Robert Baden-Powell (Hardback)

Some years ago I read a history of the decline of the British Empire. In that book Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, was mentioned several times. In one cited incident it was reported that B-P enjoyed chasing down native Africans and that it was great sport. I found this information more than a little disturbing. You see I was a Scout. I was a Scout from the age of 10 until I left high school and went to college. I even became an Eagle. I never hesitate to say that but for Scouting I would not have had the academic or professional career that I had. I believe I owe Scouting a great deal and the idea that the founder found sport in hunting down human beings was repellant to everything I had ever learned in Scouting. Well life goes on and time passes but for some reason the memory of that book and its assertion about B-P came to mind recently and I decided to look into matter. Thanks to Google and Amazon I found a couple of biographies of B-P and this book is the first of the two that I have now read and it was an eye opening and thought provoking experience.

To begin with the author is a British journalist that lives very near the site of the first Scouting experiment on Brownsea Island and the small town of Poole which is the jumping off point to get to the island. The author's interest in B-P was aroused by an attempt by Poole locals to remove a statue of B-P that sits on the quay where boats leave to get to the island. These citizens were being opposed by others that were loyal to Scouting and to the memory of B-P. Apparently B-P was being subjected to review of his life by the advocates for political correctness. Incidents in B-P's life like the one I mentioned above had come to the attention some people that thought such a man did not deserve to be memorialized in bronze on the Poole Quay. In short an historic figure was now being judged based on 20th and 21st century standards and found to be lacking. The author decided to do some digging into this man's rather colorful life to see if the complaints were justified. The result of this research is this book and it restored my faith in the founder of an organization that I hold dear.

I won't say much about B-P's life except that it was colorful and interesting and surprising. What the author has done is examine this man's life to see if the criticisms are warranted and what in this life were the origins of the questioned attitudes and behaviors. As result she has given context to the events upon which the criticisms are based. What is revealed is that B-P was a 19th century British military officer acting on behalf of his queen and his empire. While some of his attitudes, opinions, and behaviors might not be acceptable today they were all perfectly normal and acceptable in his time and in his environment. She also follows B-P's evolution from military adventurer to anti-war advocate. The disturbing incident that I had read about and mentioned above was a military engagement in which B-P's unit was out-numbered by a very large armed African tribe. Due to the British having superior weapons they were able to force the African tribe to retreat and B-P pursued the fleeing enemy. It was hardly a sporting event and it was one in which the British could have been overrun and killed.

This book not only illuminated the life of a man whose efforts had significant affect on my life but it also illustrates a modern practice of apply contemporary standards inappropriately and without having all the relevant facts. B-P was a man of his time and lived the best life possible and even managed to recognize the need for change when needed. He may have had faults but who doesn't and how many of us are willing to not only change ourselves but go about creating a movement to offer hope and change to millions of others? It was a very good biography of a man and a great history of an even greater organization. Enjoy.

Goodreads

In Robert Baden-Powell: A Biography, Lorraine Gibson chronicles the life of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell's military career, with its overtones of colonialism and imperialism, makes him a contentious subject for a twenty-first-century biography. Gibson presents a balanced narrative highlighting Baden-Powell's positive qualities while objectively discussing his complex legacy.

The book covers Baden-Powell's early military career, highlighting his focus on military scouting and fieldcraft in India and Africa, focusing primarily on his service in the Second Boer War. Baden-Powell won fame commanding the British garrison during the Siege of Mafeking. His successful defense of the town earned him admiration from the public in Britain. Gibson places Baden Powell's actions as a soldier in the context of the period when European colonialism was an accepted fact of life but does not make excuses for the mindset behind it. She goes on to illustrate how Baden-Powell developed his theories of youth development through training in outdoor skills and living, which he published in a 1908 book, Scouting for Boys, which stressed survival skills, moral instruction, and patriotic fervor. Baden-Powell's ideas led to the establishment of scouting groups in England and, ultimately, worldwide.

Gibson thoroughly examines Baden Powell's life and character, showing him to be a man of his time who does not deeply question ideas such as racism or militarism. She neither condemns nor exonerates him but allows readers to make their conclusions. She ultimately reveals a man of vision, but not without flaws, who succeeded in making an impact that outlived him. Former Scouts, students of history, or simply those who enjoy a well-written biography will find much to enjoy in this book.

Goodreads

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The Bournemouth Directory

'Famed for his actions as the garrison commander during the Siege of Mafeking in the Boer War and for founding the world’s largest youth movement, Baden-Powell is an unorthodox yet deeply fascinating figure. Weaving together the fundamental theme of Baden-Powell’s life – that of possessing ‘two lives’ – author Lorraine Gibson charts the journey of the chief scout from boyhood to war hero across 11 chapters.
'Gibson does not shy from detailing the more controversial aspects of Baden-Powell’s life – to whit, the Matabele Incident, a contentious and sensitive event that saw Baden-Powell summarily executing a surrendered war chief after giving him the promise of safe passage. Written in expert prose, this is a gripping dive into the life of one of Britain’s most divisive yet celebrated characters.'
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Tom Baker, Britain At War

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Article: Robert Baden-Powell: A Biography

KeyMilitary.com

Article:'Scouting Legend Was A Real High Flier'

The New Stour and Avon Magazine

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Blackmore Vale Magazine

Excellent biography of the man who helped shape some of the world's youngsters into behaving properly, helping others as a matter of course, and achieving some kind of independence from their parents. It never appealed to me, but two of my cousins and their father were deeply involved, and I can understand why.

Books Monthly

Thought provoking analysis - an insightful, fresh look at the life of a challenging character who lived through changing times but never fully left his boyhood behind.

Amazon customer

Whatever view one may hold of the man we cannot deny the fact that he was instrumental in founding one of the greatest ever youth movements. Lorraine Gibson is to be commended on this her first book in choosing such an eccentric and complex personality with an equally intricate life along with the many traits and themes associated with Baden-Powell and the era. Deeply researched, very readable, with a neutral path that allows the reader to reach their own conclusions about this very complex personality this work is a valuable addition to the historiography of the period and the person.

The Wessex Branch of the Western Front Association

A really good read and one of the better biographies I have read of the man.

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The History Fella

Ever since the 1930s, when I was a cub Scout in Dover, Robert Baden-Powell has been one of my heroes. This view of the founder of the international Boy Scout movement increased when I discovered he served in the army's 13th Hussars (later merged with the 18th Hussars 13th/18th in which I too served). He fighting in the Boer Wars: me as a fed-up conscript in 1947-49!
There's no doubt Baden-Powell was a complex controversial character. Some consider him as the moist influential Englishman of the twentieth century with his reputation built on his defence of Mafeking during the Second Boer War and the forming of the Boy Scout movement which today claims 50 million members in 223 countries across the world.
He died in Africa in January 1941 and is buried in a churchyard in Nyeri in Kenya with his grave marked with a simple white headstone.
As is usual there are those who put heroes on a pedestal only waiting to knock them down as soon as they die. It's a journalists' old trick.
There are those who allege Baden-Powell had fascist tendencies, was racist, a militarist, anti-Semitist, and a sadist. His critics point out that at one stage he was in favour of Hitler's Nazi policies and thought Mein Kampf was a "wonderful book".
A new biography, by Lorraine Gibson, raises the question about Baden-Powell's relationship with another young army officer with whom he at one time shared a home. They enjoyed shared experiences.
But, despite all the doubts, Baden-Powell today is still held in the highest esteem by millions of people around the world.
And I am one of them.

Terry Sutton MBE 

Article: 'The two lives of Baden-Powell'

The Purbeck Gazette

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Andrew Diprose