History Channel: Jan 24

[fgoodwin]

BOY SCOUTS MOVEMENT BEGINS: January 24, 1908

 

http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-bin/today_relocate.cgi?p=%2Fcgi-bin%2Ftoday_relocate.cgi&month=01&day=24&section=thisday&x=35&y=7

http://tinyurl.com/b83lg

 

On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scouts movement begins in England with the publication of the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys. The name Baden-Powell was already well known to many English boys, and thousands of them eagerly bought up the handbook. By the end of April, the serialization of Scouting for Boys was completed, and scores of impromptu Boy Scout troops had sprung up across Britain.

 

In 1900, Baden-Powell became a national hero in Britain for his 217-day defense of Mafeking in the South African War. Soon after, Aids to Scouting, a military field manual he had written for British soldiers in 1899, caught on with a younger audience. Boys loved the lessons on tracking and observation and organized elaborate games using the book. Hearing this, Baden-Powell decided to write a nonmilitary field manual for adolescents that would also emphasize the importance of morality and good deeds.

 

First, however, he decided to try out some of his ideas on an actual group of boys. On July 25, 1907, he took a diverse group of 21 adolescents to Brownsea Island in Dorsetshire where they set up camp for a fortnight. With the aid of other instructors, he taught the boys about camping, observation, deduction, woodcraft, boating, lifesaving, patriotism, and chivalry. Many of these lessons were learned through inventive games that were very popular with the boys. The first Boy Scouts meeting was a great success.

 

With the success of Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell set up a central Boy Scouts office, which registered new Scouts and designed a uniform. By the end of 1908, there were 60,000 Boy Scouts, and troops began springing up in British Commonwealth countries across the globe. In September 1909, the first national Boy Scout meeting was held at the Crystal Palace in London. Ten thousand Scouts showed up, including a group of uniformed girls who called themselves the Girl Scouts. In 1910, Baden-Powell organized the Girl Guides as a separate organization.

 

The American version of the Boy Scouts has it origins in an event that occurred in London in 1909. Chicago publisher William Boyce was lost in one of the city's classic fogs when a Boy Scout came to his aid. After guiding Boyce to his destination, the boy refused a tip, explaining that as a Boy Scout he would not accept payment for doing a good deed. This anonymous gesture inspired Boyce to organize several regional U.S. youth organizations, specifically the Woodcraft Indians and the Sons of Daniel Boone, into the Boy Scouts of America. Incorporated on February 8, 1910, the movement soon spread throughout the country. In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of America in Savannah, Georgia.

 

In 1916, Baden-Powell organized the Wolf Cubs, which caught on as the Cub Scouts in the United States, for boys under the age of 11. Four years later, the first international Boy Scout Jamboree was held in London, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the world. He died in 1941.

[acco40]

Yes on this day Robert Baden-Powell organized the first Boy Scout troop in England (or anywhere else).

 

But more importantly (with tongue firmly implanted in my cheek):

 

A gold nugget was dicovered at Sutter's Mill in northern California. (1848).

 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that income tax was unconstitutional. (1916)

 

Conscription was introduced in Britain. (1916)

 

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws that denied welfare benefits to people who had resided in a state for less than a year. (1972)

 

Ted Bundy was put to death. (1989)

 

and most importantly of all Krueger Brewing Company placed the first canned beer on sale in Richmond, VA. (1935)

 

[OldGreyEagle]

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that income tax was unconstitutional. (1916)"

 

Funny how that one didnt make the list of times the Supreme Court reversed itself.

[Miki101]

Unfortunately for The History Channel:

 

1. The first installment of SCOUTING FOR BOYS was published on Wednesday January 15, 1908...not the 24th as they state.

 

2. The serialization finished with installment #6 on March 25th...not the end of April.

 

3. Baden-Powell took 22 boys to Brownsea...not 21.

 

4. Baden-Powell and Kenneth McLaren arrived on Brownsea on July 25th but camp did not begin until July 29th...the rest of the boys arrived after July 25th.

 

5. The Brownsea participants were not "boy scouts" because SCOUTING FOR BOYS was not yet written, they were "participants" or "experimental scouts" etc.

 

6. Boyce did nothing to "organize" the Woodcraft Indians or the Sons of Daniel Boone...Edgar M. Robinson and the YMCA did all of that. Boyce tried to organize a troop or two in Chicago and failed and realized that he should pass it off to "the professional" Boy Workers...and in doing so, he wrote a check to Robinson for $1,000.

 

Otherwise, it's moderately accurate...

 

David C. Scott