Deccan Herald is a leading English-language daily newspaper distributed in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is published by the Printers (Mysore) Private Limited and has a number of editions in Delhi, Bangalore, Hubli, Mysore, Mangalore and Gulbarga.^{[citation needed]}

Deccan Herald was started in 1948, with the famous journalist Pothan Joseph as founding editor. Its sister publications are the Prajavani daily newspaper, the weekly magazine Sudha and the monthly magazine Mayura, all of which are published in Kannada. The head office of the Deccan Herald is on MG Road, Bangalore.

For the first quarter (Q1) of 2011, according to the Indian Readership Survey, Deccan Herald recorded an average daily readership of 423,000 (based on whether the respondent had read the newspaper the previous day). The ABC certified figures for the first half of 2009 put the daily paid circulation (number of bought copies as opposed to number of copies read) at 214,797.

The launch of its Delhi edition in December 2011 marked Deccan Herald's first venture outside of Karnataka, though the paper admits that it will find it very hard to compete in what is India's most competitive newspaper market with 15 newspapers on the market already. Deccan Herald was published from Hyderabad many years ago but stopped owing to dwindling circulation figures.

Prominent Contributors[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• DeccanHerald.com
• DeccanHerald e-paper

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Deccan Plateau covers parts of central and southern India

The Deccan Plateau ^[1] is a large plateau in India, making up most of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, and more than a kilometer high in the south, forming a raised triangle within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of the Indian subcontinent's coastline.^[2]

It extends over eight Indian states and encompasses a wide range of habitats, covering most of central and southern India.^[3]

It is located between two mountain ranges: the Western Ghats form its western boundary, and the Eastern Ghats its eastern boundary. Each rises from their respective nearby coastal plains and nearly meet at the southern tip of India. It is separated from the Gangetic plain to the north by the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges, which form its northern boundary.

The name Deccan is an anglicised form of the Prakrit word dakkhin, itself derived from the Sanskrit word dákṣiṇa, meaning "south".^[4]

Geography[link]

Hogenakal Falls, Tamil Nadu

Near Hampi, Karnataka

The Deccan Plateau lies south of the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Western Ghats Mountain Range is tall and blocks the moisture from the southwest monsoon from reaching the Deccan Plateau, so the region receives very little rainfall.^[5][6] The eastern Deccan Plateau is at a lower elevation spanning the southeastern coast of India. Its forests are also relatively dry but serve to retain the rain to form streams that feed into rivers that flow into basins and then into the Bay of Bengal.^[2][7]

Most Deccan plateau rivers flow south. Most of the northern part of the plateau is drained by the Godavari River and its tributaries, including the Indravati River, starting from the Western Ghats and flowing east towards the Bay of Bengal. Most of the central plateau is drained by the Tungabhadra River, Krishna River and its tributaries, including the Bhima River, which also run east. The southernmost part of the plateau is drained by the Kaveri River, which rises in the Western Ghats of Karnataka and bends south to break through the Nilgiri Hills at Hogenakal Falls into Tamil Nadu, then forms the Shivanasamudra Falls at the island town of Shivanasamudra before flowing into the Stanley Reservoir and the Mettur Dam that created the reservoir, and finally emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

The two main rivers which do not flow into the Bay Of Bengal are the Narmada and Tapti. They start in the Eastern Ghats and flow into the Arabian Sea. All Deccan plateau rivers depend on rains and dry up in the summers.

The climate of the region varies from semi-arid in the north to tropical in most of the region with distinct wet and dry seasons. Rain falls during the monsoon season from about June to October. March to June can be very dry and hot, with temperatures regularly exceeding 40°C.

Geology[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan were laid down in the massive Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous period between 67 and 65 million years ago. Some paleontologists speculate that this eruption may have accelerated the extinction of the dinosaurs. Layer after layer was formed by the volcanic activity that lasted many thousands of years, and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on top like a table.The volcanic hotspot that produced the Deccan traps is hypothesized to lie under the present day island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

Typically the Deccan Plateau is made up of basalt extending up to Bhor Ghat near Karjat. This is an extrusive igneous rock. Also in certain sections of the region, we can find granite, which is an intrusive igneous rock. The difference between these two rock types is: basalt rock forms on eruption of lava, that is, on the surface (either out of a volcano, or through massive fissures—as in the Deccan basalts—in the ground), while granite forms deep within the Earth. Granite is a felsic rock, meaning it is rich in potassium feldspar and quartz. This composition is continental in origin (meaning it is the primary composition of the continental crust). Since it cooled relatively slowly, it has large visible crystals. Basalt, on the other hand, is mafic in composition—meaning it is rich in pyroxene and, in some cases, olivine, both of which are Mg-Fe rich minerals. Basalt is similar in composition to mantle rocks, indicating that it came from the mantle and did not mix with continental rocks. Basalt forms in areas that are spreading, whereas granite forms mostly in areas that are colliding. Since both rocks are found in the Deccan Plateau, it indicates two different environments of formation.

