Our Founder

The Patrol Books . No. 19

OUR FOUNDER

by
E. E. REYNOLDS

Illustrated with some of B.-P.’s original sketches

Published by
THE BOY SCOUTS ASSOCIATION
25 Buckingham Palace Road
London, S..W.1

First Published . 1955

Reprinted . . 1957
„ . . 1960

Printed by C. Tinling & Co. Ltd., Liverpool, London and Prescot.

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 Our Founder

OUR FOUNDER

B -P. once said, “I am a Cockney born and bred, and I caught my first tiddler and learnt to
swim in the Serpentine.” The Serpentine is the big lake in Hyde Park, and it was in a
house in a street off the north side of the Park that Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell –
to give his full name-was born on 22nd February, 1857.
The surname Baden-Powell combines the names of two families – the Powells of East
Anglia, where they had been settled for centuries, and the Badens, another old family of
Wiltshire. B.-P.’s father was a clergyman and an Oxford professor; he was a scientist and a
keen naturalist. He was born in 1796 when the young Napoleon was invading Italy; his son
Robert died in 1941 the year in which Hitler invaded Russia.
Mrs. Baden-Powell was the daughter of Admiral William Smyth, one of the founders of the
Royal Geographical Society. He was a descendant from the family of which Captain John
Smith, one of the colonizers of Virginia, was a member.
Professor Baden-Powell died when B.-P. was three years old. He then had four brothers
older than himself (one of them died three years later) and one younger brother. The eldest,
Warington, was then thirteen years old. There was also a younger sister.
Mrs. Baden-Powell had to bring up her children carefully because they were not too well-
off, but she allowed them a lot of freedom in finding their own amusements. They were
encouraged to learn all they could about animals and plants and birds. B.-P. was a very
lively member of a very lively family, each of whom had special gifts; he early showed his
skill in drawing and found that he could use either hand equally well, and one of his ways
of amusing others was by imitating the calls of birds and animals.

Schooldays.
For a time he went to the Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells; this gave him more
opportunity of getting to know life in the fields and woods.
In 1869 he won a scholarship to Charterhouse School which was then in London. He was fond
of telling a story about his early days there; he called it his first lesson in tactics. There was an
age-long feud between the butcher boys of Smithfield and the boys of the school and many a
pitched battle was fought. During one of these, the butcher boys had climbed the school wall and
were throwing stones at the defenders in the playground. A group of smaller boys, including B.-
P., stood watching for a chance to help the bigger ones. While they stood there they were
joined by the headmaster, Dr. Haig Brown. They thought at first he was going to scold them,
but to their surprise he said, “If you boys go out by that side-door, you can attack them in the
flank.”
“The door is locked, sir!” said one of them.
The doctor put his hand into his pocket and brought out the key. So the flanking movement
was carried out and the attackers routed.
The school was moved from London to Godalming in Surrey, and during this difficult
time, B.-P. proved most helpful.
He was not an outstanding scholar or athlete, but took his share in all activities with gusto;
the war-whoop he would let out when goalkeeping was only one sign of his high spirits. He
had his little peculiarities too; he would take two pair of boots on to the football field so that he
could change at half-time and be more comfortable. He was a clever mimic and could set the
audience roaring with laughter at his witty performances. With a few others he organised a kind
of secret club in which he was known as Lord Bathing-Towel.
You must picture him as a slightly-built boy with sandy hair and freckles, but though he
might look small he had a tough and wiry constitution as he was to prove in later years of
adventure and hardship.

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There was one side of life at school that proved of great importance in his training. A stretch
of woodland called “The Copse” was out of bounds to the boys. This was a natural invitation to
anyone of daring spirit B.-P. would steal off there and snare rabbits which he cooked over a
smokeless fire —he did not want to advertise his presence! He learned the use of a knife and
axe, and how to move quietly through the undergrowth. Animals always attracted him, and he
discovered that if he kept quite still, or “froze”, he could watch them and learn about their
habits. This was the scout in the making.
When B.-P. was eleven years old, his eldest brother, Warington, was twenty-one; then
came George aged twenty, and Francis aged eighteen. Warington was very keen on sailing
(he was later to help the beginning of Sea Scouting), and had been trained on the Conway. None
of them had much money so they had to get old boats and put them into proper order; then the
four brothers set off during the holidays in search of adventure. As he was the youngest, B.-P.
got most of the odd jobs such as washing-up and cooking. Once he concocted what he thought
was a wonderful pea soup. The result was so horrible that he was made to eat the lot himself. “I
never made that mistake again,” he said in after years.
The brothers cruised round the coasts of Great Britain and even across to Norway. They had
some experiences that all but led to disaster. Thus on one occasion they were off Torquay in
a 10-tonner which they had christened the Koh-i-noor when a gale sprang up from the south-
west. They tried to make Dartmouth, but found it impossible, so they ran before the gale for
Weymouth. The storm grew fiercer. Each had a length of rope tied to his waist with the free
end lashed to the mast just giving enough slack for them to move about their tasks. B.-P.
admitted that he was thoroughly scared, and it was only Warington’s strict descipline that
brought them through. All night long they battled with the wind and the waves, and it was not
until the next day that they found refuge under the lee of Portland Bill.
They also had tramping holidays. All gear was back-packed; they slept out in barns or under
trees. They got to know all about what we now call hiking; how to use maps; how to cook their
own meals, and how to take care of themselves. They were all keen on sketching so that
castles and other old buildings attracted them. Another interest they shared was learning how
things were made; they got permission to visit factories and see the making of paper, or pottery,

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or furniture. In this way they gained a lot of varied information, some of which was useful in
later years in strange circumstances.
Another trip was by canoe up the Thames and the Avon to the Severn and up the Wye
into Wales; they portaged their canoe and gear where necessary.
At the age of nineteen, B.-P. was uncertain what he wanted to be; he had a vague idea that he
would like to travel, and throughout his long life that desire never grew less. His mother thought
he should go to Oxford as two of his brothers had done, and it was almost an accident that
took him into the army. At the end of his school career, he sat for an Army examination which
he saw advertised. To his surprise, and apparently to that of everyone who knew him, he passed
so high up on the list that he was excused the usual Sandhurst course and was gazetted to the
13th Hussars, then stationed in India. So his longing for travel was quickly satisfied, and in the
September of 1876 he sailed for Bombay.

