January 24, 2024 • 9 mins
On this day in 1908, the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell’s “Scouting for Boys” was published in England.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that blazes a trail through history, one day at
a time. I'm Gabeluesier, and today we're talking about the
birth of the Scouting movement, a social program that teaches
(00:22):
outdoor skills and citizenship to young people all over the
world and hooks them up with some pretty slick merit
badges in the process. The day was January twenty fourth,
nineteen oh eight. The first installment of Robert Baden Powell's
(00:45):
Scouting for Boys was published in England. The remaining installments
would be released over the next three months, and the
completed work would form the basis of the first Boy
Scout Handbook. By the time it hits store shelves, there
were already dozens of informal Boy Scout troops operating all
over Britain, and within one year's time, the membership of
(01:08):
those clubs would swell to more than sixty thousand Scouts.
Fast forward to today, and millions of young boys and
girls are now members of Scouting organizations that operate in
just about every country on Earth. Scouting has become a
worldwide movement, and Baden Powell was the man who started
(01:29):
it all. Robert baden Powell was born in London on
February twenty second, eighteen fifty seven. He spent much of
his early life playing in the woods near his home
and learning about the natural world. He was especially interested
in what was then known as woodcraft, the skill of
surviving and making one's way in the woods. As he
(01:52):
later put it himself quote, in my spare time as
a schoolboy, I did a good lot of scouting in
the woods, in the way of snaring rabbits and cooking them,
observing birds and tracking animals and so on. In eighteen
seventy six, baden Powell left school early and joined the
British Army. He would spend the next thirty four years
(02:13):
in service to his country, taking posts in both India
and South Africa. Working in the field as a military scout,
baden Powell learned even more about wilderness survival, especially during
his time in South Africa, where knowledge of the landscape
was key to gathering intel and evading capture. As his
(02:33):
career progressed, baden Powell began teaching other soldiers about woodcraft
and scouting, and in eighteen eighty four, he turned many
of those lessons into his first book, Reconnaissance and Scouting.
He followed it up with several more volumes, including in
eighteen ninety nine military Field Manual, intended to make soldiers
(02:53):
more independent and self reliant. It was called Aids to
Scouting and it was a hit with British soldiers and
with the general public back in England. Later that year,
Baden Powell went from a respected officer to a bonafide
war hero thanks to his impressive leadership at the Siege
of MafA King. The two hundred and seventeen day long
(03:17):
siege battle took place during the Second Boer War, and
although he was badly outnumbered, Baden Powell successfully defended his
garrison and the town of MafA King until they were
finally relieved by additional British forces. One formative moment during
the siege came when Baden Powell encountered a group of
(03:37):
teenage boys called the MafA King Cadets, in an effort
to free up soldiers for combat. These local teams had
been assigned jobs as lookouts, bicycle messengers, and postmen. Baden
Powell was impressed by the boy's level of maturity and
competency in the field, and also took note of their
matching khaki uniforms. By the time he returned into England,
(04:00):
Powell was a highly decorated officer and a national hero.
He was also surprised to learn that his book Aids
to Scouting had found a large audience among boys, teachers
and youth organizations. Hearing that and thinking back to the
MafA King Cadets, Baden Powell decided to write a non
military field guide specifically for adolescents, one that would not
(04:24):
only teach them lessons about camping and tracking, but also
offer advice on morality, healthy living, and how to be
a good citizen. However, before he wrote the book, he
decided to organize a trial scouting camp to test out
some of his ideas. In the summer of nineteen o seven,
he took a group of twenty boys from different social
(04:45):
backgrounds to Brownsea Island off the coast of England. There
they set up camp for the next two weeks, and
with the help of other adult instructors, Baden Powell taught
the boys about everything from animal tracking, to life saving
to chivalry. Many of the lessons were imparted in the
form of clever outdoor games and activities which the boys
(05:07):
couldn't get enough of. This proto Boy Scouts meeting was
a huge success, and it encouraged Baden Powell to move
forward with his next book, Scouting for Boys. It was
released in serialized installments, with the first one appearing just
a few months later on January twenty fourth, nineteen o eight.
(05:27):
As the author explained in the book's introduction quote, I
knew that every true red blooded boy is keen for
adventure and open air life, and so I wrote this
book to show you how it could be done, even
in a civilized country like England. The book contained all
sorts of practical lessons, as well as a breakdown of
(05:49):
the so called Scout method, the system on which modern
Boy Scout troops are based, and the official Scout motto
be prepared. According to the author, being prepared means that quote,
you are always in a state of readiness in mind
and body to do your duty. It's also no coincidence
that the initials of the motto BP are the same
(06:12):
as the man who coined it for someone born in
his era. Baden Powell was surprisingly forward thinking in his
attitudes toward animals and man's interaction with nature. A scout
is a friend to animals, he wrote, he should save
them as far as possible from pain, and should not
kill any animal unnecessarily, even if it is only a fly.
