Talented poem and children’s author, Victoria Zigler, has hosted Day 5 of my A Ghost and His Gold Book Blog Tour. Thank you, Victoria.
It’s my stop on the tour for “A Ghost And His Gold” by Roberta Eaton Cheadle today, and Robbie has written a fascinating post for me to share with you. I’ll also be sharing my review for the book at the end of this post. So, over to you, Robbie!
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The Siege of Kimberley
Background
The Siege of Kimberley, a diamond mining town in the Cape Colony, took place during the Second Anglo Boer War when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal) besieged the town.
Cecil John Rhodes, a British mining magnet and politician in Southern African and who served as the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896, was in Kimberley during the siege. Rhodes’ presence in the town was controversial as he was one of the main protagonists behind the war due to his involved in the botched Jameson Raid. Despite his arrogance and constant disagreement with the military personal charged with the defence of Kimberley, Rhodes was instrumental in organising the defence of the town.
The Boers tried to force the British garrison in the town to surrender by shelling the town with their superior artillery. The first British attempt to relieve Kimberley failed and it was only on the 5th of February 1900 that the siege was finally relieved by a cavalry division under Lieutenant-General John French. After relieving the siege, the British forces immediately continued to battle the Boers under General Piet Cronjé at Paardeberg.
Armoured Train: Siege of Kimberley, 14th October 1899 to 15th February 1900 during the Great Boer War. Source: https://www.britishbattles.com/great-boer-war/siege-of-kimberley/
Continue reading here: http://ziglernews.blogspot.com/2021/04/day-5-of-wordcrafter-ghost-and-his-gold.html
You are doing such a great job of your blog tour! This is all so interesting. I believe a young Winston Churchill served in this war as well. Is this true?
Yes, he was actually captured by the boers. I considered bringing it in but it wasn’t a good fit.
Cool stuff. I did some research on all this for a storyboard I have languishing. Hope the book’s doing well.
HI Craig, it is actually doing quite well. A lot of men are interesting in it. If Amazon would just put up the ebook, it would help.
You’re having a great tour, Robbie. You’ve done extensive research to do this book!
Thank you, Miriam. Yes, historical books are a lot of hard work. I am writing a cli-fi now and that one is also requiring a lot of research – it is my destiny.
I know how it goes, Robbie. I researched 50 books to write one chapter of several hundred words for my dissertation. I used a software End Note to link the quotes to the reference.
It’s rewarding to do research. I can see you have great results to do yours.
Great stuff, Robbie.
Thank you, Norah.