In the summer of 1907, a summer camp was arranged for twenty boys on Brownsea Island off the south coast of England. The boys were divided into packs and given instruction in cooking on a bonfire, hygiene, first aid, nature study and civics. It was an experiment organised by Robert Baden-Powell. The world’s first scout camp can celebrate its hundredth birthday this year.
It is also 150 years since Baden-Powell was born, giving two good reasons for issuing a stamp. Scouting is the theme of this year’s Europa stamps.
After school, a military career was a natural choice for many British men. Baden-Powell started his service in 1876 as an army officer and was sent to India. He was given recruits to train, but found out that they were not all up to scratch. He prepared courses in scouting and his book, Aids to Scouting, is well known.
In 1899, he was sent to South Africa to fight in the Boer War (1899-1902). Here, he and his men were surrounded and outnumbered by Boers. They held their ground and finally broke the siege after eight months. In England people turned out in full force to celebrate this victory. Baden-Powell became a national hero and his Aids to Scouting was read enthusiastically throughout the British empire.
Back in England, Baden-Powell became more and more concerned with children’s upbringing. After the Brownsea Island camp in 1907, he travelled round England giving talks about his scouting idea. In 1908 his handbooks, Scouting for Boys sold like hotcakes all over England. Working from a small office in London, he started publishing a weekly magazine called The Scout. Interest in scouting began to soar. King Edward VII thought someone should look after the growing movement and proposed Baden-Powell for the job. In 1908 he organised the foundation of the English boy scout association. Girls were also included, but in 1910 they started their own girl guide organisation with Baden-Powell’s sister Agnes in charge.
Along with his much younger wife, Olave, Baden-Powell travelled round the world promoting his scouting idea. Scouting linked
young people together over national borders and by 1920 there were already more than a million scouts worldwide. Five thousand
scouts attended the first world jamboree in London, where Baden-Powell was designated Chief Scout of the World. In 1939, the
couple retired and settled in Kenya. Robert died there in 1941. Olave returned to England and continued to work with the scout
movement till she died in 1977.
NK: 1654-55
Design: Arild Yttri, Martin Mörck
Values: NOK 9.00 - NOK 11.00
No. per sheet: 50 stamps
Printing: Recess/offset by Royal Joh. Enschedé, Netherlands
Sales prices:
First day cover NOK 23.00
Presentation pack NOK 25.00
Collector's set NOK 53.00
Collector's sheet NOK 40.00