The Deccan is rich in minerals. Primary mineral ores found in this region are mica and iron ore in the Chhota Nagpur region, and diamonds, gold and other metals in the Golconda region.

People[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Deccan is home to many languages and people. Bhil and Gond people live in the hills along the northern and northeastern edges of the plateau, and speak various languages that belong to both the Indo-European and Dravidian families of languages. Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language, is the main language of the north-western Deccan in the state of Maharashtra. Speakers of Telugu and Kannada, the predominant languages of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively, occupy those states' portions of the plateau. Tamil is the main language of Tamil Nadu to the south of the plateau, and Malayalam that of the hills and coast to the south-west, in the state of Kerala. The city of Hyderabad is an important centre of Urdu language in the Deccan; its surrounding areas also host a notable population of Urdu speakers. The Urdu dialect spoken in this region is also known as Dakhini or as Deccani.

The chief crop is cotton; also common are sugarcane, rice, and other crops.

Apart from the states already mentioned, the state of Chhattisgarh is found in the northeast corner of the plateau. The three large cities in the Deccan are Chennai the capital of Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad the capital of Andhra Pradesh and Bangalore the capital of Karnataka. Other major cities include Mysore in Karnataka, Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad (in Maharashtra).

History[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Of the early history, the main facts established are the growth of the Mauryan empire (250 B.C.) and the invasion (A.D. 100) of the Scythic tribes known as the Sakas, Pahlavas and Yavanas, which led to the establishment of the power of the Kshaharata satraps in western India. Prominent dynasties of this time include the Cholas (3rd c. BC to 12th c. AD), Chalukyas (6th to 12th c.), Rashtrakutas (753–982), Hoysalas (10th to 14th c.), Kakatiya (1083 CE to 1323 CE) and Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1646). Ahir Kings once ruled over the Deccan. A cave inscription at Nasik refers to the reign of an Abhira prince named Ishwarsena, son of Shivadatta.^[8][9]

In 1294, Ala-ud-Din Khilji, emperor of Delhi, invaded the Deccan, stormed Devagiri, and reduced the Yadava rajas of Maharashtra to the position of tributary princes (see Daulatabad), then proceeding southward to conquer the Telangana and Carnatic. In 1307, a fresh series of Muslim incursions led by Malik Kafur began in response to unpaid tributes, resulting in the final ruin of the Yadava power; and in 1338 the conquest of the Deccan was completed by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq. The imperial hegemony was brief, as soon Telingana and Karnataka reverted to their former masters. These defections by the Hindu states was soon followed by a general revolt of the Muslim governors, resulting in the establishment in 1347 of the independent Muslim dynasty of Bahmani.^[10] The power of the Delhi sultanate evaporated south of the Narmada River.

Jahangir receives Prince Khurram on his return from the Deccan (10 October 1617)

In the power struggles which ensued, the Hindu kingdom of Telingana fell bit by bit to the Bahamani dynasty, who advanced their frontier to Golkonda in 1373, to Warangal in 1421, and to the Bay of Bengal in 1472. When the Bahmani empire dissolved in 1482, its dominions were distributed into the five Muslim states of Golkonda, Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Bidar and Berar, giving rise to the Deccan sultanates.^[10] South of these, the Hindu state of Carnatic or Vijayanagar still survived; but this, too, was destroyed, at the Battle of Talikota (1565) by a league of the Muslim powers. Berar had already been annexed by Ahmednagar in 1572, and Bidar was absorbed by Bijapur in 1609. Mughal interest in the Deccan also rose at this time; Ahmadnagar was partially incorporated in the Empire in 1598 and again in 1616, Bijapur in 1686, and Golkonda in 1688.

