Baden-Powell, autograph draft letter on the educational role of scouting, 1916-18

BADEN-POWELL, ROBERT, BARON BADEN-POWELL

Autograph draft letter, to the Secretary of the Teachers' Registration Council

OUTLINING THE EDUCATIONAL THEORY OF THE SCOUTING MOVEMENT, writing during World War I ("...the best of our manhood is being killed off ... victory will ultimately rest not so much with the nation which secures to itself the greatest tactical or territorial gains, as with the nation which possesses the most efficient manhood and womanhood for revitalising it and assuring its position. This is mainly a question of education...") and arguing that these "abnormal conditions" call for the "character training" of children, which could be based on the scout movement, listing the characteristics fostered by scouting ("...The principles underlying the whole is to encourage the boy to take up the different items of training because he wants to...") and contrasting this model with military drill ("...[drill] promotes repression of individual character and the false discipline derived from fear of punishment. The Scout training on the other hand brings out the individual, develops his character, and disciplines under the obligation of loyally playing the game for his side..."), corrections and revisions throughout, in pencil, 12 pages, 8vo, headed stationery of Grey Rigg, Lilliput, Dorset, [1916-18], punch-holes in top-left corners

Scouting had developed quickly after Baden-Powell organised the first experimental camp on Brownsea Island in 1907, and by 1914 the movement had already spread across the world. Boy Scouts helped the British war effort in a number of ways, such as volunteering for coast-watching duties and farm work. This remarkable letter reveals the ambitions that Baden-Powell saw for the movement in reshaping society to win the war and forge a better peace. This letter dates from after the establishment of the Wolf Cubs in 1916. Retained drafts such as this and the following three lots are exceptionally rare at auction.

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