Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
name	Morihei Ueshiba
native name	植芝 盛平 ''Ueshiba Morihei''
native lang	jp
birth date	December 14, 1883
birth place	Tanabe, Wakayama, Japan
death date	April 26, 1969
death place	Iwama, Ibaraki, Japan
death cause	of hepatocellular carcinoma
nationality	Japanese
martial art	Founder of Aikido }}

was a famous martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" or , "Great Teacher".

Early years

Morihei Ueshiba was born in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan on December 14, 1883.

The only son of Yoroku and Yuki Ueshiba's five children, Morihei was raised in a somewhat privileged setting. His father was a rich landowner who also traded in lumber and fishing and was politically active. Ueshiba was a rather weak, sickly child and bookish in his inclinations. At a young age his father encouraged him to take up sumo wrestling and swimming and entertained him with stories of his great-grandfather Kichiemon who was considered a very strong samurai in his era. The need for such strength was further emphasized when the young Ueshiba witnessed his father being attacked by followers of a competing politician.

Ueshiba is known to have studied several martial arts in his life but he did not train extensively in most and even his training in Yagyū Shingan-ryū was sporadic due to his military service in those years. Records show that he trained in Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū jujutsu under Tozawa Tokusaburō for a short period in 1901 in Tokyo; Gotō-ha Yagyū Shingan-ryū under Nakai Masakatsu from 1903 to 1908 in Sakai, and judo under Kiyoichi Takagi 1911 in Tanabe. However, it was only after moving to the northern island of Hokkaidō in 1912 with his wife, as part of a settlement effort, that his martial art training took on real depth. For it was here that he began his study of Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu under its reviver Takeda Sokaku. He characterized his early training thus:

Takeda Sokaku and Daitō-ryū

The technical curriculum of aikido was undoubtedly most greatly influenced by the teachings of Takeda Sokaku and his system of ''aiki-jūjutsu'' called Daitō-ryū. Although disputed by some, the ledger books of Takeda clearly show that Ueshiba spent a great deal of time training in Daitō-ryū between 1915 and 1937. He received the majority of the important scrolls awarded by Takeda at this time including the ''Hiden Mokuroko'', the ''Hiden Ogi'' and the ''Goshin'yo te''. Ueshiba received his ''kyoju dairi'' certificate, or teaching license, for the system from Takeda in 1922. Takeda had not yet implemented a ''menkyo'' license, or highest level of achievement license, into his system at this time. He also received a Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū sword transmission scroll from Takeda in 1922 in Ayabe. Ueshiba then became a representative of Daitō-ryū, toured with Takeda as a teaching assistant and taught the system to others under the Daitō-ryū name.

The basic techniques of aikido seem to have their basis in teachings from various points in the Daitō-ryū curriculum. A source of confusion is the different names used for these techniques in aikido and in the Daitō-ryū system. In part this is because Takeda Tokimune added much of the nomenclature after the period in which Ueshiba studied. In addition the names ''ikkajo'', ''nikkajo'', ''sankajo'' used in both Daitō-ryū and the early years of aikido, latter supplanted by terms such as ''ikkyo'', ''nikkyo'', ''sankyo'', were really generic names translating to "first teaching", "second teaching", and so on. In Daitō-ryū these usually refer to groupings of techniques while in aikido they usually refer to specific techniques and joint manipulations.

From aiki-jūjitsu to aikido

In the earlier years of his teaching, from the 1920s to the mid 1930s, Ueshiba taught the ''aiki-jūjutsu'' system he had earned a license in from Takeda Sokaku. His early students' documents bear the term ''aiki-jūjutsu''. Indeed, Ueshiba trained one of the future highest grade earners in Daitō-ryū, Takuma Hisa, in the art before Takeda took charge of Hisa's training.

