Lieutenant-General Lord Robert Baden-Powell of Gilwell (B-P) was a National hero at the end of the 19th century as the defender of Mafeking. He had a vision of a movement to train boys as good citizens and held an experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in 1907. He wrote Scouting for Boys (previous page) and Scouting took off spontaneously as independent Troops; B-P had to form an organisation to organise Scouting. Scouting grew rapidly – the King reviewed 35,000 Scouts at Windsor in 1911.The spread of Scouting throughout the World was also rapid and today there are 30,000,000 Scouts to be found in all but 6 of the countries of the World.

2007 was our Centenary Year and was celebrated in many ways throughout the World. In particular, the Centenary World Scout Jamboree was held near Chelmsford in Essex and was attended by over 40,000 Scouts from around the World. Our Scout District – Arundel and Littlehampton – celebrated its own Centenary in 2013 with a District Camp in the New Forest.

There have been Sea Scouts almost since the beginning of Scouting and a booklet Sea Scouting for Boys was published in 1911. 5th Littlehampton has been providing Sea Scouting in this District for very many years.

For more information read:

“An Official History of Scouting”, London: Hamlyn, 2006

Jeal, T. “Baden-Powell”, London: Hutchinson, 1989