In 1674, Shivaji laid the foundation of the Maratha Empire which within 75 years of his death covered territory of over 250 million acres (1 million km²) or one-third of the Indian sub-continent. Marathas under Shivaji directly challenged the foreign rule of the Bijapur Sultanate and ultimately the mighty Mughal empire. Once the Bijapur Sultanate stopped being a threat to the Maratha Empire, Marathas became much more aggressive and began to frequently raid Mughal territory. The Marathas had conquered part of central and western India by Shivaji Maharaj's death in 1680. After Shivaji, Sambhaji defended the Maratha empire from the Mughal onslaught led by Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb did not win a single major victory against Sambhaji before he was deceitfully captured and executed. Thereafter, Peshwas began commanding Maratha armies. After 1707, the Marathas acquired the right to levy tribute in southern India. After the death of Chhatrapati Shahu, the Peshwas became the de facto leaders of the Empire from 1749 to 1761, while Shivaji's successors continued as nominal rulers from their base in Satara. The Marathas kept the British at bay during the 18th century. By 1760, with the defeat of the Nizam in the Deccan, Maratha power had reached its zenith. However, dissension between the Peshwa and their sardars (army commanders) saw a gradual downfall of the Empire leading to its eventual annexation by the British East India Company in 1818 after the three Anglo-Maratha wars.

A few years later, the Aurangzeb's viceroy in Ahmednagar, Nizam-ul-Mulk, established the seat of an independent government at Hyderabad in 1724. Mysore was ruled by Hyder Ali. During the contests for power which ensued from about the middle of the 18th century between the powers on the plateau, the French and British took opposite sides. After a brief course of triumph, the interests of France declined, and a new empire in India was established by the British. Mysore formed one of their earliest conquests in the Deccan. Tanjore and the Carnatic were soon annexed to their dominions, followed by the Peshwa territories in 1818.

In British India, the plateau was largely divided between the presidencies of Bombay and Madras. The two largest native states at that time were Hyderabad State and Mysore State; many smaller states existed at the time, including Kolhapur, Sawantwari, Travancore, and Cochin.

After independence in 1947, almost all native states were incorporated into the Republic of India. Hyderabad refused to join, and was annexed by the Indian Army in Operation Polo in 1948.^[11] In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act reorganized states along linguistic lines, leading to the states currently found on the plateau.

• 

  Deccan style

• 

  Calligraphic emblem of sculpted sandstone – 16th century

• 

  Nimmatnama-i Nasiruddin-Shahi (the Book of Recipes)

See also[link]

• Geography of India
• South India
• Mysore Plateau
• Vijayanagara Empire
• Kakatiya empire
• Bayaluseemae

Notes[link]

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

This file is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of no more than the life of the author plus 100 years.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Deccan Plateau

• Destruction along the Deccan plateau
• Photos of Deccan Plateau
• Dynasties of Deccan
• The Deccan Peninsula
• Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests
• Geology of Deccan Plateau
• Deccan South Indian Online

v t e Subfields of physical geography Biogeography Climatology / Paleoclimatology Coastal geography Edaphology Geomorphology Glaciology Hydrology / Hydrography Landscape ecology Limnology Oceanography Palaeogeography Pedology/Soil science Quaternary science

v t e Godavari basin Rivers Godavari Pranhita Wardha Wainganga Painganga Indravati Sabari Manjira Dams, barrages Jayakwadi Dam Sriram Sagar Project Nizam Sagar Upper Wardha Dam Singur Reservoir Neher water system Dowleswaram Barrage Balimela Reservoir Devadula lift irrigation scheme Upper Dudhana Dam Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects Geographical features/ regions Marathwada Vidarbha Telangana Coastal Andhra Hyderabad State Konaseema Deccan Plateau Western Ghats Eastern Ghats Riparian districts Maharashtra Nashik Ahmednagar Aurangabad Parbhani Nanded Gadchiroli Beed Amravati Bhandara Gondia Chandrapur Wardha Nagpur Yavatmal Washim Buldhana Hingoli Madhya Pradesh Balaghat Seoni Betul Chhindwara Orissa Kalahandi Koraput Malkangiri Chhattisgarh Bastar Bijapur Karnataka Bidar Andhra Pradesh Medak Nizamabad Adilabad Karimnagar Warangal Khammam West Godavari East Godavari Languages/ people Indo-Aryan languages Marathi Bhili Khandeshi Andh Banjari Oriya Bhunjia Hindi Dravidian languages Kolami Goni Telegu Kannadiga Duruwa Multani Urdu Coalfields Godavari Valley Coalfield Wardha Valley Coalfield Kamptee Coalfield Pench Kanhan Coalfield Oil/ gas fields Krishna Godavari Basin Industries Koradi Thermal Power Station Parli Thermal Power Station NTPC Ramagundam Ramagundam B Thermal Power Station Waluj MIDC Shendra MIDC Shendra – Bidkin Industrial Park Ballarpur Industries Limited HAL Sunabeda NALCO Damanjodi Transport NH 5 NH6 NH7 Godavari Bridge Old Godavari Bridge Godavari Arch Bridge Hyderabad-Godavari Valley Railways Related topics Paithani Himroo Other basins Mahanadi-Brahmani-Baitarani Damodar Kosi Son

