Louis Botha stands, leans on his Mauser rifle in this Boer War photo. He was born in Natal on 27 Sep 1862, one of 7 sons and 8 daughters. Three of his brothers were also generals in the Boer War, Philip, Chris and Theunis. He was prominent in the British defeats at Colenso and Spion Kop and became commander-in-chief of the Transvaal Boers. He was also well known as the man in command when Winston Churchill was captured. He, along with de la Rey and de Wet led the Boers in the latter stages of the war, causing much grief to the British army. After the Boer surrender and the Treaty of Vereeniging he worked hard to assist the British in their administration of South Africa, and in 1910 became the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. However his cooperation with the British government caused him to lose support from the Afrikaaners. He died on 27 August 1919.