India.
B.-P. spent ten years in India; the first eight were as an officer in the Hussars, and the last
two as Colonel of the 5th Dragoon Guards. The country therefore meant a great deal to him; it
was there that he learnt the elements of practical scouting as a soldier, and later that he tried out
those methods of training young soldiers as scouts which were the foundation of Scouting for
Boys.
Probably the thing which struck his fellow-officers most was his high spirits and his quick
sense of fun. His first batman said, “He was a general favourite, and he brightened up the life
of the regiment considerably.” The sergeant who taught him riding recalled that, “On parade,
he was on parade, but off parade he was up to all kinds of devilment.”
He was soon taking his share in theatricals and concerts for he could sing a comic song, act a
part in an opera or play, paint scenery and also organise a show at short notice. In sport he
quickly took to polo and pig-sticking; he loved horses and was a fine rider. In pig-sticking there
was the additional thrill of the danger and the need for being able to read tracks and know the
habits of the animal. In 1883 he won the Kadir Cup for pig-sticking – the most coveted of
trophies for that sport. The horses he used were trained by himself; he had to live carefully as
officers were not paid much in those days, but by buying untrained horses in out-of-the-way
villages, he was able to get the mounts he needed and then to sell the trained horses to better-off
officers. To keep down his expenses he gave up smoking and limited his mess bills. He used his
skill in sketching and writing to add to his income. In these ways he was able to manage
without asking his mother for additional funds; he knew she had little to spare.

He was a great favourite with the officers’ children; in the evenings he would take them out
for a walk and teach them how to use their eyes; as they went along he would play catchy tunes
on his ocarina, or invent games for them to play. On wet days they knew they could go along
to his bungalow and watch him drawing and painting, or have some good fun with him as
leader.

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There were other times when he liked to get away from everyone; he would go off into the
wilder country to learn more about beasts and birds, or to make water-colour sketches. His
regular letters home to his mother were always illustrated with thumb-nail drawings and
caricatures.
All the time he was working hard at soldiering, and his promotions show how efficient he
became; lieutenant in 1878, adjutant and captain in 1883. He particularly excelled in
reconnaissance, surveying and scouting. One example may be given of his skill. At some
manoeuvres part of the regiment was protecting the cantonment from the rest who acted as the
“enemy”. B.-P. was one of the attackers; they first tried to find out by scouting exactly where
the defenders were placed, but without any success. At night-fall they decided they might as well
give up, but B.-P. was determined to get the information. So by himself he set off in the dusk and
by careful scouting learned all he could of the defenders’ positions. At the farthest point he left
a glove under a bush. When the General discussed the exercise with the officers, the defenders
were very surprised to hear B.-P. describe exactly how their men had been posted; at first they
thought it was just a good guess, but when they found his glove where he said he had put it,
they had to admit his success.

Natal.
In 1884 the regiment left India for home, but orders were received that they were to
disembark at Port Natal as trouble was threatening in South Africa. The Colonel gave B.-P. a
special job; it was to survey the best route over the Drakensberg Mountains which would have to
be crossed if the regiment was called into active service. B.-P. disguised himself as a journalist
and in the course of a 600 mile ride he got all the needed information and drew a map of the
possible routes. Things quietened down and the regiment was ordered to continue its
homeward journey.
For two years B.-P. was stationed in England with his regiment; he found routine army life
rather dull so he got permission to do some secret service work in Russia and Germany. His
closest shave was in Russia. He had as his companion his younger brother who was also a
soldier. They set out to get details of a new kind of searchlight and of an observation balloon.
They learned all they wanted, but were arrested before they could get away; had they been
brought to trial, they would have been imprisoned but they managed to trick their guards and to
get on board an English ship.
B.-P.’s uncle, General Sir Henry Smyth, was appointed G.O.C. at the Cape in 1887, and he
took his nephew with him as A.D.C. Official life at Cape Town had few excitements; formal
receptions and drawing-room teas were not to B.-P.’s taste and he got bored. Then trouble broke
out with the Zulus. B.-P.’s first job was to rescue some officials and their families up country.
On his way back he had an early experience of the value of knowing something about first aid;
he was able to help a wounded native girl. Later he took part in the rounding-up of the Zulu
chief, Dinizulu, and it was then that he came into possession of a necklace of wooden beads that,
many years later, he handed over to Gilwell Park as the design for the Wood Badge. It was
also at this time that he heard a Zulu Impi chanting the Een-gonyama chorus; that too was to
have a future use in Scouting.
The Zulus called him “M’hlala Panzi”, which means “the man who lies down to shoot”;
this was their way of saying that he took careful aim or thought before doing anything.

Malta.
Sir Henry Smyth was nest appointed to Malta as Commander-in-Chief and he took his
nephew with him again. Here also the dull day-by-day official business offered little that was
exciting, so, this time, B.-P. went off on occasional expeditions as Intelligence Officer for the
Mediterranean. His work was done mostly in the Balkans and Turkey. On one trip he posed as a
butterfly collector. Some officers he met were a little suspicious; they examined his note-book,

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but as it contained careful drawings of butterflies, they shrugged their shoulders and let him go.
They did not realise that the butterflies were of no known species, and that the patches of colour
and the fine lines on the wings were in fact maps showing the positions of guns.
B.-P. returned to his regiment in Ireland in 1893 and for two years lived the regular life of
an army officer; he was popular with his men and they were sorry when he was called away for
special duties. The Commander-in-Chief, Lord Wolseley, had noted that this young Major (he
was only 36 when he went to Ireland) was resourceful and had initiative, so when a war began in
Ashanti and an energetic officer was needed, B.-P. was chosen for the unusual job.

