Siege of Ladysmith Siege of Ladysmith The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. As war with the Boer republics appeared likely in June 1899, the War Office in Britain dispatched a total of 15,000 troops to Natal, expecting that if war broke out they would be capable of defending the colony until reinforcements could be mobilized and sent to South Africa by steamship. Some of these troops were diverted while returning to Britain from India, others were sent from garrisons in the Mediterranean and
Mafeking Cadet Corps he was a cadet. The youngest cadets on the nominal roll were aged 11. At the end of the siege, 24 cadets were awarded the Defence of Mafeking bar to the Queen's South Africa Medal. Robert Baden-Powell was the British commander during the siege of Mafeking. He was impressed by the cadets and wrote of them in the opening pages of his 1908 book, "Scouting for Boys". Baden-Powell related the following conversation with one of the cadets: "I said to one of these boys on one occasion, when he came in through rather a heavy fire: 'You will get hit