ABSTRACT
Two accounts featuring the actions of Irish soldiers during the early months of the Boer War usefully illustrate some particular characteristics of that involvement. The first consists of one verse from a ballad written about the ‘Battle of Dundee’, or, more precisely, the capture on 20 October 1899 of Talana Hill, near Dundee in northern Natal, by British forces, including the 2nd battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers supported by the 1st battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers:
On the mountain side the battle raged, there was no stop or stay;
Mackin captured Private Burke and Ensign Michael Shea,
Fitzgerald got Fitzpatrick, Brannigan found O’Rourke;
Finnigan too a man named Fay – and a couple of lads from Cork.
Sudden they heard McManus shout, ‘Hands up or I’ll run you through’.
He thought he had a Yorkshire ‘Tyke’ – ‘twas Corporal Donaghue!
McGarry took O’Leary, O’Brien got McNamee,
That’s how the ‘English fought the Dutch’ at the Battle of Dundee. 1
