SAMHSEC meeting 9 June 2026
The Suez Crisis 1956: Nationalisation, Collusion, Invasion & Aftermath by Alan Mantle
The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a political and military conflict that had its origin with Egypt’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal.
Britain and France colluded with Israel to invade the Sinai, whereby they would act as peacemakers, separate the belligerents and then retake the canal, ostensibly to guarantee the free passage of shipping.
Notwithstanding the short and highly successful military action of this campaign, the aftermath was disastrous with momentous consequences. It caused an international uproar and, ultimately, the humiliating end to British and French imperial influence in the region. It promoted pan-Arab nationalism and, with it, the subsequent Middle East turmoil of these past 70 years.
For half a millennium the Middle East had been largely controlled by the Ottoman Empire, with a dominance that had prevailed until its final dissolution with World War 1.
Britain and France, with intertwined oil interests, then exercised a traditional imperial influence in the region for the next half century. The Suez Campaign put an end to it all.
It undermined their traditional authority and created a power vacuum that led to the autocratic overthrow of the governments of Syria, Iraq and Libya, uprisings in Jordan, a 15 year Civil War in Lebanon and the revolution that transformed the pro-Western Iran into a state with a legacy of Islamic terrorism, enacted through their Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi proxies.
The Middle East has never been a stranger to instability. What appears so different today is that there are no longer boundaries to these regional conflicts that have far reaching economic and geo-political consequences.
The recording of Alan’s presentation is in the Video Library on the website.
SAMHSEC Requested the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 29 June 2026
In session 1, Dylan Fourie told us about the military service of 5 men whose names are on the Tarkastad War Memorial.
Norman Oscar Downing served as a sergeant in the Midland Mounted Rifles during the Great War and was killed while fighting in the Maritz Rebellion, a conflict that exposed the deep political divisions in South Africa after the government decided to support Britain in the War.
Walter Lennox Blakeway fought with the South African Infantry Brigade on the Western Front, surviving the Battle of Delville Wood before being killed during the Battle of Arras in 1917.
Emil Bawden Volbrecht volunteered for service in 1917, trained in England and joined the rebuilt South African Brigade in France, where he was killed during the Battle of Menin Road at Passchendaele. His story also reflects the uncertainty faced by families whose loved ones were missing for years before their remains were identified and buried.
William Derrick Eales enlisted during the Second World War and served in the South African Tank Corps. Although destined for the North African Campaign, he was accidentally killed while on active service at eighteen years of age, illustrating that military service remained dangerous, even away from the battlefield.
Cecil Newton King served during the Italian Campaign, escaped from a German prisoner-of-war camp and joined the Italian resistance, fighting behind enemy lines against the German occupation. After being recaptured, he was executed alongside other Allied escapees in 1944. Later historical research identified the previously unknown soldiers commemorated on a memorial at the site of their deaths.
Together, these five biographies illustrate the varied experiences of Tarkastad servicemen during both World Wars, ranging from civil conflict in South Africa to the trenches of France, the battlefields of Belgium, the deserts of North Africa and the mountains of Italy. Their lives demonstrate the courage, sacrifice and service of ordinary men whose contributions continue to form an important part of Tarkastad's military heritage.
The recording of Dylan’s presentation is in the Video Library on the Society's website
In session 2, Malcolm Kinghorn discussed the advice to the 1820 Settlers that they should take their guns with them when they went to plough.
Many accounts of the 1820 Settlers record them being advised to “Take your guns
when you go to plough.”
This advice was widely repeated and rooted in official
warnings that settlers should never work their fields unarmed.
Such warnings are to be found in volumes 12 and 13 of George McCall Theal’s Records of the Cape Colony, 1793–1831. They include statements such as:
“The emigrants must be aware that they are placed on the extreme border of the colony, contiguous to tribes who have frequently been engaged in hostilities with the colonists.”
“The district in which the settlers are to be located is exposed to sudden incursions… the inhabitants must be prepared to defend their habitations.”
“The protection of their own property will depend mainly on their vigilance and their readiness to act in concert against any sudden attack.”
These warnings indicate that the British government was aware that it was placing inexperienced agricultural families on a volatile borderland where conflict had recurred for generations. The frontier was characterised by raids, reprisals, and unpredictable escalations where the state could not guarantee immediate protection. Farming activities such as ploughing and herding were inherently vulnerable. The injunction to carry arms while ploughing was therefore a practical directive, not a rhetorical flourish.
The Settlers quickly adopted the existing frontier defence culture and participated in institutions such as the commandos, which were rooted in earlier Dutch colonial militia traditions of local self-defence. These traditions persisted across generations and became embedded in the social fabric of rural Eastern Cape life.
Agricultural vulnerability remained a lived reality. Isolated farms, slow official response times and the need for self-reliance meant that the old frontier warnings retained relevance long after the frontier era had closed. The defence ethos of the 1820s became part of the enduring fabric of rural Eastern Cape identity.
An example of this frontier approach in modern times can be seen in the life of Morrice Lavin (1941–2024), an 1820 Settler descendant farming in the region where the 1820 Settlers were located. As both a farmer and a long-serving member of the Midlands Commando, Lavin embodied the settler way of life in which rural inhabitants were expected to be ready to defend themselves and their neighbours.
The recording of Malcolm’s presentation is in the Video Library of the Society's website.
SAMHSEC meeting 13 July 2026 Louis Eksteen is to present a talk on ABW battlefields around Dundee and the Dundee Diehards in Afrikaans. This talk was postponed in May 2026 due to technical difficulties.
SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 27 July 2026
RPC meetings are opportunities to share your knowledge of a military history subject or book with fellow military historians. Presentations should last approximately 15 minutes to allow time for sharing the pleasure of one another’s company. You can do any number of RPC presentations per year. Please contact André at andrecrozier@gmail.com if you want to share your knowledge.
Hidden Histories progress report
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/index.html
The following have been added since newsletter 261 June 2026:
Cambridge, East London War Memorial
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/cambridgecn.html
Germiston and District Cenotaph
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/germistonc.html
HMSAS Parktown Memorial
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/hmsasparktown.html
Horse Memorial PE
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/horsepe.html
Jeppe Boys High School War Memorials
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/jeppeboys.html
Johannesburg Cenotaph
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/jhbgcenot.html
Kingswood College Cadet ABW Monument
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/kingswood.html
King Edward VII School War Memorial
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/kes.html
Mendi Memorial New Brighton
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/mendibr.html
Mendi Memorial Soweto
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/mendisw.html
MOTH Memorial Jhb CBD
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/mothjhbg.html
Saint Andrew's College, Grahamstown Cadet ABW Monument
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/standrewcad.html
Saint Andrew's College, Grahamstown Great War Memorial Tower
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/grandrew.html
South African Scottish Memorial, Parktown, Johannesburg
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/scotparktn.html
Uitenhage ABW Memorial
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/uitenhageabw.html
Uitenhage War Memorial
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/uitenhagecn.html
Fort Willshire Military Cemeteries
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/willshire.html
Acting Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton, VC
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/dalton.html
Count de Villebois-Mareuil
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/mareuil.html
Lieutenant Colonel Allister Miller, DSO, OBE
https://samilitaryhistory.org/memorial/miller.html
Thanks to all who have contributed already and call to arms for those whose contributions are yet to come.
SAMHSEC
Chairman: Malcolm Kinghorn culturev@lantic.net
Secretary: Stephen Bowker stephen@stephenbowker.co.za
Speaker coordinator: André Crozier andrecrozier@gmail.com
Scribe: vacant
Field trip coordinator: vacant