Coordinates: 17°N 77°E / 17°N 77°E / 17; 77

Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Founder of Scouting
Nickname	B-P
Born	22 February 1857 (1857-02-22) Paddington, London, England
Died	8 January 1941 (1941-01-09) (aged 83) Nyeri, Kenya
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1876–1910
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Commands held	Chief of Staff, Second Matabele War (1896–1897) 5th Dragoon Guards in India (1897) Inspector General of Cavalry, England (1903)
Battles/wars	Anglo-Ashanti Wars Second Matabele War Siege of Mafeking Second Boer War
Awards	Ashanti Star (1895)[1] Matabele Campaign, British South Africa Company Medal (1896)[2] Queen's South Africa Medal (1899)[3] King's South Africa Medal ( 1902)[4] Boy Scouts Silver Wolf Boy Scouts Silver Buffalo Award (1926)[5] World Scout Committee Bronze Wolf (1935)[6] Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, Denmark (1921) Großes Dankabzeichen des ÖPB (1927) Großes Ehrenzeichen der Republik am Bande (1931) Goldene Gemse (1931) Grand-Cross in the Order of Orange-Nassau (1932) Order of Merit (1937) Wateler Peace Prize (1937) Order of St Michael and St George Royal Victorian Order Order of the Bath
Other work	Founder of the international Scouting Movement; writer; artist
Signature

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB ( /ˈbeɪdən ˈpoʊ.əl/; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B.-P., B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement.

After having been educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Sir Arthur Pearson, for youth readership. In 1907, he held the first Brownsea Island Scout camp, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.

After his marriage to Olave St Clair Soames, Baden-Powell, his sister Agnes Baden-Powell and notably his wife actively gave guidance to the Scouting Movement and the Girl Guides Movement. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.

Early life[link]

Baden-Powell was born as Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell, or more familiarly as Stephe Powell, at 6 Stanhope Street (now 11 Stanhope Terrace), Paddington in London, on 22 February 1857.^[7] He was named for his godfather, Robert Stephenson, the railway and civil engineer;^[8] his third name was his mother's maiden name. His father Reverend Baden Powell, a Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University, already had four teenage children from the second of his two previous marriages. On 10 March 1846 at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, Reverend Powell married Henrietta Grace Smyth (3 September 1824 – 13 October 1914), eldest daughter of Admiral William Henry Smyth and 28 years his junior. Quickly they had Warington (early 1847), George (late 1847), Augustus (1849) and Francis (1850). After three further children who died when very young, they had Stephe, Agnes (1858) and Baden (1860). The three youngest children and the often ill Augustus were close friends. Reverend Powell died when Stephe was three, and as tribute to his father and to set her own children apart from their half-siblings and cousins, the mother changed the family name to Baden-Powell. Subsequently, Stephe was raised by his mother, a strong woman who was determined that her children would succeed. Baden-Powell would say of her in 1933 "The whole secret of my getting on, lay with my mother."^[7][9][10]

After attending Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells, during which his favourite brother Augustus died, Stephe Baden-Powell was awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse, a prestigious public school. His first introduction to Scouting skills was through stalking and cooking game while avoiding teachers in the nearby woods, which were strictly out-of-bounds. He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent on yachting or canoeing expeditions with his brothers.^[7]

Military career[link]

In 1876, R.S.S. Baden-Powell, as he styled himself then, joined the 13th Hussars in India with the rank of lieutenant. He enhanced and honed his military scouting skills amidst the Zulu in the early 1880s in the Natal province of South Africa, where his regiment had been posted, and where he was Mentioned in Despatches. During one of his travels, he came across a large string of wooden beads, worn by the Zulu king Dinizulu, which was later incorporated into the Wood Badge training programme he started after he founded the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell's skills impressed his superiors and he was brevetted Major as Military Secretary and senior Aide-de-camp of the Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Malta, his uncle General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth.^[7] He was posted in Malta for three years, also working as intelligence officer for the Mediterranean for the Director of Military Intelligence.^[7] He frequently travelled disguised as a butterfly collector, incorporating plans of military installations into his drawings of butterfly wings.^[11]

