A little bit about Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting
Show Notes:
- Robert Baden-Powell – Wikipedia
- Lord Baden Powell history – Scouts.org
- Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts (Amazon)
- Scouting for Boys: The Original 1908 Edition (Amazon)
Transcript:
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the world-wide Boy Scout Movement.
As a young army officer, he specialized in scouting, map-making and reconnaissance, and soon began to train the other soldiers in what were essential skills for any soldier of the time. B-P’s methods were unorthodox. He set up small units or patrols who worked together under a single leader, and made sure there was special recognition for those who did well. The proficiency badges he awarded then resembled the traditional design of the north compass point, and today’s universal Scout badge remains remarkably similar.
Baden-Powell wrote a military training manual during the Second Boer War and later used it as a basis for his book Aids to Scouting.
On returning from war, He found that the small handbook he had written for soldiers, Aids to Scouting, was being used by youth leaders and teachers all over the country to teach observation and woodcraft.
He reworked Aids to Scouting for a younger audience, and in 1907 organised what’s known as the “experimental” camp on Brownsea Island, off the coast of Dorset, to put some of his ideas into practice, made up of 20 boys.
From this initial starting point, the scouting movement soon blossomed. In 1909, there was the first National Scout Rally at Crystal Palace. It was attended by 11,000 boys and illustrated the rapid growth in popularity. There were also girls who wished to be part of this new movement. This led to the formation in 1910 of a parallel organization, The Girl Guides, which was run by his sister Agnes Baden-Powell.
Scouting has grown in the United States from 2,000 Boy Scouts and leaders in 1910 to millions strong today. From a program for Boy Scouts only, it has spread into a program including Lion and Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, Webelos Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers.
Although Scouting has changed over the years, the ideals and aims have remained the same: character growth, citizenship training, and personal fitness. Scouting is updated periodically to keep pace with a changing world. It isn’t the same as it was on Brownsea Island in 1907, but the ideals are still based on principles that Baden-Powell had been taught as a boy.
Scouting’s founder was never able to completely overcome his surprise at Scouting’s worldwide appeal. As it swept the globe, Scouting brought him new adventures and responsibilities as Chief Scout of the World. He traveled extensively and kept in touch with Scouting around the world.
Eventually, Baden-Powell’s health began to fail. He set up a winter home at Nyeri, Kenya, in 1938, where he spent his remaining years until his death in 1941. Scouts of different races carried him to his final resting place in the small cemetery at Nyeri.
He died on January 8th, 1941, at 83 years old. On his headstone are the words “Robert Baden-Powell, Chief Scout of the World” the simple headstone the Scout sign for “I have gone home.”.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and now you know just a little more on Lord Baden Powel.
