Baden-Powell

‘Life without adventure would be deadly dull’ – Lord Baden-Powell.

If Scouting is about fulfilling your potential, then Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (or BP) certainly fulfilled his.

BP preferred the outdoors to the classroom and spent much of his time sketching wildlife in the woods around his school. After school, he went into the army, where he led a distinguished career through posts in countries including India, Afghanistan, Malta and various parts of Africa. The most famous event in BP’s military career was the defence of Mafeking against the Boers in 1899, after which he became a Major-General at the age of only 43.

He is best known as the founder in 1908 of the Boy Scouts and in 1910, with his sister Agnes, of the Girl Guides. BP retired from the army in 1910 at the age of 53, on the advice of King Edward VII, who suggested he could provide more valuable service to his country by developing Scouting and its sister movement, Guiding.

BP was acclaimed World Chief Scout in 1920, the only Chief Scout to hold this recognition.

BP wrote no less than 32 books, the earnings from which helped to pay for his Scouting travels. As with all his successors, he received no salary as Chief Scout. He received various honorary degrees and the freedom of a number of cities, along with 28 foreign orders and decorations and 19 foreign Scout awards.

In 1938, suffering ill-health, BP returned to Africa to live in semi-retirement in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died on 8 January 1941 at the age of 83. He is buried in a simple grave at Nyeri within sight of Mount Kenya. On his headstone are the words, ‘Robert Baden-Powell, Chief Scout of the World’ alongside Scout and Guide emblems. He was later commemorated in Westminster Abbey, London.

BP is remembered on Founder’s Day, which is celebrated on his birthday (22 February) each year.

To this day Scouts continue to enjoy activities in the outdoors and live out BP’s ideas.