Baden-Powell returned to Africa in 1896, and served in the Second Matabele War, in the expedition to relieve British South Africa Company personnel under siege in Bulawayo.^[12] This was a formative experience for him not only because he had the time of his life commanding reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in Matobo Hills, but because many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold here.^[13] It was during this campaign that he first met and befriended the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who introduced Baden-Powell to the American Old West and woodcraft (i.e., scoutcraft), and here that he wore his signature Stetson campaign hat and neckerchief for the first time.^[7]

Baden-Powell was accused of illegally executing a prisoner of war in 1896, the Matabele chief Uwini, who had been promised his life would be spared if he surrendered. Uwini was shot by firing squad under Baden-Powell's instructions. Baden-Powell was cleared by an inquiry, and later claimed he was "released without a stain on my character."

After Rhodesia, Baden-Powell served in the Fourth Ashanti War in Gold Coast. In 1897, at the age of 40, he was brevetted colonel (the youngest colonel in the British Army) and given command of the 5th Dragoon Guards in India.^[14] A few years later he wrote a small manual, entitled Aids to Scouting, a summary of lectures he had given on the subject of military scouting, to help train recruits. Using this and other methods he was able to train them to think independently, use their initiative, and survive in the wilderness.

Baden-Powell returned to South Africa prior to the Second Boer War and was engaged in further military actions against the Zulus. He organised the Legion of Frontiersmen to assist the regular army. While engaged in this, he was at Mafeking when it was surrounded by a Boer army, at times in excess of 8,000 men.

Baden-Powell became garrison commander during the subsequent Siege of Mafeking, which lasted 217 days. Although greatly outnumbered, the garrison held out until relieved, in part thanks to cunning deceptions devised by Baden-Powell. Fake minefields were planted and his soldiers pretended to avoid non-existent barbed wire while moving between trenches.^[15] Baden-Powell did most of the reconnaissance work himself.^[16] In one instance noting that the Boers had not removed the rail line, Baden-Powell loaded an armoured locomotive with sharpshooters and successfully sent it down the rails into the heart of the Boer encampment and back again in a strategic attempt to decapitate the Boer leadership.

Baden-Powell on patriotic postcard in 1900

Contrary views of Baden-Powell's actions during the siege argue that his success in resisting the Boers was secured at the expense of the lives of the native African soldiers and civilians, including members of his own African garrison. Pakenham stated that Baden-Powell drastically reduced the rations to the native garrison.^[17] However, in 2001, after subsequent research, Pakenham decidedly retreated from this position.^[7][18]

During the siege, the Mafeking Cadet Corps of white boys below fighting age stood guard, carried messages, assisted in hospitals, and so on, freeing grown men to fight. Baden-Powell did not form the Cadet Corps himself, and there is no evidence that he took much notice of them during the Siege. But he was sufficiently impressed with both their courage and the equanimity with which they performed their tasks to use them later as an object lesson in the first chapter of Scouting for Boys. The siege was lifted on 16 May 1900. Baden-Powell was promoted to Major-General, and became a national hero.^[19] After organising the South African Constabulary, the national police force, he returned to England to take up a post as Inspector General of Cavalry in 1903. In 1907 he was appointed to command a division in the newly-formed Territorial Force.^[20]

In 1910 Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell decided to retire from the Army, reputedly on the advice of King Edward VII, who suggested that he could better serve his country by promoting Scouting.^[21][22]

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Baden-Powell put himself at the disposal of the War Office. No command was given him, for, as Lord Kitchener said: "he could lay his hand on several competent divisional generals but could find no one who could carry on the invaluable work of the Boy Scouts."^[23] It was widely rumoured that Baden-Powell was engaged in spying, and intelligence officers took great care to spread the myth.^[24]

Scouting movement[link]

On his return from Africa in 1903, Baden-Powell found that his military training manual, Aids to Scouting, had become a best-seller, and was being used by teachers and youth organisations.^[25] Following his involvement in the Boys' Brigade as Brigade Secretary and Officer in charge of its scouting section, with encouragement from his friend, William Alexander Smith, Baden-Powell decided to re-write Aids to Scouting to suit a youth readership. In August 1907 he held a camp on Brownsea Island to test out his ideas. About twenty boys attended: eight from local Boys' Brigade companies, and about twelve public school boys, mostly sons of his friends.