Ashanti.
The capital of Ashanti, Kumassi, was 150 miles from the coast of West Africa (the southern
part of the bulge), and the route lay through swamps and jungle. A native levy was raised to
pioneer the road for the troops and B.-P. was put in command of it. This meant the clearing of
trees, the building of bridges, and the construction of huts; by the end of the expedition there
was not much that he didn’t know about bridge-building and hut-making. There was no
fighting as King Prempeh (who many years later became President of the Ashanti Boy Scouts)
realised that his position was hopeless; an end was put to the human sacrificing and the slave-
trade that had been carried on.
Two things connect this expedition with Scouting. It was in Ashanti that B.-P. first regularly
wore the famous cow-boy hat; because of this the natives called him “Kantankye”, which means,
“He of the big hat”. The second link is the Scout staff B.-P. noticed that the Chief Engineer
always carried a long staff marked in feet and inches. He explained how useful it was in
leaping across streams, sounding the bed of a swamp, or making rough measurements when
putting up the field telegraph. That fact B.-P. stored away in his mind for future use.
His knowledge of the natives also taught him an African saying, “Softlee, softlee, catchee
monkey”, in other words, “Don’t go bull-headed for a thing; take it quietly”. He was fond of
quoting that saying when people wanted to rush things without thinking. He probably noticed
also that the left-handshake was a sign of friendship,
B.-P. returned to England with increased reputation and gained a promotion. He was soon
called upon for another special duty, for what he afterwards called “the best adventure of my
life”.

Matabeleland.
In 1896 a rebellion broke out in Matabeleland, or Rhodesia as we now call it. B.-P. was
appointed Chief of Staff to the commander of the British forces.
No country called for greater skill in scouting than Matabeleland. The natives did not fight
in armies in pitched battles, but took refuge in the wild, boulder-strewn mountains where they
knew every inch of the ground. They were expert scouts themselves. This called out B.-P.’s
finest skill. His work was heavy for as Chief of Staff he had to draw up all instructions for
carrying out the campaign. Most of his scouting was carried out at night. At first he used to go
out with Major Fred Burnham, a famous scout who had learned his skill among the Red
Indians. So quick was B.-P. to read the meaning of any sign, that Burnham nicknamed him
“Sherlock Holmes”. At night B.-P. would put on rubber-soled shoes and then go off prowling
amongst the Matoppos Hills where he learned to know all the intricate paths and windings
amongst the rocks; he invariably brought back exact information of the positions of the
Matabele warriors. They soon came to know him and did all they could to capture him, They
called him “Impeesa”, which means, “the Wolf that never sleeps”, and at sight of him they
would yell this name with horrible threats of what they would do if he fell into their hands.
Time and again he led attacking parties by the routes he had discovered, bringing them out
at the exact spot from which they could best attack.

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On one occasion his men suffered from lack of water, but his quick observation noticed that
a buck had been scratching up the sandy soil in one place; he argued that this meant water; he
dug down with his hands and found a thin trickle which relieved the worst thirst.
His most important engagement was against a leader named Wedza who had taken refuge in
some hills which were naturally defended by masses of rock and steep approaches. The small
force under B.-P. could do little by direct assault, so it was necessary to bluff the enemy. B.-P.
had one hundred and twenty men under his command; twenty-five of them he sent off in one
direction with orders to act as if they were ten times as strong; they scattered along the ridge
and by constantly keeping on the move and firing their rifles from different points gave the
impression of a very strong force.
When night came, B.-P. had fires lighted at wide distances; these were kept flaming by moving
patrols, who also were ordered to fire at intervals. All this gave Wedza the idea that a vast army
was against him; after some skirmishing he drew his main forces off under cover of darkness and
left the stronghold to the British.
It was during one of these expeditions that B.-P. got as a trophy a koodoo horn which was to
have its part in Scouting. He used it at the camp at Brownsea Island in 1907, and later handed it over
to Gilwell when the training camp opened in 1919. He used it himself at the opening of the Coming-
of-Age Jamboree in 1929. It can now be seen in the Group Room at Gilwell Park.

Return to India.
B.-P.’s services in this campaign earned him another promotion and in 1897 he sailed to India
again to take command of the 5th Dragoon Guards. He was a strict disciplinarian but he did not
stand on his dignity too much and was on good terms with his officers and men. He gave much
attention to questions of health and to finding ways and means of making the men more contented.
He took part in concerts and showed all his old skill as a performer. On one occasion a private from
another regiment gave a turn at a regimental concert. Private Brown, as he was called, was so dull
and dreary that his performance was greeted with cat-
calls. Then Private Brown stepped down to the
footlights and said that he thought it a shame to treat
a fellow soldier like that; he was doing his best! Just
then someone called out, “Why, it’s B.-P!”; whereat
the disguised commanding officer gave up pretending
and soon had the audience in roars of laughter at his
jokes and songs.
The officers found that he was still skilful at pig-
sticking and polo. He was always thinking out
schemes for making the lives of the men more
interesting, but his greatest success was in the training

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he gave them as scouts. This was something new in the army. He divided the men up into small
units, each under an N.C.O. who was responsible for the efficiency of his men; the training
was given in the form of competitions and what we should call wide games. Sometimes the
men were sent out in pairs to carry out a survey; they had to look after themselves and make
a full report on their return. Those who did well gained a badge – it was the arrow-head at
the end of the north point of the compass; the War Office gave permission for this badge to be
worn; it was the first badge of efficiency permitted in the army.
Just before he went on leave in 1899 – it was actually his farewell, though no one knew it at
the time – he was glad to receive the praise of the Commander-in-Chief on the efficiency of his
regiment.
When B.-P. arrived in England, he had with him the manuscript of a little book called Aids to
Scouting; he had written most of it during periods of leave in Kashmir when he spent his time
sketching and studying wild life. The book summed up the training he had given his soldier-
scouts, and he thought of it as a military handbook that might be of use to all soldiers. It was in
fact to prove another link in the chain leading to the Boy Scouts,