The early form of training under Ueshiba was characterized by the ample use of strikes to vital points (''atemi''), a larger total curriculum, a greater use of weapons, and a more linear approach to technique than would be found in later forms of aikido. These methods are preserved in the teachings of his early students Kenji Tomiki (who founded the Shodokan Aikido sometimes called Tomiki-ryū), Noriaki Inoue (who founded Shin'ei Taidō), Minoru Mochizuki (who founded Yoseikan Budo), Gozo Shioda (who founded Yoshinkan Aikido) and Morihiro Saito (who preserved his early form of aikido under the Aikikai umbrella sometimes referred to as Iwama-ryū). Many of these styles are considered "pre-war styles", although some of the teachers continued to have contact and influence from Ueshiba in the years after the Second World War.

Later, as Ueshiba seemed to slowly grow away from Takeda, he began to implement more changes into the art. These changes are reflected in the differing names with which he referred to his art, first as ''aiki-jūjutsu'', then Ueshiba-ryū, Asahi-ryū, ''aiki budō'', and finally aikido.

As Ueshiba grew older, more skilled, and more spiritual in his outlook, his art also changed and became softer and more circular. Striking techniques became less important and the formal curriculum became simpler. In his own expression of the art there was a greater emphasis on what is referred to as ''kokyū-nage'', or "breath throws" which are soft and blending, utilizing the opponent's movement in order to throw them. Many of these techniques are rooted in the ''aiki-no-jutsu'' portions of the Daitō-ryū curriculum rather than the more direct jujutsu style joint-locking techniques.

Onisaburo Deguchi's spiritual influence

After Ueshiba left Hokkaidō he came under the influence of Onisaburo Deguchi, the spiritual leader of the Ōmoto-kyō religion in Ayabe. In addition to the effect on his spiritual growth, this connection was to have a major effect in introducing Ueshiba to various elite political circles as a martial artist. The Ueshiba Dojo in Ayabe was used to train members of the Ōmoto-kyō sect. He was involved in the first Ōmoto-kyō Incident, an ill-fated attempt to found a utopian colony in Mongolia. Although Ueshiba eventually distanced himself from both these teachers, their effect on him and his art cannot be overstated.

The real birth of Aikido came as the result of three instances of spiritual awakening that Ueshiba experienced. The first happened in 1925, after Ueshiba had defeated a naval officer's ''bokken'' (wooden katana) attacks unarmed and without hurting the officer. Ueshiba then walked to his garden and had a spiritual awakening.

His second experience occurred in 1940 when,

"Around 2am as I was performing misogi, I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with."

His third experience was in 1942 during the worst fighting of WWII, Ueshiba had a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace".

"The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter - it is the Art of Peace, the power of love."

In 1927, Ueshiba moved to Tokyo where he founded his first dojo, which still exists today under the name Aikikai Hombu Dojo. Between 1940 and 1942 he made several visits to Manchukuo (Japanese occupied Manchuria) to instruct his martial art. In 1942 he left Tokyo and moved to Iwama in the Ibaraki Prefecture where the term "aikido" was first used as a name for his art. Here he founded the Aiki Shuren Dojo, also known as the Iwama dojo. During all this time he traveled extensively in Japan, particularly in the Kansai region teaching his aikido.

In 1969, Morihei Ueshiba became ill. He died suddenly on April 26, 1969 of cancer. Two months later, his wife Hatsu (植芝 はつ; ''Ueshiba Hatsu'', née ''Itokawa Hatsu''; 1881–1969) died in turn. His son Kisshomaru Ueshiba carried forward.

Legacy

In an interview Shoji Nishio reported : ''"At that time, a former Karate sensei of the Butokukai named Toyosaku Sodeyama who was running Konishi Sensei’s dojo and also teaching there came up to me and said: “I met someone who is like a ‘phantom’. I couldn’t strike him even once.” I was amazed that there was someone that even Sodeyama Sensei couldn’t strike. It was O-Sensei."''

