Boer war- Why were Irishmen fighting Irishmen?

johnny_doyle

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

The General refered to in the independent piece was Fitzroy Hart. He came in for criticism from his compatriots in the British army but seemed unrepentent in letters written about the events in the Boer war. General Hart was Irish but I have not found from where.

The Harts appear to have been from Dorset, England. with previous family links to Donegal. Arthur Fitzroy Hart's father Lt General Henry George Hart was posted to a number of locations so that Arthur appears to have been born in Portsea/Portsmouth and his brother General Sir Reginald Clare Hart VC was born in Ireland. Another brother, Major Horatio Holt Hart, appears to have been born in Ireland too.

Several members of this family had earlier settled in South Africa.

Arthur Fitzroy Hart married into the Synnot family of Ballymoyer, Armagh where his sons, who also served in the Boer War, were born.

One son is the subject of an interesting book called Falling Blossom

http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=2606

The other son became a Private Secretary for Sir Horace Plunkett. There is an extract of some of his notes re Ballymoyer and the death of Arthur Fitzroy Hart-Synnot at the following URL

http://aolanswers.com/questions/ballymoyer_house_soldier_ireland_6271118041673/connected_hart_family_took_story_735919127133608

tdv123

Probably the same reason they were fighting each other in the Spanish civil war & The Tan war eh and the Irish Civil war & American civil war & in The Temple Bar. Political differences.

Irish people have fought against Irish people in lots of different wars.