Jochem van Bruggen, four-times winner of the coveted Hertzog Prize for Afrikaans literature, and Rev. Herman van Broekhuizen, who played rugby for South Africa in 1896 and later served as South African ambassador in The Hague.

Chris Schoeman's books include Angels of Mercy, foreign women in the Anglo-Boer War and Rebel, die lewe van commandant Hans Lötter. He co-authored the autobiographies of Springbok rugby players Danie Gerber, Frik du Preez, Os du Randt, and Dawie de Villiers and international cricket umpire Rudi Koertzen.