To this day, Ōmoto-kyō priests oversee a ceremony in Ueshiba's honor every April 29 at the Aiki Shrine in Iwama.

Over the years, Ueshiba trained a large number of students, many of whom have grown into great teachers in their own right. Some of them were ''uchideshi'', or live-in students. There are roughly four generations of students. A partial list follows:

First (pre-war) generation(c.1921–c.1935)

Second (war) generation(c.1936–c.1945)

Third (post-war) generation(c.1946–c.1955)

Fourth (and last) generation(c.1956–c.1969)

*Zenzaburo Akazawa (born 1920) since 1933

*Masahiro Hashimoto (born 1910) since 1931

*Takuma Hisa (1895–1980) since 1934

*Yasuhiro Konishi (1893–1983)

*Noriaki Inoue (1902–1994) since c.1921, nephew of Morihei Ueshiba

*Ikkusai Iwata (born 1909) since 1930, 9th dan Aikikai

*Hisao Kamada (1911–1986) since 1929

*Minoru Mochizuki (1907–2003) since 1930, 10th dan (received from the International Martial Arts Federation)

*Aritoshi Murashige (1895–1964) since 1931

*Gozo Shioda (1915–1994) since 1932, founder of the Yoshinkan Aikido

*Rinjiro Shirata (1912–1993) since 1933, 9th dan

*Yoshio Sugino (1904–1998) since 1934, 10th dan IMAF, 10th dan Katori Shinto-ryu

*Isamu Takeshita (1869–1949) since c.1925

*Kenji Tomiki (1900–1979) since 1926, was the first 8th dan awarded in aikido in 1942.

*Shigemi Yonekawa (1910–2005) since 1933

*Tsutomu Yukawa (1911–1942) since 1931

*Tadashi Abe (1926–1984) since 1942, 6th dan

*Minoru Hirai (1903–1998) since 1939, founder of the Korindo style.

*Kisaburo Osawa (1911–1991) since 1941, 9th dan

*Kanshū Sunadomari (1923-2010) since 1942, 9th dan

*Bansen Tanaka (1912–1988) since 1936, 9th dan

*Saburo Tenryū (1903–1989) since 1939, he was a famous sumo wrestler

*Koichi Tohei (1920-2011) since 1939, only 10th dan awarded by Ueshiba ''and'' approved by Aikikai

*Michio Hikitsuchi (1923–2004) since 1937, 10th dan (verbally awarded by Ueshiba), opened Shingu's Kumano Juku in 1951 (when he was 7th dan)

*Seiseki Abe (1915-2011) since 1952, 10th dan

*Sadateru Arikawa (1930–2003) since 1947, 9th dan

*Katsuaki Asai (born 1942) since 1955, 8th dan

*Hiroshi Kato (born 1935) since 1954, 8th dan

*Yasuo Kobayashi (born 1936) since 1954, 8th dan

*Reishin Kawai (1931–2010) since 1952, 8th dan

*Yoshio Kuroiwa (1932–2010) since 1954, 6th dan

*Mutsuro Nakazono (1918–1994) 7th dan

*Shoji Nishio (1927–2005) since 1951, 8th dan

*André Nocquet (1914–1999) since 1955, 8th dan, the first European ''uchideshi''

*Masamichi Noro (born 1935) since 1955, 6th dan, founder of Kinomichi

*Morihiro Saito (1928–2002) since 1946, 9th dan

*Mitsugi Saotome (born 1937) since 1955

*Hiroshi Tada (born 1929) since 1945, 9th dan

*Nobuyoshi Tamura (1933–2010) since 1953, 8th dan

*Seigo Yamaguchi (1924–1996) since 1951, 8th dan

*Nobuyuki Watanabe (born 1930) since 1958, 8th dan

*Kazuo Chiba (born 1940) since 1958, 8th dan

*Yasunari Kitaura (born 1937) since 1959, 8th dan, founder of Asociación Cultural de Aikido en España (ACAE)

*Terry Dobson (1938–1992) since 1960, 5th dan

*Seishiro Endo (born 1942) since 1964, 8th dan

*Robert Frager (born 1940) since 1964, 7th dan

*Gaku Homma (born 1950) founder of Nippon Kan (Aikido dojo) and was the last ''uchideshi'' Ueshiba trained before he died.