South Africa.
He had not been home long before Lord Wolseley, the Commander-in-Chief, summoned him
to the War Office. Here is part of their conversation.
“I want you to go to South Africa. Can you go next Saturday?”
“No, sir.”
This sounded like mutiny! But B.-P. added, “There’s no ship on Saturday, but there is one on
Friday.”
Wolseley burst out laughing, and explained what he wanted B.-P. to do.
War was threatening in South Africa between the British and the Boers of the Transvaal and
the Orange Free State. If this happened it was vital to protect the northern and northwestern frontiers
of the Boer Republics. B.-P. was to raise two regiments of mounted cavalry for this purpose and take
up positions along the frontiers, but all had to be done as discreetly as possible.
Such a job was exactly the kind to suit B.-P. He was given a free hand, and had to use his own
wits in a very difficult situation. When he arrived at Cape Town in July, 1899, all kinds of
obstacles were put in his way as the authorities did not want to do anything to upset the Boers. He
fixed his headquarters at Bulawayo and was soon enlisting men. One of the regiments was under
Colonel Herbert Plumer (later Field-Marshal) who had worked with B.-P. in the old Matabele days
and was, in later years, to work with him again in the Boy Scouts.
There was not much time for the usual kind of training, so B.-P.’s methods of working in small
groups and of having very practical manoeuvres were once again used, and again with full success.
By the end of September, when war was certain, he had his two regiments ready for the field. It was
a triumph of organisation.

Mafeking.
War was declared on 11th October. By this time B.-P. had left Plumer with one regiment in
Rhodesia and he himself with the other made his headquarters at Mafeking just on the borders of
the Transvaal. At once General Cronje with nine thousand Boer soldiers advanced on Mafeking
thus relieving the pressure on the small British forces in the country. This alone made the
holding of Mafeking a valuable exploit. Probably the Boers thought they could easily take the
little town for it lay out in the open veldt and had no natural defences; to-day a few tanks could
have done the job in a few hours. B.-P. had trenches dug all round with earth works or small
forts at strategic points. His garrison consisted of just over a thousand men, many of them
without experience of warfare; there were also eight thousand natives, but they took no part in
the struggle as neither side wanted to begin a White v. Black conflict.

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The artillery was out of date, and even the

shells were so ancient that the fuses had to be
wedged in with paper. Two more guns came into
use. One was manufactured in the railway
workshop; this was known as “The Wolf”. The
second was an old eighteenth century gun which
was found to be serving as a farm gatepost.
When they dug it out and cleaned it up they found
on it the maker’s initials which were B.P.!
Against these poor weapons the Boers brought
guns of the latest type including a 94-pounder – a
big gun for that period.
How then did Mafeking hold out for seven
months? There is only one answer – by B.-P.’s
resourcefulness and cheerfulness. The Boers
knew of his Matabele reputation and they were
never sure what next he would be up to; he kept
them guessing all the time. He had no intention
of sitting still to be shot at; he knew that the best
defence was attack, and he knew also that if
everyone was kept busy there would be a better
spirit in face of such odds.
Some of his schemes were pure bluff. Thus
dummy mines were buried at intervals all round
the town and warnings put up of the danger to any unwary person; he knew that this
information would soon get out to the enemy. To give a greater appearance of reality, he with
an engineer went out one day and tested one of the mines; it gave a most satisfactory bang, and
the news quickly spread. As a matter of fact this particular mine had a stick of dynamite in it;
the others were filled with sand. The demonstration made the Boers cautious of approaching the
town at night, and a night attack was the greatest danger. Another ruse, with the same purpose,
was the invention of a movable searchlight. There happened to be amongst the besieged a
traveller in acetylene lamps; his stock was turned to good account. A reflector made of biscuit
tins was nailed on the top of a pole; the light could be switched on from a trench for a few
minutes; then the contraption would be hurriedly taken to another section and again the light
shone out. In this way the Boers got the idea that the town had a whole battery of searchlights.
By agreement, there was no fighting on Sundays – this was before the days of all-out warfare
– and both besiegers and besieged would move about more freely. The Boers could be seen
lifting their legs to get over the barbed wire round their positions. There was no barbed wire
round Mafeking, but B.-P. got his men to go through all the proper motions to give the Boers
the idea that the town was encircled by wire.
He encouraged all kinds of games and amusements on Sundays as a means of keeping up
the people’s spirits; in these he took a full share himself; at one moment he would be seen
serving out tea – as long as they had any – from a wagon, at another acting as a circus-master at
a mock performance. All this helped to give the besieged a feeling of confidence. B.-P. had a
look-out tower built near his headquarters; the townsfolk would see him up there peering
through his glasses at the enemy lines, and they would say, “It’s all right; the Colonel has his
eye on them” or “Seems to know what he’s doing.”
One determined attack by Cronje was driven off, after which the Boer general withdrew
with a large number of his men and left a subordinate in charge. The Boers had come to respect
B.-P.’s resourcefulness; they knew there was little chance of catching him napping. Night after
night he would slip out of the town and go out on lonely scouting expeditions to find out if the

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guns had been moved, or if the trenches were being pushed nearer Mafeking. He would make
the round of the outposts to be certain that all his men were on the alert. It was a mystery to his
officers and the townsfolk as to when he slept; he was satisfied with snatches of sleep during the
daylight.
As the months went by, conditions became more severe. The little town was a long way from
the main scene of the war; disaster after disaster to the British forces cast a gloom on all. At
home the heroic defence of this tiny outpost brought encouragement and hope. Forces could not
be spared for an attempt at relief until Cronje surrendered to Lord Roberts in February, 1900.
Meanwhile food was getting short. Horses and other animals went into the pot; not a bit was
wasted. A kind of “bill-sticker’s” paste, as B.-P. called it, was made out of husks of oats as a
substitute for flour. All kinds of emergency arrangements had to be made for carrying on the life
of the town. B.-P. designed a £1 note for local use, and stamps were also printed. The first –
done without his knowledge – had his portrait on them, but he had this design withdrawn as
soon as he saw them, and a drawing of a boy on a bicycle was substituted. Even now people
believe that the use of B.-P.’s portrait was a bit of self-advertisement on his part; it is a hard job
killing such stories, as the stamp still comes on the market.

