What is the history of the Boy Scouts?

Answer 1

Robert Baden-Powell was an army officer who became adept at military scouting, and used his scouting skills to establish a world scouting movement. Olave Baden-Powell organised and developed the Girl Guide movement.

Robert Baden-Powell was born on 22nd February 1857, at Paddington, London, the son of Rev Baden Powell. The Rev Powell died when the young Robert was three years old, at which time the family, for some mysterious reason, changed the family name to Baden-Powell, an amalgam of the late Reverend gentleman’s forename and surname. Robert Baden-Powell was educated at Charterhouse, where he was known for his skills at yachting and canoeing, but not particularly for his academic ability. He joined the army in 1876 and was posted to India where he joined the Secret Intelligence Service, in which he learned the art of military reconnaissance. In the 1880s, Baden-Powell was noted for his use of eccentric military techniques, such as observation balloons.

During the Boer War, Baden-Powell successfully defended the fortress of Mafeking, until the city was relieve, an event which proved to be the turning point of the campaign. After the War, Britain annexed the Boer lands, forming the Union of South Africa. Baden-Powell was employed to train the local constabulary in cavalry techniques and the art of scouting. He enhanced his own scouting skills from encounters with Zulu tribesmen. Baden-Powell wrote a small manual entitled Aids to Scouting, which was published inn London and achieved outstanding success. To encourage interest in scouting, the publishers asked Baden-Powell to produce a further text, aimed at those with little or no experience of scouting. In response, he came up with Scouting for Boys, an experimental work. Before publication he tested the principles outlined in the book, on a camping trip on Brownsea Island, in 1907. This is generally agreed to be the beginning of the scouting movement.

In about 1908, scout groups spontaneously arose around the country. At a rally for the nascent scout movement held in Crystal Palace, Baden-Powell was surprised to find hundreds of scout troops, including troops of girl scouts. The movement was flourishing but the disparate groups were uncoordinated.

In 1910, Baden-Powell retired from the army with the rank of Lieutenant General, in order to try to synchronise the embryonic scout movement. Baden-Powell never accepted any title of ‘chairman’ or ‘president’ or ‘leader’. He was a coordinator who offered advice and guidance. In 1920, Baden-Powell did accept the honorary title of ‘Chief Scout of the World’. During the First World War, Baden-Powell offered his services to the War Office, but Lord Kitchener is reputed to have said that ‘he could lay his hand on several competent divisional generals, but could find no one who could carry on the invaluable work of the Boy Scouts.’

In 1912, Baden-Powell met Olave Soames, on an Atlantic liner and a romance blossomed. Strangely they had the same birthday, and stranger still, there was an age gap between them of 32, and stranger yet, they were married that same year. Olave was just the sort of woman for Baden-Powell. She was an outdoor type, interested in tennis, swimming and canoeing. Her father was a wealthy brewing magnate, who presented the couple with a matrimonial home, Pax Hill, where they lived until 1939. Olave became involved with the feminine side of the scouting movement, whose members she called ‘Girl Guides’ rather than girl scouts. Although it is Baden-Powell’s sister, Agnes, who is credited with founding the Girl guides, Olave was the undoubted leader of the movement. During her life’s work, she visited over 100 countries, attending Jamborees and Scout and Guide functions. In 1930, Olave was elected ‘World Chief Guide’.

In 1939, Baden-Powell visited Nyeri, Kenya, hoping to recuperate from a devastating illness. He died there on 8th January 1941, and is buried near Mount Kenya. On his tombstone is inscribed a symbol of a circle with a spot in the centre, , the trail sign for ‘I have gone home’. Olave died on 19th June 1977 and her ashes were sent to Kenya to be interred with her husband. The couple’s joint birthday, 22nd February, is commemorated as ‘B P day’ by the Scouts and as ‘Thinking Day’ by the Guides.

Answer 2

Lord Baden Powell had a book about how to survive in the outdoors. He took some boys on a campout and it started a trend. They would get together to learn about nature and how to interact with it. The boys became known as scouts and started to live up to the challenges the leader would present them with. They were encourgaged to do a good turn daily. An American by the name of Willliam Boyce got lost in the london fog and a boy scout did a good turn and helped him to safety. Mr Boyce learned more about the scouts and brought the movement to america in 1910.

Answer 3

Robert Baden-Powell laid the foundation for modern-day Scouting during a battle of the Second Boer War in South Africa, where he served as commanding officer. He successfully defended the town of Mafeking against the Boers, who outnumbered his troops eight to one. Baden-Powell brought together volunteer boys in the town, forming the Mafeking Cadet Corps. The youths supported the troops by carrying messages, which freed the men for military duties and kept the boys occupied during the long siege. The Cadet Corps performed well, helping in the defense of the town (1899–1900). Each member received a badge that illustrated a combined compass point and spearhead. The badge's logo was similar to the fleur-de-lis that Scouting later adopted as its international symbol.

As a result of his determined and successful defense of the town, Baden-Powell became a national hero in the United Kingdom. His 1899 military training manual, Aids to Scouting, became a bestseller and was used by teachers and youth organizations.

In July 1906, Ernest Thompson Seton sent Baden-Powell a copy of his book The Birchbark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians. Seton, a British-born Canadian living in the United States, met Baden-Powell in October 1906, and they shared ideas about youth training programs.

Thanks to its popularity, Baden-Powell rewrote Aids to Scouting for younger readers. By 1907 he had finished a draft called Boy Patrols. The same year, to test his ideas an outdoor program for boys based on military scouting, he founded the Scouting movement by gathering 21 boys of mixed social backgrounds and holding a week-long camp in August, on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England.[6] His organizational method, now known as the Patrol System and a key part of Scouting training, allowed the boys to organize themselves into small groups with an elected patrol leader.

In the autumn of 1907, with his draft publication and a successful camp behind him, Baden-Powell went on an extensive speaking tour arranged by his publisher, Arthur Pearson, to promote his forthcoming book, Scouting for Boys (the youth version of Aids to Scouting). Scouting for Boys first appeared in England in January 1908 as six fortnightly installments, and was published in England later in 1908 in book form. The book is now the fourth-bestselling title of all time, and is now commonly considered the first version of the Boy Scout Handbook.

Answer 4

Baden-Powell wrote a book 'Scouting for Boys' and must have been lucky in his search as whole troops of them sprung up.

Answer 5

The Boy Scouts Of u . s . a . are an extremely illiberal corporation. not one unmarried between the perfect twelve presidents attended the Jamboree. yet, amazingly, fake information is reporting they did, and the sheeple are swallowing the lie, resembling they continuously do... hook, line and sinker.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

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