Siege of Mafeking 212 people were killed during the siege, with over 600 wounded with further losses among the local Baralong. Boer losses were significantly higher. The siege established Baden-Powell as a celebrity in Britain, and when he wrote "Scouting for Boys" in 1908, his fame contributed to the rapid growth of the Boy Scout Movement. Siege of Mafeking The Siege of Mafeking was a 217-day siege battle for the town of Mafeking (now called Mahikeng) in South Africa during the Second Boer War from October 1899 to May 1900. The siege received considerable attention as Lord Edward Cecil, the son of the
Second Boer War invasion of the Cape Colony and Colony of Natal between October 1899 and January 1900. With speed and surprise, the Boer drove quickly towards the British garrison at Ladysmith and the smaller ones at Mafeking and Kimberley. The quick Boer mobilisation resulted in early military successes against scattered British forces. Sir George Stuart White, commanding the British division at Ladysmith, had unwisely allowed Major-General Penn Symons to throw a brigade forward to the coal-mining town of Dundee (also reported as Glencoe), which was surrounded by hills. This became the site of the first engagement of the war, the Battle of