ROBERT BADEN-POWELL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/23/1917 - HFSID 41405

ROBERT BADEN-POWELL


The Lieutenant General who is credited as the founder of the Boy Scouts Association pens this letter to a friend thanking him for some photographs of their memories, signed in black ink


Autograph Letter signed: "Robert Baden-Powell" in black ink, 1 page, 8x10. Ewhurst Place, via Hawkhurst, Kent (England), 1917 September 23. On printed letterhead to "My dear Milne". In full: "Thank you ever so much for these excellent and interesting photos of the Dumbarton rally. They will form a very special feature in our album-record and a very happy reminder of the visit. We have only just got back - & late last night - and find our home dismantled as we are leaving tomorrow to our new house Little Blynthurst, Leight, Horley, Surrey. So glad to hear you are already going ahead with events in Dumbarton. With best good wishes & with kindest regards to Mrs. Milne from us both. Yours sincerely". Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857-1941), British military hero of the Boer War (1899-1900), 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 paintings by Baden-Powell, who was an accomplished artist. In 1911, he helped his sister, Agnes, found the Girl Guides, a similar organization for girls. "My dear Milne" may be William Milne, formerly leader of a rival youth organization in America, the Boys' Brigade, who had been impressed by the Boy Scouts during a visit to England in 1909 and, upon his return to the U.S., established Troop #1 of the U.S. Boy Scouts in Barre, Vermont. Lightly creased and soiled. One-half-inch tear at lower edge, to right of signature. Mounting remnants on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.