This next cartoon looks forward to possibly the most famous action of the 2nd Boer War, namely the relief of Mafeking, the raising of the siege of the city. The cartoon was published on 9th May 1900.
The title is THE ELEVENTH HOUR
The caption is
COLONEL BADEN POWELL (TO MAFEKING) “ALL RIGHT! CHEER
UP! ‘BOBS’ IS A MAN OF HIS WORD!”
In the cartoon we see the leader of the British defenders
of Mafeking, Robert Baden-Powell, yes, the same Baden-Powell who would create
the Scouting movement after the war, consoling a thing, downcast lady, the
allegorical personification of the city of Mafeking. They are in a ruined
townscape, and Baden Powell is pointing to a notice on the war, with Lord
Roberts’ promise to relieve the city by the 18th May.
As it was, the relief came two days earlier, on the 16th
May and this was the trigger for wild celebrations as soon as the news reached
Britain. So huge were the celebrations that for a while a word derived from the
name of the city – ‘mafficking’ – became a slang verb for making merry.
Mafeking itself was a town in the British Cape Colony where
Colonel Baden-Powell chose to keep stores for his cavalry corps. Immediately
prior to the outbreak of the war he built up the defences of the town. In the
end, the siege of Mafeking lasted longer than either of the other two Boer
sieges of the war, those of Ladysmith and Kimberley, 217 days in total.
Baden-Powell became a public hero due to his leadership
during the siege, being promoted to Major-General and made a Companion of the
Order of the Bath. In more recent times his role had had just a little bit of a
reappraisal, in particular the fact that he only made one attempt to break out
from Mafeking despite the fact that at times the siege was not committing large
numbers of Boer soldiers.
Baden-Powell later said that it was organising civilians
and children that would later help him form plans for the boy scout
organisation, his lasting legacy.
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