BADEN-POWELL, Sir Robert, 1st Baron (1857-1941). Founder of the Boy Scout movement.
Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent, 1 page 4to with blank leaf, Office of the Inspector General of Cavalry (embossed crest), War Office, Whitehall, 18 July 1903. Thanking him for forwarding 'the very pretty and useful little present from the members of your club.'

'... Will you kindly tell them that I value and appreciate most highly this very kindly token of their goodwill, and it will be a very great pleasure to me to meet any of them who may be in Newcastle when I come there on 25th inst.'

It was at this time, when Baden-Powell was employed by the War Office and finding desk work tedious, that he began to form his ideas about the training of boys in scouting. His Aids to Scouting (1899) was already being used by youth organisations, and he himself became a vice-president of the Boys' Brigade in 1903. The first scout camp was held on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in 1907, after which the Boy Scout organization grew rapidly.
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