Ladysmith, British Columbia from the mine at Extension, nearer Nanaimo. Dunsmuir, owner of coal mines in the Nanaimo area, needed a location to house the families of his miners. He chose to build the community at what was then known as Oyster Harbour, some 20 miles (32 km) south of his Extension mines. Many buildings were moved from Extension and Wellington by rail and by oxen. In 1900, Dunsmuir renamed the town in honour of the British lifting the siege of Ladysmith in South Africa (28 February 1900) during the Second Boer War. (The original town of Ladysmith in turn took its name
Siege of Mafeking whose orders were to command a highly mobile field force of cavalry, made the mistake of allowing his overaccumulation of stores at Mafeking to dictate his actions. Consequently, he chose to immobilize half his force to hold Mafeking against a Boer attack. Baden-Powell later claimed his forces were barely trained and he was aware of the Boers' greatly superior numbers, commando tactics and the failure of the earlier Jameson Raid and decided that the best way to tie down Boer troops would be through defence rather than attack. However, contrary to Baden-Powell's claims, his forces that remained outside the besieged