Military intelligence arriving at the desk of the Secretary of State for War in Whitehall was becoming alarming. Tensions were reaching fever pitch between Britain and the Dutch Afrikaans known as the Boers. For several years, the Boer states had been importing German arms and instructors under the guise of civil defence preparations. Negotiations continued throughout August and September 1899 to resolve issues and reach a diplomatic solution. Eventually talks broke down and the Boer Republics of the Orange River Colony and The Transvaal declared war on Britain on 11th October 1899. The British Army was ordered to mobilise. Recruitment Sergeants were posted on the corners of Church Street, Blandford Place and North Railway Street and Seaham men with a history of military service in the Volunteer Corps were their target to enlist in the many regiments preparing to embark for the Cape Colony.
 
At the outset of the war the British public expected it to be over by Christmas. The war lasted for two years and eight months.
 
This new book tells the story of the men who volunteered to fight for their country in one of the bloodiest and certainly the most humiliating conflict that Britain had fought before World War One. Many of the memories in the book are from first-hand accounts from men who volunteered to go to war on a different continent with a different climate and against a foe that did not fight �by the book�.
 
This book records the contributions made by, and the real-life experiences, courage, bravery and exploits of the Volunteers who fought and died when their country called them to arms.