Baden

LORD BADEN-POWELL (1858 - 1941)

Baden-Powell's first two names were Robert Stephenson, after the great engineer, who was his godfather. Baden-Powell visited the Armstrong works at Elswick twice in the 1880s to inspect the machine-guns. The first Boy Scout camp in England was held in 1908 on a site west of Parkshields farm, at the foot of the South Tyne valley. A cairn is inscribed:

This cairn marks the site of the first Boy Scout Camp held in 1908 by B.P., later Lord Baden-Powell. The Chief Scout relit the camp fire, 9th June 1957.

The much-publicised 1907 camp on Brownsea Island was a trial camp. Baden-Powell had many discussions with Viscount Haldane about the territorial system and in 1908, Haldane asked him to take over the Northumberland Territorials. It was in this year that Baden-Powell published his famous book Scouting for Boys in which he uses the murder of Margaret Crozier at Elsdon, and the resourcefulness of a Northumbrian shepherd-boy as an instructive tale for scouts. It is set near Winter's Gibbet (Winter was the murderer) standing at Steng Cross above Elsdon. The same story, with a different emphasis appears in G.M. Trevelyan's essay 'The Middle Marches'.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
LORD BADEN-POWELL (1858 - 1941) Baden-Powell's first two names were Robert Stephenson, after the great engineer, who was his godfather. Baden-Powell visited the Armstrong works at Elswick twice in the 1880s to inspect the machine-guns. The first Boy Scout camp in England was held in 1908 on a site west of Parkshields farm, at the foot of the South Tyne valley. A cairn is inscribed: This cairn marks the site of the first Boy Scout Camp held in 1908 by B.P., later Lord Baden-Powell. The Chief Scout relit the camp fire, 9th June 1957. The much-publicised 1907 camp on Brownsea Island was a trial camp. Baden-Powell had many discussions with Viscount Haldane about the territorial system and in 1908, Haldane asked him to take over the Northumberland Territorials. It was in this year that Baden-Powell published his famous book Scouting for Boys in which he uses the murder of Margaret Crozier at Elsdon, and the resourcefulness of a Northumbrian shepherd-boy as an instructive tale for scouts. It is set near Winter's Gibbet (Winter was the murderer) standing at Steng Cross above Elsdon. The same story, with a different emphasis appears in G.M. Trevelyan's essay 'The Middle Marches'.
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