The Christmas Day massacre of 1850

On 25 December 1850, four British military villages recently established along the Cape's Eastern Frontier were attacked by the Xhosa. Mike Burgess explains the background, and results, of this bloody day.

- Mike Burgess

In the wake of the Seventh Cape Frontier War (1846–47) between the British and the Xhosa, Sir Harry Smith, the impulsive new governor of the Cape, reinvented British policy on the colony’s Eastern Frontier.

Among his ideas was the settling of retired soldiers along the frontier to serve as a buffer to Xhosa incursions. This ‘land grab’ fuelled great resentment among the Xhosa, and, as we shall see, led to devastating results.

SMITH: A HEADSTRONG GOVERNOR

Prior to his appointment as governor, Smith had been famously involved in the Sixth Frontier War (1834–35), after which he reported for duty elsewhere in the British Empire.

He returned to the Cape as governor in late 1847, complete with the formidable reputation he had acquired in the time since his departure from the region in the 1830s.

Undoubtedly, his most famous achievement during his time away was leading the British forces to victory over a Sikh army at the 1846 Battle of Aliwal in India. This triumph not only led to a promotion to major-general, but also the title of Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej.