History of the scout movement. Biography Robert Baden Powell Short Biography

75 years ago, in 1929, the King of Great Britain granted the title of baron to the founder of the scouting movement, General Robert Baden-Powell. Now the world's first boy scout is being accused of homosexual tendencies and claims that he had severe mental problems. But several generations of teenagers all over the world, including in Russia, grew up strengthening their body and spirit in strict accordance with the scouting precepts of Baden-Powell.

The camps to which many parents send their children in the summer are now called children's camps, and before that for many years they were known as pioneer camps. Meanwhile, the Soviet pioneers who spent time there did not even suspect that the tie and fireworks, the cry “Be ready!”, the game “Zarnitsa”, songs around the fire, the flag raising ceremony and even the word “pioneer” itself were borrowed by the creators of the children's communist movement among bourgeois boy scouts. The first scout camp opened in August 1907, and by the beginning of the Second World War there were already millions of scouts all over the world. The 1908 book Scouting for Boys was second only to the Bible in sales in the last century, and its author, General Robert Baden-Powell, who failed to even get into Oxford University, became the most widely read British author after Shakespeare. The founder of scouting wanted to strengthen the body and spirit of British boys, and, as it turned out, he invented a universal recipe for a children's organization, according to which they created everything: some - a union of environmentally savvy and morally stable young scouts, some - pioneers, and some - the Hitler Youth.

Siege Hero
One day at the very beginning of the 20th century, a British general was returning home on horseback and heard his son shout from somewhere above: “Dad, I shot you! A good scout looks not only around, but also up, but you didn’t notice me!” The general raised his head and saw a boy sitting in a tree, and even higher, almost at the top, his new governess. "For God's sake, what are you doing there?" — the general was amazed. “I’m teaching him to be a scout,” the girl answered.
100 years later, this remark in Russian translation would sound different: “I’m teaching him to be a scout.” The word "scout" translated from English actually means "scout". At the beginning of the twentieth century, the most famous British expert in the field of military intelligence was Colonel Robert Baden-Powell. When his training manual for soldiers, “To Help the Scout,” was published, the author was under siege in the British fortress of Mayfking in Africa, on the territory of the Cape Colony. The Anglo-Boer War was going on, which turned out to be extremely painful for the British Empire. It turned out that Boer farmers were able to fight with the regular army almost on an equal footing. The siege of Mayfking lasted seven months, until May 1900, and ended with the arrival of British reinforcements.
Robert Baden-Powell had all the qualities required of a national hero. During the siege he turned 43 years old. He was handsome, with a sense of humor, a great lover of hiking, fishing and boar hunting, who wrote a whole treatise about this British pastime, an excellent draftsman, a talented storyteller and actor. This is exactly the kind of hero the British, depressed by a long and not very successful war, needed.
Subsequently, however, many noted that the Boers did not pose any serious danger to the British in Mayfking and that even, scary to say, this whole grandiose siege was partly provoked by Baden-Powell himself, who was in no hurry to break out of it. He considered his main responsibility to be making boastful reports, as well as inventing more and more funny pranks for the enemy. The Boers were most infuriated by Baden-Powell's habit of playing polo on Sundays and staging performances in front of them, during which he liked to dress up in ball gowns. Many of Mayfking's defenders later claimed that they could more easily endure the fear of death at the hands of the Boers than the inexhaustible gaiety of Baden-Powell, who was so obsessively concerned with ensuring that the besieged did not lose heart.
The teams of young scouts created in Meifking became especially famous. To free up all adult men for the defense of the fortress, Baden-Powell mobilized teenage boys to carry out minor tasks. They were proud of the trust placed in them and soon they were not only delivering important information about the enemy’s movements, but also carrying letters through the ring of the besiegers.
Baden-Powell later admitted: “I thought that the sure way to success was to develop your own, original point of view, but I discovered that I was wrong. You just have to say what society at the moment wants to believe.” Baden-Powell had an unmistakable sense that the public wanted a resounding victory, and Mayfking Fortress became its symbol. And the public also wanted someone to take care of the youth - frail, pimply youths, disrespectful to their elders and indifferent to the fate of the empire. And General Baden-Powell took up the education of the younger generation.

Sherlock Holmes off-road

Robert Stevenson Smith Baden-Powell was born in London on February 22, 1857. He was the eighth of ten children of the Rev. Baden Powell, professor of geometry at Oxford University. His father died when Robert was three years old. In memory of her husband, Henrietta Grace changed her surname from simply Powell to the more aristocratic-sounding Baden-Powell, which also went to her children. At the age of 12, Robert Stevenson Smith, then simply Stevie, managed to get a scholarship to study at the famous Charterhouse public school, but did not particularly excel in studies. No wonder: Stevie spent his days and nights in the surrounding forests. There, the careless student hid from the teachers, lit fires that could not be found by the smoke, caught hares for lunch, and did a lot of other useful and exciting things. The holidays were also full of adventures: Robert and his brothers traveled on a yacht along the southern coast of England or went up to the source of the Thames in a canoe.
When the time came to choose a profession, Baden-Powell made a desperate attempt to enter Oxford, but failed. For a man of limited means, there were not many options, and Robert, following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather, Admiral Smith, chose a military career.
After several years of service in the British colonies - in India and Afghanistan - Baden-Powell returned to England and moved into military intelligence, which, undoubtedly, was his true calling. As a scout, he visited South Africa, Turkey, Italy, the Balkans, and Russia. He later said that the rebel blacks feared and respected him so much that they nicknamed him “the wolf who never sleeps.” Subsequently, it turned out that the word, so flatteringly interpreted by Baden-Powell, is actually translated as “hyena.”
Based on his own experience, Baden-Powell developed a system for training military intelligence officers who can observe and draw conclusions from what they see, as well as navigate by the stars, make fires, spend the night in the forest and much more, just like Sherlock Holmes, but not just puffing on a pipe in office, but adapted to survival in the wild.
Baden-Powell outlined the main elements of his intelligence training system in a book, which he called “To Help the Scout.” Returning to England after the siege of Mayfking, he unexpectedly discovered that his highly specialized textbook was actively used in working with children and even in training teachers. Teachers and leaders of children's organizations began to persuade Baden-Powell to write a children's version of the manual.

First camp
Before risking acting as a teacher, Baden-Powell decided to test the effectiveness of his scheme in practice - away from prying eyes. An acquaintance invited him to set up a camp for boys on her property on Brownsea Island, off the south coast of England. In 1907, Baden-Powell recruited a group of about 20 boys from different backgrounds - there were his nephew Donald, the children of his friends, and also children who were complete strangers. In letters to the parents of the experiment participants, Baden-Powell explained that he would engage in physical training with their children, teach them life in the forest, including providing assistance to victims, the art of observation, and instill in them discipline, chivalry and patriotism.
The children were divided into several groups - patrols - and each was assigned a commander. In the camp, each patrol had its own tent, name and color. "Wolves" wore blue stripes on their sleeves, "bulls" - green, "curlews" - yellow, "crows" - red. There were also corresponding flags with the image of an animal or bird. The schedule included rising at 6 a.m. and retiring at 9:30 p.m., camp cleanup, exercise, flag-raising parade, swimming, games, campfire stories, and prayers. Scout exercises included orientation, plant and animal recognition, knot tying, and even a night watch when Baden-Powell himself, or BP as the Scouts called him, tried to "invade" the island, and the Scouts had to track him down and stop him. .
All participants in the island adventure were very pleased with it. And the next year, the manual “Intelligence for Boys” was published, which as a result gave rise to a mass social movement. Very quickly the word “scout” became international, and its original meaning was somehow erased. By the way, after some time a similar story happened with the word “pioneer”: the discoverer forever turned into “an example to all the guys.”

