National Scouts

National Scouts
Active1900 – 1902
CountryTransvaal Colony and Orange River Colony
BranchBritish Army
RoleReconnaissance
Patrolling
Size1,480 men (May 1902)
1,750 men (total)
Nickname(s)Joiners
Frédéric de Haenen: "Surrendered Boers at Belfast anxious to join the National Scouts after being addressed by Lord Kitchener." Drawing after a photograph of a scene in the aftermath of the Battle of Belfast, 21 - 27 August 1900, lost by the Boers.
Boer general Pieter Daniel de Wet.
Boer general Andries Cronjé with ammunition.

The National Scouts were a military unit in South Africa created by the British authorities in 1900 during the Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902). Its membership consisted of former Boer Orange Free State and South African Republic military.[1] They were recruited in significant numbers towards the end of the war from Afrikaner prisoners and defectors, and were commonly known as hensoppers (Afrikaans for Hands-uppers) or joiners among the Boers.[2][3] Many of their fellow citizens despised them as traitors so that the label of National Scout became a swear word. According to official figures there were 1,480 members in May 1902. After the war, they were largely ostracized by the community and a number of them founded their own church, known as the Kruiskerk (Church of the Cross) in the Transvaal Colony.

  1. ^ Biggins, David (2023). "South African units. National Scouts". angloboerwar.com. Retrieved 13 July 2023. The National Scouts were mainly recruited from Boers who had surrendered to the British or chosen to fight for the imperial forces. QSAs were issued to the National Scouts and they are often appear as renamed medals.
  2. ^ Pakenham, Thomas (1991). The Boer War. pp. 542 & 571. ISBN 0-7474-0976-5. The facts that a fifth of the fighting Afrikaners at the end of the war fought on the side of the British was a secret that has remained hidden until today.
  3. ^ Welsh, Frank (1998). A History of South Africa. London: Harper Collins. p. 335. ISBN 0006384218.