Dr. Michael Stephen Walsh, an Irish doctor, has recently returned to his home in Kilmallork County, Limerick, after serving with the Irish Ambulance Corps alongside the Boer forces in the Transvaal region of South Africa. Dr. Walsh left Dublin on January 22 and joined the French ambulance service, traveling through Madagascar and Delagoa Bay to reach the conflict zone. The journey involved navigating numerous formalities and procedures at Delagoa Bay.
The Boer War (1899-1902) was a conflict between the British Empire and two Boer states, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, over the Empire’s influence in South Africa. Dr. Walsh’s decision to serve with the Boers highlights the solidarity that Irish nationalists felt with the Boers, who were also fighting against British imperialism. The Burghers, or Boer citizens, had a strong admiration for British Field Marshal Lord Roberts, also known as “Bobs,” but held a deep resentment towards Lord Kitchener, the British commander during the latter part of the war.
Dr. Walsh’s service in the Irish Ambulance Corps demonstrates the interconnectedness of global struggles against colonial powers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Additionally, it underscores the complex relationships and allegiances present during this turbulent period in history, with Irish nationalists supporting the Boer cause as a symbol of resistance against their common enemy, the British Empire
Dundee Evening Post – Monday 06 August 1900
