W. T. Stead's History of the Mystery and the Jameson Raid

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Abstract
Most historians of the Jameson Raid and Rhodes's most recent biographer draw attention to the significance of W. T. Stead's semi-fictional account of the Raid, The History of the Mystery, in deeply implicating Joseph Chamberlain and the Colonial Office in the intrigues which led to Jameson's disastrous foray. There still remains the question as to how Stead came to write his story. It is possible to reconstruct the origins and setting of Stead's work from his papers and those of his associates, especially among the Rhodes group. Of these papers, the most important is a private memorandum of thirteen pages entitled “The History of the Mystery” which Stead, anticipating a controversy surrounding the publication of the book, dictated on November 26, 1896 “to put on record … the salient factors connected with its genesis.” Yet, the story must be understood in the context of Stead's personality and his relationships with Rhodes, Chamberlain, and Rhodes's solicitor, Bouchier F. Hawksley.Stead, son of a Congregationalist manse, distinguished himself as a bold and highly skilled editor of the Darlington Northern Echo and of the Pall Mall Gazette, who used sensationalism as a powerful instrument to influence Government policy. As a devout Nonconformist, Stead's work was marked by a moral fervor which often made him appear more “a revivalist preacher” than a journalist. Tenacious in his convictions and sometimes vindictive and lacking in judgment, Stead was idealistic, generous, and intensely loyal in friendship.

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