Contexts

• Original title was The Dead Drummer
• The second Boer war was from 11 October 1899 - 31 May 1902
• Resulted in the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic being absorbed into the British Empire
• Killed 75,000 - at the start people were supportive but as it continued people started to see the human suffering as unjustified, particularly due to the modernised methods of warfare, including concentration camps.
• Drummer boys were usually lower-class and played the drum at the front to keep the soldier's marching in time. Usually resulted in them being sacrificed since they were unarmed.
• The growing pacifist movement of the 19th century looked upon the ordinary soldier as a victim of other men’s cruelty.