Scouting Histroy

About Baden-Pawell
Formation of the Scouts
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With his older brothers, Stephe went on all sorts of expeditions, often on the water. They bought old boats and used them to explore the coasts of Great Britain. When they were not on the water , they were learning to look after themselves as they walked for miles with their gear on their backs.

When he left school B.P. went into the Army and travelled extensively in India and South Africa. In 1888 he was fighting in South Africa and, having captured Chief Dinizulu, B.P. was given a long necklace of wooden beads. Much later on B.P. used the beads to make the first Wood Badges, Which are awards given to Scouters when they complete their leadership training.

While he was still in South Africa, B.P. became famous for his defence of a small town called Mafeking (now known as Mafikeng). He used all his cunning to hold out against the Boers who outnumbered his men by nine to one. After seven long months, during which food and supplies became very short and there were so few soldiers that boys from the age of nine upwards worked as messengers on bicycles, help finally came.

Back in Britain everyone was glad to hear the news that Mafeking had been relieved and agreed that B.P. was a national hero.

B.P. was only 43 when he became the youngest Major-General in the British Army. He came home to Britain where he found that many boys in the big towns had nothing to do except get into mischief. He decided to put into practice some of the ideas he had used in South Africa for boys in Britain.

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After the camp, B.P. completed his book Scouting for Boys, which was bought by thousands of boys all over the country. They formed themselves into Patrols and did many of the things they read about in the book. Before long, they found adults to help them and Scout Troops began.

In 1910, B.P. retired from the Army so that he could devote more time to the organization and development of the new Movement.

In 1920, at Olympia in London, the first International Jamboree was held. Towards the end a young Scout declared, We the Scouts of the world, salute you, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, Chief Scout of the World.

In order to train adults to become Scout Leaders, B.P. used a camp site in Epping Forest called Gilwell Park. It is still used for training and as a camp site and is visited by many thousands of Scouts from all over the world each year. B.P. chose to be known as Lord Baden-Pawell of Gilwell when he was made a Baron in 1929, and in that same year he was awarded the rare and distinguished Order of Merit of Hungary.

When B.P. died in 1941, Lord Somers became Chief Scout. After him Lord Rowatlan, Lord Maclean and Sir William Gladstone have all held this appointment.

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