Baden-Powell was also influenced by Ernest Thompson Seton, who founded the Woodcraft Indians. Seton gave Baden-Powell a copy of his book The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians and they met in 1906.^[26][27] The first book on the Scout Movement, Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys was published in six instalments in 1908, and has sold approximately 150 million copies as the fourth best-selling book of the 20th century.^[28]

Reviewing the Boy Scouts of Washington D.C. from the portico of the White House: Baden-Powell, President Taft, British ambassador Bryce (1912)

Statue of Robert Baden-Powell in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Boys and girls spontaneously formed Scout troops and the Scouting Movement had inadvertently started, first as a national, and soon an international phenomenon. The Scouting Movement was to grow up in friendly parallel relations with the Boys' Brigade. A rally for all Scouts was held at Crystal Palace in London in 1909, at which Baden-Powell discovered the first Girl Scouts. The Girl Guide Movement was subsequently formalised in 1910 under the auspices of Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell's friend Juliette Gordon Low was encouraged by him to bring the Movement to the United States, where she founded the Girl Scouts of the USA.

In 1920, the 1st World Scout Jamboree took place in Olympia, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World. Baden-Powell was created a Baronet in 1921 and Baron Baden-Powell, of Gilwell, in the County of Essex, on 17 September 1929, Gilwell Park being the International Scout Leader training centre.^[29] After receiving this honour, Baden-Powell mostly styled himself "Baden-Powell of Gilwell".

Three Scouting pioneers: Robert Baden-Powell (seated), Ernest T. Seton (left), and Dan Beard (right)

In 1929, during the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, he received as a present a new 20-horsepower Rolls-Royce car (chassis number GVO-40, registration OU 2938) and an Eccles Caravan.^[30] This combination well served the Baden-Powells in their further travels around Europe. The caravan was nicknamed Eccles and is now on display at Gilwell Park. The car, nicknamed Jam Roll, was sold after his death by Olave Baden-Powell in 1945. Jam Roll and Eccles were reunited at Gilwell for the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007. Recently it has been purchased on behalf of Scouting and is owned by a charity, B-P Jam Roll Ltd. Funds are being raised to repay the loan that was used to purchase the car.^[30][31] Baden-Powell also had a positive impact on improvements in youth education.^[32] Under his dedicated command the world Scouting movement grew. By 1922 there were more than a million Scouts in 32 countries; by 1939 the number of Scouts was in excess of 3.3 million.^[33]

At the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937, Baden-Powell gave his farewell to Scouting, and retired from public Scouting life. 22 February, the joint birthday of Robert and Olave Baden-Powell, continues to be marked as Founder's Day by Scouts and Thinking Day by Guides to remember and celebrate the work of the Chief Scout and Chief Guide of the World.

In his final letter to the Scouts, Baden-Powell wrote:

...I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have a happy life too. I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness does not come from being rich, nor merely being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man. Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one. But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. 'Be Prepared' in this way, to live happy and to die happy — stick to your Scout Promise always — even after you have ceased to be a boy — and God help you to do it.^[34]

Personal life[link]

Olave Baden-Powell

In January 1912, Baden-Powell was en route to New York on a Scouting World Tour, on the ocean liner Arcadian, when he met Olave St Clair Soames.^[35][36] She was 23, while he was 55; they shared the same birthday, 22 February. They became engaged in September of the same year, causing a media sensation due to Baden-Powell's fame. To avoid press intrusion, they married in secret on 31 October 1912, at St Peter's Church in Parkstone.^[37] The Scouts of England each donated a penny to buy Baden-Powell a wedding gift, a car (note that this is not the Rolls-Royce they were presented with in 1929). There is a monument to their marriage inside St Mary's Church, Brownsea Island.

Baden-Powell and Olave lived in Pax Hill near Bentley, Hampshire from about 1919 until 1939.^[38] The Bentley house was a gift of her father.^[39] Directly after he had married, Baden-Powell began to suffer persistent headaches, which were considered by his doctor to be of psychosomatic origin and treated with dream analysis.^[7] The headaches disappeared upon his moving into a makeshift bedroom set up on his balcony.

