THE ORIGINS OF THE ANGLO-ZULU WAR OF 1879 Richard Lidbrook Cope A thesis submitted to

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THE ORIGINS OF THE ANGLO-ZULU WAR OF 1879
Richard Lidbrook Cope
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Johannesburg, 1995
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THE ORIGINS OF THE ANGLO-ZULU WAR
Richard Lidbrook Cope
ABSTRACT
This thesis provides a detailed account of the events leading up to the war between Britain and
the Zulu kingdom in 1879, and undertakes to explain why the war came about
Theophilus Shepstone, Natal's Secretary for Native Affairs, had long aspired to bring Zululand
under British control. When King Mpande died in 1872, his heir, Cetshwayo, was anxious for
British support against rival claimants, and against the South African Republic, with which he had
a border dispute. He therefore invited Shepstone to preside over a ceremony recognising him as
King. Shepstone's hopes that his •c oronation' of Cetshwayo would lead to greater control over
Zululand were disappointed, but it did serve as a precedent for British intervention.
The war of 1879, in the event, did not arise out of purely local causes, but was more the result
of British imperial policy. Lord Carnarvon, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, aspired to
•c onfederate' the various territories of southern Africa into a •s elf-governing' (that is, settler
governed) dominion under the British flag. To this end Shepstone annexed the Transvaal in 1877.
The border dispute now became a dispute between Britain and the Zulu kingdom, and relations
deteriorated sharply. Sir Bartle Frere, the High Commissioner entrusted by Carnarvon with the task
of implementing his confederation policy, decided that the continued independence of the Zulu
kingdom was an insuperable obstacle to confederation. He therefore took advantage of certain border
incidents (and of the warlike reputation of the Zulu) to send an ultimatum calculated to bring about
war.
The question this thesis particularly addresses is whether the war was an incidental by-product
of a confederation policy carried out for other reasons, or whether bringing Zululand under British
control was inherent in the policy itself. It argues that the latter was the case. The purpose of
confederation was neither retrenchment nor to safeguard naval bases, as some have argued, but a
comprehensive political and economic reconstruction of South African SOCiety in which an
independent Zulu kingdom could have no place. On the other hand, to argue that Zululand was
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invaded to facilitate the advance of capitalist production in South Africa, as others have done, is to
state the case too narrowly. The desirability and inevitability of capitalist production was assumed
rather than consciously striven for by those who believed that the invasion of Zulu1and was necessary
to facilitate the progress and civilization of South Africa.
KEYWORDS
Zulu1and, Natal, British, Cetshwayo, Carnarvon, Shepstone, Frere, imperialism, confederation, war.
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Declaration
I declare that this thesis is my own unaided worlc. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before
for any other degree or examination in any other university.
Richard Lidbrook Cope
{3
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PREFACE
The research for this thesis has been camed on over a very long period. I first started worldng
on Natal and Zulu history in 1962, when I began work. at the University of Natal, under the
supervision of the late Edgar Brookes, on an M.A. thesis on the relations between Shepstone and
Cetshwayo. Dr. Brookes encouraged me to approach the subject in terms of personalities and
families: he told me that he had many years earlier been approached by a member of the Zulu royal
family to stand as a Native Representative, that he had expressed a disinclination to stand against
Denis Shepstone, but that he had been told that a Shepstone was not wanted. The question to be
answered was thus seen as the origins of the hostility between the house of Senzangakhona and the
house of Shepstone.
When I returned to the subject, some years after the completion of the M.A. thesis, there had been
a great change in the approach to South African history. There had been a move away from purely
political history; a greater awareness of and curiosity about the connections between the economy,
social structure, politics and ideas of societies; and an interest in the dynamics of capitalist and pre
capitalist societies and in the changing relationships between the two in nineteenth century South
Africa. New ideas had been put forward about the role of the imperial factor in South African
history, to the study of which I have attempted to make some contribution in the form of published
articles. In the light of these new ideas, a number of statements have been made about the genesis
of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. I felt there was a need to test these statements against a detailed
study of the evidence, and I felt that the research I had done for my M.A. thesis, and the considerable
further research I have subsequently done, especially in British sources, put me in a good position
to carry out this task. Hence this thesis.
In the course of this work over such a prolonged period I have become indebted to a great many
people. Some of these debts date back a very long time, and any attempt to mention by name all
the individuals who have helped me would produce a very long list as well as unjustifiable
omissions. I will therefore give my thanks in general terms. I am sincerely grateful to the numerous
librarians and archivists in South Africa and in Britain who gave indispensable help in fmding
sources; to the historians whose work. I have found stimulating and challenging; and the friends and
colleagues who have given encouragement and help of all kinds, including guidance through the
labyrinth of word-processing. Finally, among more recent debts, I must mention the helpful
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criticisms and corrections of my supervisor, Noel Garson, the head of the department of history at
the University of the Witwatersrand, who was prepared to take on a colleague whom he had every
reason to believe to be set in his ways; Philip Stickler, chief cartographer in the department of
geography, who converted my scrawled attempts at interpreting vague nineteenth century descriptions
and drawings into an elegant and useful map; and Elaine Katz, senior lecturer in the department of
history, who nobly volunteered to undertake the proofreading.
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CONTENTS
Abbreviations Used in the Footnotes ........................................ viii
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter One
Introduction .......................................................... 1
Chapter Two
The Zulu Kingdom and its Neighbours to 1873 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13
Chapter Three
Black and White Diplomacy in South East Africa 1873-7 .......................... 57
Appendix to Chapter Three
Did Cetshwayo and Sekhukhune act in concert? ............................... 100
Chapter Four
CamalVon and Confederation ............................................ 102
Chapter Five
The Annexation of the Transvaal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 141
Chapter Six
The Annexation of Zululand? ............................................ 172
Chapter Seven
The Border Dispute and the Threat of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 197
Chapter Eight
Sir Bartle Frere and the Road to War . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 239
Chapter Nine
Epilogue and Conclusion ...............................................
