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Scout Founder
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Name:
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 Died:
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Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Impessa (The Wolf That Never Sleeps) 22 February 1857, Paddington, London, England 8 January 1941, Neri, Kenya Olave St Clair Soames
BP's Childhood
BP's father died when he was three. He was raised by his mother who was determined that her children would succeed. BP was awarded scholarship to Charterhouse, a prestigious public school. BP started hunting and cooking in the nearby woods near the school. Since then, his Scouting skill started. BP also spent most of his holiday doing outdoor activities with his brothers.
BP's Career
Soon, BP joined the army as a young officer of the 13th Hussars in India. He was promoted quickly with his good military scouting skills in Zulu, Scout Africa. To get information of the enemy, BP always disguised himself as a butterfly collector, and drew maps of the enemy camp in the form of different butterflies.
An illustration of the butterfly drawn by BP with its wings containing the outline map of the enemy’s ground with different deployment formation.
Fortress Guns Field Guns Machine Guns
BP became famous in the 2nd Boer War. By then, he had been promoted to be the youngest colonel in the British Army. During the 2nd Boer War, he was trapped in the Siege of Mafeking, surrounded by the Boer army, outnumbered him with 8000 men. Although being outnumbered, BP had withstood the siege for 217 days before the reinforcement came. Back in UK, BP has became a hero and many young boys were reading his book on Reconnaissance.
Scouting was born
It was during the siege that BP saw the contribution of young boys who helped him as messengers, first aiders, and young boys on guard. Believing that the military book that he wrote can be more useful for young boys, BP rewrote and published "Scouting for Boys" in 1908.
To test out the idea of Boy Scouting, BP conducted a 8 days camping trip to Brownsea Island on 1 August 1907 with 22 boys of mixed social background. These boy learnt skill like patrol leadership,
observation, camping hygiene, personal fitness, camp-crafting, life-saving, code of honour, and patriotism. The camp turned out to be a success.
Why Scout Movement?
B.P with his Silver Wolf Award
"Scouting is a movement because it keeps on moving forward. If it stops moving it becomes an organisation and is no longer Scouting!" - Baden-Powell, Founder of Boy Scout Movement
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