Christiaan De Wet
Overview
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
, rebel
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
leader
Leader
A leader is one who influences or leads others.Leader may also refer to:- Newspapers :* Leading article, a piece of writing intended to promote an opinion, also called an editorial* The Leader , published 1909–1967...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
He was born on the Leeuwkop farm, in the district of Smithfield
Smithfield, Free State
Smithfield is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa. It was founded in 1848 when the then Cape Colony governor, Sir Harry Smith , required a settlement north of the Orange River. Smithfield is the third oldest village in the Free State.-History:Waterval farm was the original site...
in the Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
Republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
of the Orange Free State
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
. He later resided at Dewetsdorp
Dewetsdorp
Dewetsdorp is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa. The town was set up, without approval of the Volksraad, by field-cornet Jacobus de Wet, father of the Boer War general Christiaan de Wet. Eventually recognized officially, the town became a municipality and named De Wet in...
, named after his father, Jacobus Ignatius de Wet.
De Wet is mentioned in Kipling's poem Ubique
Ubique (poem)
Ubique is a poem by Rudyard Kipling about the Boer War, published in The Five Nations in 1903. Ubique is the motto of the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers....
.
De Wet served in the first Anglo-Boer War of 1880-81 as a Field Cornet
Field Cornet
A Field Cornet was a South African term for either a local government official or a military officer.Initially, the term was used for a civilian official in a local government district of the Cape Colony, acting as and invested with the authority of a military officer and empowered to act as a...
, taking part in the Battle of Majuba Mountain, in which the Boers achieved a victory over the British forces under Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley
George Pomeroy Colley
Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley KCSI CB CMG was a British Army officer who became Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal and High Commissionerfor South Eastern Africa....
.
