Battlefield: The Siege of Mafeking - Northwest

Siege of Mafeking: Introduction

The historic town of Mafeking is today the centre of a thriving Molopo district and was once the lush and scenic home of vast herds of game; one writer reported seeing a single herd of 1500 wildebeest and zebra. The Barolong tribe lived in the area and called it Mafeking which means “The Places of stone” – as it was set against great rock outcrops.

Early 1860 the Transvaal Republic was expanding westwards and this caused conflict with the Barolong tribe. From Botswana (Bechuanaland) side was the Goshen tribe ruled by Guy von Pittius and after some near wars the British sent Sir Hercules Robinson and Rev John Mackenzie to restore peace and order.

Things came to a head in July 1884 when 300 Goshenites attacked the Barolong and raided over 3000 head of cattle. The Barolong attempted to recover the cattle and subsequently lost 180 men (including 2 white men) and the Goshenites 50 men just 6 kms outside Mafeking.

So the British replaced Rev Mackenzie with Cecil John Rhodes who spent 2 days at Rooigrond between the Goshenites, Barolong and Boers and discussed peace terms. After Rhodes left the Barolong signed a very unfavourable treaty between the Boers and Goshenites. This was Sept 1884 just after the Barolong were taken under British protection. But then President Kruger proclaimed placing the Barolong under Transvaal’s control. Ten days later Pres Kruger withdrew his proclamation but the Goshenites continued with their plans to divide the Barolong country amongst them selves.

So, Sir Charles Warren now came back to restore order in the territory, to reinstate the chiefs in their lands again and to hold the country until further notice when its destiny was decided. But now the Goshenites retired to Transvaal. On March 23 a proclamation was issued providing for civil and criminal jurisdiction over the whole territory.

Two forts were constructed by Warren on the north and south side, viz Cannon Kopje and Warrens Fort and permission was given by the British to establish the town of Mafeking and life went on. In 1894 Mafeking suffered an outbreak of smallpox and the costs for fighting it was paid for by special property tax imposition. Also the railway line from Cape Town reached Mafeking. Then Rinderpest hit the country with devastating effect in 1896.the resulting livestock carnage pushed prices sky high and a humble donkey sold  for 10 pound while a mule fetched 50 pound

But, during the year New Year weekend of 1895/96 the fiasco of the Jameson Raid took place. 350 police and volunteers under Dr Jameson crossed the Transvaal border and at Ottoshoop another 120 joined them. The plan was to sneak through to Johannesburg and transport guns and ammo to the British workers working in the goldmines of Johannesburg and start a rebellion. Rhodes wanted to take over Johannesburg for its gold and his lifetime friend Leander Starr Jameson was eager to assist. However permission wasn’t yet granted by either Britain or Rhodes but the rebellious Jameson went ahead and raced across the country also forgetting to cut the telegraph lines. Anyway the Boers knew about his intentions all along the way and at Randfontein near Krugersdorp forced him to surrender.

(More of the Jameson raid in my next thread)

Anyway needless to say Pres Kruger was upset with the British and some other instances cropped up. On Oct 11 1899 war was declared by Transvaal and the opening shots were fired by General de la Rey’s forces on an armoured train at Kraaipan south of Mafeking. The train was carrying guns and armaments destined for Mafeking which was captured by the Boers.

This then started what was called the siege of Mafeking on October 14 1899. There was a population of 1 500 whites of whom 630 were women and children. There were also smaller groups of Chinese, Indian and Coloured community plus about 5000 of Barolong. The town itself occupied about 1 000 square yards lay around the Market Square with the municipal offices in the centre. The station and railway workshops lay on the north west corner, and to the north was the Victoria Hospital and the Convent which occupied the Irish Sisters of Mercy. The houses in the town were mostly red mud brick covered with corrugated iron sheeting. There were two schools and churches of different denominations and even a branch of Standard Bank, a Masonic Lodge and the local newspaper “the Mafeking Mail and Protectorate Guardian” which was produced daily throughout the siege “shells permitting”

Colonel Baden Powell had not originally intended occupying Mafeking but in Sept 1899 he moved his regiment of 1231 soldiers into town. Furthermore contingents of Africans, for example a Barolong contingent of 500 men were formed. Each unit was assigned a different section of the defence perimeter of Mafeking, with Warrens Fort and Cannon Kopje being salient points in the defence scheme. Colonel Baden Powell and his staff occupied the Dixon Hotel with an adjacent lawyer’s office as headquarters.

The Mafeking defenders were reasonably well equipped with rifles (Lee Metfords and the older Martini Henry single loaders but were very short of artillery having only 4 antiquated seven-pounders, one one-pounder Hotchkiss and one 2-inch Nordemfeldt and seven Maxim guns.

With regard to food supplies Mafeking was well prepared to withstand the siege. Goods that were destined to enter Rhodesia in 1899 by rail on their way northbound from Cape Town were left in transit at Mafeking.

A number of other forts were built and were interconnected by telephone and BP’s headquarters

To be continued…….

What and how many besiegers were there???
How long did it last???
Was there any other happenings aside from sniping and bombing????
What plans were devised when the food ran out????
How many shells were fired????
How did it stop???

All this in the next and last episode.