*Norihiko Ichihashi (1940–2001) since 1960, 8th dan

*Shizuo Imaizumi (born 1938) since 1959, 7th dan

*Mitsunari Kanai (1939–2004) since 1959, 8th dan

*Yutaka Kurita (born 1940) since 1959, 6th dan

*Koretoshi Maruyama (born 1936) since 1954, founder Aikido Yuishinkai International

*Shuji Maruyama (born 1940) since 1959, 6th dan, founder of Kokikai

*Seijuro Masuda (born 1936) since 1962, 8th dan

Robert Nadeau (aikido teacher)>Robert Nadeau (born 1937) since 1962, 7th dan

*Kenji Shimizu (born 1940) since 1963, 8th dan

*Roy Suenaka (born 1940) since 1961, 8th dan, founder Wadokai Aikido.

*Seiichi Sugano (1939–2010) since 1959, 8th dan

*Morito Suganuma (born 1942) since 1964, 8th dan

*Akira Tohei (1929–1999) since 1956, 8th dan

*Takeji Tomita (born 1942) since 1961, 7th dan

*Yoshimitsu Yamada (born 1938) since 1956, 8th dan

Hirokazu Kobayashi (aikidoka)>Hirokazu Kobayashi (1929–1998) Kobayashi aikido

*Henry Kono since 1964

Personal traits

Morihei Ueshiba regularly practiced cold water ''misogi'', as well as other spiritual and religious rites. He viewed his studies of aikido in this light.

As a young man, Ueshiba was renowned for his incredible physical strength. He would later lose much of this muscle, which some believe changed the way he performed aikido technique.

Ueshiba was said to be a simple but wise man, and a gifted farmer. In his later years, he was regarded as very kind and gentle as a rule, but there are also stories of terrifying scoldings delivered to his students. For instance, he once thoroughly chastised students for practicing ''jō'' (staff) strikes on trees without first covering them in protective padding. Another time, as students sneaked back into the dojo after a night of drinking and brawling, he smashed the first one through the door over the head with a ''bokken'' (wooden practice sword), and proceeded to scold them.

Morihei Ueshiba played the game of Go often. During one game with Sokaku Takeda, Takeda utilized the Goban as a weapon against a man he mistook for an assassin. The "assassin" was actually a friend of Ueshiba, and had arrived in a scarf due to bad weather. The scarf hid the man's identity, triggering Takeda's paranoia as, at the time, many people actually were trying to kill him.

Honors

Medal of Honor (Japan), 1960. Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, 1964. Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan), 1968.

References

Publications

Morihei Ueshiba, ''The Secret Teachings of Aikido'' (2008), Kodansha International, ISBN 978-4-7700-3030-6

Morihei Ueshiba, ''Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido'' (1996), Kodansha International, ISBN 978-4-7700-2070-3

Morihei Ueshiba, ''The Essence of Aikido: Spiritual Teachings of Morihei Ueshiba'' (1998), Kodansha International, ISBN 978-4-7700-2357-5

External links

"The Art of Peace", sayings of Morihei Ueshiba translated by John Stevens

A Day in the Life of the Founder Morihei Ueshiba, April 1968 - By Gaku Homma.