Sources and components
"Reconnaissance for Boys" was published in separate issues in 1908 in the form of recordings of conversations around the fire. Even before the last issue was printed, scout patrols began to spring up spontaneously throughout England. In the book, republished in England this year, you can find a lot of advice that has lost its relevance - for example, what to do if a horse carries a cab with passengers. Nevertheless, it is immediately noticeable that Baden-Powell knew his reader very well. The example of Sherlock Holmes, the Knights of the Round Table and the warlike Zulus could not help but capture young minds. Teachers and parents are hardly mentioned in the book, but there are many songs, games and jokes. Baden-Powell plays spy with the reader so selflessly and seriously that one doubts whether this book teaches boys how to become men, or vice versa, how adults can remain children. The Boy Scout manual, like any reputable educational manual, contains lists of recommended literature, but the author himself was a slight reader. It’s not a boy’s thing to sit behind books; it’s much better to combine study with adventure.
It is worth noting that Baden-Powell willingly appropriated other people's ideas if they fit into his system. The famous Canadian writer and naturalist artist Ernest Seton-Thompson wrote a series of articles about Indian forest experts back in 1902. In the same year, during the Easter holidays, he organized an “Indian” camp on his American estate for local urchins who considered this territory theirs and therefore constantly raided the writer’s property. Instead of pursuing them, Seton-Thompson decided to take advantage of the situation and turn enemies into friends. The programmatic document of the new movement, based on this experience, was the book “Birch Bark Scroll of Indian Forest Experts” published in 1903. In the summer of 1906, Seton-Thompson sent it to Baden-Powell, and in the fall he himself came to England, where he gave a course of lectures and personally met the future chief scout of the world. Scout Baden-Powell, apparently, borrowed many of the laws of scouts, the very idea of ​​a children's camp, classes devoted to the study of nature and life in the forest, from the naturalist Seton-Thompson. He eventually came to terms with this and in 1910 became the first chief scout of America. The American Scouting textbook was written one-third by Baden-Powell and two-thirds by Seton-Thompson.
Baden-Powell treated Rudyard Kipling, his good friend from his service in the colonies, more delicately. Having decided to base the program for junior scouts (“cubs”) on stories from “The Jungle Book,” he at the last moment received, at the insistence of the publishers, the formal consent of its author. So, from the tales of a scout, the observations of a naturalist, forest romance and army discipline, an explosive mixture emerged - scouting.

Lucky moment
The phenomenal success of scouting was explained not only by the successful form of activities with children, found, let us assume, by Baden-Powell. While several thousand Boers resisted the British army for two and a half years, the authorities of the metropolis discovered with displeasure that the manpower available in the country was puny, sickly and absolutely not ready to defend their homeland, either morally or physically. It is not surprising that at the beginning of the new century, a movement whose task was to strengthen the physical and spiritual condition of adolescents and, moreover, led by the national hero Baden-Powell, was enthusiastically supported at all levels.
After the publication of Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell began to receive dozens of letters asking him to help organize a scout patrol, find an adult troop leader, and send a form. It was clear that the spontaneous movement needed coordination. After hesitating, Baden-Powell opened a small office in London. There was a stack of Scout hats in the room - 12 pieces, and no one hoped that they would be able to sell out quickly. However, the reality turned out to be more beautiful than the most optimistic forecasts. In 1909, King Edward VII, who had great sympathy for the new movement, knighted its founder. And by 1910, there were already about 100 thousand scouts in Great Britain alone. At this time, Baden-Powell held the position of inspector general of cavalry, but the king expressed the view that the general would bring more benefit to the homeland as a mentor to young people, and not as a career military man. Baden-Powell took the hint and resigned, devoting himself entirely to scouting.
The personal life of the confirmed bachelor and eternal boy has also changed dramatically. During one of his trips to Europe, Baden-Powell met Miss Olav Soames. In 1912, 55-year-old Baden-Powell got married. His chosen one had a full range of scouting qualities: she loved nature, hiking, riding a bike and was full of energy. “This is the most cheerful girl I know,” the general, who did not age at heart, wrote to his mother. His young wife bore him three children, actively participated in the scouting movement, and after some time replaced Robert Baden-Powell’s sister Agness as the head of the girls’ organization that arose within scouting.

Law and order

Although Baden-Powell liked to say that Scouting began and spread without his special efforts, he was very careful in developing the image and structure of the movement. Outwardly, anyone could recognize a scout by the uniform that Baden-Powell considered mandatory: a khaki shirt, a hat, a tie, shorts, to which the founding father of the movement had an almost painful attachment, and various insignia. Already in "Scouting for Boys" the laws of scouts were formulated. Those who managed to be among the pioneers will be interested to know that the scouts also had the cry “Be prepared!” and the oath they took when joining the organization. About the cry "Be prepared!" Baden-Powell said that it corresponds to the first letters of his last name. The first law of scouts states that a scout is honest and his word should be trusted, the second is that a scout is loyal to his king, homeland and other scouts, the third is that a scout must be useful and help others. Other laws require a scout to love animals, be polite, friendly and thrifty, obey commanders unquestioningly, smile and whistle in difficult times, and be pure in thoughts, words and actions. The most important points are included in the text of the oath: “I swear on honor to do my duty to God and the king with all my might, to always help other people and to observe the laws of scouts.”
The rule of daily good deed, which every Scout must religiously observe, has become widely known and has been a favorite subject for jokes in the last century. On the posters, the boy scout was leading old Britannia across the road, who is not afraid of anything with such a gentleman, and in Wodehouse’s novels about Jeeves and Wooster, the character Edwin, the disaster boy, was always trying to do something useful at the last moment, for example, polish brown shoes with black polish Worcester.
To be always ready, you must constantly prepare. The main place of preparation is the camp. You can go to a camp for at least a day, at least for a few weeks, to the mountains or to the sea - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the scout will definitely learn all the intricacies of life in nature, including first aid. A rank system should encourage scouts to improve themselves. In order to turn from a sissy into a scout of the second and then the first rank, you need to pass tests in several disciplines. This is a hierarchy common to all Scouts. There are also exams in the specialty, after passing which those who wish can receive the badge of a rescuer, medic, researcher, forester, naturalist, meteorologist. Specialties are not only socially useful, but also simply useful or pleasant: artist, bookbinder, dancer, carpenter, electrician, gardener, musician, photographer.
One of the first problems of the new movement was, oddly enough, children who wanted to join it. Already in 1909, at the first big scout meeting in London, Baden-Powell was amazed to see groups of girls claiming to be Girl Scouts. The entire being of a career military man rebelled against such an invasion of purely male games. It was decided to separate the girls into a separate organization and call them guides (guides) to distinguish them from scouts. This is how girl guides appeared.
Another problem was related to age. Scouting was mainly aimed at boys 12-14 years old. But they had younger brothers who were also eager to become scouts, and the teenagers, growing up, did not want to part with the scout lifestyle. Therefore, the elders were assigned to a group of wanderer scouts (rover scouts).

War and Peace
In 1920, the first international gathering of scouts, a jamboree, took place in London. The name was suggested by BP, who once heard this word, but did not remember exactly what it meant. At the first jamboree, BP was proclaimed the chief scout of the world and remained the only holder of this title. In 1929, King George V granted him the title of baron. Lord Baden-Powell also became Gilwell in honor of Gilwell Park in the outskirts of London, where the international scout training center was located.
The social benefits of a mass movement that declared patriotism and discipline (a “factory of character” according to its creator) were obvious to both politicians and the military. It spread quickly and unhindered and did not immediately become something like a respectable club for children from families with decent incomes. Initially, it was intended to involve the poor urban population in the movement. It is no coincidence that in the first edition of Scouting for Boys, parents were absent from the list of those whom a scout must obey: they had no place in an organization that was completely totalitarian in spirit.
Baden-Powell's ideals are evident in his notes on bees: "They are a model community in that they respect their queen and kill their unemployed." No less characteristic is the image of the brick people: “If you are unhappy with your place or your neighbors, or if you are a rotten brick, you are not fit for the wall. You are even dangerous. Some bricks are high, others are at the bottom of the wall, but everyone must do their job to the best of their ability.” "It is the same with people: each of us has our own place in the world, and it is useless to be dissatisfied."
When the First World War began, the scouts showed that they were ready for it: they guarded communications, tracked down spies, and replaced adults in the coast guard. As a result, the authority and fame of the scouting movement grew, but at the same time, militaristic sentiments intensified within the movement itself. Which was one of the reasons for the break with Seton-Thompson Scouting, which insisted that the goal of the youth movement should be the education of a harmonious individual, and not future soldiers.
Baden-Powell used the fighting spirit and self-sacrifice of the Japanese samurai as an example to the scouts and admired German educational methods, contrasting them with British softness. In 1933, he visited fascist Italy and studied with great interest the structure of the Italian youth organization of the Blackshirts. “The new organization is built in accordance with the principles of the scout movement,” Baden-Powell said about it. However, time put everything in its place: the peaceful environmental doctrine of scouting, which Seton-Thompson personified, subsequently prevailed.

