Fishing with Baden-Powell: Stories of the Chief Scout and His Love of Angling by Douglas R. Precourt This article appeared originally in The American Fly Fisher, Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing (Fall 1999, Volume 25, Number 4). It is reprinted with permission of the author, Douglas R. Precourt and the courtesy of the publisher, The American Museum of Fly Fishing. Lord Baden-Powell fishing the Waikato River in New Zealand LORD ROBERT S.S. BADEN-POWELL of Gilwell, England, is most recognized these days for starting the worldwide Boy Scout movement in 1908, as well as for his military genius as a lieutenant-general during the Boer Wars. But B-P (as he was affectionately known among his friends and associates) was also a rabid fly fisherman who saw his time alone on a river as compensation for his charitable works, and an early proponent of an angling conservation practice that would not become fashionable nor widely accepted for nearly half a century. PERSONAL HISTORY Born in London in 1857, during the Victorian era, B-P was the seventh of ten children, one of nine boys from a highly regarded, upper-class family. Academically, he performed relatively well. He excelled at team sports and performing arts, especially drama, at Rose Hill School at Tunbridge Wells, and he eventually gained acceptance to Charterhouse, a private high school in London. During the summers, B-P and his brothers spent several weeks on a small boat, together cruising the southern regions of the English coastline. Eventually, he gained a commission as an officer in Her Majestys Army. He traveled to India to be with the 13th Hussars Regiment, where he saw action in the Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1880. Later, the campaign in Zululand and the Ashanti conflict in West Africa also saw his involvement. Like most British officers, he enjoyed polo and excelled at “pig sticking,” a sport using many native “beaters” and long sharp lances while riding on horseback.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 05:56:54 +0000
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