1916 lives: John MacBride’s South African war

The Irishman was a major figure in the Second Boer War, and one of the 16 men executed after the 1916 Rising, writes Donal Fallon

Many of the leading figures of the Easter Rising were relatively unknown in the years leading up to the event, owing to their own youth or late political development.

This certainly wasn’t the case with Major John MacBride (1868-1916) however, as he was something of a household name in Ireland thanks to his participation in the Second Boer War (1899 -1902). He was part of a small band of uitlanders (Afrikaans for foreigners) which militarily-aligned with the Boers as they fought the British Empire, becoming known popularly as the ‘Irish Brigade’.