Will
The last jamboree during Baden-Powell's lifetime took place in 1937 in the Netherlands. BP was already 80, he had written more than 30 books, several universities awarded him honorary academic titles, and he had many foreign awards. At the 1937 jamboree, 28 thousand Scouts were present, and many realized that this might be the last time they saw their main leader. That same year, Baden-Powell left for his beloved Africa, Kenya, where he spent the last years of his life. He died on January 8, 1941 and was buried in a cemetery at the foot of Mount Kenya. His name, dates of life and death and symbols of the Scout and Guide movement are engraved on the headstone.
After Baden-Powell's death, his farewell message was published. The Chief Scout's will was to "make this world a little better than you found it, and when it is your turn to die, you can die happy, knowing that at least you spent your time well and did the best you could."
The Scout movement still exists today, but does not fit well into the modern world. Baden-Powell himself is accused of misogyny, homosexual tendencies and suppression of the sexual desires of boys. A scandalous chapter entitled “Abstinence”, omitted from the first edition of “Intelligence for Boys,” was published, where Baden-Powell castigates masturbation and threatens children with the most terrible consequences of this sin, including dementia, and denotes interest in girls with a word similar to the name of the disease— "gerlitis". BP openly admitted that he enjoyed watching naked boys bathing and was obsessed with physical cleanliness, claiming that "a clean young man in the prime of health is God's most beautiful creature in this world." Baden-Powell, who until his last days appeared at all official events in scout shorts, turned from a touching eternal boy in the public consciousness into a man with severe mental and sexual problems.
His main brainchild, scouting, also ceased to be an unambiguously useful and noble cause. The first serious crisis occurred in the 60s: against the backdrop of hippies, scouts looked hopelessly outdated. It is characteristic that when in 1969 the Scout Association of Great Britain decided to modernize the movement, in particular the uniform of the turn of the century, replacing shorts with trousers, the “Old Believers” regarded this as a betrayal, broke away from the reformers and formed the Baden-Powell Scouts movement. But the uniform issue is minor compared to the lawsuits that have hit Scouts in the United States. Girls, atheists and homosexuals are seeking membership in the courts through the courts, which was originally created for boys and proclaimed loyalty to God and family values. Under pressure from the politically correct public, scouts are gradually losing ground. From a privilege that needs to be achieved and which not everyone is awarded, scouting is gradually turning into one of the forms of realizing the universal constitutional right to public activity. It is unlikely that Robert Baden-Powell would approve of this.
ANASTASIA FROLOVA

BE READY! Scouts in Russia This year the Russian scouting movement turned 95 years old. On April 30, 1909, the first scout troop "Beaver", organized by Russian officer Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhov, lit the first scout fire in Pavlovsky Park near St. Petersburg. Pantyukhov was inspired to work with teenagers by Baden-Powell’s book and his own youth experiences. While still studying in the cadet corps in Tiflis, Oleg and his friends created the Pushkin Club for joint walks and life in the lap of nature. The banner of the young scouts depicted their patron Saint George the Victorious, as well as the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, who later became a formal member of the Tsarskoe Selo scout unit. At the end of 1910, Baden-Powell arrived in Russia. Oleg Pantyukhov found out about this and went to visit him at the hotel. After a conversation about scout life, Pantyukhov received an offer to come visit the English scouts, and he, in turn, invited the general to Pavlovsk and Tsarskoe Selo. Baden-Powell had an audience with Nicholas II, but he did not have time to meet with the scouts. And then Pantyukhov with part of his troop in scout uniform with a banner and gifts, despite the severe frost, went to St. Petersburg to the station to see off the general who was leaving for Moscow. He was touched by such attention and shook hands with each scout. Pantyukhov wrote: “The idea of ​​publishing Baden Powell’s book in Russian belonged to our Sovereign, who received this book from London from one of those close to him. This book was published by the General Staff... It was, as it were, an answer to the question “What do we need?” to do for Russia?"... There were a lot of answers to this question in Baden Powell’s book, and everything was presented in such a joyful, cheerful spirit. It was a fun game, and preparation for service, and perhaps even the service itself of our Russia". By 1914, organizations of young scouts had arisen in many cities, and in 1915 the first detachment of girl scouts appeared in Kyiv. During the First World War, Oleg Pantyukhov was at the front and could not directly lead the scouts, but the movement continued to spread. Scouts helped adults in hospitals, collected parcels for the front, and took patronage over those who had lost their breadwinner. In the winter of 1915-1916, the First All-Russian Congress of Scouts was held, to which Baden-Powell and Pantyukhov sent their greetings. At the congress, the laws and commandments of young scouts were approved. In 1917, there were about 50 thousand scouts in Russia and almost one and a half hundred cities covered by the scout movement. The Bolsheviks who came to power understood the attractiveness of the scouting lifestyle and wanted to use the external attributes of scouting for the needs of communist education (this was advocated primarily by Krupskaya and Lunacharsky). In 1919, at the II Congress of the RKSM, Komsomol members decided to immediately dissolve the competing organization of scouts, and their ideology was recognized as harmful and bourgeois, which did not prevent the use of the motto, form and program of scouts when creating a children's communist organization (the corresponding recommendations were outlined by Krupskaya in the brochure “RKSM and Boy Scoutism "). The idea to use the name “pioneer” was put forward by the executive secretary of the “Russian Scout” society, Innokenty Zhukov, who, after the revolution, first tried to create the “Red Scout” organization, and then switched to working with pioneers and even received the honorary title “Senior Pioneer of the RSFSR.” The resolution of the 1922 conference at which the pioneer organization was created explicitly stated that it was based on a reorganized system of scouting. During the Civil War, many scout leaders, including Pantyukhov, fought on the side of the whites. In 1919, at the scout congress in Novocherkassk, Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhov was elected “senior Russian scout” for life. Subsequently, he continued his scouting work in exile, where the National Organization of Russian Scouts was created. In the 30s, there were thousands of Russian scouts in China, France, Poland, Latvia and other countries. Some of the scouts who remained in Russia continued to operate semi-underground, but in the mid-20s the movement was completely crushed. In 1990, after the creation of the Association for the Revival of Russian Scouting, new scouting organizations began to appear - the Russian Scout Union, the Russian Scout Federation, the Organization of Russian Young Scouts, etc.

The creator of the new pedagogical movement, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, was born on February 22, 1857 in London. His father, a priest and professor at Oxford University, died when Robert was only 3 years old. Left early without a father, Robert was raised by his mother - a very smart, capable and energetic woman who was the eldest daughter of Admiral William Smith and belonged to the offspring of the Elizabethan hero, Captain Smith, famous for his adventures among the red Indians of North America, where he twice, almost miraculously escaped death.

All the children of Professor Baden-Powell, and there were 7 of them and the eldest was 14 years old, were distinguished by a wide variety of talents in the field of painting, drawing, music and especially in the field of natural sciences. The mother, while raising them strictly, at the same time perfectly understood the importance of developing independence and personal initiative. Therefore, Robert was already accustomed to great independence in childhood.

The early years of Ste (that was the name of Robert Baden-Powell) and his brothers were full of lessons in outdoor life: searching for rare plants and butterflies, getting to know nature, the life of animals and birds - these were the early interests of B-P’s life, which he retained throughout throughout his subsequent life.

In 1870, that is, when Robert was 13 years old, he was assigned to a closed educational institution - Church House School. He was distinguished by his camaraderie, cheerfulness and tirelessness, as well as artistic ability. All his comrades loved him for these qualities, as well as for his willingness to always help.

