Baden-Powell :: essays research papers

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, more affectionately known as "B.-P.", was born in London, England, on February 22, 1857. At the age of 12 he received a scholarship from Charterhouse School, one of England's famous public schools. The school was then located in London, but it soon moved to Godalming in Surrey. There were some woods just outside the school, these were "out- of-bounds" for the pupils. It was here that B.-P. practised stalking wildlife. He is said to have snared rabbits and cooked them over a small fire so that smoke didn't give him away to the school masters. (This was to be valuable training for later in his career.) Choosing a military career, B.-P. served in campaigns in India, Afghanistan and South Africa. He became world famous during the Boer War for the defense of Mafeking, a small town in South Africa. With 800 men, he was besieged by a force of 9,000 Boer soldiers. His small force held out against these immense odds for 217 days -- until a relief column of British soldiers arrived. At Mafeking B.-P. organized his "Messenger Cadets". Trained in efficiency, obedience and smartness, they performed many tasks -- relieving soldiers for active defense of the town. After the Boer War, B.-P. organized the South African Constabulary and designed a uniform for them that later became the basic Boy Scout uniform. While still in Africa, B.-P. wrote "Aids to Scouting" -- a manual designed to train soldiers to become army scouts. Many youth and organizations in Britain used ideas from this manual as the basis of adventurous programs. He discussed this matter with Sir William Smith, the founder of the Boy's Brigade, and other leading youth workers. He planned a camp to test his program ideas. The camp was held from July 25 to August 9 in 1907 on Brownsea Island. The "Scoutmaster" was Lt.-Gen. Robert Baden- Powell. His assistants were B.W. Green, H. Robson and P.W. Everett. The camp was a tremendous success. Based on this experiment B.-P. wrote his book "Scouting for Boys" which was published in 6 parts starting in January, 1908. It has been printed in many editions -- the current edition is the last one edited by B.-P. By the end of 1908 this book was translated into five other languages. The sketches in the book were all done by B.-P. -- most of them based on his own exciting career. In 1909, King Edward VII, who had taken a great deal of interest in this new Movement, made the founder a Knight in recognition of his work for boys. At this time B.-P. was Inspector General of