Mafeking Scouts.
The “boy on a bicycle” is important. The lengthening of the lines of defence and the toll of
casualties meant a shortage of man-power. Lord Edward Cecil, B.-P.’s staff officer, decided
to make use of the boys of the town as messengers and orderlies. They had a uniform of khaki
with “smasher” hats – that is cowboy hats turned up on one side, or forage caps. Their ages
ranged from nine upwards and they were under the leadership of a boy named Goodyear. At
first they rode donkeys, but these gradually had to help fill the cooking-pots, then they used
bicycles. Their efficiency and cheerfulness impressed B.-P. When one of the boys on one
occasion rode through shell-fire to deliver his message, B.-P. said, “You’ll get hit one of these
days riding about like that when shells are flying.” To which the boy replied, “I pedal so fast,
sir, they’ll never catch me.”
One of the duties of these boys was to take turns on duty on top of one of the higher
buildings and ring the alarm when the Boer guns were fired so that everyone could take cover;
even shells travelled more slowly in those days!
The last serious attempt to carry the town was made on 12th May. The boys were then
under fire all day, running messages and doing anything for which they were needed. The assault
was beaten off and then the boys had the proud experience of escorting the prisoners into the
town.
News of an approaching relief force at last came, and on 16th May the way was dear.
Amongst the first to enter Mafeking was B.-P.’s younger brother. The town had held out for
217 days during which some 20,000 shells had been fired into it; there had been nearly a
thousand casualties including half the officers. When it was all over, B.-P. wrote, “We were all
so tired that all we wanted was to have a good sleep.”
The news of the relief of Mafeking was received with rapturous excitement in Great Britain;
the cheerfulness of the defenders who had refused to give in after months of privation, captured
the public imagination. B.-P. became the hero of the day. His services were at once recognised
by his promotion to the rank of Major-General, and by the honour of the C.B. Queen Victoria
sent him a telegram of congratulation, and Wolseley and Roberts both praised his leadership
and resourcefulness.
Naturally the public wanted to show its feelings towards the defender of Mafeking, but the
war was not over, and a soldier can get little rest. After a few months campaigning to the east of
Mafeking, B.-P. was asked to undertake another special job. This time it was to recruit and
train a corps of men to police the country when peace came.

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The S.A.C.
B.-P. set to work with all his usual enthusiasm and
thoroughness on his new duties. His organising abilities
were considerable; this did not mean that he tried to do
everything himself; once the main lines of development
had been laid down and fully examined in detail, he
handed over the carrying out of the job to others, just
keeping an eye on how things were going. His training as
a scout had taught him how to see the smallest signs of
inefficiency, and then he acted promptly. In after years
in the Boy Scouts he used the same methods; there was
nothing dictatorial in his attitude; he welcomed ideas and
suggestions, but once a decision had been reached, he
insisted on the plan being carried out.
Almost single-handed (for most officers were still fully occupied with the war) he drew up a
scheme for the South African Constabulary, and saw the beginnings of the organisation
established before his health broke down. The surprising thing was that it had lasted so long;
the strain of Mafeking had been enormous, and following that had come active campaigning
and then the intensive work of creating a new police force. So he was ordered home on sick
leave.
Now people had their chance! Wherever he went he was received by enthusiastic
demonstrations. He tried to dodge them as often as possible; for instance, when he arrived at
Southampton he got the railway officials to stop the train just before reaching London so that he
could slip off to a friend’s house and lie low for a while.
When Edward VII, who had just succeeded to the throne, invited him up to Balmoral, B.-P.
chose a roundabout route to avoid the demonstrations. At the end of his visit the king gave him
a haunch of venison, and said, “I notice that you don’t eat enough. You must keep up your
system. Don’t forget – eat more!”
There were a number of civic receptions which B.-P. had to attend, but probably the event he
appreciated most was the laying of the foundation stone of the Charterhouse War Memorial.

Peace.
He was back in South Africa at the beginning of 1902. The S.A.C. was already making a
name for itself, for while the war continued it took part in many minor actions. Peace came in
June, and then the S.A.C. could turn to its real purpose – establishing good order and good
relationships throughout the country. B.-P. himself toured thousands of miles inspecting his
men and encouraging them in their difficult work. He had trained them to work in pairs and to
take responsibility for settling problems on the spot and not waiting for some higher authority to
do their thinking for them.
When it was clear that the S.A.C. could tackle its job successfully, the War Office called B.-
P. to other duties. He was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry, the highest position for a
cavalry man. We need not here describe this stage of his career in detail except to note that he
once more showed that he had his own way of doing things and was not afraid to try new
methods which shocked the old stagers.
His term of office came to an end in 1907 when he was fifty years of age, and in the normal
course of events he would have retired from active service to enjoy a leisurely life. For a few
years he helped with the formation of the new Territorial Army and trained them by methods
which were unusual at that time; he planned what we call wide games for them, and gave
them outdoor training in looking after themselves and in responsibility.
Meanwhile a new life was opening up for him – the Boy Scouts.

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Scouting for Boys.

