Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports. Another widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and encouraging equality, with neckerchief and campaign hat or comparable headwear. Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches.
Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the world-wide Scout Movement, and founder, with his sister Agnes, of the world-wide Girl Guide / Girl Scout Movement. Baden-Powell authored the first editions of the seminal work Scouting for Boys, which was an inspiration for the Scout Movement.
Olave St Clair Baden-Powell, Baroness Baden-Powell was the first Chief Guide for Britain and the wife of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and co-founder of Girl Guides. She outlived her husband, who was 32 years her senior, by over 35 years.
Agnes Smyth Baden-Powell was the younger sister of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, and was most noted for her work in establishing the Girl Guide movement as a female counterpart to her older brother's Scouting Movement.
Scouts South Africa is the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) recognised Scout association in South Africa. Scouting began in the United Kingdom in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell and rapidly spread to South Africa, with the first Scout troops appearing in 1908. South Africa has contributed many traditions and symbols to World Scouting.
In Scouting, a jamboree is a large gathering of Scouts who rally at a national or international level.
Scouting and Guiding in Mainland China was reported as banned with the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) by the Communist Party since 1949. Instead, the Young Pioneers of China and the Communist Youth League, led by the Communist Party, have become the dominant youth organization in mainland China for younger and older youth, respectively. However, China now has multiple and originally separate Scouting activities within its borders. In 2004, the Scout Club of Hainan (海南童子军俱乐部), borrowing heavily from Scouting in terms of emblems, uniforms and activities, was founded in Hainan Province; it is, however, not affiliated with worldwide Scouting. An attempt to organize a nationwide Scouting organization in Wuhan was ended by the government in 2004. The Scout Association of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国童军总会), founded in 2008 serves Venture Scouts in both genders as well as Rover Scouts. The Rover Explorer Service Association operate groups in China.
Lone Scouts are members of the Scout movement who are in isolated areas or otherwise do not participate in a regular Scouting unit or organization. A Lone Scout must meet the membership requirements of the Scouting organization to which they belong and have an adult Scout leader or counselor who may be a parent, guardian, minister, teacher, or another adult. The leader or counselor instructs the boy and reviews all steps of Scouting advancement. Lone Scouts can be in the Scout Section or sections for older young people, and in some countries in the Cub section or sections for younger boys. They follow the same program as other Scouts and may advance in the same way as all other Scouts.
Arthur Robert Peter Baden-Powell, 2nd Baron Baden-Powell, was the son of Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and Olave St. Clair Soames. He served with the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia, and then in the Southern Rhodesian Civil Service until the end of the Second World War, when he returned to Britain, and became a director of companies, and a Special Constable with the City of London Police.
The Brownsea Island Scout camp was the site of a boys' camping event on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, southern England, organised by Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell to test his ideas for the book Scouting for Boys. Boys from different social backgrounds participated from 1 to 8 August 1907 in activities around camping, observation, woodcraft, chivalry, lifesaving and patriotism. The event is regarded as the origin of the worldwide Scout movement.
The 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held in 1929 at Arrowe Park in Upton, near Birkenhead, Wirral, United Kingdom. As it was commemorating the 21st birthday of Scouting for Boys and the Scouting movement, it is also known as the Coming of Age Jamboree. With about 30,000 Scouts and over 300,000 visitors attending, this jamboree was the largest jamboree so far.
The Scout and Guide movement in Malta is served by three organizations:
David Michael Baden-Powell, 4th Baron Baden-Powell is a former accountant and insurance sales agent. He is the second son of Peter Baden-Powell, 2nd Baron Baden-Powell, and Carine Boardman. He is the brother of Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell. He is the grandson of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, and Olave Baden-Powell and great-grandson of Baden Powell. Upon the death of his childless brother Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, on 28 December 2019, the peerage descended to Michael Baden-Powell.
Sir Francis Patrick Fletcher-Vane, 5th Baronet was an Irish-born British military officer and aristocrat. Francis became the 5th Baronet of Hutton on the death of his first cousin, Sir Henry Ralph Fletcher-Vane, 4th Baronet.
The 'Unknown Scout' was an anonymous member of The Boy Scout Association in the United Kingdom whose good turn inspired William D. Boyce to form the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).
The Crystal Palace Rally was a gathering of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts at the Crystal Palace in London on Saturday, 4 September 1909. The rally demonstrated the rapid popularization of Scouting with an estimated 11,000 boys attending with the prominent presence of Girl Scouts also being significant for the start of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides. The rally was held a year and a half after the publication of Scouting for Boys and The Scout magazine, and two years after Robert Baden-Powell's demonstration Brownsea Island Scout Camp.
"Uncle" Henry Geoffrey Elwes was a prominent early leader and writer in the Scout Movement and officer of The Boy Scouts Association.
The graves of Lieutenant-General The 1st Baron Baden-Powell and his wife, Olave, Baroness Baden-Powell, G.B.E., are in Nyeri, Nyeri County, Kenya, near Mount Kenya. Lord Baden-Powell died on 8 January 1941, and is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery in the Wajee Nature Park. When his wife Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, died, her ashes were sent to Kenya and interred beside her husband. Kenya has declared Baden-Powell's grave a national monument, Scouters consider the grave, "one of the most revered shrines and pilgrimage sites in the world."
B-P's footprint is a casting, usually in bronze or brass, of the right foot of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout and Guide Movements, who is known as "B-P." The idea is that people may put their foot into this casting, so that they can say that they have "walked in the footsteps of B-P."
