The name Baden-Powell is known and respected throughout the world as that of a man who, in his 83 years, devoted himself to the service of his country and his fellow men.
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell was born in London on February 22, 1857.
He was the sixth son and the eighth of ten children of the Reverend Baden-Powell, a Professor at Oxford University. Baden Powell is called B-P by scouts all over the world.
He attended Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells, where he gained a scholarship for admittance to Charterhouse School. He was always eager to learn new skills.
With his brothers he was always in search of adventure. In all this, Baden-Powell was learning the arts and crafts which were to prove so useful to him professionally. He gained second place for |
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cavalry in open examination for the army and was commissioned straight into the 13th Hussars, bypassing the officer training establishments, and subsequently became their Honorary Colonel for 30 years. With the 13th Hussars he served in India, Afghanistan and South Africa and was mentioned in dispatches for his work in Zululand. He was promoted to command the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897. It was to the 5th Dragoon Guards that B-P gave his first training in Scouting and awarded soldiers reaching certain standards a badge based on the north point of the compass. Today’s scout membership badge is very similar.
In 1899 came Mafeking, the most notable episode in his outstanding military career. By using boys for responsible jobs during the siege, he learned the good response youth give to a challenge. During the 217-day siege the chief of the Zulu Rebellion surrendered and gave B-P a leather thong with wooden beads and a title “IMPESSA” which means “A wolf that never sleeps”. B-P’s book Aids to Scouting was published and reached a far wider readership than the military one for which it was intended. Following Mafeking, B-P was given the task of organising the South African Constabulary. When he returned to England in 1903 as Inspector General of Cavalry he found that his book, Aids to Scouting was being used by youth leaders and teachers all over the country.
At a Boys’ Brigade gathering he was asked by its Founder, Sir William Smith, to work out a scheme for giving greater variety in the training of boys in good citizenship.
B-P set to work rewriting Aids to Scouting, this time for a younger readership. In 1907 he held an experimental camp on Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour, Dorset, to try out his ideas. He brought together 20 boys, and put them into camp under his leadership. The boys formed four Patrols going on hikes, learning how to cook outdoors without utensils, learning patriotism, woodworking, etc. Hence the foundation of Boy scouts was laid. This movement is now 100 years old.
Without fuss, without ceremony and completely spontaneously, boys began to form Scout Troops all over the country. In September 1908, B-P had set up an office to deal with the large number of enquiries which were pouring in concerning the Movement.
He retired from the Army in 1910 at the age of 53, on the advice of His Majesty King Edward VII, who suggested that he would do more valuable service for his country within the Boy Scout Movement (now Scout Movement) than anyone could hope to do as a soldier!
So all his enthusiasm and energy was now directed to the development of scouting and its sister Movement, Guiding. He travelled to all parts of the world, wherever he was most needed, to encourage their growth and give them the inspiration that he alone could give.
The first international Scout Jamboree took place at Olympia, London in 1920. At its closing ceremony, B-P was unanimously acclaimed as Chief Scout of the World. Successive international gatherings, proved that this was not an honorary title, but that he was truly regarded by them all as their Chief. The shouts that heralded his arrival, and the silence that fell when he raised his hand, proved beyond any doubt that he had captured the hearts and imaginations of his followers in whatever country they owed allegiance.
At the 3rd World Jamboree, held in Arrowe Park, Birkenhead, to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the publication of Scouting for Boys, the Prince of Wales announced that B-P had been created a Peer. He took the title of Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell — Gilwell Park being the Inter-national Training Centre for Scout Leaders.
Scouting was not B-P’s only interest, for he excelled at pig-sticking and fishing, and favoured polo and big game hunting. He was also a very good black & white and watercolour artist and took an interest in cinephotography and sculpture. In 1907, he exhibited a bust of John Smith, the colonial pioneer, at the Royal Academy.
On January 8, 1941, Baden-Powell died at the age of 83. He is buried in a simple grave at Nyeri within sight of Mount Kenya. On his headstone are the words, “Robert Baden-Powell, Chief Scout of the World” surmounted by the Boy Scout and Girl Guide Badges. His memory remains for all time in the hearts of millions of men and women, boys and girls. It is up to those who are, or have been, Scouts or Guides to see that the two Movements he so firmly established continue for all time as living memorials to their founder. |
