Major F. D. Baillie

Mafeking: A Diary of the Siege Major F. D. Baillie

The siege of Mafeking is a legendary event in British history, and not only for its military importance in reversing the fortunes of the Boer War and giving Britain's national morale a massive fillip at a very low ebb. Its lasting importance, however, lies in the innovative defence conducted by its commander, Col. Robert Baden-Powell, who later found fame as the founder of the Boy Scout movement. This book is an account of the siege by an expert insider who endured the experience at Baden-Powell's side. Major F. D. Baillie was a former Hussar officer who later became a war correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper. His illustrated book shows both the privations of the siege, and also the ingenuity employed by Mafeking's defenders - an armoured train, an old Naval cannon, emergency bank notes, and fake barbed wire - to successfully withstand the siege.