THE STORY OF THE SIEGE OF MAFEKING
October, 1899—May, 1900
THE WARM CORNER
In July, 1899, Baden-Powell was suddenly called away from the gaieties of Henley Regatta to attend at the War Office. There he received orders to proceed to South Africa, and within three days he was on his way. Always prepared for such emergencies, he might easily have set out within three hours, but the necessary delay enabled him to pay some farewell visits to friends. It was at this time that he paid the visit to Dr. Haig-Brown, which has become famous because of the words he used in saying good-bye to his old schoolmaster—"I hope they'll give me a warm corner." How warm that corner was to be nobody anticipated when Baden-Powell left England to fill it.
On his arrival at the Cape Baden-Powell was ordered to form a body of irregular troops in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and he set up his headquarters at Mafeking. This place, now famous all the world over, is situate on the Malopo River, and in the most important centre of population in British Bechuanaland. It is a comparatively new settlement, but was of considerable importance as a trading centre ten years ago. Mr. Lionel Decle, the famous traveller, who visited it in 1891, thus describes it in his "Three Years in Savage Africa":—"The 'town' consisted of a big open place called the 'Market Square,' round which were grouped a few buildings, mostly of corrugated iron. Two hotels, five or six stores, a barber, a butcher, and a baker composed the commercial part of the place. One building, standing by itself, contained the Law Court, the Post, and the Government offices. Add to this a church and a few private houses, where the clergyman, the magistrate, and the doctor lived, and you have Mafeking as it was in 1891. About three-quarters of a mile off is a big native village." By 1899, however, Mafeking had considerably increased in size and importance, though its architecture was still of a very primitive nature, consisting chiefly of soft bricks and corrugated iron. With the exception of the convent, all the houses were but one storey in height. On the west, north, and east the surroundings of Mafeking are flat; on the south and southeast the town is overlooked by high ground.
In Mafeking, between August and October, 1899, Baden-Powell gathered together a small garrison—so small, indeed, that one feels amazed to know that such a handful of men afterwards accomplished so much. At the beginning of October he had under him about seven hundred men, drawn from the Bechuanaland Protectorate Regiment, the British South African Police, the Cape Police, the Bechuanaland Rifles, and the Town Guard. The men of the Protectorate Regiment and the South African Police were armed with the Lee-Metford rifle, and had six muzzle-loading seven-pounders, very old-fashioned in make, and several Maxim, Hotchkiss, and Nordenfeldt guns. The remainder of the garrison were armed with the Martini-Henry rifle. Long before war actually broke out, Baden-Powell kept his handful of men busily engaged in strengthening the defences of the town. There were people in Mafeking who would have dissuaded him from making such elaborate preparations, believing that the differences between Great Britain and the South African Republic would be settled by diplomatic process, but Baden-Powell left nothing to chance, and he and his men worked with a will. Defence works were made all round the town, bomb-proof shelters were contrived, a system of communication by telephone between headquarters and the various forts was established, an armoured train (soon to figure very conspicuously in the first outbreak of hostilities) was kept waiting in the station, and the principal buildings of the town were protected by sand-bags. While all these preparations for a possible siege were being made there were many other things to be done. It was well known that there were several traitors and disaffected folk in Mafeking—Baden-Powell, with characteristic promptitude, had them arrested and placed in safe-keeping. Then came the question of getting the women and children away. A great many of them were sent off to the south, but many refused to leave the town. The sisters at the convent remained as a matter of course, and were soon busily engaged in nursing the sick and wounded. The question of provisioning the place was one which caused Baden-Powell a good deal of anxiety. It was found that the quantities of food-stuffs stocked in the various shops and stores were much below the average, and the commandant's powers of ingenuity were sorely taxed in order to devise means for the proper victualling of the town. In this work he was much helped by three men—Lord Edward Cecil, one of the Prime Minister's sons, Mr. Benjamin Weil, a member of a mercantile house with a great reputation in South Africa, and by Mr. Frank Whiteley, a Yorkshireman, who, after an adventurous life as sportsman and traveller, settled down in Mafeking many years ago, and was its Mayor during the eventful days of the siege.
By the beginning of October Baden-Powell had made his corner—soon to be warmer than perhaps ever he had dreamt of!—all ready against whatever was to be. Everything was in readiness. In a letter written from Mafeking on October 9th the writer says that there was then nothing in the appearance of town or people to indicate the nature of what was coming—men and women were pursuing their ordinary avocations as though the shadow of war was far away instead of being so near. The town was ready and waiting, and meanwhile its usual life went on until the need came for action. Baden-Powell and his garrison had not long to wait, however. On October 11th hostilities began between Great Britain and the South African Republic, and the armoured train of Mafeking figured conspicuously in the first engagement. On that date it left Mafeking with the last load of women and children, and made its journey southward in safety; but on its return journey it fell into the hands of the Boers, and ere long English readers were informed of its capture. This was the first of the reverses which came in quick succession during the autumn of 1899.