Anne Samson shares how and why she came to change her views on the man Kitchener.

October 7th 2020: Kitchener: the man not the myth, explores the private life of the man commonly referred to as the ‘Sudan machine’. While cold, calculating and ruthless are words regularly associated with him, we take a look at how this public persona was a coverup for his being shy, loyal, considerate and forward looking.

October 14th 2020: Kitchener: soldier of peace allows us a closer look at his time in South Africa, and particularly his relationship with Louis Botha. His treatment of the Boers at the peace table in both 1901 and 1902 is a trait observable both before and after his time in South Africa, and in many ways is a defining characteristic.

October 21st 2020: Kitchener: test of a lifetime takes us to the 1914-18 war and the end of Kitchener’s life. How was it that Kitchener, a soldier, became Secretary of State for War in 1914? And why did he fall from favour in 1915? Was there any foul play in his death on 5 June 1916?

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Short biography on Anne Samson

Anne grew up in Boksburg, South Africa, in a mixed heritage (English-Afrikaans) environment, before marrying and moving to the UK in 1996. Her undergraduate studies were completed in Boksburg, Pretoria and at Unisa, following which she did her MA dissertation on “Jan Smuts and the British War Cabinet” at the University of Westminster, and her PhD in history on “Britain, South Africa and the East Africa Campaign, 1914-1918” at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published two books on the First World War in East, Central and Southern Africa, as well as numerous articles, alongside giving talks on a wide variety of topics related to the war (see www.thesamsonsedhistorian.wordpress.com for details). Her most recent book, Kitchener: The man not the myth, developed from her work on the East Africa campaign of World War 1 having discovered that Kitchener did not want to go to war in that theatre.

Having been a history teacher and teacher trainer for adult learning for thirteen years including nine as an advisor to an education charity in Tanzania and Rwanda, today, she runs a non-traditional publishing company and co-ordinates the Great War in Africa Association which is now publishing books related to the Great War. Her research into the First World War in Africa continues with annual visits to South African archives and to see family. 2020 will be the first year she has not been back home. She is regularly consulted by national bodies and others looking for information on the First World War in Africa.