The
Founder of the Scout Movement
Robert Stephenson Smith Baden-Power was born
on February 22nd, 1857. Three years later his father died, and Mrs.
Baden-Powell was left to bring up ten children.
At
school Robert was neither an outstanding scholar nor sportsman, but he was a
first-class marksman, a natural actor and artist, and he possessed a lively
sense of humour. But sometimes he went off alone to an out-of-bounds woodland
near the school, where he tracked and observed wildlife. “It brought some
realization of the wonders that surround us, “he wrote later, “and it revealed
too, through open eyes, the beauties of the woods and the sunsets.”
In the holidays the Baden-Powell brothers
went exploring, sailing boat which they had repaired them-selves: hiking:
camping-out in barns or in the open; visiting castles, building, factories and
workshops. Robert did not know what he wanted to do when he left school.
Unknown to his family, he took an army entrance examination and, much to
everyone’s surprise he passed so well that he was immediately commissioned as
an officer.
He proved to be a brilliant soldier and was
rapidly promoted. His unconventional training method, of dividing his men into
small group and teaching them with competitions and games, were most
successful.
Baden-Powell
– the soldier
Probably colonel Baden-Powell’s best-known
military success was when, with 1,000 of his men, he was surrounded by 9,000
Boers in the small town of Mafeking in South Africa.
Mafeking held out for 217 days until
reinforcements came. In Britain everyone had followed the news from the
besieged town with much interest. His remarkable achievement made him a
national hero. In 1903, when only 46, B-P (as we shall call him) was appointed
to be the army’s youngest-ever inspector-General of cavalry.
A few years before, he had written a booklet
called aids to scouting. This outlined his army training methods and was
published in England during the Mafeking siege. On his return to England, B-P
was themselves Boy scouts, had formed small groups to practice scout craft. B-P
decided that he would revise the booklet to make it make it more suitable for
young people, and by the summer of 1907 he was ready to put his ideas to the
test.