Once, during a school play, the actor did not appear, the teacher immediately turned to Robert with a request to occupy the audience's attention. Robert fulfilled the request and made the audience laugh with his stories for fifteen minutes. Robert was very interested in nature and often ran away from school into the picturesque forest located outside the school fence. Here he was engaged in tracking, hunting hares, which he then cooked over a small and smokeless fire so that the teachers would not notice him.

Baden-Powell was a good drawer and loved to sketch the nature around him. During the summer holidays, he and his brothers traveled extensively around England on foot and by boat, often spending the night in the open air. At the age of 12, with his three brothers, Robert set off on a trip along the coast of England and Scotland on a five-ton boat. This was his first voyage, and since he was the youngest, he was appointed cabin boy, cook and scullery maid.

“The first time,” says Baden-Powell, “I failed with pea soup. I didn’t know what kind of meat was needed and what was more, meat or water? As a result, Warrington's elder brother's decision was: Frank will sit and watch you eat it all yourself."

India

In 1876, i.e., 19 years old, he graduated from Chaterhouse School and entered officer school. Military knowledge interested him, and in terms of success he was among the best. Baden-Powell begins his military service with the rank of sub-lieutenant in the famous hussar regiment "Charge of the Light Brigade" in India, which became famous in the Crimean Campaign. His military career is going very successfully. In 1882 he was appointed adjutant of the regiment, and in 1883 he was promoted to captain at the age of 26! An excellent sportsman, he won the most popular prize in India, wild boar spear hunting. A tireless hunter, loved by his comrades for his cheerful character, even then he showed great love for children.

In India, Baden-Powell encounters wild nature and enjoys hunting large and dangerous animals. Long expeditions through wild lands and frequent participation in hunting gradually develop Baden-Powell into a skilled and famous tracker and scout. As a specialist on these issues, he publishes a book for military intelligence officers and organizes a school of reconnaissance art in his regiment, teaching soldiers courage and independence, the ability to act in any conditions, mainly in unfamiliar terrain.

Baden-Powell came up with a special way to find traces of enemy troops. He developed dexterity, observation, resourcefulness and ability to work in his soldiers. B-P taught soldiers to understand tracks, use road signs, learned the art of sneaking, signaling with a whistle, knots and building bridges.

“If you want to be a good scout,” he said, “be able to find your way day and night in an area unfamiliar to you, be able to find the direction by the sun, stars, hours, by various signs in nature, be able to cook your own food, swim across the river, develop self-sacrifice, dexterity and endurance, sacrifice out of a sense of duty to one’s Motherland.” We know relatively little about Baden-P.’s life in India, where he spent 8 years (1876 -1884). His fame and popularity arose and grew later on the sultry fields of South Africa, in connection with the Boer War.

South Africa

From India in 1884, Baden-Powell was transferred to South Africa, where he clearly demonstrated his brilliant military abilities and covered himself with unfading glory. The British often had to equip military expeditions to pacify the warlike black tribes (Zulu, Matabella, Kafa...) who rebelled against English rule. During these wars, Baden-Powell distinguished himself for his energy, tirelessness and courage. Many times he personally went on reconnaissance missions with one guide or two or three reconnaissance soldiers. Mortal danger was the companion of these reconnaissances; several times he was actually on the verge of death, but he was always saved thanks to the ability to quickly make the right decision, swiftness and knowledge of nature.

Based on his experience, he compiled a book to teach young soldiers the art of reconnaissance, Aid to Scouting. This book-guide began to be used in schools in England. African military expeditions and constant skirmishes with enemies gave Baden-Powell the opportunity, to an even greater extent, to become an excellent tracker and a skilled intelligence officer.

The savages against whom he fought called him “the WOLF who never sleeps,” for they never managed to take Baden-Powell by surprise. This was the first forest name that the future scout scout received, and this name was given to him by his enemies! "The WOLF who never sleeps"! This is how Baden-Powell was and remained until the end!

Malta

After suppressing the unrest of African tribes, Baden-Powell was appointed in 1890 to the island of Malta as head of British military intelligence for the entire Mediterranean region. Baden-Powell personally carries out numerous secret missions in Austria, Italy, Albania, Turkey and other countries in southern Europe. He was a master of makeup and disguise, sometimes he traveled as a hunter, sometimes as an artist, sometimes as a naturalist catching butterflies. He later loved to talk about how he was more than once stopped by military patrols who looked at his drawings - often they depicted only innocent butterflies. In fact, in the drawings of butterflies, sketches of the location of troops, fortresses, and artillery were skillfully hidden. And so the “strange Englishman” continued to hunt for butterflies...

London

From Malta, Baden-Powell was transferred to London. Here he is struck by a terrible picture of the degradation of the younger generation. Not without reason, he saw in this signs of the decomposition of the state. Tormented by this question, Baden-Powell often spent whole days on the streets among street boys, trying to get closer to them and understand their motives, their interests, but he saw that nothing good would come of this generation.

Due to unrest in South Africa, Baden-Powell was sent to pacify the Ashanti tribe, which he did brilliantly.

Mefqing

Baden-Powell was promoted to colonel in 1899 and was tasked with strengthening the small town of Mefking, located in the middle of South Africa and lost in the depths of the South African steppes. Mefking was very important because of its strategic location and the railway that ran through it. This town was a good base for operations against the Boer Republic - Transvaal. “Whoever holds Mefqing holds all the tribes of the natives under his control” and the fall of Mefqing would serve as a signal for the uprising of all the natives.

The Anglo-Boer War begins. Baden-Powell appreciated the importance of this town and quickly strengthened it. To defend the town, which contained about 600 women and children and up to 7,000 natives and had a circumference of about 9 miles, the British had at their disposal only 1,000 soldiers and 300 mobilized townspeople.

The Boers (Dutch farmer settlers) surrounded and besieged the town in large forces, but all their attacks were repulsed. Baden-Powell soon gained fame by leading his squadron through enemy vanguards. With a heroic and skillful defense, in extremely difficult conditions, Baden-Powell defends the town entrusted to him for 217 days, that is, seven months from October 13 to May 18, 1900, until its liberation, and this saves the general situation of the entire campaign war.

His assistant Lord Edward Cecil, seeing that the ranks of the defenders were thinning and it was becoming more difficult to carry out the communications service, gathered the Mefking boys and organized them into an auxiliary service of signalmen (transmitting reports, orders, letters, etc.), orderlies, and shell carriers.

The result was a brave squad, which, under the command of their commander Goodyer (their playmate), provided extremely important services to the defense cause and fully deserved the medals with which they were awarded after the end of the war. The brilliant idea of ​​Lord Edward Cecil was the strongest impetus for the beginning of scouting. This is how a distant prototype of the scout organization arose. Baden-Powell had previously noticed that children who grew up in the lap of nature in a friendly, active environment are more resilient and more adapted to independent life, and from the work experience of the boys from Mefking, he was even more convinced of this.

The main thing, of course, was the attitude of boys to military labor before and after the organization of Goodyer's cadets. The street boys treated the war so calmly that even when shells exploded, they did not leave their street games. But what happened to them when they were given uniforms, weapons and responsibilities? These were the most diligent workers in their field. Neither the threat of death nor difficulties could stop their activities.

Baden-Powell understood Lord Cecil's motives in forcing a reckless crowd of street urchins to submit to strict discipline. The reasons for instilling discipline in the children were:

1. Trust placed in youth.
2. Their awareness of their own responsibility.

The beginning of scouting

When, after seven months of heroic defense, Mefking was liberated by the arriving English troops, Baden-Powell was already a celebrity, and after the Boer War, he returned to England as a national hero of the entire country and one of the most popular people in England. Queen Victoria promoted Mefking's defender to the rank of major general. Baden-Powell was only 43 years old. He became the youngest major general in the British army. He is invited to the large post of cavalry inspector. A brilliant military career opens up for Baden-Powell.

In 1901, Baden-Powell returned to England, where he was given a solemn and enthusiastic meeting.

