Authorization Letter: Jopie Fourie Execution20th December 1914
Jopie Fourie
REBELLION 1914:
Col TG Truter was the Presiding Officer at the Field Court Marshall of Jopie Fourie. Fourie was a Boer Hero and Commandant in the Second Anglo-Boer War. He became an officer with rank of Captain in the Active Citizen Force of the Union Defence Force. He was arrested at Nooitgedacht after a skirmish with the police under command of Capt HF "Harry" Trew and elements of the Union Defence Force. Incidentally, on this day the famous Afrikaans poet, Dr. CFL Leipoldt was attached to the South African Police as Medical Officer. The poet was mentioned in despatches for his bravery. Jopie Fourie’s Court Marshall was held in the Police Gymnasium, Pretoria. He was detained in Pretoria Central Police Station prior to his execution. (SAP 22 - PPR - will be furnished later.) The firing party consisted of members of the SAP & UDF. The shooting of Jopie Fourie became an albatross around the neck of the later Field Marshal JC Smuts. The Afrikaners never forgave him - (Hennie Heymans). |
The Great Boer War is a definitive history of a dramatic conflict by a master story teller and historian. Byron Farwell served as an officer in the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II and also in the Korean War. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1964, and is the author of Queen Victoria’s Little Wars, also published by Pen & Sword.
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