"Cooper-Chadwick...in Bulawayo...became a successful trader and well liked by Lobengula, who called him Charlie...one of the best accounts of Lobengula's court." - The Mashonaland Irish Association (2019)
"We learn from Western observers like Cooper-Chadwick... it was a general practice among the Ndebele for the raiders to come in after a raid with children and women...cruel, degrading treatment...a black mark against the Ndebele society." - The Ndebele Nation (2009)
"John Cooper-Chadwick...was typical of adventurers seeking their fortune in southern Africa...after military service in Bechuanaland, he tried his hand as prospector, miner, building speculator and surveyor...joining a concession-hunting expedition to Bulawayo." - Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa (2009)
"Of deep interest, comprising accounts of fighting, prospecting, mining, travelling, and shooting." Asian Review 1895
"Strange adventures and fearless expressions of opinion regarding men and manners." Public Opinion, 1894
"An extrinsic interest." Westminster Review, 1896

Why did the fierce Lobengula, king of the Matabele tribe in Southern Africa who led the First Matabele War, decide to allow Irish born adventurer John Cooper-Chadwick to hunt and trade in his territory for three years?

For three years John Cooper-Chadwick (1864-1948) lived in Matabeleland an area of Southern Africa controlled by Lobengula the famous king of the Matabele, while working as an agent of the Chartered Company. Writing with a pen tied to his elbow joints as a result of losing his forearms, Chadwick tells of his harrowing and exciting adventures in his 1897 book "Three Years with Lobengula."

Chadwick's book of personal adventures is well written and full of interest, describing the country, the roads, the people and their chiefs, among whom figure conspicuously Khama and the king of the Matabele. The author's comparatively long stay with Lobengula enables him to give us details of his life and character.

Chadwick started out as a member of Methuen's Horse, and afterwards an officer in the "B.B.P."—Bechuanaland Border Police. His experiences, therefore, are bound to have had their exciting phases. It is a simple record of an exciting and eventful 7 years in South Africa. Anecdotes of camp life, accounts of strange adventures, and fearless expressions of opinion regarding men and manners, are all couched in plain language.

King Lobengula, later responsible for the brutal First Matabele War against British interests, offered Chadwick protection to perform his duties. However, Chadwick's time there was not pleasant as he complains:

"Without being actually attacked, our presence was barely tolerated, and we had to put up with the most insulting language, and submit to be treated like dogs. The king was powerless to prevent all this, as the feeling of the nation was too strong against the whites, and the utmost he could do was to prevent them from attacking us...."