Soon Baden-Powell notices all the shortcomings of the English urban pampered youth, from whom he, as a popular hero, receives a lot of letters. In England it is quite common to write letters even to complete strangers, and the good tone of English society requires that every letter must be answered. Thanks to this correspondence, Baden-Powell recognizes the needs and aspirations of the child's soul. In his response letters, he tells the children about his adventures, about life in the jungles of India and in the endless steppes and wilds of Africa, and gives advice on how to become brave, courageous, resilient and strong.

Baden-Powell soon learns that the book Aid to Scouting, written by him in Africa as a manual for training soldiers in reconnaissance, is a great success among English youth and is adopted as a manual in schools.

Gradually, Baden-Powell comes to the idea that he must help the youth of his country become a worthy successor to the outgoing generation. If the book he wrote to train soldiers in reconnaissance made an impression on the guys, then what would happen if you wrote a book specifically for the guys!

So the idea arises in him to create an organization for young people that would prepare for scouting - reconnaissance work, in the form of interesting games in nature, exercises and hikes, so that in the end the boys would develop into real strong, strong-willed men - a worthy replacement.

He set to work and used not only his military experience gained in India and Africa in skirmishes with the Zulus, Kaffirs and Matabellas, but borrowed much from the ideas of previous centuries, ranging from Spartan education of children to the methods of training the Red Indians. Slowly and carefully he created his own educational system.

Scouting

Wanting to try out his system of out-of-school education in practice, in the summer of 1907 he gathered a group of 20 boys from different circles of society and organized with them on Brownsea Island, in Dorset, on the banks of the English Channel, the first scout camp in the world in which he used all the accumulated experience. The results of this camp were brilliant.

By the end of 1907, in the northern part of London - in Hamstead, the first scout troop was organized, and a month later, in the outskirts of London - Putney, the 2nd scout troop was created.

At the beginning of 1908, Baden-Powell published his book SCOUTING FOR BOYS, in which in an entertaining form he talks not only about the experience of life in the wild, but also about serving his homeland, about chivalry and its traditions and ideals. The book was a tremendous success, was reprinted several times and was translated into most languages ​​abroad, which led to the emergence of scout troops around the world. The scouting movement has spread throughout England, and a women's branch is emerging, led by his wife.

First edition of the book "Intelligence for Boys"

The Second Life of Baden Powell

The book gave rise to an entire international youth movement, and by 1910 the scouting movement had become so large that Baden-Powell decided that scout training for the younger generation would give the country good citizens and be more beneficial than the standard training of English soldiers.

In 1910, with the rank of lieutenant general, he left military service and devoted his life to scouting, which quickly covered the entire globe.

Taking Radard Kipling’s book “Mowgli” as a basis, Baden-Powell creates a system of working with wolf cubs to educate junior scouts. Later, a senior branch of the organization was created - Rover Scouts.

In 1909, King Edward of England held a review parade, which was attended by 14,000 scouts. After this, in 1910, by a special royal charter, the British Scouts Organization was recognized as a state institution.

After retiring, Baden-P. writes and publishes a number of books on the scouting movement, and also travels a lot to different countries, visiting spontaneously emerging scout organizations.

After the First World War (1914-1917), Baden-Powell took an active part in the organization of the International Scout Bureau, which serves to maintain communication among scouts of different nations. From each nationality, only one Scout organization can belong to this Bureau. In order to bring together scouts of different nationalities, Baden-Powell introduced the idea of ​​international congresses of scouting youth, the so-called. World Jamboree (Africans call their traditional holidays “jambories”, found among some tribes of Africa, with whom Baden-Powell met during the Boer War).

The first such Jamboree took place in 1920 in London, where scouts from different nations gathered from all parts of the world. On the last night of this Jamboree - August 6th, Baden-Powell was selected as a "Chief Scout of the World". It was decided to convene the jamboree every four years.

For his services in educating the younger generation of British youth, Baden-Powell was elevated by King George V of England to the rank of Baron with the title "LORD BADEN-POWELL of GILWELL" - after the name of Gilwell Park, the center of British leadership courses and camps. Until the end of his life, he worked actively for the development of scouting, participating in all scout conferences and Jamborees, constantly visiting scouts from different countries.

The last Jamboree in which Baden-Powell took part was in 1937 in Holland.

Baden-Powell's final years

Having reached the age of 80, he felt tired and returned to live out his remaining years in Africa with his wife Lady Baden-I., who was an excellent assistant in his scouting work and was herself elected as a Senior Girl Scout of the World, the movement of which was also started by Baden-Powell. In their beloved Africa, the couple settled in Kenya, in a quiet, cozy corner, with a delightful view of the forest surrounding them, stretching for many miles, behind which the peaks of snowy mountains could be seen. Here BP died on January 8, 1941, a month and a half before his 84th birthday, maintaining clarity of thought and good spirits until his last breath.

“The wolf who never sleeps” fell asleep in eternal sleep, but the memory of him will never be erased from the hearts of millions of young people around the world, to whom the great founder of world scouting dedicated his life.

