Robinson, William G. (2011). Canadian Participation in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 (and in the South African Constabulary, 1901-1906).

“Canadian Participation in the Anglo-Boer War” is a complete revision, with many added covers, of the first volume of the BNAPS Exhibit Series. The book is divided into eight chapters, one each for the First and Second Contingents that went overseas in 1900, Lord Strathcona’s Horse which travelled in 1901, and the Third and Fourth Contingents which shipped out in 1902, as well as a chapter on the South African Constabulary, one on Canadians Serving in Irregular Units, and a brief final chapter about the Halifax Citadel Garrison and the Royal Review in Toronto in 1901. Illustrated are letters both to and from the Canadians, including several mailed “en Route”, i.e. at sea before the unit reached South Africa, and a cover from one of the four Canadian Army Nurses who served there. Many of the beautifully designed and printed patriotic covers are included.Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1926, the late (December 2010) William George (Bill) Robinson was a 1947 graduate of the University of British Columbia with Honours in Civil Engineering. He worked for Parks Canada and the Department of Indian Affairs until his retirement in 1978, and spent 30 years in the Canadian Militia, attaining the rank of Colonel.Bill’s militia background also fed his strong interest in Canadian Military Postal History. He was a Charter Member of the BNAPS Military Mail Study Group (MMSG), formed in September 1973 at the BNAPEX convention in Calgary. He contributed often to the MMSG newsletter and was the ‘go-to’ person on some military subjects. One of those topics was the postal history of the Canadians who served in the Anglo-Boer War, the subject of this book, first published in 1996 in photocopy form as Volume 1 in the BNAPS Exhibit Series. BNAPS was able to obtain the greatly expanded and updated exhibit and have it scanned in digital colour prior to it being shown for the last time at BNAPEX 2010 in Victoria, BC. Although he did not live to see the printed colour version, Bill was very pleased that his work was to receive the technical updating that was possible 15 years after the first publication.