Baden-Powell with wife and three children, 1917

The Baden-Powells had three children, one son (Peter) and two daughters. Peter succeeded in 1941 to the Baden-Powell barony.^[29]

• Arthur Robert Peter (Peter), later 2nd Baron Baden-Powell (1913–1962). He married Carine Crause-Boardman in 1936, and had three children: Robert Crause, later 3rd Baron Baden-Powell; David Michael (Michael), current heir to the titles, and Wendy.
• Heather Grace (1915–1986), who married John King and had two children: Michael, who died in the sinking of SS Heraklion, and Timothy;
• Betty (1917–2004), who married Gervas Charles Robert Clay in 1936 and had a daughter: Gillian, and three sons: Robin, Nigel and Crispin.

In addition, when Olave's sister Auriol Davidson née Soames died in 1919, Olave and Robert took her three nieces, Christian (1912–1975), Clare (1913–1980), and Yvonne, (1918–1995?), into their family and brought them up as their own children.^[40]

Baden-Powell grave

In 1939, Baden-Powell and Olave moved to a cottage he had commissioned in Nyeri, Kenya, near Mount Kenya, where he had previously been to recuperate. The small one-room house, which he named Paxtu, was located on the grounds of the Outspan Hotel, owned by Eric Sherbrooke Walker, Baden-Powell's first private secretary and one of the first Scout inspectors.^[7] Walker also owned the Treetops Hotel, approx 17 km out in the Aberdare Mountains, often visited by Baden-Powell and people of the Happy Valley set. The Paxtu cottage is integrated into the Outspan Hotel buildings and serves as a small Scouting museum.

Baden-Powell died on 8 January 1941 and is buried in Nyeri, in St. Peter's Cemetery^[41] His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre "ʘ", which is the trail sign for "Going home", or "I have gone home":^[42] When his wife Olave died, her ashes were sent to Kenya and interred beside her husband. Kenya has declared Baden-Powell's grave a national monument.^[43]

Personal beliefs[link]

A World War I propaganda poster drawn by Baden-Powell

Tim Jeal, who wrote the biography Baden-Powell, argued that Baden-Powell's distrust of Communism led to his implicit support, through naïveté, of fascism. In 1939 Baden-Powell noted in his diary: "Lay up all day. Read Mein Kampf. A wonderful book, with good ideas on education, health, propaganda, organisation etc. – and ideals which Hitler does not practise himself."^[7]:550 Baden-Powell admired Benito Mussolini early in the Italian fascist leader's career.

Some very early Scouting "Thanks" badges had a swastika symbol on them.^[44] According to biographer Michael Rosenthal, Baden-Powell used the swastika because he was a Nazi sympathiser. Jeal, however, argues that Baden-Powell was ignorant of the symbol's growing association with Nazism and that he used the symbol for its centuries-old meaning of "good luck" in India. Also, Baden-Powell was named by the Nazis in "The Black Book of people to be arrested during the conquest of Great Britain. Scouting was regarded as a dangerous spy organisation by the Nazis.^[45] Finally, when Nazi use of the swastika became well-known, the Scouts stopped using it.

Artist and writer[link]

Baden-Powell made paintings and drawings almost every day of his life. Most have a humorous or informative character.^[7] He published books and other texts during his years of military service both to finance his life and to educate his men.^[7]

Baden-Powell was regarded as an excellent storyteller. During his whole life he told "ripping yarns" to audiences.^[7] After having published Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell kept on writing more handbooks and educative materials for all Scouts, as well as directives for Scout Leaders. In his later years, he also wrote about the Scout movement and his ideas for its future. He spent the last decade of his life in Africa, and many of his later books had African themes. Currently, many pages of his field diary, complete with drawings, are on display at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas.

Sexuality[link]

Early discussion of Baden-Powell's sexuality focused on his relationship with his close friend Kenneth McLaren.^{[46]:217–218[47]:48} Tim Jeal's later biography discusses the relationship and finds that there is no conclusive evidence that this friendship was physical.^[7]:82 Jeal then examines Baden-Powell's views on women, his appreciation of the male form, his military relationships, and his marriage, concluding that Baden-Powell might have been a repressed homosexual.^[7]:103 Jeal's conclusion is shared by some biographers and disputed by others, but is not yet examined in any detail by other scholars.^[48]:6

Works[link]