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Robert Baden-Powell
portrait 1919
Date of Birth
Place of Birth	Paddington, London, UK
Date of death
A place of death	Nyeri, Kenya
Affiliation	British Army
Type of army	British Army
Years of service
Rank	lieutenant general
Commanded	Chief of Staff, First Chimurenga (1896-1897), 5th India Dragoons (1897) Inspector General of Cavalry (England, 1903)
Battles/wars	Anglo-Ashanti War, first Chimurenga, Siege of Mafeking Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)
Awards and prizes	Lord Robert Stephenson Smith Baden-Powell(English) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell , ; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) - British military leader, founder of the Scouting and Guide movements. Less known as a writer and artist. Origin Born in Paddington (London), February 22, 1857, was the sixth of eight sons. His family was not entirely ordinary. His father, the Anglican priest George George Baden-Powell, was also professor of theology and geometry at Oxford University. The mother was the daughter of British Admiral W. T. Smith. Robert's grandfather, Joseph Brewer Smith, once went to America as a colonist, but then returned to England and was shipwrecked on the way home. In addition, the name Robert Stephenson is the name of his godfather, who was the son of the world famous inventor George Stephenson. Thus, the blood of a priest and the son of a colonist - a brave adventurer - flowed in Baden-Powell's veins at the same time. early years When Robert was three years old, his father died, leaving his mother with seven young children. The mother, Henrietta Grace, was a strong woman who was confident that her children would succeed. Baden-Powell would say about her in 1933: “The main secret of my success belongs to my mother.” She tried to raise all her children to be cheerful, physically resilient and independent. Long journeys on his own sailboat together with four brothers along the waters of the sea coast at any time of the year and in any weather and hunting in the forest strengthened Robert's body and character and instilled a love of nature. In 1870, after attending Rose Hill School (Tunbridge Wells), Robert entered the prestigious private Charterhouse School in London, where he received a scholarship. At school, he was especially distinguished by his knowledge of natural sciences and sports achievements. Robert was always at the center of the action whenever there was action in the schoolyard, and quickly became known as a top-notch goalkeeper on the local football team. It was then that his friends first began to call him BP (short for Baden-Powell; this is what scouts all over the world would later call him). At that time, he had a wide range of hobbies: he played the piano, violin, had good acting skills and enjoyed participating in performances, often organizing expeditions to the surrounding forests. Whenever they turned to him, he could always put on a spectacle that would captivate the entire school. The artist's talent allowed him to later illustrate his works well. Vacations were usually still spent on sailing and canoeing expeditions with the brothers. Robert in India At the age of 19, Robert entered military service. At the qualifying exam, among several other candidates, he took second place and was immediately assigned to the hussar regiment, bypassing the internship at the officer school. During the Crimean War, this regiment received the rights of mounted infantry in the famous “Light Brigade” of the English army. In addition to his brilliant military service, BP became a captain (at the age of 26) and received the most coveted trophy in all of India for “pig slaughter,” that is, for hunting wild boars on horseback with only a small spear. While serving in India, Robert specialized in military intelligence. He also had a chance to visit Afghanistan, the Balkans, Malta, South Africa and other countries. Participation in wars in Africa Robert Baden-Powell on a patriotic postcard. 1900 In 1887, BP takes part in a military expedition against the Zulu tribes, and later against the Ashanti tribes and the brutal Matabele warriors. Baden-Powell was promoted automatically until one incident gave him the opportunity to gain fame and become a national hero in England. It was 1899, BP was already at the rank of colonel. The situation became so tense that an explosion was expected. Baden-Powell received orders to gather two battalions of cavalry and rush to Mafeking, a town in the heart of South Africa. “Whoever controls Mafeking holds South Africa by the bridle,” was a proverb that circulated among the locals, and its truthfulness was fully confirmed. For 217 days - from October 13, 1899 to May 18, 1900 - BP led the defense of Mafeking, which was besieged by superior enemy forces. They never managed to overcome his defenses. For this, BP received the rank of major general and became a true national hero of England. The Birth of Scouting Three members of the Scout movement: Robert Baden-Powell (seated), Ernest Seton-Thompson (left) and Daniel Beard (right) In 1901 Baden-Powell returned to England as a hero and was showered with various honours. His personal popularity made his military intelligence textbook popular. This was a serious impetus for BP. He realized that he had the opportunity to help the young men of his homeland grow courageous and tempered spiritually and physically. He set to work, assembled a special library for himself and read a lot about the education of young men at all times - from the times of Ancient Greece and Sparta to education in old Britain, India and modern educational systems at that time. BP developed the idea of ​​scouting quite carefully - he wanted to make sure that it was viable. Therefore, in the summer of 1907, he gathered a group of 22 boys and organized the first scout camp on Brownsea Island, located in the English Channel. This camp was a great success. Scouting for boys After this, in 1908, BP published the first scouting textbook, Scouting for Boys, in six two-week parts, with his own illustrations. Most likely, BP never dreamed that this book would give rise to the world’s largest youth movement and would be read by tens of millions of young people in hundreds of languages ​​in all corners of the world (it was soon translated into 35 languages). As soon as “playing for kids” began to appear in shop windows and magazine kiosks, scout clubs began to spread en masse in England and many other countries of the world. BP's second life The new youth movement was constantly developing and by 1910 had reached such proportions that BP realized that scouting should become his life's work. His fertile imagination and complete confidence created the belief that he could do much more for his country by training the youth to be good citizens of the country than by training a small number of men for future wars. King Edward VII of Great Britain advised Baden-Powell to leave military service, believing that by spreading his method of education, he would be much more useful to his homeland. BP left the army and began to fully live “the other life,” as he called it, a life dedicated to serving the world through Scouting. World Scout Fraternity Monument to Baden-Powell in London In 1912, Baden-Powell set off on a trip around the world to meet scouts in different countries. This was just the beginning of Scouting as a worldwide brotherhood. And although the First World War interrupted the development of Scouting for some time, with its end it continued to grow, and in 1920 Scouts from all over the world met for the first time at the World Scout Jamboree (meeting) in London. On the last evening of this Jamboree, August 6, a cheerful group of multilingual Scouts proclaimed BP Chief of the Scouts of the World. The scouting movement continued to grow. On the day of its 21st anniversary, it already had more than 2 million members in most countries on Earth. King George V honored BP by ennobling him with the title "Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell". However, for all the scouts, he forever remained BP, the Chief of the Scouts of the World. After the London Jamboree came the turn of the second, which took place in Denmark in 1924, then the third in 1929 in England, the fourth in 1933 in Hungary, the fifth in 1937 in Holland. But the Jambories were only part of Scouting's efforts for world brotherhood. BP traveled a lot, continued correspondence with scout guides in many countries and constantly wrote on educational topics, illustrating his articles and books with his own drawings. He wrote “Textbook for Wolf Cubs” (1916), “My Adventures in the Scout Service” (1916), “Textbook for Scoutmasters” (1920), “What Scouts Can Do” (1921), “The Journey for Success” (1922). In total, BP wrote 32 books. They talk about him as an outstanding military man, writer, artist, actor; he was also interested in amateur cinema; an excellent organizer, honorary doctor of six universities, recipient of 28 foreign and 19 scouting awards and honors, Baden-Powell himself was a shining example of versatile self-education for scouts. Last years of BP Baden-Powell's grave When BP reached the age of 80, he returned to his beloved Africa with his wife, Lady Olav Baden-Powell, his enthusiastic assistant in all his endeavors, and herself a leader of the world Girl Scouting movement. They settled in Nairi, Kenya, a tranquil location with beautiful views through deep forests to snow-capped mountain peaks. Partially used materials from the site http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/

The founder of scouting, Robert Stevenson Smith Powell, was born on February 22, 1857 in London in the family of a priest and professor of theology at Oxford University, Baden Powell. He did not remember his father, since he died when Robert was only three years old. The widowed Henrietta Grace, daughter of Admiral W. Smith, had to raise seven children alone, of whom the eldest was 14 years old. In memory of her husband, she changed the family's surname to Baden-Powell (hence the shortened form of his surname - BP, as scouts informally call him). She was a strict and demanding mother. Children not only had to look after themselves from an early age, but also had certain responsibilities around the house.

In 1870, Robert entered the London school - “Charterhouse School”. He was a good football goalkeeper, but not a particularly good student. His classmates loved him for his cheerful character and his exceptional ability to copy his teachers. During the holidays, Robert and his four brothers went to travel around England for the whole summer.

BP did not have enough stars in his studies, which was the reason for his failure to enter Oxford University. I had to think about other possible prospects, for example, the army. The method of replenishing the army's officer corps, then accepted in England, provided for a series of exams and tests for applicants. And here Stevie showed himself in all his brilliance - out of 718 candidates he came fifth. And so at the age of 19, after graduating from school, Robert passed the officer's exam, received the rank of junior lieutenant and was appointed to the 13th Hussars. His military service took place in India and Afghanistan. At the age of 26 he became captain.

Receiving a modest salary, Baden-Powell began to earn extra money by writing articles for magazines, illustrating them with his own drawings.

After eight years of service in the colonies, Baden-Powell returned to England, where he joined military intelligence. In 1915, he published a book of memoirs, “My Spy Adventures,” in which he described his adventures in a fascinating manner and illustrated them himself.

Pretending to be an old butterfly collector, Baden-Powell inspected Austrian fortifications in the Balkans. He skillfully disguised his sketches as images of butterflies. He visited Turkey, Italy and other countries, including Russia.

This was in 1886. Maneuvers took place in Krasnoye Selo, during which new searchlights and a new military balloon were to be tested. Robert Baden-Powell and his brother managed to enter the restricted area without much difficulty. William Hilcourt's biography of Baden-Powell says: "They greeted everyone who was greeted by everyone, and passed by the sentries, who asked them nothing." When the guards left for lunch, the brothers were able to get a good look at the balloon gondola, and then remained in the restricted area until the evening to observe the tests of the searchlights. Both the searchlights and the balloon did not seem as interesting to them as they expected.

On the last day of the maneuvers, the brothers wanted to see the “attack” of the fort (Baden-Powell calls it “Nikolin”). One of the brothers watched the attackers of the fort, and the other watched its defenders.

On the way back, when it was already dark, the brothers were detained on the road by officers accompanying the royal crew. They tried to explain that they were Englishmen who were walking to the railway station and got lost in the dark. They asked the officers who detained them to help them get there, but instead they were taken to St. Petersburg. There they were put under house arrest in one of the hotels, from where they later escaped without much difficulty.

That Baden-Powell was a talented spy is evidenced by another book he wrote immediately after returning from South Africa in 1901. It’s called “To Help Scouts.” It gave general advice on methods of observation and deduction to improve the quality of training of soldiers. In addition to purely military advice, other requirements for a scout formulated by the BP are noteworthy here: he must be strong, healthy, active, a real scout has good eyesight and hearing, he is a good horseman and swimmer, he can explore and read his surroundings. All these requirements were later presented to young scouts (scout translated from English as scout). This book was a manual for the training of English military intelligence officers; it soon received universal recognition from specialists, was translated into Russian and published in 1902 by the St. Petersburg publishing house of V. A. Berezovsky, a commission agent for military educational institutions. Abroad, this book went through several editions and was translated into many languages. In the preface to the English edition of 1915, Baden-Powell wrote: “The Russians, who previously believed in the “machine theory,” have now also switched to individual training, which consists in raising an intelligence officer in every soldier.”

