ROBERT BADEN-POWELL - AUTOGRAPH CIRCA 1917 CO-SIGNED BY: EDEN W. PAGET, EDWARD STEWART, DAME EMMA MAUD MCCARTHY, HERBERT B. AMES, MARY CANE, LORA FLETCHER - HFSID 74915

ROBERT BADEN-POWELL and others: ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM
The Lieutenant-General who is credited as the founder of the Boy Scouts Association and twenty-four others sign this 7¼x10½ sheet of paper along with 24 other members of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, in black and iron gall ink
Signatures: "Robert Baden Powell", and 24 others, including""Eden W. Paget", "Edward Stewart 18-9-17", "Lora H. Fletcher", "M. Maud. McCarthy", "Herbert B. Ames", and "Mary Cane", 1 page, 7¼x10½. Nine signatures in all. Above the signatures is a cloth replica of the award (2x½), Ink note ("15") in upper right corner. Second Lieutenant ROBERT BADEN-POWELL (1857-1941) had been detached for scouting service in Africa in the Ashanti (1895) and Matabele (1896) campaigns. In 1897, he transferred to the 5th Dragoon Guards, which he commanded. While he was on leave in England in 1899, Baden-Powell was appointed to raise a force of mounted rifles to be based in Mafeking with the secret aim of making raids on the Boers in Transvaal. Mafeking was besieged by a superior force of Boers on October 12, 1899. The siege lasted for 217 days (until May 17, 1900), and the relief of Mafeking was celebrated throughout the Empire, as it was the first victory the British had achieved in the Boer War. A Colonel when the siege began, Baden-Powell was promoted to Major-General after the victory. Baden-Powell is best known for founding the Boy Scouts (1907, two years before he was knighted in 1909). Baden-Powell, who based his program on the skills he had learned as a scout in the military, wrote a number of guidebooks for the organization, many of which were illustrated by his paintings by Baden-Powell; he was an accomplished artist. In 1911, he helped his sister, Agnes, found the Girl Guides, a similar organization for girls. Dame EMMA MAUD McCARTHY (1859-1949), born and raised in Australia, entered nursing duties at London Hospital, Whitechapel in 1891. She was one of six nurses selected by Queen Alexandra (wife of King Edward VII) for duty in South Africa during the Boer War, serving there 1899-1902. Under the patronage of Queen Alexandra, she organized the Army Reserve Nursing Service, and was head matron at several British military hospitals in the following years. In 1914, she was aboard the first transport carrying British soldiers to France, and she was Matron-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force throughout World War I, receiving the Florence Nightingale Medal, the French Legion of Honor, and many other awards. One British General called her a "genius" who could "run the whole Army" and "never make a mistake." From 1920 until her retirement in 1925, she was Matron-in-Chief of the Territorial Army Nursing Service. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, the Order of Malta, St. John Ambulance, and by other titles, was first established in Jerusalem (1113) following the First Crusade. The original knights ran an infirmary in Jerusalem but also participated in military campaigns. Catholic in origin, the order was abolished in England by Henry VIII in 1540. Efforts to re-establish the order resulted in a royal charter from Queen Victoria (1888), but unlike fully state-sanctioned orders, it does not command the title of "Sir." The Order ran ambulances in France during World War I and raised money for medical aid. It fulfills a medical aid function in Britain to this day. Slightly soiled and toned. Slightly frayed left edge where page was removed from a book. Otherwise, fine condition.