Siege of Mafeking - Prelude

Prelude

Shortly before the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899, Lord Wolseley, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, who had failed to persuade the British government to send troops to the region, instead sent Colonel (later Lord) Baden-Powell, accompanied by a handful of officers, to the Cape Colony to raise two Regiments of Mounted Rifles from Rhodesia. Their aims were to resist the expected Boer invasion of the Natal Colony (now KwaZulu-Natal Province), draw the Boers away from the coasts to facilitate the landing of British troops, and, through a demonstrable British presence, deter the local people from siding with the Boers.

Like the British government, the local politicians feared that increased military activity might provoke a Boer attack, so Baden-Powell decided to obtain many of his own stores, organise his own transport and recruit in secret. With barely trained forces and aware of the Boers' greatly superior numbers, commando tactics and the failure of the earlier Jameson Raid, Baden-Powell decided that the best way to tie down Boer troops would be through defence rather than attack. Consequently he chose to hold the town of Mafeking due to its location - both near the border and on the railway between Bulawayo and Kimberley - and because of its status as a local administrative centre. As well, the town had good stocks of food and other necessities.

The Mafeking forces comprised the Protectorate Regiment of around 500 men, around 300 from the Bechuanaland Rifles and the Cape Police, and a further 300 men from the town. A cadet corps of boys aged 12 to 15, later to be one of the inspirations for the Scouting Movement, was also formed to act as messengers and orderlies. The recruitment of these cadets released men to fight, bringing the total engaged in the military effort to around 2000. Even though it was supposed to be a "white man's war" Baden-Powell also armed 300 African natives with rifles. They were nicknamed the "Black Watch" and used to guard the perimeter.