304
Bibliography .......................................................
323
Map ............................................................ at end
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ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE FOOTNOTES
A.S.N.A.. . ............................. Acting Secretary for Native Affairs, Natal.
B.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Border Agent.
B.L. British Library, London, (Carnarvon Papers).
B.P.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. British Parlilunentary Papers.
Cape G.H. .................... Government House records, Cape Archives, Cape Town.
C.O. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colonial Office records, Public Record Office, London.
C.O. 879 ...................................... Colonial Office Confidential Print
C.O. 959 . . . . . . . . . . .. Colonial Office records, Public Record Office, London (Frere Papers).
C.S.O. . ............. Colonial Secretary's Office records, Natal Archives, Pietennaritzburg.
G.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Government House records, Natal Archives, Pietennaritzburg.
G.RO., PCC ... Gloucestershire Records Office, Gloucester (St Aldwyn [Hicks Beach] Papers).
G.S .......................................... Government Secretary, Transvaal.
H.C. Deb. ................................. House of Commons debates (Hansard).
H.L. Deb. ................ . ................... House of Lords debates (Hansard).
K.C. ................................... Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban.
N.A.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. National Anny Museum, London (Chelmsford Papers).
P.RO.30/6 ......................... Carnarvon Papers, Public Record Office, London.
R.M. ................................................ .. Resident Magistrate.
S.N.A. ............. Secretary for Native Affairs records, Natal Archives, Pietennaritzburg.
S.P. .................... Theophilus Shepstone Papers, Natal Archives, Pietennaritzburg
S.P.G. . ............... United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel records, London.
S.P.G., W.P. . ................................ Wigram Papers in the S.P.G. records.
S.S. ........................... State Secretary records, Transvaal Archives, Pretoria.
T.A. ........................... Administrator's records, Transvaal Archives, Pretoria.
T.A., L.U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Landdrost of Utrecht records, Transvaal Archives, Pretoria.
T.A., S.N. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Secretary for Native Affairs records, Transvaal Archives, Pretoria.
U.W.L. ........................ University o~ the Witwatersrand Library, Johannesburg.
Z.A.R ..................................... South African Republic (Transvaal).
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GLOSSARY
amakhafula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. (derogatory term for) Natal Africans
ibandla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. council of state
ibuthol amabutho ....................................... age grades or regiments
ikhandalamakhanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. army barracks and royal homesteads ('military kraals')
inkosilamakhosi ............................................ chiefs, lords, kings
impi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. a military force
indunalizinduna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . officials in the service of the state
isigodlo ................................ king's private enclosure, women's quarters
isikhululizikhulu ....................................... the great hereditary chiefs
izigqoza ......................................... the party supporting Mbuyazi
khonza ............................................ to give one's allegiance to
umkhosi ................ , ......... the annual first fruits ceremony and military parade
urnuzilimizi .................................................... homesteads
usuthu ......................................... the party supporting Cetshwayo
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Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
In 1879 Britain went to war with the most powerful African state in southern Mrica, a war which
proved the costliest in blood and treasure, 1 and in political consequences, of any the British had thus
far fought in the region. Meeting its fmancial cost caused something of a cabinet crisis,2 the disaster
at Isandlwana weakened Britain in its dealings with other powers,3 and together with other overseas
disasters the war helped to cause the government to lose the next election.4
The effects of the war on the Zulu people were obviously much greater. The war also had
important effects on the people of South Africa generally and on the course of South African history.
The defeat of the Zulu, together with the defeat of the Pedi later in 1879, the crushings of uprisings
in East and West Griqualand, and the annexations following the last Cape eastern frontier war, marie
the establishment of that untrammelled white supremacy in South Mrica which was to last for over
a century. This rash of wars was largely a response to British annexations and pressures, many of
them associated with the policy of confederation. Though this policy failed to achieve unity, it
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achieved one of its most important purposes, which was to strengthen white rule in South Africa.
In the early 1870s white rule had been precarious over much of South Africa, and appeared to be
B.P.P., Return of Casualties and Costs of South African and Afghan Wars 1875-1880, Vol.
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LVIII, no. 412 of 1881, pp.2-3. According to this return, the cost to the British (and Indian)
exchequers of the Anglo-Zulu war was £4 922 140 - 18s - 6d, out of a total expenditure in South
Africa for the period 1875-80 of £5 564 477 - 9s -Od. The number of British subjects, officers and
men, who were killed or died of wounds in the Anglo-Zulu war was 1 386. The equivalent figure
for South Africa as a whole in the period 1875-8 was 179.
2 Cabinet Reports, Cab. 41, 13/5, Secret, Disraeli to Victoria, 27 July 1879. Sir Stafford
Northcote, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would not borrow to pay for the war but proposed
instead a considerable increase in the duties on tea. Disraeli commented that it would be 'impossible
to name a tax more unpopular', and represented Northcote as unduly influenced by the hope of
winning 'an austere smile from Mr. Gladstone'.
3 See below, ch. 9, pp.305-6.
4 R.I. Lovell, The Struggle/or South Africa 1875-1899: a Study in Economic Imperialism (New
York, 1934) pp.19 & 25; D. Beales, From Castlereagh to Gladstone, 1815-1885 (London, 1969)
pp.228-9.
See below, ch. 4, pp.105-8 & 117-21.
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