The world's first Scout Camp

MILESTONES to Scouting was originally chosen as the title for this series of articles to demonstrate that there was no single event that can claim to be the starting point for Scouting. It must be remembered that the Brownsea participants were not Scouts in the true sense of the word - they had not taken the Law and the Promise.Some did go on to become Scouts, but others did not join when eventually the opportunity was presented, preferring to remain in the Boys' Brigade or their School's Cadet Corps. All of the original participants that left any sort of written record seem to agree that what happened on Brownsea was very special and stayed with them throughout out their lives.
Baden-Powell was 50 years old in 1907. He had achieved world-wide fame as 'The Hero of Mafeking'. He had toured Britain extensively and spoken to a wide range of audiences about his ideas of using Army Scout training to motivate what he saw as disaffected youth. He had involved other youth organisations - notably the YMCA and the Boys' Brigade. He had a populist publisher waiting for the drafts of his latest book, which was a revision, designed especially to appeal to the young, of his army manual Aids to Scouting. He had the support of the great and the good throughout the land. What he did not have was practical experience in working with young people! True, his ideas had worked on Army Scouts. The Mafeking Cadets were, in the main, much younger and though inspirational were not trained by Baden-Powell. As far as boys of 'scout age' were concerned, B-P only had the word of others, young and old alike, that his ideas would work. Now he needed to find out for himself.