[1] The convention was signed on 17 January 1852, by Commandant-General Andries Pretorius and others, on behalf of the new country, and Major William Samuel Hogge and Charles Mostyn Owen, clerk to the Civil Commissioner of Winburg, duly authorised to, and on behalf of, the British government.

The treaty contained the following provisions: South African Republic authorities claimed the British contravened the treaty in 1853, with a British citizen, the missionary David Livingstone, supplying, storing, and making repairs to materials of war for the native tribes.

Commandant Scholtz and his men confiscated a large number of rifles and amounts of ammunition and equipment from Livingstone's home.

Britain issued a proclamation called: "Annexation of the S.A. Republic to the British Empire,"[3] and proceeded to occupy Pretoria.

Although the British did not attempt to dismantle the country, and self-rule was decreed in the proclamation, the annexation was not accepted by the South African Republic, and a delegation was sent to Europe and the United States to protest this action.