The Anglo Boer War broke out 125 years ago last month. It raged until 1902 and saw the British army pitted against an unlikely enemy- South African farmers known as Boers. Irish involvement on both sides was high, as one poem at the time recalled:

On the mountainside the battle raged, there was no stop or stay;
Mackin captured Private Burke and ensign Michael Shea,
Fitzgerald got Fitzpatrick, Brannigan found O'Rourke;
Finnigan took a man named Fay and a couple of lads from Cork.
Suddenly they heard McManus shout, "Hands up, I'll run you through,"
He thought it was a Yorkshire Tyke - 'twas Corporal Donaghue!
McGarry took O'Leary, O'Brien got McNamee,
That's how the English fought the Dutch at the Battle of Dundee.

Although the two World Wars that followed were on a far bigger scale, there remained in Ireland somewhat of a curiosity of those who went to fight. As the Irish Independent recalled in October 1967 they were still remembered:

ALTHOUGH It ended 6o years ago, more than 50 veterans of the Boer War are still alive in Ireland. About fifteen of them are in Dublin and the remainder are scattered throughout the country. Their ages range from a little over 80 to 97 and many of them have only the old age pension to live on because those of them who had less than 21 years' service have no army pension. The Boer veterans who need assistance are the special concern of the Help Society and Lord Roberts Workshops, whose headquarters are at 26 South Frederick St., Dublin. The Society endeavours to help all British _ex-servicemen and women of all three services, but those who served before the 1914-18 War are given preference. A spokesman for the Society, which  held a successful sale in the Mansion House, told the Irish Independent that veterans in distress were given cash allowances and when the recipients died these were continued to their families Other grants were made for clothing and fuel in winter. The Society's Dublin workshop, closed as far back as 1922 and the nearest workshop now is In Belfast. President of the Society is the Earl of Meath; vice-president is Brigadier W. Garden, and chairman, Major O. C. Guinness. One of the Boer veterans 89-year-old Peter Gorman, assisted at the Mansion House sale.

For more on the Boer War search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )