[The battle of Majuba Hill was lost by the British at the First Boer War (December 1880 – March 1881). The defeat was strongly remembered by the British public during the Second Boer War, October 1899-May 1902]

There is another recollection which I share with a decreasing number of old people, for it was the time of the [Second] Boer War, and I remember how as children we sang lustily, ‘We’ll make them remember Majuba Hill, when the sixty-six they slew. And now we’re at war we’ll show the Boers what British pluck can do.’ Our patriotic fervour knew no limits at that early age.