NAM.1971-02-33-99-1

A view of the Cape of Good Hope...The Battle previous to the Surrender...Jany 8th 1806. Coloured aquatint by J Clark and J Hamble after William Marshall Craig (1765 (c)-1834 (c)), published by Edward Orme, 1806. Associated with Napoleonic Wars, South Africa (1806). Under the terms of the Peace of Amiens concluded between Britain and France on 25 Mar 1802, Britain restored the Cape to the Dutch, and by February 1803 the British garrison had been withdrawn. With the renewal of the war with France on 18 May 1803, a second British expedition was sent to the Cape: some 6,000 men under Baird landed on 6-7 Jan 1806. On 8 January, it was advancing on Cape Town when it was opposed by the Dutch commander, Janssens, near Blaawberg. The Dutch were defeated in battle and Cape Town taken two days later. On 18 January, Janssens signed the capitulation which handed over the Cape to Britain commencing the second, and as it turned out, permanent period of British occupation. Possession was confirmed when the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially ceded it to Britain in 1814.

Cape of Good Hope, Surrender of, 1806 (Napoleonic Wars, South Africa 1806)