Aikido Global Network - Free social network for Aikido practitioners to meet and critique their technique

Category:Aikido Category:Japanese aikidoka Category:Japanese educators Category:Martial arts school founders Category:1883 births Category:1969 deaths Category:Deists Category:Spiritualists Category:Japanese Shintoists Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Category:People from Wakayama Prefecture

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Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
Name	Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Birth place	Paddington, London, England
Death place	Nyeri, Kenya
Nickname	B-P
Branch	British Army
Serviceyears	1876–1910
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Commands	Chief of Staff, Second Matabele War (1896–1897)5th Dragoon Guards in India (1897)Inspector General of Cavalry, England (1903)
Battles	Anglo-Ashanti Wars, Second Matabele War, Siege of Mafeking, Second Boer War
Awards	Ashanti Star (1895),Matabele Campaign, British South Africa Company Medal (1896),Queen's South Africa Medal (1899), King's South Africa Medal ( 1902),Boy Scouts Silver WolfBoy Scouts Silver Buffalo Award (1926),World Scout Committee Bronze Wolf (1935),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
Laterwork	Founder of the international Scouting Movement; writer; artist
Signature	Baden-Powell_signature.svg }}

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder 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 Pearson, for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a camping trip on Brownsea Island with the local Boys' Brigade and sons of his friends that began on 1 August 1907, 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

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. He was named for his godfather, Robert Stephenson, the railway and civil engineer; 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."

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.

Military career

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. He was posted in Malta for three years, also working as intelligence officer for the Mediterranean for the Director of Military Intelligence. He frequently travelled disguised as a butterfly collector, incorporating plans of military installations into his drawings of butterfly wings.

Baden-Powell returned to Africa in 1896 to aid the British South Africa Company colonials under siege in Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War. 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. 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 kerchief for the first time. After Rhodesia, Baden-Powell took part in a successful British invasion of Ashanti, West Africa in the Fourth Ashanti War, and at the age of 40 was promoted to lead the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897 in India. 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 was accused of illegally executing a prisoner of war, Matabele chief Uwini, in 1896, 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".

Baden-Powell returned to South Africa prior to the Second Boer War and was engaged in further military actions against the Zulus. By this time, he had been promoted to be the youngest colonel in the British Army. He was responsible for the organisation of a force of Legion of Frontiersmen to assist the regular army. While arranging this, he was trapped in the Siege of Mafeking, and surrounded by a Boer army, at times in excess of 8,000 men. Although wholly outnumbered, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days. Much of this is attributable to cunning military deceptions instituted at Baden-Powell's behest as commander of the garrison. Fake minefields were planted and his soldiers were ordered to simulate avoiding non-existent barbed wire while moving between trenches. Baden-Powell did most of the reconnaissance work himself. 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.

Contrary views of Baden-Powell's actions during the Siege of Mafeking pointed out 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 natives' garrison. However, in 2001, after subsequent research, Pakenham decidedly retreated from this position.

During the siege, a cadet corps, consisting of white boys below fighting age, was used to stand guard, carry messages, assist in hospitals and so on, freeing the men for military service. Although Baden-Powell did not form this cadet corps himself, and there is no evidence that he took much notice of them during the Siege, 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 in the Relief of Mafeking on 16 May 1900. Promoted to major-general, Baden-Powell became a national hero. 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.

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.

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." It was widely rumoured that Baden-Powell was engaged in spying, and intelligence officers took great care to inculcate the myth.

Scouting movement

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. 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 for twenty-two boys from local Boys Brigade companies and sons of friends of Baden-Powell's from public schools Eton and Harrow to test out the applicability of his ideas. 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. 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.

Boys and girls spontaneously formed Scout troops and the Scouting Movement had inadvertently started, first as a national, and soon an international obsession. 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 founded 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 America, 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 the 1921 New Year Honours and Baron Baden-Powell, of Gilwell, in the County of Essex, on 17 September 1929, Gilwell Park being the International Scout Leader training centre. After receiving this honour, Baden-Powell mostly styled himself "Baden-Powell of Gilwell".

In 1929, during the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, he received as a present a new 20 horse power Rolls-Royce car (chassis number GVO-40, registration OU 2938) and an Eccles Caravan. 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. Baden-Powell also had a positive impact on improvements in youth education. 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.