In 1887, Baden-Powell was sent to South Africa, where blacks offered desperate resistance to the British colonialists. He took part in suppressing the uprising of the Zulu, Ashanti and Matabela. In his memoirs, Baden-Powell later wrote that because of his sudden attacks, the blacks nicknamed him “The Wolf that Never Sleeps.”

With officials from the Protectorate regiment,
formed in 1899 in anticipation of the war in South Africa.

In 1899, Baden-Powell was promoted to colonel and appointed commandant of the Mafking fortress, an important strategic and administrative point and railway junction. Mafking was located in the Cape Colony, near the border of Bechuanaland, a British protectorate.

The Boer War began on October 12, 1899; Boers from the Transvaal surrounded Mafking. The siege lasted seven months (217 days), until 17 May 1900, when Field Marshal Lord Roberts, advancing on the Transvaal capital Pretoria, sent a special detachment to liberate Mafking.

The garrison consisted of 1,250 men, but Baden-Powell mobilized all men capable of bearing arms. Among them were boys 12-14 years old. Of the most efficient, a detachment of scouts was formed, who were tasked not only with observing enemy positions, but also with carrying letters through the ring of Boers besieging the fortress.

In 1901, Colonel R. Baden-Powell was promoted to major general, and in 1908 to lieutenant general.

After the Boer War, BP returned to his homeland in England after many years of absence. One of the heroes of the war, he became very popular. Letters from children came to him from all over the British Empire. He traveled a lot around the country, giving lectures, attending parades of cadets and “brigades,” and corresponding with children and teenagers. Baden-Powell drew attention to the difference between English boys in Africa and in London. It was a surprise for BP to learn that his manual “To Help Scouts” is used not only by the military, but also by teachers working with children in cadet corps, the “Boys’ Brigade” (since 1902 he became the vice-president of this “Brigade”) and church mugs. One day, W. Smith approached him with a proposal to revise the book “To Help Scouts” for children and teachers.

In the summer of 1906, BP received the book “Birch Whistle” by mail from the Canadian naturalist and writer Ernest Seton-Thomson. The author's appeal argued that the ills of society could be cured by the simple, natural life of a primitive tribe. The book aroused keen interest among BP.

In 1906 - 1908, having carefully studied the works of Pestalotia, Epictetus, Titus Livy, analyzing the experience of education among the Spartans, African tribes, Japanese samurai, the traditions of the British and Irish peoples, as well as his military experience as a scout and military man, Baden-Powell began working on book (“Intelligence for Boys”). It was written in the form of fireside chats.

Before publishing it, Baden-Powell decided to test his theories in practice. To do this, he gathered a group of 22 boys and spent 8 days with them in the summer of 1907 in a tent camp on Brownsea Island, off the south coast of England (Dorset). The children were divided into five patrols, each led by a designated leader. The eight-day program was rich and vibrant. On the first day, deployment was carried out, patrols were created and responsibilities were distributed, and leaders were instructed. On the second day, camp activities were studied: knitting knots, making fires and cooking, orienteering, and they also did not forget about hygiene. On the third day, BP taught to recognize details of the environment near and far from the observer, for example, footprints. The fourth day was devoted to the study of animals, birds, plants, and stars. Fifth - chivalry: honor, laws, loyalty to the king, officers, chivalrous attitude towards women (this BP was taken from the traditions of the knightly monastic order of St. John on the island of Malta, where he served in 1890–1893, as well as from the legend of the Knights of the Round King Arthur's Table). On the sixth day, the children learned to provide assistance in case of burns, fainting, poisoning, and to act in times of panic. On the penultimate day, BP gave the children concepts about colonial geography, history, the glorious deeds of the empire, its army and navy, and explained the responsibilities of a real citizen. The last day is the day of games and competitions. Of course, there were no lectures at this camp. BP conveyed all the information to the children in an entertaining, playful way. First he showed and told, and then conducted practical classes. Everyone liked the camp, and at the beginning of 1908 the book “Scouting for Boys” was published in six separate notebooks.

The need for out-of-school education for teenagers has been felt for a long time, and many attempts have been made to create children's organizations in different countries, but what Baden-Powell proposed turned out to be the most suitable.

BP tried to fit the entire children's world into one book and give the child advice that might come in handy someday. That is why all the theoretical and practical material in the book was arranged according to topics - conversations: from “Scout Laws”, “Tracking”, “Comfort in Camp”, “How to Become Strong”, “The Nobility of Knights”, “What to Do During Accidents” to “Sobriety”, “How to Build Bridges”, etc. Emphasis is placed on developing the citizenry through small groups led by older children and guided by adults. BP aroused enthusiasm in children. No one had previously advised them to whistle in difficult moments and not to be a snob (9th law).

In the early years, the scout laws were dominated by the style of duty, service, and responsibility. For example, the first law: “A scout’s honor must be trusted” had an explanation: “If a scout dishonored his honor by telling a lie or failing to accurately carry out an order given in trust in his honor, he must return his badge and never wear it again. He may also be completely excluded from scouting.” Law two required the child to be faithful to everyone, including his parents. Law three - the duty to help others and be useful, law 7 required obedience, law 8 - ordered to whistle when receiving an order. Laws 4, 5, 6, which deal with politeness, love for animals, and frugality, did not fit into this general atmosphere. Therefore, in 1911, a tenth law was added to the nine: “The Scout is pure in thought, word and deed.” He slightly adjusted the style of the laws.

Children's groups began to spring up spontaneously throughout the country, using his book as a basis for their work. BP began to receive a lot of letters in which adults and children demanded clarification, comments and advice. And BP gave up. After consultation with his friends, he established a Correspondence Bureau. With the participation of A. Pearson, the newspapers “Scout” (for children) and “Headwater Gazette” (for instructors) began to be published. The first detachments appeared in North London, and in the spring of 1908, the whole of England was covered with a network of spontaneously arising detachments. Then the movement spread to the colonies. A year later, King Edward VII received the first parade of fourteen thousand scouts from England. In 1909, the first Girl Scout groups appeared. The Scout Association of Great Britain received its legal status by a king's charter on January 4, 1912, and since then the next monarch has confirmed it with a special Act.

At the end of December 1910, General Baden-Powell arrived in St. Petersburg. O. I. Pantyukhov and V. G. Yanchevetsky, the founder of the legion of “young intelligence officers” in St. Petersburg, learned about this from the newspapers and hastened to meet the author of the book “Young Intelligence Officer”. Baden-Powell invited his new acquaintances to visit England and get acquainted with the organization of scouting work on the spot, and he himself soon left for an audience with Emperor Nicholas II, and then to Moscow, where a banquet was held in his honor by local “young scouts”. Baden-Powell did not have time to get acquainted with intelligence work in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo.

In 1910, Robert Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes founded a separate organization for girls, the Girl Guides, and in the same year, King Edward VII persuaded Robert Baden-Powell to resign in order to devote himself entirely to working with the Boy Scouts. In 1910 there were more than 123,000 Boy Scouts in Great Britain and its colonies, scouting work began in the USA, Holland, Italy, Finland and other countries, and in 1911 scouting spread to almost all European countries.

After retiring, BP began to travel a lot around Europe. During these travels, BP met Olav Soames, a pretty, active girl. If the general owed his upbringing to his mother, then his future wife, on the contrary, loved sports, hiking, cycling, and nature thanks to her father. In 1912 they got married and, despite the large age difference, lived happily. They had two girls and one boy. At first, BP’s sister Agness tried to lead the Girl Scout movement, but gradually Olav replaced her at the helm of the girl’s organization.

The First World War, which soon broke out, divided the scouts into two warring camps. On one side there were Germany and Austria-Hungary, on the other - England, France, Russia and their allies. Scouts on both front lines honestly performed their duty.

