Anglo‑Boer War Siege Notes

Mafeking (1899–1900)

Under command of Colonel Robert Baden‑Powell, the garrison held out for 217 days. As normal commerce broke down and coinage became scarce, the town issued its own banknotes – among the most tangible survivors of the Mafeking ordeal [citation:10].

Production

The notes were printed on ordinary writing paper in five denominations of one, two, three and ten shillings and one pound, from January to March 1900, in an underground shelter. The town auctioneer Edward Ross, who penned one of the many accounts of the siege, aided in the process. He noted: "I had a little signboard made, Mafeking Mint. No Admission" [citation:10].

Denominations

• 1s, 2s, 3s notes: Simple vouchers used in canteens for a daily ration of hard-baked oat bread and horse meat. These lower-value notes carry a facsimile signature of the Army Paymaster, Captain H. Greener. For obvious reasons these notes are the most commonly encountered, although the three-shilling note survives in lesser numbers [citation:10].
• 10s and £1 notes: In his memoirs, Baden‑Powell recalled his personal input in their design: "The design for the one-pound note I drew on a boxwood block, made from a croquet mallet cut in half, and this I handed to a Mr Riesle, who had done wood engraving. But the result [two rudimentary images of soldiers with cannon] was not satisfactory from the artistic point of view, so we used that as a ten-shilling note and I drew another design which was photographed for the pound note" [citation:10].

Early issues of the ten-shilling note include a typographical error: "Issued by authority of Col R.S.S. Baden-Powell, Comman[d]ing Frontier Forces" [citation:10].

Guarantee and Signatures

The notes were issued on the authority of Colonel Baden-Powell, exchangeable for coin at the Mafeking Branch of the Standard Bank of South Africa on the resumption of civil law [citation:2][citation:7]. The blue one-pound siege note, complete with Baden‑Powell's competent sketch of Rhodesian troops under the Union flag, was signed in ink by Robert Bradshaw Clarke Urry, the manager of the Mafeking branch of the Standard Bank, and by Paymaster Greener who gave each issue of notes authority by depositing a cheque of an equivalent amount into the bank [citation:10].

Redemption and Survival

In total, 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 [citation:10].

A statement made by Mr Bottomley in the House of Commons, 28 June 1910, confirmed: "After the relief of the town the notes and coupons were extensively bought as mementoes of the siege, and the paper presented for payment only amounted to £638, leaving a balance of £4,590 outstanding. Although civil law was resumed in 1902, no steps were taken to obtain an account of the actual sums paid by the bank until January, 1908, when the Paymaster brought the matter to the notice of the chief accountant of the South African Command, and negotiations were opened which resulted in the bank repaying the whole amount of the outstanding currencies" [citation:10].

Mr Ross proved prophetic when he wrote at the time: "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" [citation:10].

Auction records: As early as July 1900, The Times recorded sales of Mafeking notes. Today, a £1 note can command $1,000–2,000 at auction, while lower denominations range from $100–500 depending on condition [citation:10].

Kimberley (1899–1900)

The diamond town, defended by Col. Robert Kekewich and with Cecil Rhodes present, lasted 124 days. While few actual siege banknotes survive today, the Wits University Research Archives hold the Kimberley Siege Collection (Fonds A64), which contains invaluable primary sources [citation:3][citation:8].

Kimberley Siege Collection (A64)

• Correspondence between G.H. Beaumont, Barkly West, and Col. R.G. Kekewich (Commander of the troops, Kimberley) concerning the state of the war, 1900 [citation:3].
• Correspondence between Kekewich, C.J. Rhodes and W. Pickering (Secretary of De Beers) relating to the siege [citation:3].
• Notes by Kekewich on Rhodes and the siege, copies of telegrams, press clippings from the Diamond Fields Advertiser [citation:3].
• Statistics of rounds fired from 24 October 1899 to 16 February 1900 [citation:3].
• A letter of thanks to Lord Roberts from citizens thanking him for relieving Kimberley [citation:3].

The De Beers workshops produced shells and even a gun – "Long Cecil" – during the siege. Rationing was severe, and permits themselves became a form of currency.

Ladysmith (1899–1900)

Besieged for 118 days, the town endured food shortages and disease. No official siege notes are known to survive, but extensive postal history and personal diaries provide a vivid record of life under siege [citation:4].

Diary of Lieutenant Harold Orpen-Palmer

One of the most detailed surviving accounts is the diary of Lieutenant Harold Orpen-Palmer of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, covering 23 August 1899 to 28 February 1900. The diary consists of 157 handwritten leaves in an A5 leather-bound notebook, with daily entries describing life in the camp and encounters with the Boers during the siege [citation:4].

Extracts from his diary [citation:4]:

• 26 October 1899: Commences his entries under the title "Ladysmith Siege Diary"
• 26 November: "Enemy fired a few shells today contrary to their usual custom on Sunday. At midnight a 12 pounder naval gun passed our post on the way to Caesar's camp."
• 16 December: "We only heard one or two shots from Buller today. Boers are celebrating Dingaan's Day today, so we were moderately quiet. There was an eclipse moon tonight, nearly half of it being covered."
• 28 February: "Lord Roberts sent in the following message yesterday 'General Cronje and all his force were captured unconditionally at daylight this morning and he is now a prisoner in my camp.' We were visited by a terrible thunder storm in the evening which I hope will prevent the Boers from trying a successful trek. All night long our big guns kept giving Bulwana Tom odd shots, so I hope they will stop his going."

The famous "Christmas pudding shell" – fired by the Boers into Ladysmith containing a pudding and two Union flags – remains a legendary episode of the siege.

Other Siege and Emergency Notes

• Green Point Track (POW Camp, Cape Town): "Good For" notes issued for 1s, 2s, and 5s, bearing the printed signature of G.W. Barnes, Manager. Sets of four notes occasionally appear at auction, realising £70–100.
• Diyatalawa (Ceylon): Boer Prisoner of War notes issued in the camp in present-day Sri Lanka. These are extremely rare.
• Marshall Hole card money: Denominations from 3d to 10s, issued as emergency currency during the war.

Sources

• Cambridge University Library. "Mafeking siege [bank] notes and vouchers, 1900-1903" (RCMS 113/69) [citation:2][citation:7].
• Wits University Research Archives. "Kimberley Siege Collection (Fonds A64)" [citation:3][citation:8].
• Antiquarian Auctions. "Diary of Lieutenant Harold Orpen-Palmer – The Siege of Ladysmith" [citation:4].
• Anglo Boer War Forum. "Mafeking siege currency" (Dr David Biggins, citing Antiques Trade Gazette) [citation:10].
• Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. The Boer War 1899-1902 (Osprey, 2014) [citation:1].
• Grehan, John & Mace, Martin. The Boer War, 1899-1902: Ladysmith, Magersfontein, Spion Kop, Kimberley and Mafeking (Pen & Sword, 2014) [citation:6].

Revision History