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
Mafeking Mooch in order to convey the impression that they had fought at Mafeking. The most popular of these simulated handicaps became known as the Mafeking Mooch, so called because the "veteran" performing the assumed affliction would walk with an exaggerated limp. The appellation "Mafeking Mooch" was first coined by the journalist Arthur P. Montague in a scathing article about degeneracy and fecklessness published in the "Pall Mall Gazette" in June 1905. Montague documented a notable distinction between men of different classes as to how the Mafeking Mooch was performed. He noted that working class men affected a limp with the toes