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.

Personal life

In January 1912, Baden-Powell met Olave St Clair Soames, on the ocean liner, ''Arcadian'', heading for New York to start one of his Scouting World Tours. 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. 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. The Bentley house was a gift of her father. 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. The headaches disappeared upon his moving into a makeshift bedroom set up on his balcony. The Baden-Powells had three children, one son and two daughters, who all acquired the courtesy title of "The Honourable" in 1929 as children of a baron. The son succeeded his father in 1941 to the Baden-Powell barony and the title of Baron Baden-Powell.

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 (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. In 1939, he and his wife 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. 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 His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre, which is the trail sign for "Going home", or "I have gone home": 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.

Personal beliefs

Tim Jeal, who wrote the biography ''Baden-Powell'', argues 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." 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. According to biographer Michael Rosenthal, Baden-Powell used the swastika because he was a Nazi sympathiser. Jeal, however, argues that Baden-Powell was naïve of the symbol's growing association with fascism and maintained that his use of the symbol related to its earlier, original meaning of "good luck" in Sanskrit, for which purpose the symbol had been used for centuries prior to the rise of fascism. In conflict with the idea that Powell was a Nazi supporter is the fact that Baden-Powell was a target of the Nazi regime in the Black Book, which listed individuals who were to be arrested during and after an invasion of Great Britain as part of Operation Sea Lion. Scouting was regarded as a dangerous spy organisation by the Nazis. Baden-Powell used the swastika as a "Thanks" badge for the Scout Movement well before Hitler used it, and when Hitler did start to use it, Baden-Powell ceased to use it. Previously, the swastika had been used by Rudyard Kipling as a logo on his books.

Artist and writer

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

Baden-Powell was regarded as an excellent storyteller. During his whole life he told 'ripping yarns' to audiences. 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

Early discussion of Baden-Powell's sexuality focused on his relationship with his close friend Kenneth McLaren. Tim Jeal's later biography discusses the relationship and concludes that there is no conclusive evidence that this friendship was physical. Jeal then examines Baden-Powell's views on women, his appreciation of the male form, his military relationships and his marriage, indicating that Baden-Powell could be a repressed homosexual. Jeal's conclusion is shared by some biographers and disputed by others, but not yet examined in any detail by scholars.

Works

;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''

1922: ''Rovering to Success''

1929: ''Scouting and Youth Movements''

est 1929: ''Last Message to Scouts''

1935: ''Scouting Round the World''

;Other books

1905: ''Ambidexterity'' (co-authored with John Jackson)

1915: ''Indian Memories''

1915: ''My Adventures as a Spy'' 1916: ''Young Knights of the Empire: Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns''

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''

Awards

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, the Grand Commander of the Greek Order of the Redeemer (1920), 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''.

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. Baden-Powell was also one of the first and few recipients of the ''Goldene Gemse'', the highest award conferred by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.

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

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

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

Styles

:''The family name legally changed from Powell to Baden-Powell by Royal Licence on 30 April 1902.''

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

Baden-Powell House

Scouting memorials

Notes

Related readings: biographies

|location=London |publisher=Grant Richards |year=1900}}

External links

What would Baden-Powell do?

Category:Scouting pioneers Category:The Scout Association Category:Guiding Category:Recipients of the Bronze Wolf Award Category:British Army generals Category:13th Hussars officers Category:British spies Category:British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:People of the Second Matabele War Category:Pre–World War I spies Category:People from Paddington Category:Old Carthusians Category:Outdoor educators Category:English Anglicans Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Category:Members of the Order of Merit Category:Knights of Christ Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Category:Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit (Hungary) Category:People of the Victorian era Category:People of the Edwardian era Category:5th Dragoon Guards officers Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion Category:Grand Commanders of the Order of the Redeemer Category:Recipients of the Silver Wolf Award Category:1857 births Category:1941 deaths

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