(06:34):
I have said that hunting or going after big game
is one of the best things in scouting, but I
did not say that shooting or killing the game was
the best part. For as you get to study animals,
you get to like them more and more, and you
will soon find that you don't want to kill them
for the mere sake of killing. Baden Powell also attempted
(06:55):
to teach lessons for self improvement, though some of them
would be deemed a bit too blunt by today's standards.
Take his advice on smoking, for example, which is that quote,
no boy ever began smoking because he liked it, but
because he thought it made him look like a grown
up man. As a matter of fact, though it generally
makes him look a little ass. Scouting for Boys offered
(07:19):
similar candid opinions on other childhood temptations, including dirty magazines,
rich foods, and sleeping with too many blankets. Baden Powell's
solutions to all of those daunting problems was to shower
in cold water and take up boxing, advice that somehow
persisted in later editions all the way up until the
(07:40):
nineteen sixties. Despite some of its more questionable guidance, Scouting
for boys proved wildly successful, so much so that Baden
Powell quickly established a Central Boy Scouts Office, which registered
new Scouts and designed an official uniform, once again taking
cues from the MafA King Cadets. One year later, in
(08:02):
September of nineteen o nine, the first National Boy Scouts
Rally was held at the Crystal Palace in London. It
welcomed more than ten thousand boys, as well as a
number of uniformed girls, who called themselves the Girl Scouts.
Baden Powell took note of their interest. In the following year,
he and his sister Agnes organized a similar but separate
(08:24):
Scout group just for girls, known in England as the
Girl Guides. Since then, both organizations have expanded worldwide, and
the Scouting movement now include some forty one million active
Scouts and Guides from over two hundred countries. Times have
certainly changed since the early days of scouting, but the
(08:46):
call of the wild and the drive to answer it.
Are still alive and well and plenty of kids around
the globe, and that's a good thing too, for, as
Robert Baden Powell once said, life without adventure would be
deadly dull. I'm Gabeluesier and hopefully you now know a
(09:06):
little more about history today than you did yesterday. If
you want to keep up with the show, you can
follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show.
And if you have any feedback you'd like to share,
you can always send it my way by writing to
This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks as always to
(09:28):
Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in History class.
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that blazes a trail through history, one day at
a time. I'm Gabeluesier, and today we're talking about the
birth of the Scouting movement, a social program that teaches
(00:22):
outdoor skills and citizenship to young people all over the
world and hooks them up with some pretty slick merit
badges in the process. The day was January twenty fourth,
nineteen oh eight. The first installment of Robert Baden Powell's
(00:45):
Scouting for Boys was published in England. The remaining installments
would be released over the next three months, and the
completed work would form the basis of the first Boy
Scout Handbook. By the time it hits store shelves, there
were already dozens of informal Boy Scout troops operating all
over Britain, and within one year's time, the membership of
(01:08):
those clubs would swell to more than sixty thousand Scouts.
Fast forward to today, and millions of young boys and
girls are now members of Scouting organizations that operate in
just about every country on Earth. Scouting has become a
worldwide movement, and Baden Powell was the man who started
(01:29):
it all. Robert baden Powell was born in London on
February twenty second, eighteen fifty seven. He spent much of
his early life playing in the woods near his home
and learning about the natural world. He was especially interested
in what was then known as woodcraft, the skill of
surviving and making one's way in the woods. As he
(01:52):
later put it himself quote, in my spare time as
a schoolboy, I did a good lot of scouting in
the woods, in the way of snaring rabbits and cooking them,
observing birds and tracking animals and so on. In eighteen
seventy six, baden Powell left school early and joined the
British Army. He would spend the next thirty four years
(02:13):
in service to his country, taking posts in both India
and South Africa. Working in the field as a military scout,
baden Powell learned even more about wilderness survival, especially during
his time in South Africa, where knowledge of the landscape
was key to gathering intel and evading capture. As his
(02:33):
career progressed, baden Powell began teaching other soldiers about woodcraft
and scouting, and in eighteen eighty four, he turned many
of those lessons into his first book, Reconnaissance and Scouting.