After the war, Baden-Powell took up the task of bringing together the youth of all countries and reconciling the warring peoples with even greater energy. For this purpose, the first international scouting meeting was organized in London in 1920, called the Indian word “jamboree,” in which representatives of 32 countries took part. On the last day of the jamboree, August 6, 1920, Baden-Powell was elected Chief Scout of the World. After the international scout jamboree, the International Boy Scout Bureau was created in London.

On August 30, 1922, the Organization of Russian Scouts Abroad, headed by Senior Russian Scout O.I. Pantyukhov, was accepted as a member of this bureau.

According to the rules of the bureau, each state could be represented by only one organization. If there were several scout organizations, they had to unite into a federation.

The second condition of membership was the separation of boys from girls. Mixed troops of boys and girls were prohibited by international scouting rules.

Baden-Powell was a man of exceptional energy. In 1922, he was granted a baronetcy for his scouting activities, and in 1929, the title of “Baron of Gilwell” (Gilwell is the place where Baden-Powell organized courses for scout leaders).

Baden-Powell has written many books about working with scouts. After his most famous book “Scouting for Boys”, intended for leaders of boys 12-16 years old, he published “Wolf Cubs Handbook” in 1916 (a guide for working with wolf cubs - boys 7-11 years old), and in 1922 - “ Rovering to Success” (roaming to success) about working with young men over 17 years old, who in the scouting organization were called “Rovers”. These are only three of Baden-Powell's main manuals on scouting, and there were many more in total.

The last Jamboree in which BP took part was in 1937 in Holland.

In 1937, when Baden-Powell's health failed and doctors prescribed him complete rest, he and his wife moved to Kenya (Africa). He lived there from October 1938 until his death on January 8, 1941, a month and a half before his 84th birthday.

Baden-Powell is buried in the local cemetery, and the road to the cemetery is named after him. The Kenya Scouts erected a memorial plaque at the house where Baden-Powell lived and died.

In 1938, BP was nominated for the Nobel Prize, but the war prevented the resolution of this issue.

It is said that today BP is the most widely read British author in the world after Shakespeare, and his Scouting for Boys has sold worldwide copies in this century, second only to the Bible.

D. Hargrave once remarked that Huckleberry Finn was always hiding in BP’s nature, that there was something in him that could be called “Boy Poltergeism.” Many, many children from a rationalized and dead-boring world flocked to Scouting after him.

THE LAST MESSAGE OF THE CHIEF SCOUT OF THE WORLD

Dear scouts!

If you have seen the play-performance “Peter Pan”, then you remember how the leader of the pirates always gave his dying speech, fearing that when the time to die passed, he would not have the opportunity to say everything that was in his soul. It's the same with me, although I'm not dying at the moment, I still want to send you a farewell message.
Remember, this is the last time you will hear from me, so think about it.
I have had the happiest life, and I wish each of you to have a happy life too.
I believe that God placed us in this joyful world to be happy and enjoy life.
Happiness doesn't come from being rich or having great success in your career or thinking highly of yourself. One step to happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are still young, so that you can be useful in life and can enjoy life when you are an adult.
By studying nature, you will see what beauty and amazing things God has created for us so that we can admire and enjoy. Be happy with what you have and make the best of it. Look for the bright side in everything, instead of the dark - sad.
But to have real happiness, you must also give happiness to other people. Try to leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your time comes to die, you can die with the happy feeling that you did not waste your time, but did the best you could. “Be Prepared” in this direction - live happily and die happily - always stand firm on your Scout Solemn Promise - even after you are no longer a boy - and God will help you with this.

Your friend,
Baden - Powell of Gilvert.

Literature
1. Kudryashov Yu.V. Russian scout movement. Historical sketch. (Scientific ed.). – Arkhangelsk: Pomeranian State University Publishing House, 1997.
2. Polchaninov R.V. KNE notes. San Francisco, 1997
3. II category ORUR. Publishing house RGK ORYUR, 2000
4. Course material for the training of scout leaders “History of the Scout Movement” Chapter 2. From the SCM archive. O.E. Levitsky, Santa Rosa, California, April 1995

From the site materials

The exotic name of the Brazilian guitarist is difficult to remember on the first try; Robert Baden-Powell de Aquin is a rather difficult phrase for a Russian person.

He received such an unusual name for a Brazilian child thanks to his grandfather, who admired the famous “scout” Robert Thompson Baden Powell and independently led the Boy Scout direction in Brazil.

Biography of Baden Powell

Baden Powell was born in the small town of Warre-e-Sai on a summer day on August 6, 1937.
His father was a talented musician, a true professional. Everyone in his hometown knew the violinist Lina de Aquina.

When Robert grew up and was able to reach musical instruments on his own, it became clear to everyone around him that the boy would make a good musician.

At the age of seven he began to study and play the piano and cello. Then it was time for the guitar. Rock became his main hobby. The famous composer and guitarist J. Florence became the boy's teacher. Learning to play the guitar took seven years, as a result Baden mastered the instrument to perfection and fell in love with classical music.

Robert did not miss the opportunity to take part in the creative activities of local groups, whose main repertoire was based on the classics: Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich.
Every year, Powell's creative perception was replenished with new musical infusions; he tried to comprehend the magic of music, to become part of it.

Having received his education at the National Music School in Rio, he easily beat his competitors at the Radio Nacional competition for young talents. And at the age of 14, Robert received a music “pro” license, could work in bars, and then on radio and television.

In 1959, 22-year-old Baden, together with B. Blanco, took part in writing the “Sad Samba” - “Samba Triste”. Over the next two years, he performed as a guitarist on various boss albums.

In 1962, having collaborated with V. Moraes, the musician created more than 50 compositions sounding in the rhythm of Afro-samba and bossa. Several of them can be heard in the 1966 album “Os Afro-Sambas”, and “Blessed Samba” - “Samba da Bencao” in the film Kl. Lelyusha "Man and Woman".

Baden's early work was influenced by Afro-Brazilian cults from the northeastern region of Bahia. Subsequently, the guitarist demonstrated to listeners his extraordinary performance and amazing ability to combine Afro-Brazilian motifs with classical and jazz. He easily produced melodic and soft sounds from his instrument, reminiscent of a gentle lullaby from childhood, as well as the incredible harmony of the drummers. That’s why they said about him: “Baden is under the influence of enchanting jazz, which lets a real Brazilian pass through his soul.”

Baden Powell is considered one of the brightest representatives of the romantic “new” bossa nova style that appeared in the 50s.

In the period 1970-80, Robert was in Europe: releasing albums, performing solo or as part of jazz teams.

In 1991, he first became a session musician for the band My Dying Bride, and was then hired as a permanent "position" as keyboardist and violinist.

After leaving the band in 1998, Robert joined Anathema as a keyboard player. It was this work that helped Powell practically start a new life and fight alcohol addiction. After all, selling beer openers on a street stall is not the limit of his dreams! But he left him too after two years.

In 2000, Baden "diluted" the British band Cradle Of Filth. Together they released the unimaginably grandiose album collection “Damnation And A Day” (2003), its sound was provided by 40 professional musicians from the orchestra, for whom Robert wrote the score.

After 5 years of creative activity, the musician left this group, posting a statement on the page of its official website with voiced reasons for leaving, the main one of which was the desire for solo work.

After this, Powell continued his studies at the university and received a music degree. But he continued to meet with the members of the last line-up, who were his friends.

The last years of B. Powell's life

These years completely changed the musician’s worldview and perception of the surrounding reality; he became an active member of the Presbyterian church brotherhood. Religious considerations prompted Robert to return to his early “sinful” creativity. According to rumors, it was at this stage of his life that Powell finally conquered alcoholism.

Died Baden Powell from pneumonia on September 26, 2000 in the hospital ward of Sorocaba, Rio de Janeiro. Here he spent the last days of his life. The musician was 63 years old.

The musician’s sons also followed in their father’s footsteps: Filipe is a pianist, and Marcel is a guitarist. Baden was married to their mother Sylvia for 23 years, but for the last 3 years the main place in his life was occupied by another woman - Elisabeth do Carmo.