Our History

The History of Scouting: Our Roots, We are the Branches

Author: USJR Boy Scout Unit || Compiled by: Snr. Sct. 羅伊·阿什莉 

Our History (Worldwide)

Father: Herbert George Baden Powell

 

1^st Wife: Eliza Rivas - +1836 (no children)

2^nd Wife: Charlotte Pope

• ·         Charlotte Elizabeth Powell (1838 – 1917)
• ·         Baden Henry Powell (1841 – 1901)
• ·         Louissa Ann Powell (1843 – 1896)
• ·         Leticia Mary Powell (1844 – 1865)

3^rd Wife: Henrietta Grace Smyth Powell

• ·         Henry Warrington Smyth Baden Powell (1847 – 1921)
• ·         Sir George Smyth Baden Powell, K.C.M.G. (1847 – 1898)
• ·         Augustus Smyth Powell (1849 – 1863)
• ·         Francis Smyth Baden Powell (1850 – 1931)
• ·         Henrietta Smyth Powell (1851 – 1854)
• ·         John Penrose Smyth Powell (1852 – 1855)
• ·         Jessie Smyth Powell (1855 – 1856)
• ·         ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH BADEN POWELL (Feb. 22, 1857, Sunday – January 8, 1941, Wednesday) – Paddington, England
• ·         Agnes Smyth Baden Powell (1858 – 1945)
• ·         (Major) Baden Fletcher Smyth Baden Powell (1860 – 1937)

Complete Address: 6 Stanhope Terrace Street, Paddington, South Kensington, London, England, U.K. (Paxwan / Pax 1)

 

His Teenage Life

• ·         When he was 15, the school was moved to Guddalming Surrey with its mysterious small woods called the Copse.
• ·         B.P. always of his admiration of his skill in dealing with boys. He encouraged the development of creativity, innovation, and self-reliance among his students.
• ·         He supplied his school papers with interesting articles and accompanied it with amusing illustrations.
• ·         B.P did not like being good at just one thing but enjoyed what the day may bring forth: football, shooting, debating, boating, and most of all acting. He was a fine mimic, and had a delightful singing voice, and could draw and write well and equally with both hands.

At the Age of 19:

·         After passing the examinations for commissioned officer given by the British Army, BP left England to join the 13^th Hussars Regiment in India, the country he first served in as a soldier.

After 8 years of service as a soldier in India:

• ·         He became a captain.
• ·         Returned to his regiment in England.
• ·         But on their way home, the ship was ordered to reroute to South Africa because there was trouble in the colony of Bechuanaland (modern day Botswana).
• ·         While his regiment remained in Port Natal, BP was sent to the frontier to survey the mountain passes in case the regiment had to move inland.
• ·         He spent three weeks alone, travelling 600 miles in horseback ride to perform reconnaissance in Drakensberg Mountains.
• ·         The Boer trouble simmered down and the regime continued further to England.

Lord Baden Powell

Scouting in Africa

• ·         In 1886, BP was assigned to Africa as Aid de Camp and Adjutant to his uncle who then served as Commanding General in Africa, taking parts on the three tribes which are the Zulus, the Ashanti, and the Matabele.
• ·         He was able to fully develop all those interests he had in Scouting Work – reconnaissance and surveying –and he became known as one of the great army scouts.
• ·         Later, he did secret service work in the Mediterranean and then saw service against Chief Dinuzulu of the Zulus and King Prempei of the Ashanti of South Africa.

 

 

“M’hala Phanzi” – He who lies down to shoot.

“Een Gon Yama” – He is a lion.

“Impeesa” – A Wolf that never sleeps.

 

1885 – 1886

·       BP had the chance to travel in to secret service missions in Russia and Germany with his brother Baden Fletcher Baden – Powell, also an officer in the British Army. Their work in Russia was particularly daring. They have been sent to investigate the costs that Russia has built it new type of military balloon. The two brothers found out all what they had to know but were arrested before they could get away. They tricked their guards and escaped back to England with their information.

 

The Matabele Campaign

·       The Founder’s bravery and cunning were apparently displayed when he was assigned to help quell a rebellion in the Matabele Land. The Matabeles’ tactics was to not fight the enemy openly but by surprise. BP knew that it took a spy to defeat a spy that is why he used his scouting skills to the fullest advantages. He was so good at it that he left the Matabeles in awe and drawn them to superstition that he is the Impeesa (a wolf that never sleeps) disguised as a human. BP, like a wolf, was so cunning and alert.

 

1887

• ·    BP returned to Africa.
• ·    Prempeh, the Ashanti King was at Gold Coast (modern day Ghana) and defying the British forces.
• ·     In spite of orders against slave trading, he attacked and took over neighbouring tribes and had taken captives.
• ·     BP was placed in command to lead the native scouts to go ahead the army and cut a pathway or road within the Jungle of Kumassi, the Ashanti Capital.
• ·    When BP approached Prempeh’s palace, Prempeh immediately gave up to British forces.

The Siege of Mafeking (Boer War)

• ·         In 1899, BP was sent back to Africa to oversee a British controlled town called Mafeking.
• ·         On October 11, 1899, war broke out between the British and the Dutch Farmer Colonialists known as the Boers.
• ·         BP defended Mafeking for 217 days with just a handful of trained soldier and rapidly diminishing supplies until reinforcements arrived.
• ·         He spearheaded the organization of the South Africa Constabulary and also became Inspector General of the British Cavalry.
• ·         After 217 days, the siege was over and BP became a popular hero at Mafeking.
• ·         He was promoted Major General at the age of 43 by Queen Victoria.
• ·         The Boer General, Pieter Arnoldus Cronje surrendered with 4000 men in February 27, 1900.

