Robert Baden-Powell

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell - Founder of the Scouts Movement
Coat of Arms of Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell.


Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was an English army officer most known for starting the Scout movement. He was born in Paddington, London and went to British public schools before joining the army. Baden-Powell served in South Africa during the Anglo-Ashanti and Boer Wars, and also served in Malta. Baden-Powell's most notable service was at the Siege of Mafeking. For that, he became a major-general, and later a lieutenant general, which he was until 1910. In 1907, he founded the Boy Scouts, and wrote the first Handbook for Boys. He also started the Woodbadge program, which is based on Scoutcraft and things he learned from the Zulus.