The Edgar Demonstration

Barnett and Company

Title: The Edgar Demonstration
Creator: Barnett and Company
Subject: South African War, 1899-1902 -- Causes -- Photographs
Subject: Witwatersrand (South Africa) -- History
Subject: Edgar, Tom
Date Issued: 1898
Date: 1898
Type: Image
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/20140
Identifier: vital:22822
Identifier: PIC/M 261
Identifier: This image is held at the Cory Library for Humanities Research at Rhodes University. For further information contact cory@ru.ac.za. The digitisation of this image was made possible through a generous grant received from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 2014-2017.
Description: In December 1898 Transvaal police shot an Uitlander called Tom Edgar. The officer responsible said that it was in self-defence, but the Uitlander community reacted as if it was a political incident. This made the franchise issue an important factor in the outbreak of the war because political tension between Boers and British subjects in the Transvaal became worse. The death of Tom Edgar, an Uitlander working in the Transvaal, in 1898, signalled another definite lurch towards war. Edgar was shot by Zarps (a colloquialism for the South African police) after a drunken brawl, in seemingly cold blood (at least this was how it was portrayed at the time, although evidence suggests that he was trying to attack the policemen at the time of death). This prompted a demonstration by some five thousand Uitlanders to assert their rights as British subjects after having been treated "like Helots", and then with their leaders arrested, launched another demonstration.
Format: jpg
Rights: In order to obtain a license for the use of any of the images, apply to Cory Library at cory@ru.ac.za

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