In November 1899, the Belfast Telegraph ran a story of bravery involving a postmistress. Sarah Glueck wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill postmistress though – she was an Englishwoman abroad, attempting to run a postal service in the midst of the Boer War in the town of Lady Grey, South Africa. And Sarah intended to fulfil her duties and manage the post, even when the Boers invaded the town and tried to storm the post office. ‘They were met by the postmistress,’ reported the paper, ‘who not only declined to turn over the post office to them, but ordered them off the premises, and dared them to interfere with colonial property.’