Medical treatment during the Second Boer War the Siege of Ladysmith described the wounding as follows: Of the 22,000 that were treated for wounds during the Second Boer War, the majority survived, largely due to the efficiency of the medical teams which cared for the affected. The Royal Army Medical Corps, which had formed after the redunduncies of the Crimean War, played a key role in the treatment of the wounded in the Boer War. The salaries of medical corps soldiers had gradually increased and training improved, improving the system and quality of the medical services. Surgery had made considerable advancement in the late nineteenth century, and
Siege of Mafeking acted as messengers and orderlies and released men to fight. Work to build defences around the perimeter of Mafeking started on 19 September 1899; the town would eventually be equipped with an extensive network of trenches and gun emplacements. President Kruger of the Boer South African Republic declared war on 12 October 1899. Under orders of General Cronje the Mafeking railway and telegraph lines were cut the same day, and the town began to be besieged from 13 October. Mafeking was first shelled on 16 October after the British commanders ignored Cronje's 9 o'clock deadline to surrender. Colonel Baden-Powell had