Robert Baden Powell

ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH BADEN POWELL (1ST BARON BADEN POWELL) d1941. British Army officer known a BP who was the founder of the Scout movement. After having been educated at Charterhouse School, he served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, he successfully defended the town in the Seige of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconassience and scout training in his African years were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote "Scouting For Boys" published in 1908 by Pearson for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a camping trip on Brownsea Island with the local Boys Brigade and sons of his friends that began on 1st August 1907 which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting. After his marriage to Olave St Clair Soames, Baden-Powell, his sister Agnes Baden Powell and notably his wife actively gave guidance to the Scouting Movement and the Girl Guides Movement. He lived his last years in Kenya where he died aged 83 in 1941. His wife Olave died in 1977