HOW SCOUTING STARTED

During B-P's time in the Army he had written a book called "Aids to Scouting" which outlined his methods of Army Training, this book was published in England during the time of the Makeking siege (see The B-P Story)

On his return to England B-P has surprised to find that boys had brought copies of the book and formed themselves into groups and were calling themselves "Boy Scouts" and were practicing the "scoutcraft"  ideas  published in the book.

B-P decided he would rewrite the book to make it suitable for young people, this book he called "Scouting For Boys" and by the summer of 1907 he was ready to put his ideas to practice. In August B-P with a few adult helpers set up his camp on Brownsea Island, in Poole Habour, Dorset. His guinea pigs were 20 boys, from different walks of life. The boys were divided in to Patrols with an older boy in charge of each group. At the camp the boys had a time of their life doing such things as swimming, stalking, hiking and playing games and around the  nightly campfire listened to BP telling stories of his adventures.

After the camp B-P finished writing "Scouting for Boys" and in 1908 it was published in eight fortnightly parts each costing 1 penny. B-P had expected that "Scouting for Boys" would be used by existing youth groups like the Boys Brigade and the YMCA, however all over the country boys were forming themselves into Scout Troops and were asking adults to lead them. BP was still in the Army at this time but had to open an office to answer the hundreds of letters he was receiving from boys telling him of their adventures.

By the end of 1908 Scouting had spread to Ireland, Australia, Canada New Zealand and South Africa .

In 1909 B-P was knighted by King Edward VII for his outstanding military career and especially for founding Scouting   More History to follow........ To find out more about the Brownsea Island Camp Click Here