The Warwicks Skirmishing (Boer War)

"The Warwicks skirmishing with Boers near Weppener, East of Bloemfontein, SA"
(Underwood & Underwood, 1901), stereo card

This is part of the military history and also of the photography and home entertainment histories. It’s a stereo card (to be watched in a Stereoscope [1]) depicting, as it reads in the back of the card, “The Warwicks skirmishing with Boers near Weppener, East of Bloemfontein, SA”.

The Warwicks, i.e., the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers, previously named 6th Regiment of Foot and the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, participated in the Second Boer War, between 1899 and 1902, having seen service in Johannesburg, Diamond Hill and Belfast.

The stereo card, dated 1901, was produced by Underwood & Underwood, an American company founded in 1882, in Ottawa, Kansas, by brother Elmer and Bert Elias Underwood.

On the card's back, the same description is in six different languages, English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish and Russian, showing us the international nature of the distribution of these stereo cards.

[1] In its earlier form, the Stereoscope was invented in 1838 by Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875), and was very popular between 1850 to 1930. It uses a pair of mirrors at 45 degree angles to the user's eyes, each reflecting a picture located off to the side in a stereo card. Oliver W. Holmes created in 1861 a more portable and economical Stereoscope, consisting of two prismatic lenses and a wooden stand to hold the stereo card.