Military books 1884: Reconnaissance and Scouting 1885: Cavalry Instruction 1889: Pigsticking or Hoghunting 1896: The Downfall of Prempeh 1897: The Matabele Campaign 1899: Aids to Scouting for N.-C.Os and Men 1900: Sport in War 1901: Notes and Instructions for the South African Constabulary 1914: Quick Training for War Scouting books 1908: Scouting for Boys 1909: Yarns for Boy Scouts 1912: The Handbook for the Girl Guides or How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire (co-authored with Agnes Baden-Powell) 1913: Boy Scouts Beyond The Sea: My World Tour 1916: The Wolf Cub's Handbook 1918: Girl Guiding 1919: Aids To Scoutmastership 1921: What Scouts Can Do: More Yarns[49] 1922: Rovering to Success 1929: Scouting and Youth Movements est 1929: Last Message to Scouts[50] 1935: Scouting Round the World

Other books 1905: Ambidexterity (co-authored with John Jackson) 1915: Indian Memories 1915: My Adventures as a Spy[51] 1916: Young Knights of the Empire: Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns[52] 1921: An Old Wolf's Favourites 1927: Life's Snags and How to Meet Them 1933: Lessons From the Varsity of Life 1934: Adventures and Accidents 1936: Adventuring to Manhood 1937: African Adventures 1938: Birds and beasts of Africa 1939: Paddle Your Own Canoe 1940: More Sketches Of Kenya Sculpture 1905 John Smith[53]

Cover of first part of Scouting for Boys, January 1908

Awards[link]

Statue of Baden-Powell by Don Potter in front of Baden-Powell House in London

Memorial to Baden-Powell, "Chief Scout of the World", at Westminster Abbey

In 1937 Baden-Powell was appointed to the Order of Merit, one of the most exclusive awards in the British honours system, and he was also awarded 28 decorations by foreign states, including the Grand Officer of the Portuguese Order of Christ,^[54] the Grand Commander of the Greek Order of the Redeemer (1920),^[55] the Commander of the French Légion d'honneur (1925), the First Class of the Hungarian Order of Merit (1929), the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, and the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The Silver Wolf Award worn by Robert Baden-Powell is handed down the line of his successors, with the current Chief Scout, Bear Grylls, wearing this original award.

The Bronze Wolf Award, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, was first awarded to Baden-Powell by a unanimous decision of the then International Committee on the day of the institution of the Bronze Wolf in Stockholm in 1935. He was also the first recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award in 1926, the highest award conferred by the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1927, at the Swedish National Jamboree he was awarded by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund with the "Großes Dankabzeichen des ÖPB.^[56]:113

In 1931 Baden-Powell received the highest award of the First Austrian Republic (Großes Ehrenzeichen der Republik am Bande) out of the hands of President Wilhelm Miklas.^[56]:101 Baden-Powell was also one of the first and few recipients of the Goldene Gemse, the highest award conferred by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.^[57]

In 1931, Major Frederick Russell Burnham dedicated Mount Baden-Powell^[58] in California to his old Scouting friend from forty years before.^[59][60] Today their friendship is honoured in perpetuity with the dedication of the adjoining peak, Mount Burnham.^[61]

Baden-Powell was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on numerous occasions, including 10 separate nominations in 1928.^[62]

As part of the Scouting 2007 Centenary, Nepal renamed Urkema Peak to Baden-Powell Peak.

Styles[link]

The family name legally changed from Powell to Baden-Powell by Royal Licence on 30 April 1902.^[29]

• 1857–1860: Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell
• 1860–1876: Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1876: Sub-Lieutenant Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1876–1884: Lieutenant Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1884–1892: Captain Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1892–1896: Major Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1896-25 April 1897: Major (Bvt. Lieutenant-Colonel) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 25 April – 7 May 1897: Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 7 May 1897–1901: Lieutenant-Colonel (Bvt. Colonel) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1901–1902: Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
• 1902–1907: Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, CB
• 1907–12 October 1909: Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, CB
• 12 October – 9 November 1909: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCVO, CB
• 9 November 1909–1912: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCB, KCVO
• 1912–1923: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCB, KCVO, KStJ
• 1923–1927: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Bt, GCVO, KCB, KStJ
• 1927–1929: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Bt, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ
• 1929–1937: Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable The Lord Baden-Powell, Bt, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ
• 1937–1941: Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable The Lord Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

See also[link]

	Scouting portal
	Biography portal

• Baden-Powell House (quick view from google maps)
• Scouting memorials

Notes[link]

Related readings: biographies[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Scouting

• Works by Robert Baden-Powell at Project Gutenberg
• What would Baden-Powell do?

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