麻豆APP

Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1896. Photo taken by Francis Henry Hart –

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Robert Baden-Powell

A lot of children join the scouts and girl guides club when they start going to school or when they start growing up. Robert Baden Powell was the man who founded the Scout movement more than 100 years ago.

Apart from founding the Scout movement, he was a man with many other titles such as a national hero, a prolific writer, educator, and soldier. His best-selling book 鈥淪couting for Boys鈥� contains the basis of the ideas behind the aspect of aspect.

Robert Baden-Powell was popularly known as B-P.

1. Robert was the second last in his family lineup

Butt, Baden-Powell, Taft, Bryce2.jpg. Photo by Harris & Ewing, Inc –

Robert popularly known as B-P full names were Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. He was born on 22^nd February 1857 in London.

His father was an Oxford University Professor. Robert was the eighth born in his family made up of 10 siblings. He was only three years old when his father passed on, leaving his mother, Henrietta Powell to solely look for their family.

2. B-P got his early education from his mother

Robert Baden-Powell Statue, Poole Quay. Photo by David Dixon –

Baden got his early education from his mother, but later on, got a lifetime opportunity to get a scholarship to Charterhouse School. This school was founded in 1611 and was one of Britain鈥檚 most prestigious public (private) schools.

Being the only breadwinner and parent to her 10 children, Henrietta encouraged her children to make their fun. It is through the mother鈥檚 encouragement, that the young B-P was always eager to learn new skills, picking up both the violin and piano.

3. Robert鈥檚 talents were all over and not just playing musical instruments

Baden-Powell in the Uniform of the South African Constabulary, Standing by His Charger; The Scout Association. Photo by John Edward Chapman ‘Chester’ Mathews (Major) (1843鈥�1927) –

At Charterhouse, Robert began to turn his attention to the great outdoors, he hid out in the woods around his school and was to track wildlife. Hiding out in the woods was also purposed to catch and cook rabbits, of course being careful not to let the tell-tale smoke give his position away.

4. Baden was an adventurer just to say the least

Statue of Robert Baden-Powell. Photo by Loz Pycock –

When school was closed, he used his holiday time to head out with his brothers in search of adventure. The young adventurer on one occasion, went sailing around the south coast of England.

On another occasion, they went sailing around the south coast of England. On another adventure, they paddled up the River Thames by canoe to its source. All this time, Baden-Powell was out and about in his adventures, he was learning the crafts and skills that were to prove so useful to him in his later life.

5. He might have been academically sharp but thrived in his training to be part of the army

Robert Baden-Powell and his staff after the Siege of Mafeking in South Africa, published in The Black and White Budget Vol 3 No 35, page 297. The main caption reads “Major-General Baden Powell and the principal men who helped him to defend Mafeking”.
Photo by J. Angus Hamilton, Our Special Correspondent with Major-General Baden-Powell –

B-P was not known for being one of the most academically-minded of schoolboys, but when he undertook the entrance exam for the army, he managed to come in as the second of the several hundred applicants.

He was later commissioned straight into the 13^th Hussars, bypassing the officer training that was the usual route into the cavalry regiment. He later became their Honorary Colonel.

6. B-P鈥檚 military life drew him into the scouting line of profession

Robert Baden-Powell. Photo by flagsbay.com –

In 1876, B-P headed to India with his new regiment. As a young army officer, he specialized in mapmaking, scouting, and reconnaissance, and soon began to train the other soldiers in what were essential skills for any other soldier of the time.

B-P鈥檚 methods were termed as unorthodox. This is where he set up small units or patrols that worked together under a single leader and made sure there was special recognition for those who did as he expected.

7. Robert awarded his students with proficiency badges that resembled today鈥檚 universal Scout badge

Robert Baden-Powell in 1937 Radio Times. Photo unattributed –

He awarded the students he trained with proficiency badges that then resembled the traditional design of the north compass point and today鈥檚 universal Scout badge. This two remain remarkably similar.

8. Baden traveled around the world while working as an Army officer

Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, oil on canvas. Photo by Hubert von Herkomer –

After traveling to India, he found himself in the Balkans, Malta, and South Africa. However, it was his return to Africa at the start of the Second Boer War that made his reputation.

He then became a Lieutenant-general, B-P found himself the leader of a British garrison defending the town of Mafeking against some 5,000 Boer soldiers. B-P and his men gave his scouting skills, and the ingenuity and courage shown by the young soldiers at Mafeking made a lasting impression on him.

9. B-P discovered that he had become a national hero on returning home in 1903

Memorial dedicated to Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouts, in the park of the same name in Malaga, Spain. The inscription reads: “Robert Baden Powell Park/founder of the Scouts / The city of Malaga and ASDE Scouts of Andalusia, / in commemoration of the 1st centenary”. Photo by
Daniel Capilla –

Returning home in 1903, B-P discovered that he had become a national hero. He also realized that the small handbook he had written for soldiers, titled 鈥� Aids to Scouting鈥� was being used by youth leaders and teachers all over the country to teach observation and woodcraft.

His newly found fame led to invitations for him to speak at meetings and rallies across Britain. While he was at a Boy鈥檚 brigade gathering, the group鈥檚 founder Sir William Smith asked B-P to devise a scheme to improve citizenship for boys.  

B-P immediately set to work and there he reworked Aids to Scouting for a younger audience. In 1907, he organized what is known as the 鈥渆xperimental鈥� camp on Brownsea Island, off the coast of Dorset, to put some of his ideas into practice.

He then brought together 22boys, some of who were wealthier children from private schools while others from ordinary working-class homes, and later took all of them camping. This was the start of the Scout Movement; an event that is now commemorated with a foundation stone on the island.

10. B-P鈥檚 health deterioration and demise happened in Mount Kenya Africa

It’s the plaque of the monument of the Boy Scouts’ founder, in London. Photo by Onofre_Bouvila –

In 1938, B-P鈥檚 health started declining and there he decided to return to Africa to live in semi-retirement in the shadow of Mount Kenya at Nyeri. Three years later, on 8^th January 1941, at the age of 83 years old, B-P died.

The adventurous young man who once was trapped and ate rabbits on school grounds had gone on to inspire generations of young people, writing at least 32 books, collecting honorary degrees from at least six universities, receiving numerous foreign orders and decorations, and 19 foreign Scout awards.

B-P was buried in the graveyard at Nyeri. The marble stone on his grave is carved with emblems of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and the words: 鈥� Robert Baden 鈥� Powell, Chief Scout of the World鈥�. He had prepared a farewell message for his Scouts to be published only after his death, 鈥� Try and leave this world a little better than you found it,鈥� he wrote.