Ward's Book of Days.
Pages of interesting anniversaries.
What happened on this day in history.
FEBRUARY 22nd
On this day in history in 1857, was born Robert Baden-Powell.
On this day in history in 1889, was born Olave Baden-Powell
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 relieved, 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.
©2006 Ward’s Book of Days