We must go back a few years to see how this all began. After Mafeking many boys wrote
to B.-P. to get his advice – or his autograph! For instance a Boys’ Club wrote to him, and in
reply he said, “You should not be content with sitting down to defend yourselves from evil
habits, but should also be active in doing good. By doing good I mean making yourselves useful
and doing small kindnesses to other people.” Then he went on to suggest that each of them
should promise to do at least one good turn a day to other people.
When he got back to England he was surprised to find that his little military handbook Aids
to Scouting was being used for training boys in schools and clubs. Then came an invitation from
Sir William Smith to inspect his Boys’ Brigade. B.-P. was impressed with the smartness and
keenness of the boys, and suggested that more boys would join if they had such exciting
activities as scouting games. Sir William welcomed the idea, and asked for a practical scheme.
This set B.-P, thinking; he was never in a hurry to make paper plans but liked to work an
idea out carefully and to discuss it with others. He drew up a short scheme of training for the
use of the Boys’ Brigade, but this was only partly adopted. Then he thought something of the
kind might be useful for other boy organisations, so he worked it out in greater detail. Friends
encouraged him to re-write his Aids to Scouting as a book for boys. He began to do this, but
soon decided that he must see if his ideas were practicable. So he got together a mixed company
of boys, some were the sons of friends and others were from the Boys’ Brigade. He took them
off to camp on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in August, 1907.
There were twenty boys and they were divided into four
Patrols: Wolves, Curlews, Bulls and Ravens. They followed
much the same programme as thousands of Boy Scout camps
since that date, so we need not describe it here. There could
be no doubt of its success; it showed that the kind of
activities B.-P. had put in his scheme were popular and
enjoyable. After the camp he settled down to complete
Scouting for Boys, but he also addressed public meetings to
explain his ideas. The first of these was at Hereford on 8th
November, 1907, and even before his handbook was
published, some Scout Patrols were formed; for their
guidance they had his outline plan in a pamphlet.
Scouting for Boys was published in six fortnightly parts each costing fourpence; the first
came out in January, 1908. The success was immediate and even startling. Boys bought up the
little books by the thousand, and at once formed themselves into Patrols; they persuaded likely
men to become Scoutmasters and so were able to have Troops.
Now this was not quite what B.-P. had intended. He had thought of Scouting as an extra
activity for existing boys’ organisations with perhaps, here and there, separate Scout Patrols
when no other organisation existed. But the rapid spread of Scouting as a separate thing was
something he had not anticipated. Letters asking for advice poured in; an office had to be set up
to deal with inquiries; in fact, a new boys’ movement had sprung into being. Nor was it just a
mushroom growth; the numbers increased steadily, and more and more demands were made on
B.-P. to attend rallies and camps. He ran a second one himself up in the north at Humshaugh in
1908, and a third one in 1909 at Buckler’s Hard on the south coast; it was there that Sea
Scouts began.

Scouting Spreads.
The next surprising development was that Scouting was taken up outside the British Isles.
Chile was the first foreign country to have Scouts (1909), and of course the British Dominions
and Colonies soon had their Scouts.

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In 1909 B.-P. took two Patrols of Scouts to Canada. They were chosen by competition
through The Scout which was first published on 18th April, 1908, and soon reached a
circulation of over 100,000. From Canada, B.-P. went on to the United States. Here is the story
of how the movement was introduced to that country.
An American publisher, William D. Boyce, found himself stranded in a London fog; a Boy
Scout (whose name is not known) helped him to find the place for which he was searching; the
boy refused a tip, explaining that, as a Scout, it was his job to help other people without reward.
This so impressed Mr. Boyce that he made inquiries about this new boys’ organisation, and he
took back with him copies of Scouting for Boys and specimens of badges. From that incident
the Boy Scouts of America date their beginning.
At Gilwell Park, on one of the lawns, you can see a statue of an American buffalo which
was presented to the Boy Scouts of Great Britain in acknowledgement of this incident.

Crystal Palace.
The year 1909 was indeed an important one, for the first big rally was then held; this was
at the Crystal Palace and some ten thousand Scouts were there – only two years after the
Brownsea Island camp. As B.-P. rode round the grounds he was surprised to see a group of
girls wearing Scout hats. They explained that they wanted to scout like their brothers; from
that day may be dated the beginning of the Girl Guides.
By now the Scouts were taking up so much of his time that he had to consider his own future;
at length, with the approval of the King, B.-P. resigned from the army (May, 1910). He was
created a K.C.V.O. in recognition of his great services.
The nest landmark in Scouting was the Windsor Rally of 1911 when about 30,000 Scouts
were reviewed by King George V. The boys were probably as eager to see their Chief as to see
the King. B.-P. moved about among them so that they got to know his slim, wiry figure, and to
recognise the deep voice that always seemed so youthful. They found too that he was not a stiff,
unapproachable Important Person, but someone they could chat with and who always took a
great interest in them and what they were doing.
It was at Windsor that the first Rush-In was carried out. B.-P. wanted to avoid too formal an
inspection; so instead of long ranks of boys waiting for long periods for something to happen, he
made them lie down under what cover was possible, and then, at a signal, to leap up and charge
forward, brandishing their staffs and shouting their Patrol calls until they reached an agreed
position; complete silence then followed. The first time this was done must have been almost
terrifying to the onlookers when they saw this vast mass of boys rushing down on them.
In the following year the Boy Scouts were delighted to hear of the engagement of their
Chief to Miss Olave St. Clair Soames, and a penny collection produced a motor car as a
wedding present.
That same year saw another kind of demonstration – an Exhibition of Scouting at
Birmingham; this told the public something of the handcraft and hobby work that the boys were
learning as Scouts. Gradually the public was getting to know what the Boy Scouts were doing.
The Chief was a very busy man; what with dealing with a heavy correspondence, carrying on
his work at Headquarters, visiting Scouts in all parts of Great Britain as well as in other
countries, and working out new ideas, such as Wolf Cubs, it was a marvel that any one man
could manage it all. How was it done? Partly by his good use of time. At home he slept in a
verandah bedroom in the simplest surroundings; he was up early for a run with his dogs – he
loved all animals but especially dogs – then he would plan his day to fill every minute; if he had
to wait for a train, he would jot down ideas or answer some of the letters that needed his
personal attention; in between whiles he would make a sketch or a painting, or do some
gardening, or perhaps model a head in clay. The Scout Shop, for instance, wanted a statuette
of a Boy Scout, so of course B.-P. was asked to do the model; or a new certificate was needed,
so they turned to him for the design. He managed to get a few days occasionally for his

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greatest relaxation – fishing; he liked that sport especially because he could be alone amidst
beautiful country.

