Mafeking Siege Notes
Part 1
F. Philipson
This article was originally published in Coins and Medals in October 1966. The publishing company, Link House Publications Ltd, is now defunct. The pictures and postscript were added by the WCNS. A follow-up to this article (Part 2) will be published on the WCNS website entitled “Mafeking Siege Collectables”.
Source: Mid-island Coin Club, Vancouver.
Returning to England after over a year in the United States and only now being able to browse through the back numbers of Coins and Medals that had been kindly saved for me, the notes on Mafeking and reading the "Odd Man Medals" in the April issue prompts me to offer my own contribution and, having an almost complete set of the Mafeking Siege Notes issued under the authority of Baden Powell in the year 1900, gives an added interest to the story of the siege of the town.
We begin with the landing of Brevet Colonel R. S. Baden Powell at Cape Town on July 25th, 1899. He had been given instructions to raise two regiments of Mounted Infantry and, in the event of war, he was to organise the defence of the Rhodesia and Bechuanaland frontier, to keep the enemy occupied and away from their own main forces.
By September 1899, he had accomplished the first part of the contract under none too easy conditions, for the supplies of arms, horses, mules and oxen were not abundant, and authorities were very loath to give sanction. He had decided to make Mafeking (which in Bechuana language means "The place among the rocks") his headquarters—wisely so, for immediately before war was declared, Baden Powell had a message to the effect that an armed force of Boers was advancing on Mafeking, and the first act of war was performed by the Dutch at Kraaipan Siding, about 40 miles south, on the 13th of October, where they defended an armoured train laden with supplies for Mafeking. On that same day, General Piet Cronje was moving in with five Commandos, a total strength of 6,750 men, six Krupp guns and four Vickers-Maxim automatics. They expected an easy and quick victory, but "the Wolf that never sleeps", as B.P. was nicknamed, was on the alert and fully prepared to withstand a surprise attack.
Mafeking was what one might call an open town, for it had no proper fortifications, but every advantage had been taken of the natural surroundings. The houses were of the single storey brick type for the main inhabitants, who numbered 1,500; the native stadt consisted of 7,000 natives and refugees, while the defensive force was 1,200 officers and men, of whom only 576 possessed the magazine rifle, the remainder were using the old Martini-Henry. As for guns, they mustered four only: two seven pounders, one one-pounder Hotchkiss and one two-inch Nordenfeldt. Water supplies were mainly outside the town, so wells were sunk inside and proved most adequate; food was strictly rationed.
On the 16th of October, the first attack was made on Mafeking, but it did not bring the expected result, and on the 21st, another attack was launched, the Boers having added a 9.4 Creusot gun to their other Krupp guns, and after a continual bombardment for two days, General Cronje sent a message asking B.P. to surrender. The reply was in the negative and led to “cat and mouse” tactics from both sides, and the days passed on. Christmas came, and the festivities were held in the best traditional manner, with services and festive gatherings.
Source: Bacon’s South African Battle Pictures
At the turn of the year ammunition was running low, when a lucky find of some 200 five-pound shells, relics of the famous Jameson Raid, came to light and at the same time a new gun was to make its appearance, from an old iron steam pipe on which steel rings were shrunk; a water tank lined with fire bricks formed the furnace, breech block, trunnion and rings were made in the railway foundry; the finished gun was christened “The Wolf” and was a compliment to Baden Powell himself. On its first being put into action, it had the Boers completely puzzled and at a loss to understand how another piece of ordnance had been added to the Mafeking defences. This gun is featured in the design of the one pound Siege Note, of which detail will be given later
Picture left of Lord Robert Stephenson Baden-Powell in his younger days and on the right some Boers with “Long Tom”, a six inch Creusot canon at the Siege of Mafeking. Sources: South African History Online and the History Press.
Although a system of rationing had to be introduced, the besieged were greatly indebted to the foresight of the firm of Julius Weil & Son, who had laid in large stores; this worked well. Though horses had to be slaughtered and soup kitchens made an appearance later, the garrison did not suffer from extreme starvation.
During this period, the garrison was from time to time subjected to a six-day bombardment in an endeavour to wear them down, although on both sides the Sabbath Day was respected. From March onwards, more determined attacks were made, and a system of trench warfare was added to the fortifications. Then came the heartening news of Cronje's defeat at Majuba on the 8th of March. He had previously handed over to Commandant Snyman, then later on Commandant Eloff took over.
Colonel Robert Baden-Powell with his staff: Siege of Mafeking 14th October 1899 to 16th May 1900 in the Great Boer War. Source: britishbattles.com
By now the British forces were on the way to relieve Mafeking, but on the 12th of May, Eloff staged an attack from one side of the town, while Snyman made his effort at 4 a.m. and even succeeded in getting his men into the town and for a while it looked very promising for the Boers, but it ended up with Snyman and 67 of his men being made prisoners.
