Receiving news from the seat of war: Dublin audiences respond to Boer war entertainments

Abstract

The Boer war and its popular representations were uniquely contentious in Ireland. On the one hand, Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, one of the ‘home countries’ of the British empire, with a population that contributed significantly to the imperial project, most prominently represented in relation to the Boer war by Lord Roberts, commander of British forces in South Africa in 1900. On the other hand, the majority of the Irish population supported a nationalist politics whose chief aim at the turn of the century was to gain ‘home rule’ for the country and which saw the war against the South African republics as another instance of British aggression against a small population determined to assert its independence. This led to a pro‐Boer fever among a nationalist population that was ill disposed to the jingoistic pro‐war sentiments expressed in much of popular culture coming from Britain. Boer war entertainments in Dublin were frequently contentious, prompting reflection on the possible ideological uses of new media forms.