"The truth is, and history will so record it, that England wanted the control of this country because it is the richest in gold in the world. England always puts in a claim where gold is found." New York congressman, William Sulzer, 1900. ENGLAND WANTS YOUR GOLD is a riveting story laced with romance, humour, political r1intrigue and violence against the backdrop of the infamous Jameson Raid that triggered the Anglo-Boer War. Caught up in the turbulence of the time is Brigid O'Meara, a beautiful Irish musical hall performer who arrives in Pretoria in 1895 to have an illegal abortion only to find herself drawn into the intrigues of a group of British Uitlander sympathisers, who are planning the overthrow of Paul Kruger's Boer Republic. She falls in love with the charismatic leader of the group, a trader who is smuggling weapons into the Transvaal and operating from a small, unpretentious hotel right on the doorsteps of the Raadsaal. The discovery of gold in the Transvaal was a double-edged sword bringing wealth to the impoverished agrarian economy, but adding to the simmering conflict between the Republic and Great Britain. When a burgher announced joyfully to General Joubert that a new gold reef had been discovered, he replied, `You would do better to weep; for this gold will cause our country to be soaked in blood.' REVIEW Nov 10, 2015 by Caroline Smart Editor: ArtSMart ENGLAND WANTS YOUR GOLD is set against the backdrop of the infamous Jameson Raid that triggered the Anglo-Boer War. The story deals with the experiences of a beautiful young musical hall performer called Brigid O'Meara. When we first meet her, she is in a lonely and unhappy personal space and has to face a difficult decision. A figure from her past comes back to haunt her, determined to wreak revenge for something she has done. While England Wants Your Gold is an act of fiction, Herrington has drawn from his personal past where his predecessors were much involved in issues of the times. He has mixed this information with historical facts to make what is an interesting read, particularly for those who are not familiar with this period of South African history. With his extensive experience in television and the power of the camera to capture nuances of images, Herrington describes situations and characters well. England Wants Your Gold together with the forthcoming sequel, the Irish Boer Woman have the makings of a riveting television series. THE IRISH BOER WOMAN: the 2nd volume of the Brigid O'Meara saga... available soon. As an Irish nationalist, Brigid finds herself in the midst of a clash of cultures and worldviews. She is drawn into the conflict of the Anglo Boer War by identifying and entering the struggle of the Boers of the Transvaal to retain their independence. This puts her into direct conflict with British officialdom, representing an expanding global empire. The story opens during a crucial period of South Africa's history, a time of widespread livestock deaths in the Transvaal from a rinderpest outbreak, coupled with rising tensions between Boer and Brit on the eve of the outbreak of war. Brigid also faces formidable personal challenges. She killed a republican police officer, an act she believes was taken in self-defence, and her fiancé is wanted for high treason following his involvement in gun smuggling prior to the Jameson Raid. Her revolutionary spirit challenges attempts to demean her as a woman, and she stands firm against certain individuals in the British military hierarchy who despise her. She is drawn to the simple lifestyle of the Boers, seeing them not as conquering colonisers, but as settlers who arrived in the country about the same time as whites in the United States. They see themselves as a people of the veld, destined with a divine mission. Through her support of the Boer Women during Kitchener's Scorched Earth Policy, she and her child end up in one of the British Concentration Camps.
About the Author: AUTHOR'S NOTE This fictional story is set within the framework of the historical account of the Jameson Raid. My father's family were Uitlanders who settled in Pretoria in the late 1880's, bought property including the Pretoria Hotel, but unlike a number of English businessmen at the time did not support Kruger's government, remaining pro-British to the point of being ordered to leave the Transvaal Republic at the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War, relocating to Bedford in the Cape Colony until after the war. They also managed the Thorns Hotel and owned a farm in the Onderstepoort area north of Pretoria, which they were forced to abandon during the war. Although their sympathies were clearly with the disenfranchised Uitlanders, who demanded major reforms and concessions from the Kruger government, they did not, as far as I know, take any active part in the abortive Raid, or in the planning of it. The characters in the story are therefore not based on their life experiences, but are products of the author's creative imagination. The Anglo Boer war has been a subject of intense interest and fascination throughout most of my life. My maternal grandfather and great grandfather were both Boer fighters, the latter spent time as a prisoner-of-war at Diyatilawa camp in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), while my paternal grandfather and his brother rode with the Cape colonial mounted regiment, Nesbitt's Horse. My maternal grandmother, Gezina McKenny (nee Groenewald), was at the age of 15, together with her mother and siblings, incarcerated in a British concentration camp during the Anglo Boer war. She would have wanted the thousands of women and children who died in those camps to be remembered. I have produced several documentaries on the Anglo Boer war for broadcast television channels nationally and internationally, including: - 'No End of a Lesson.' 'Battlefields of KwaZulu Natal.' 'KwaZulu Natal Midlands, Battlefields and Drakensberg.' 'Legendary Free State, ' which included a cameo of the Bethulie concentration camp, the Anglo Boer War museum and the Women's Monument in Bloemfontein. 'The Battle of Spioenkop, ' - a documentary produced with historian Ray Heron. 'The Flawed Genius of Jan Smuts, ' - a major documentary set against the Anglo Boer War and the 1st and 2nd World Wars - co-produced with my wife Sandra and available on Amazon.