By the 17th, forces under Col. Plummer and Col. Mahon had fought their way through and entered the town at 6 p.m., among the relieving force being Major Baden Powell, brother of B.P., so one can imagine the added joy to the occasion. So ended the siege that had lasted 217 days, during which the garrison had suffered 273 casualties in killed and wounded and with its strength of 2,000 men had held out against enemy numbers of up to 8,000.
When the news came through to London, great were the celebrations, for the whole country had been anxiously waiting for the news of Mafeking's relief, and on the 18th of May, the late edition of the Evening News (London) contained this announcement in its Stop Press column: “Relief of Mafeking. Mafeking has been relieved. Food has entered the garrison. Enemy dispersed.”—Reuter.
So much for the background story; now for the siege notes.
By January 1900, trading currency had become scarce, many people had buried good coin, and no more was available from the bank, so Baden Powell with the help of R. Urry of the Standard Bank, arranged for notes of the value of 1/- and 2/- to be printed. These were issued in January and February, printed by Messrs. Townsend and supervised by Capt. H. Greener, Chief Paymaster to the Garrison, whose signature is on the notes. A 3/- note was issued in March only. These notes were printed in blue printing ink on the reverse side of ruled Croxley writing paper, on which was used the blind embossed Bechuanaland Protectorate stamp.
Picture left: E.C. Ross making some of the £1 notes. Source: Australian War Memorial. Picture right: The Mafeking Mint showing the siege notes. Captain Greener (the Paymaster) on the left and Edward Ross on the right.
Source: AngloBoerWar.com.
These complete the smaller issues and interest increases with the 10/- note, which was specially designed, and one can do no better than to quote B.P. himself: “We tried various dodges, drew a design on copper, bit it out with acid alright, but could not get sufficient pressure to print it, though we tried it out through a mangle. Then we cut a croquet mallet in half and made a wood cut.” These show a soldier with a field gun and another with a Maxim; also, the notes have the signature of R. Urry of the Standard Bank and of Capt. H. Greener.
Source: Mid-island Coin Club
The £1 note is the rarest of all; its design was drawn by Baden Powell himself (an artist, as we all know); in the centre is shown the gun already referred to, with the title “Wolf”, a pile of ammunition, one soldier standing, two in kneeling position, a Union Jack flying, and a Mafeking woman with a baby.
The whole drawing, strips and printed wording were mounted and photographed, then printed by E. C. Ross on ordinary note paper by the Ferro Prussiate process. In addition, each note was hand signed by R. Urry and Capt. Greener, then hand-numbered at the rate of 20 a day. It is understood that only 600 to 700 were issued and that in my collection is numbered 500; it would be interesting to know just how many of these still exist.
Source: Bank Note Museum and Mid-island Coin Club
I know that an I.B.S. member in Quebec, Canada, has some Mafeking notes and I have seen some in the Grover C. Criswell collection at St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A.
A MAJOR ERROR
In the printing of these notes quite a few errors crept into some of the issues, the major one being the first issue of the 10/- note where it reads “Commaning” instead of “Commanding”, the omission of the “d” makes it a rare note. The spelling was corrected in the new issue.
Here is a complete list of notes printed and issued:
1/- note, issued Jan., value in blue
1/- note, issued Feb., value in blue
2/- note, issued Jan., value in brown
2/- note, issued Feb., value in brown
3/- note, issued March only, value in red
10/- note, issued March only, rare error “Commaning”
10/- note, issued March only, corrected “Commanding”
£1 note, issued March only, 600 to 700 printed
Baden Powell, afterwards Lord Baden Powell, was later, as we all know, the founder of the Boy Scout movement, of which there is a junior branch named Wolf Cubs, a title that had its origin in B.P's nickname “The Wolf that never sleeps” — a description that appears on the £1 note issue.
Postscript
According to an article on the notes that was published 12 years ago on AngloBoerWar.com, more than £5 228 in notes and coupons was issued during the siege. However, little more than £638 worth of coupons were ever redeemed. The rest were kept as souvenirs or lost, and redemption of the notes ceased in September 1908.
The town auctioneer Edward Ross, who penned one of the many accounts of the siege, aided in the note making process. He noted: “I had a little signboard made, Mafeking Mint. No Admission.” Mr Ross was a prophetic man... “This note business is going to be a good thing for the Government as I am sure they will be worth much more than face value as curios after the siege, and people are collecting as many as they can get hold of now, to make money afterwards,” he wrote at the time.
This article from The Times on 27 Jul 1900, surprisingly early given the end of the siege, records the sales of some of the notes from Mafeking. The amount of 20 Guineas would be equal to approximately R74 000 today.
Part 2 to follow