The Great Leader Series No. 12 - Robert Baden-Powell

This year marks the centenary of the Scouting Movement. This movement was started by Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden–Powell. He was an extra-ordinary man whose organisation has influenced many millions of people through out the world.

B-P was born in London on 22 February 1857. He was the eighth of the ten children of the Reverend Baden- Powell, a professor at Oxford University. He had five older brothers. His first names were his godfather’s names, his godfather being the son of the railway pioneer, George Stephenson.

Sadly his father died when B-P was young, leaving his family with little money. Robert eventually won a scholarship to Charterhouse School. Originally, the school was in London, but was relocated to the Surrey countryside. This move was to have an intense influence over Robert’s life.  Robert was not an academic and loved exploring the woods and the countryside around the school. He practised his woodcraft and scouting skills in the woods, killing rabbits and cooking them, making sure that no-one saw the smoke. He really enjoyed having a good time and developing his scouting skills.

His interests were greatly encouraged by his older brothers who, in the holidays, took him on expeditions. They once sailed the south coast of England, on another occasion they sought the source of the Thames by canoe!

He was always eager to learn new skills. He played the piano and the fiddle. He also learnt to be a brick layer.

Despite his lack of academic prowess, he gained second place for cavalry in an open exam for the army. He was commissioned straight into the Hussars, bypassing officers’ training.

With the Hussars, he served in India, Afghanistan and South Africa and was mentioned in despatches for his work with Zulus. He also spent three years in Malta.

At the age of forty, he took command of the 5th Dragoon Guards. The regiment benefited from B-P’s training in Scouting and reached such high standards that special badges were awarded.

His impressive military career included his defence of Mafeking during the Second Boer War in 1899, which withstood a siege for 217 days. Much of the victory was put down to ideas from Baden-Powell. He became a Major-General at the age of only 43.

It was during the siege that Baden-Powell recruited a cadet corps, which was made of boys of below fighting age. The corps was used to stand guard, carry messages and assist in hospitals, releasing men for fighting.  Baden-Powell was impressed with their courage and the manner in which they performed their duties.

On his return to England in 1903, he found his book, “Aids to Scouting” which was published during the siege, had reached a much wider audience than the military one he had expected. Youth leaders and teachers all over the country were using it. He was invited to speak at meetings and rallies. Sir William Smith of the Boys’ Brigade asked him to work on a scheme to provide greater variety for his organisation.

B-P decided to re-write his book for a younger audience and it was during the writing he decided to try his ideas out by taking a group of boys to Brownsea Island, Dorset, during the first nine days of August 1907. This is now seen as the start of the Scouting Movement.

Twenty-two boys from mixed social backgrounds made up the group. The success of this camp was the real start of the Scouting movement.

Scouting became established in most part of the free world.

In 1909, Baden-Powell attended a rally of some 11,000 boys all seeking advice and wanting to meet the great man. It was at this rally that a group of girls who wanted a similar organisation for themselves approached him. He persuaded his sister Agnes to help him.

However, in 1912, B-P, whilst travelling on the ocean liner Arcadia to New York for the start of a Scouting World Tour, met Olave St Clair Soames, a young woman thirty two years his junior. They married in secret on 30 October 1912. Olave supported her husband’s endeavours and, indeed, became World Chief Guide. She worked tirelessly for the Guiding movement until her death in 1977. [On a personal note, I remember seeing Lady Baden-Powell in the distance in the early 1970s. What a special day!]

The Baden-Powells lived in Pax Hill near Bentley, Hampshire until 1939. By this time, Robert’s health was beginning to fail so at the age of 82 they moved to his beloved Africa, to Nyeri near Mount Kenya. He died 8 January 1941. His gravestone has on it a symbol,     , in tracking symbols it means “I have gone home”.

The scouting movement created by Lord Robert Baden-Powell of Gilwell, to give him his full title, has affected the lives of over 30 million people during the last one hundred years. So what is it about his ideas that caught on and how relevant are they in modern leadership?

Baden-Powell’s ideas were based on simple camaraderie and a profound respect for other people and their views no matter who they were. They were taught loyalty and self respect. Leadership was promoted through a patrol system, each team with its leader and his second, but the opinions of the whole team being listened to and valued. Team spirit and gentle competition were used to promote achievement, whether it was pitching a tent or cooking a meal over an open fire without pans. Promotions were earned within each patrol and many patrol leaders moved on to help the troop leaders or to start troops of their own.

These values are just as valid today which is why the Scouting Movement is still relevant today.

Bibliography

www.scoutbase.org.uk/library

www.scout.org

www.wikipedia.org

Date : 31-05-2007