War.
Then came the 1914-18 war. Many people thought that this young movement, only six years
old, would collapse; facts proved far otherwise. Sea Scouts at once took over many coastguard
duties, and it was not until 1920 that their services could be ended; during that time some
30,000 Sea Scouts passed through this service. Other Scouts were used in all kinds of ways;
guarding railways and bridges, helping in hospitals, canteens, and other forms of national work,
acting as messengers, and as buglers to sound the “All Clear” after air raids. What did B.-P. do
during that war? It was sometimes said that he did secret service work in Germany, and one
American newspaper reported that he had been shot in the Tower as a spy! Neither statement
was true! He was far too busy in other ways to go off to Germany on such a mission. He did a great
deal of Y.M.C.A. work for the forces in France, and he and Lady Baden-Powell ran the first
Scout Hut at Etaples for a time. Then he toured the coasts to see how the Sea Scouts were
carrying on with their duties, and he attended rallies and conferences to encourage Scoutmasters
and Scouts to keep going in spite of the difficulties of the times. The War Office made use of his
services as a Lt-General for inspections and for liaison work.
The Movement was not standing still; the junior
branch, the Wolf Cubs got on its feet in 1916 and for
them he wrote The Wolf Cubs Handbook. He was
also planning a scheme for Senior Scouts, as they
were at first called, or Rover Scouts, as they later
became.
The period after the war was one of expansion,
and at last B.-P. was able to carry out an idea he had
long contemplated – a permanent Training Camp for
Scouters. That last word was adopted for all adults in
the movement as he did not like the word “officers”.
The chance came when Mr. W. de Bois Maclaren, a District Commissioner of Rosneath
offered to buy a camping ground as near London as possible. So Gilwell Park entered the Scout
world. The boys were camping there in the summer of 1919 and the first Training Course for
Scoutmasters was held in that September.
B.-P. already had a scheme of training ready. It was to be in camp and the Scouters were to
be divided into Patrols with each member taking his turn at the various jobs. Those who passed
this practical course and also a theoretical course and proved able to apply their training, received
the Wood Badge; this consists of two beads copied from those B.-P. brought back from the
Zulu war of 1888. These Scouters belong to the First Gilwell Park Group of which B.-P.
was the Honorary Group Scoutmaster; they wear a grey scarf with a patch of Maclaren tartan
on the back. Now, many years later, you can meet members of that Group in all the
countries where there are Scouts.
During the early days B.-P. used to visit each Gilwell Course, but this was impossible
when his world tours took him away so much. If he was in England on the day, he was at the
Gilwell Reunion, and his talks at the camp fires were always memorable and impressive. He
liked taking distinguished people to Gilwell and, even more, he liked camping there when he
could stroll about the camping fields and chat with the Scouts.

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First Jamboree.
It had been hoped to have a big camp for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of
Scouting, but the war stopped that. The earliest possible date was 1920. At first this camp was
intended for British Scouts, but B.-P. threw out the suggestion, “Why not invite the foreign
Scouts as well?” Then he thought of a special name for this kind of rally – JAMBOREE. It
sounded strange at first, but now everyone knows what a Jamboree is; as it is a camp of Scouts
from all the countries where the Movement exists, we speak of a World Jamboree. The
Jamboree of 1920 was held in Olympia with a camp at Richmond, but since then all have been
held in camp. In addition to Scouts from many parts of the British Commonwealth, there were
Scouts of twenty-one other countries. The public suddenly realised that here was a new world-
wide movement that could have great influence on peaceful developments.
It was at this Jamboree that B.-P. was acclaimed Chief
Scout of the World – a title that died with him. There was also
another important event. The heads of the various contingents
got together and decided to meet every other year at a
Conference, and to form an International Bureau which would
keep all the countries in touch with each other and encourage
camping and hiking from country to country.
B.-P. was always fond of travelling and he enjoyed seeing
new places and new people, so he made many tours with
Lady Baden-Powell to see how Scouting was progressing
in various parts of the world. In 1921 he was back in India,
and in 1923 he went off to Canada again and the United
States. These tours were a valuable link between the Scouts of
all countries and the encouragement he gave them and the
public support he won stimulated everyone to do his best. So
the numbers went on growing. By 1924, the year of the
second World Jamboree, there were nearly 1,350,000 Scouts
in the world.
That Jamboree was preceded by an Empire Jamboree at Wembley when over 12,000 British
Scouts camped together and gave their displays and made friends. Many of them went on to
Copenhagen for the Second World Jamboree where thirty-three nations were represented. At
the final rally it poured with rain, but B.-P. brought a laugh by saying, “I’ve seen great
numbers of Scouts in my life, but I’ve never seen any as wet as you are!”
In September of the next year, he set off with his family to South Africa which he had not
visited for nearly twenty years. He had a very full programme of rallies and meetings, but
illness prevented him from doing all he wanted to do. He regained his health, as he said, by “a
severe course of trout fishing”.