He followed it up with several more volumes, including in
eighteen ninety nine military Field Manual, intended to make soldiers
(02:53):
more independent and self reliant. It was called Aids to
Scouting and it was a hit with British soldiers and
with the general public back in England. Later that year,
Baden Powell went from a respected officer to a bonafide
war hero thanks to his impressive leadership at the Siege
of MafA King. The two hundred and seventeen day long
(03:17):
siege battle took place during the Second Boer War, and
although he was badly outnumbered, Baden Powell successfully defended his
garrison and the town of MafA King until they were
finally relieved by additional British forces. One formative moment during
the siege came when Baden Powell encountered a group of
(03:37):
teenage boys called the MafA King Cadets, in an effort
to free up soldiers for combat. These local teams had
been assigned jobs as lookouts, bicycle messengers, and postmen. Baden
Powell was impressed by the boy's level of maturity and
competency in the field, and also took note of their
matching khaki uniforms. By the time he returned into England,
(04:00):
Powell was a highly decorated officer and a national hero.
He was also surprised to learn that his book Aids
to Scouting had found a large audience among boys, teachers
and youth organizations. Hearing that and thinking back to the
MafA King Cadets, Baden Powell decided to write a non
military field guide specifically for adolescents, one that would not
(04:24):
only teach them lessons about camping and tracking, but also
offer advice on morality, healthy living, and how to be
a good citizen. However, before he wrote the book, he
decided to organize a trial scouting camp to test out
some of his ideas. In the summer of nineteen o seven,
he took a group of twenty boys from different social
(04:45):
backgrounds to Brownsea Island off the coast of England. There
they set up camp for the next two weeks, and
with the help of other adult instructors, Baden Powell taught
the boys about everything from animal tracking, to life saving
to chivalry. Many of the lessons were imparted in the
form of clever outdoor games and activities which the boys
(05:07):
couldn't get enough of. This proto Boy Scouts meeting was
a huge success, and it encouraged Baden Powell to move
forward with his next book, Scouting for Boys. It was
released in serialized installments, with the first one appearing just
a few months later on January twenty fourth, nineteen o eight.
(05:27):
As the author explained in the book's introduction quote, I
knew that every true red blooded boy is keen for
adventure and open air life, and so I wrote this
book to show you how it could be done, even
in a civilized country like England. The book contained all
sorts of practical lessons, as well as a breakdown of
(05:49):
the so called Scout method, the system on which modern
Boy Scout troops are based, and the official Scout motto
be prepared. According to the author, being prepared means that quote,
you are always in a state of readiness in mind
and body to do your duty. It's also no coincidence
that the initials of the motto BP are the same
(06:12):
as the man who coined it for someone born in
his era. Baden Powell was surprisingly forward thinking in his
attitudes toward animals and man's interaction with nature. A scout
is a friend to animals, he wrote, he should save
them as far as possible from pain, and should not
kill any animal unnecessarily, even if it is only a fly.
(06:34):
I have said that hunting or going after big game
is one of the best things in scouting, but I
did not say that shooting or killing the game was
the best part. For as you get to study animals,
you get to like them more and more, and you
will soon find that you don't want to kill them
for the mere sake of killing. Baden Powell also attempted
(06:55):
to teach lessons for self improvement, though some of them
would be deemed a bit too blunt by today's standards.
Take his advice on smoking, for example, which is that quote,
no boy ever began smoking because he liked it, but
because he thought it made him look like a grown
up man. As a matter of fact, though it generally
makes him look a little ass. Scouting for Boys offered
(07:19):
similar candid opinions on other childhood temptations, including dirty magazines,
rich foods, and sleeping with too many blankets. Baden Powell's
solutions to all of those daunting problems was to shower
in cold water and take up boxing, advice that somehow
persisted in later editions all the way up until the
(07:40):
nineteen sixties. Despite some of its more questionable guidance, Scouting
for boys proved wildly successful, so much so that Baden
Powell quickly established a Central Boy Scouts Office, which registered
new Scouts and designed an official uniform, once again taking
cues from the MafA King Cadets. One year later, in
(08:02):
September of nineteen o nine, the first National Boy Scouts
Rally was held at the Crystal Palace in London. It
welcomed more than ten thousand boys, as well as a
number of uniformed girls, who called themselves the Girl Scouts.
Baden Powell took note of their interest. In the following year,
he and his sister Agnes organized a similar but separate
(08:24):
Scout group just for girls, known in England as the
Girl Guides. Since then, both organizations have expanded worldwide, and
the Scouting movement now include some forty one million active
Scouts and Guides from over two hundred countries. Times have
certainly changed since the early days of scouting, but the
(08:46):
call of the wild and the drive to answer it.
Are still alive and well and plenty of kids around
the globe, and that's a good thing too, for, as
Robert Baden Powell once said, life without adventure would be
deadly dull. I'm Gabeluesier and hopefully you now know a
(09:06):
little more about history today than you did yesterday. If
you want to keep up with the show, you can
follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show.
And if you have any feedback you'd like to share,
you can always send it my way by writing to
This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks as always to
(09:28):
Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in History class.
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