History of the Girl Scout Movement

It was started in 1906 by an Englishman and an army officer named Lord Robert Baden Powell. From that time on to the present, Scouting had a great impact on young people all over the world.

      Aids to Scouting, an army manual prepared by B-P (as Baden Powell was fondly called) was the first guide for Scouting activities. This consisted of tests and games of character and intelligence, physical health and endurance.

      B-P originally intended the manual to help his soldiers to have self-reliance, confidence and discretion through challenges and games in small groups. He called these groups PATROL.

      Later, the Manual became "Scouting for Boys." It grew out of the personal, exciting experiences of B-P. It established the basic structure, the Promise and Law and the Patrol System.

      To practice the theories in this manual, B-P held an experimental camp at the Brownsea Island, off the coast of Great Britain. This was from July 19 - August 8, 1907. This experiment was a success. In 1908, educators hailed BP's Scouting theories as a "revolution in education methods, a new way in character training."

      The rest is history.

      Scouting spread widely and found its way to other lands.

      What about the Girl Scouts? How did they come into the picture?

      In 1909 at the memorable Crystal Palace rally of the Boy Scouts of England, a group of uniformed, self-styled Girl Scouts came out in the open and voiced their appeal to B-P to form a similar movement for girls.

      B-P gave in to their clamor. He engaged his sister Agnes to help him put a movement for girls. Thus, in May, 1910, Agnes Baden-Powell became the first president of the Girl Guides.

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