Arrowe Park.
Back in England, plans were already being made for the Coming-of-Age Jamboree at
Arrowe Park, near Birkenhead, in August, 1929. As a prelude to that, B.-P. had a reunion at his
home, Pax Hill, Bentley, in Hampshire, of the survivors of that first camp on Brownsea Island.
Twelve of them were able to meet again and talk over those early days.
The great camp at Arrowe Park illustrated the widespread character of the Movement. The
Scouts came, fifty thousand of them, from forty-one countries and from thirty-one parts of the
British Commonwealth and Empire. Numbers give no idea of the good fellowship, the fun, the
swapping of badges, and even uniforms, the expeditions and visits, all nations mixed up
together, the attempts at strange languages, the camp fires and displays and all that camping means.
Pouring rain did not damp enthusiasm but added to the gaiety of things by producing a sea of mud in
which all slipped and slithered losing dignity and rank in a common mud bath! The more formal

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side of the Jamboree was impressive; the march past of the nations and visits from notabilities from
the Prince of Wales downwards; the Prince camped there too. Then there were the religious services
when boys of many creeds worshipped God.
The Scouts combined to present their Chief with a Rolls-Royce car and caravan – promptly
christened the Jam-Roll. You can see that caravan now at Gilwell Park.
The well-known portrait of B.-P. by David Jagger was also painted at this time; this hangs in B.-
P.’s Room at Imperial Headquarters. There too you can see many mementoes of him and his
varied career.
The highest honour he received at this Jamboree was the peerage conferred on him by King
George V. It was significant that B.-P. decided to use the title of Baden-Powell of Gilwell, for this
showed the importance he attached to the training and camping done there.
The badge of the Jamboree was a Golden Arrow; this B.-P. described at the final rally as a symbol
of Peace and Fellowship to be carried to their home countries by all the Scouts gathered round him.

The enormous success of this greatest of all rallies of boys and young fellows stimulated all
members of the Movement to fresh endeavours. For B.-P. it meant travelling about the world to
encourage the Scouts he met wherever he went – sometimes in out-of-the-way islands in the
Pacific, or in vast territories such as Canada and Australia. At times he felt he must apologise to
the Scouts in Great Britain because he was away so much; as he wrote, “The Old Country is not
the only country in the world, and I am supposed to be World Chief Scout. The world is rather
large in size and it takes a lot of time to get from end to end of it!” In those days, air travel
was still unusual, but the long voyages helped to maintain his strength. He was 75 years old in
1932, but he refused to take things easier while he had the energy and health.
At the beginning of 1931 he and Lady Baden-Powell (who had become World Chief Guide
in the previous year) set off for a tour of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These visits,
however short, were treasured experiences for the Scouts wherever the Chiefs went. B.-P.’s keen
observation and his wisdom enabled him to give many a hint on how things could be improved
or further developments made. He was always quick to pick out and praise any new idea for
making the training more interesting and attractive. Right to the end of his life he encouraged
initiative in others; he had little use for routine methods and red tape.
B.-P. was present at the big events of those years; the first Rover Moot at Kandersteg in
1931, the fourth World Jamboree in Hungary in 1933 and the second Rover Moot in Sweden
in 1935. Those who attended came away with renewed inspiration from the talks he gave them.
His speeches were always friendly and informal; listeners did not feel that they were listening
to some exalted personage, but to a man who understood their own feelings and desires.
There was another world tour in 1934. He sent accounts of what he saw to The Scout week
by week, for during all the years from 1908 it was rare for him to miss writing a weekly article
and very often adding a sketch.

80th Birthday.
The year 1937 brought his 80th birthday, and it was to be a wonderful anniversary for
him. The actual day he spent with his old regiment in India; for the last time he wore his full
uniform and took the salute at the parade. He was back in England for the annual St. George’s
Day Service for Scouts at Windsor; he watched Rovers and Scouts at their many duties at the

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Coronation. The King conferred on him the highest honour

he had at his command – the Order of Merit. The President
of France sent him the Grand Cordon of the Legion of
Honour, and from the United States came the Wateler Peace
Prize. It was as if the nations were combining to recognise
the worth of this wonderful man of eighty.
Then came the World Jamboree in Holland – the last he
was to attend. Many must have realised, as he certainly did,
that in the nature of things they dared not hope to see the
well known figure of their beloved Chief or hear his strong
voice at another Jamboree. It was indeed ten years before
another was possible. Here are some of his words:
“Now the time has
come for me to say good-
bye. I want you to lead
happy lives. You know that
many of us will never meet
again in this world. I am in
my eighty-first year and am
nearing the end of my life.
Most of you are at the
beginning, and I want your lives to be happy and successful.
You can make them so by doing your best to carry out the Scout
Law all your days whatever your station and wherever you are. .
. . Now good-bye. God bless you all.”
The Chief camped at Gilwell that September for the annual Reunion; they always made it
seem like a family gathering; B.-P. would stroll about with his dogs, chatting to Scouters and
watching the games and competitions. In his lifetime he had to take the leading place at many a
big gathering or rally, and a smaller man might well have become swollen-headed and stand-
offish, but such affairs did not affect him in that way; to the end he remained a friendly, simple
man who was so interested in people and had so many things he wanted to do, that he had no
time to worry about his prestige, and it is doubtful if he ever realised what a truly great man he
was in the eyes of thousands upon thousands who owed him so much happiness.
He spent the winter of 1937 in Kenya at Nyeri where he had a bungalow called Paxtu after
his home in Hampshire. The Chiefs returned to England in May 1938 but it was clear that B.-P.
was a tired man. One traveller on the same boat noted how at the ports of call Scouts and
Guides assembled on the quays to show their affection though B.-P. was too unwell to see
them.
The summer was spent quietly at home, but it was decided to return to the kinder climate of
Kenya for the winter. For some months he was able to fill his time with his many interests. He
kept up his vast correspondence, and began a series of paintings of wild animals in their natural
haunts. There were expeditions to get first-hand material for his pictures and once again he saw
the veldt that had meant so much in his earlier days.
Slowly his strength ebbed, and on 8th January, 1941, the end came. He was buried in view
of Mount Kenya, a fitting resting place for one who had always loved the open-air, the
mountains and streams.
Memorial services were held all over the world, and in those countries where the Boy Scouts
were suppressed, they mourned him in secret.
On St. George’s Day, 1947, a memorial stone to him was unveiled in Westminster Abbey;
above it are the flags of the two Movements he founded.

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When you are next in London, go to the Abbey. You will find the memorial at the south-
west corner of the Nave. As you read the inscription, say a prayer of gratitude for the life of

ROBERT BADEN-POWELL

CHIEF SCOUT OF THE WORLD

1857-1941

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