George Witton (–1942)

this is not a comfortable book to read. To begin with there's a poem in the introduction, with the title, "Strathcona's Horse", the name of a famous Canadian Regiment. It describes a massacre arising from a guerilla ambush of an Imperial army unit in the South African War. The rest of the book describes an incident in the Boer war when a small unit of the Imperial army does shoot some Boer prisoners without trial. Two British Officers were executed for ordering it. A Film, "Breaker Morant", show more was made around the book. It's a good film, and a fair book, both arguing that the execution was a case of good soldiers left out on a limb in the face of a policy change of which they were unaware. But if you want a truthful account of this episode, here it is. The author was also condemned, but was able to save his own life while the others were executed.
the book was originally published in 1907. show less

Earlier this month a royal pardon on behalf of Breaker Morant was refused.

This edition of the book came out in 1907 and was immediately mostly destroyed by the government. So were the next edition or two printed that year. In all probably only a few copies of this book exist*. In Australia in 2008 a copy of the first edition sold for approximately $5000.

You can read the book online at Gutenberg. Even better see the movie!

*There are facsimiles.

Earlier this month a royal pardon on behalf of Breaker Morant was refused.

This edition of the book came out in 1907 and was immediately mostly destroyed by the government. So were the next edition or two printed that year. In all probably only a few copies of this book exist*. In Australia in 2008 a copy of the first edition sold for approximately $5000.

You can read the book online at Gutenberg. Even better see the movie!

*There are facsimiles.