The First Scout!

MAJOR-GENERAL ROBERT S. S. BADEN-POWELL.

In 1907 Robert S. S. Baden-Powell planned a special nine-day outing to test his ideas for training boys. This ideas showed to be useful, and the Scouting movement was created.
ROBERT born in Feb. 22, 1857, in London, England and died in Jan. 8, 1941. Was officially recognized as the founder of Boy Scout movement.

He was born in London, as a boy, he loved outdoor play and reading. He was also a good actor and gifted artist, he draw well with either hand.
Powell was only 19 when joined the British Army as a sub-lieutenant and sailed for India.
He had a special admiration for Zulu Warriors. For 34 years Baden-Powell was a professional soldier. He campaigned in Afghanistan and fought against the Zulu, Ashanti, and Matabele tribes in Africa, where England had colonies.
Baden-Powell admired the Zulu warriors and traditions. Later, he adopted their left-hand handshake for his Boy Scouts. Becoming an expert in his work he wrote Army manuals on the subject. But he wasn't yet famous. He was almost unknown outside his regiment when war broke out in South Africa in 1899. Then a Colonel, was assigned to raise two regiments of English settlers in South Africa to fight the Boers. These were Dutch settlers who were resisting British rule. Known as the Battle of Mafeking. Baden Powell and about 1.000 new soldiers were in a sleepy little town called Mafeking when 9,000 Boers attacked. He used tricks to make the Boers think he had a much bigger force. He held Mafeking for 217 days. Another British force arrived to help, and England heard the news of Baden Powell's resistance. For recognitions of his actions his nation considered him as an instant hero.

When he returned to England in 1903, he was surprised to see that young boys were using training exercises from his manual “Aids to Scouting”, a manual that he wrote for professional soldiers. Some people thought he should rewrite the book for boys. And then Powell began to study how boys grow and develop and to think about how boys could be trained.
In the summer of 1907 he tried out his ideas at a two-week camp for 22 teen-age boys. The camp was held on Brownsea Island off England's southern coast.
The campers, who were the first Boy Scouts, learned camping skills, first aid, lifesaving, and nature lore. Much of their instruction was through games and contests.
In 1908, Baden-Powell published the first Scout handbook, called "Scouting for Boys." He illustrated it himself in a 182 page book packed with campfire yarns and ideas for skills that Scouts have used ever since. The book was a best seller. Troops sprang up all over England. Before long there were troops in Canada and the United States too.

On Feb. 8, 1910, when the BSA was officially born, there were probably 50 or more troops in this country. The man who signed the papers setting up the BSA was William D. Boyce, a Chicago newspaper publisher.
Boyce had first heard of Scouting in August 1909 when he was in London, England. He was lost in a fog, and a boy guided him to where he wanted to go. This boy refused a tip because, saying that Scouts do not accept tips for courtesies or Good Turns. Boyce was impressed and started learning as much as he could about Scouting. After he got home, he incorporated the BSA as an organization. Baden-Powell ideas was already considered founder of Scouting,

At a dinner banquet in New York in 1910, Ernest Thompson Seton introduced Baden Powell as the father of Scouting. Baden-Powell replied with the famous phrase: "You are mistaken, Mr. Seton .... I may say that you, or Dan Beard, is the father, there are many fathers. I am only one of the uncles, I might say."
Baden-Powell was being modest, but there was truth in what he said. Several of the training games he described in "Scouting for Boys" were taken from Seton's book, "The Birch-bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians." So was the idea of having boys earn badges by meeting standards, not by competing against other boys.

Still, Baden-Powell is rightly considered the founder of Scouting.

source & image:
scoutingmagazine.org