1903

• ·         BP was invited by Sir William Alexander Smith (1854 – 1914), founder of the Boy’s Brigade, to review a rally of the qausi-military youth organization.
• ·         It was attended by 7,000 members out of the 50, 000 members of the organization.

 

The Birth of the Scouting Movement

1907

• ·         Before BP completes his revised edition of Aids to Scouting, he invited 21 boys to join a camp at Poole Harbor Dorset, Brownsea Island, an island at the southern coast of England from July 31 to August 9, 1907.
• ·         This camp was to prove his theory that Scouting can be applied on boys.
• ·         Such as that in the British Army, he divided them into troops – Wolves, Bulls, Curlew, and Ravens.
• ·         This camp was filled with activities that enabled the boys to develop leadership, teamwork, resourcefulness, and more.

January 1908

·         BP’s “Scouting for Boys” began to appear on newsstands and bookstores across England in pamphlet form.

May 1, 1908

·         It was published as a book and became the bestseller at those times.

 Scouting for Boys was originally in six fortnightly installments from January 15 through April 18, 1908.

Part I. Scoutcraft

Part II. Tracking and Woodcraft

Part III. Camplife and Campaigning

Part IV. Endurance and Chivalry

Part V. Saving life and Patriotism

Part VI. Notes for instructors, Scouting games, practices, and displays

The First Boy Scout Rally

• ·         At this point, Baden Powell had a realization for organization that is why he invited all those who are interested in Scouting.
• ·         To his surprise, 11, 000 boys supported the movement thus marks the official beginning of the Scouting Movement.
• ·         The First Boy Scout Rally took part at Crystal Palace on 1907.

Scouting went to America

•  One day, in 1909, in London, England, an American visitor named William Dickinson Boyce (1858 – 1929) lost his way on the fog and stopped on a street lamp to figure out where he was.
•     A boy approached him and offered him help. “You certainly can.” Boyce answered. He told the boy that he had particular business office at the center of the city.
• “I’ll take you there,” said the boy. When they reached their destination, Mr Boyce reached to his pocket for a tip but the boy said, “No thank you, Sir. I am a scout, I won’t take anything for helping.”
• “A scout, and what must that be?” Boyce asked. The boy told him about him being a scout and his other brother scouts. This became an interesting fact to Boyce. After running errands, he had the boy taking him to the British Scouting Office and there he met the national idol, Robert Baden – Powell.

+++THE YEAR WAS 1910+++

  

February 8, 1910

• ·Boyce brought scouting to America and instituted the Boy Scouts of America together with outstanding leaders.

• Ernest Thompson Seton – 1^st Chief Scout of the BSA
• Daniel Carter Beard – 1^st National Commissioner of the BSA



James Edward West

• James Edward West – 1^st Chief Scout Executive of the BSA

Ernest Thompson Seton

Daniel Carter Beard

July 30 - August 8, 1920

• ·         BP mounted the First World scout Jamboree held at London, England, United Kingdom.
• ·         On August 7, 1920, a young voice called out among the crowd at the Olympia uttering the words:

 

“We , the Scouts of the World, salute you, Sir Robert Baden –     Powell, Chief Scout of the World!”

 

 

July 19, 1919

·         BP conducted the 1^st Wood Badge Course at Gilwell Park, Epping Forest, the new training center for Scoutmasters.

The neckerchief showing the emblem of the Wood Badge and the beads of a Wood Badge.

THE MARRIED LIFE

On January 1912, Olave met Second Boer War hero and founder of the Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell, on an ocean liner (RMSP Arcadian) on the way via the Caribbean to New York to start a lecture tour. She was 23, he was 55, and they shared the same birthday. They became engaged in September of the same year, causing a media sensation. They married on 30 October 1912 in a very private ceremony, in St. Peter's Church, Parkstone, her Parish Church. She was given away by her father; apart from clergy, the only other people present were his brother and sister and Robert Kekewich, a close friend of his, her mother & brother, her brother-in-law and Miss Sie Bower, a close friend of hers

• ·       At the age of 55, he was married to a young lady at age 23 named Lady Olave St Clair Soames, the founder of the Girl Guides (modern day Girl Scouts)
• ·         They were married happily for 30 years with 3 children namely Peter, Heather, and Betty.



Lady Olave St Clair Soames Baden – Powell          





BP with Lord Somers, his successor as Chief Scout of the Empire




• ·         BP was a loving husband to Lady Olave and a loving father to his 3 children. BP’s pet name to Lady Olave  was Dindo while Lady Olave’s pet name to BP was Bin.

Lady Olave with her husband and their 3 children in 1917.

His Portraits

BP the Musician

BP the Sportsman

 BP the Actor

           

Retirement

At age 80, he retired with his wife back to the country he loved so well at Nyeri, Kenya. This place is also known as “Paxtu".

“Paxtu” – The cottage built for BP at Nyeri, Kenya

          

THE FINAL TRAIL – GONE HOME

·         On January 8, 1941, BP joined our creator. He was buried in a simple grave at Nyeri, Kenya, Africa that overlooks Mt. Kenya.

 Over his grave is a trail sign for “Gone Home”