Baden-Powell of MafekingFletcher, J. S. (Joseph Smith)
History
Baden-Powell of Mafeking
Fletcher, J. S. (Joseph Smith)
Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941; Generals -- Great Britain -- Biography
After being under the care of a tutor until he was eleven years old,
Baden-Powell was sent to a preparatory school at Tunbridge Wells,
and remained there for two years, leaving it at the end of that time
with the sincere regret of his master, who had found him an admirable
example to his fellows. In 1870 he was admitted, on the Duke of
Marlborough's nomination, to the Foundation of Charterhouse, then in
its ancient quarters near Smithfield. Two years later he went with
the Foundation to its new home near Godalming, and there remained, an
inmate of Mr. Girdlestone's house, until 1876. Of these six years of
Baden-Powell's life it is necessary to say something, if one wishes to
form an accurate idea of their importance in moulding and strengthening
his character. School-life exercises a vast influence upon a boy's
future career; it may make or mar it; it is certain, indeed, that he
cannot go through it without receiving influences of the most paramount
importance. All the world knows now what manner of man Baden-Powell is;
all the world has no doubt wondered what sort of boy he was in his days
of school-life.
I recently visited the Charterhouse in order to ask Dr. Haig-Brown,
who was Headmaster of the Charterhouse School from 1863 to 1897,
and has since then been Master of the Charterhouse, if he would
tell me something about his old pupil. There was a certain amount
of satisfaction in setting foot within the precincts of a place so
closely associated with one of the men of the moment; there was a
strong and restful sense of relief, too, in escaping from the whirl
and roar of London's crowded streets into so delightful a haunt of
peace as that which lies in their very midst. Between the noise and
bustle of the much-thronged thoroughfares about Smithfield and the
cloistral quiet of the Master's Lodge in the Charterhouse there was a
difference intensely welcome to a lover of quiet places, and I could
not help thinking as I sat in Dr. Haig-Brown's study, with the noise
of the outer world reduced to a low and easy murmur, that there must
have been moments during the siege of Mafeking when Baden-Powell's
mind turned to the grey walls and quaint gables of his old school with
perhaps a little longing for the peace which broods there always. It
was easy to see that the thought and memory of the old Carthusian was
cherished there. In Dr. Haig-Brown's study hung a picture of the face
now familiar to all of us through the medium of innumerable illustrated
newspapers and magazines, the good-humoured, strong face, shadowed by
the big hat, and in one of the drawing-rooms stood a small table gaily
decorated with red, white and blue ribbons, whereon had been gathered
together a collection of little objects--some of them the penny wares
of the London street vendors--associated with the name of the hero of
Mafeking. It was easy to see, too, that Baden-Powell was deeply placed
in the affections of his old schoolmaster. Dr. Haig-Brown spoke of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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