While Herman Charles Bosman was not old enough to serve in WW1 and had not started writing stories by then, his short stories deal a lot with the 1899-1902 2nd Anglo-Boer War and subsequent life in the Groot Marico area of the old Transvaal. The closest he got to writing about the war was the 1914/5 rebellion in South Africa, in a short story entitled The Prophet in his Mafeking Road (1947) collection where he refers to Siener (Prophet) van Rensburg whose influence over Koos de la Rey led to the 1914 Afrikaner Rebellion. General Kemp, according to Bosman, was also a staunch follower of van Rensburg.
Bosman’s own life story is interesting as he was sentenced to death killing his step-brother, a sentence that was commuted to hard labour in the Marico area in 1926, aged 21. He tells his story in Stone Cold Jug.
1905, 5 Feb – Born Kuils River, Cape Town
1926 – Death sentence commuted to hard labour
1947 – Mafeking Road (Malinda on racism in the collection)
1951, 14 Oct – Died Edendale
Anne Samson - Historian 