Hugh Rethman was born in Natal into a family of farmers and traders whose forbears numbered the early settlers there. His great grandfather commanded the Border Mounted Rifles, a volunteer colonial regiment which took part in various engagements preceding and during the siege of Ladysmith, as well as pursuing the Boers from the province.
As a boy aged fourteen, following the death of his father, he had to find work sweeping and cleaning a shop for a trader to help support his family. He was educated at St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown before reading English literature, economics, economic history, and political philosophy at the University of Natal. A keen sportsman and horseman, he later moved to England where he read law at the University of Leeds. He qualified as a Barrister and practised law in both England and South Africa, and also ran a retail business in Durban.
He holds a wide range of interests, but is particularly passionate about history. He has written articles on the Boer War for the journals of the Victorian Military History Society and the Military History Society of South Africa. He lives in Suffolk, England. Friends and Enemies is his first book.
