Collected works of j s f.., p.111
Collected Works of J S Fletcher, page 111
Dr. Haig-Brown was kind enough to give me a copy of an article on Baden-Powell which he wrote for a recent number of The Church Monthly, and to allow me to make use of any of the remarks which he there made as regards his old pupil. It is an article which shows that in the opinion of his schoolmaster the recent brilliant achievements of Baden-Powell were foreshadowed in his early youth. Quoting Wordsworth’s famous line,
“The child is father of the man,”
Dr. Haig-Brown goes on to say that though it is not always easy to found on observation of early life a prophecy of the future career, it is not so difficult when characteristics have found a field for display, to trace in the memories of youth the qualities that have formed a great man, and that the boyish life of Baden-Powell furnishes an illustration in point. Then he proceeds to speak of Baden-Powell’s joyousness of spirit, of his indomitable energy, his versatility of talent, his wit, kindliness, and activity of body and mind, and of his judgment and fidelity in positions of trust and responsibility. And there is one passage in Dr. Haig-Brown’s article which, to my mind, is of supreme importance to anyone endeavouring to form an estimate of Baden-Powell’s character as illustrated by his school-days. “In his attitude to the younger boys,” says Dr. Haig-Brown, “he was generous, kind and encouraging, and in those early days gave no slight indication of the qualities which have since gained for him the confidence, respect, and love of all the soldiers who have been under his command.” Here, indeed, the promise of the boy has been amply fulfilled in the performance of the man.
Another foreshadowing of Baden-Powell’s future career is found in a characteristic entry in the school’s Football Annual for 1876, wherein it is recorded that “R.S.S.B.-P. is a good goalkeeper, keeping cool, and always to be depended upon.” Keeping cool — always to be depended upon — what a magnificent endowment! How many of us, fighting our little battles in life’s war-time, would give all that we possess if we could always keep cool — if we knew that other folk could always depend upon us! Those of us who believe in athletic exercises as forming no inconsiderable part of a boy’s training will find no difficulty in believing that much of the coolness and resource which have distinguished Baden-Powell in his various campaigns were deepened and strengthened by the fact that he was very fond of football. The two qualities were there before, of course, but the goalkeeping added a new fibre or two of strength to them. Dr. Haig-Brown took me out upon a terrace which commanded a view of the old Charterhouse playground. It, like the school buildings, is now used by the Merchant Taylors’ School, and in one corner stood two or three practice-nets for cricket, while at each end of the playing area a certain wornness of aspect showed where many a struggle had taken place around the goal-posts during the bygone spring and winter. Dr. Haig-Brown told me that his old pupil played other games than football, notably cricket and racquets, but added that football was his chief love, and goalkeeping his great forte. One characteristic he possessed as goalkeeper which is not often found on the football field. When the fight was raging far off in the enemy’s quarters, and he himself was relieved of immediate duty for the moment, he used to delight the onlookers who crowded round about the goal which he was defending by cracking all sorts of extraordinary jokes, which only ceased when he rushed forward to repel an attack with a vigour and force not less strenuous than his wonderful flow of spirits. Naturally enough, there was always a little group of spectators round the goal-posts where “Bathing-Towel” (a nickname which has clung to him always in the minds of old Carthusians) stood intent and alert, but not so entirely preoccupied as to forget the humour which was always bubbling up within him.
During his school-days, either in the precincts of the ancient Charterhouse or in the new home of the school at Godalming, where he was an inmate of Mr. Girdlestone’s house, “Bathing-Towel,” in true promise of his later years, appears to have been very fully occupied, and to have had quite a multitude of interests. He was extremely fond of theatrical representations, and became such a favourite that his mere appearance on the stage invariably evoked wild applause from his schoolfellows. He wrote for the school magazine, and helped to illustrate it; he was a member of the chapel choir, assisted in forming the school rifle corps, which he represented as one of the Charterhouse VIII. for three consecutive years at Wimbledon, and persuaded the powers that were into instituting a school orchestra. He played various instruments, and notably the violin, with some skill, and it is said that he was on one occasion discovered playing the piano with his toes. He was always in high spirits, always making jokes, always good-humoured. The whoop in which he was wont to indulge when he became excited by the struggles of the football field is still remembered by those of his old schoolfellows who heard it, and there is scarcely an old Carthusian of “Bathing-Towel’s” day who has not some quaint story to tell of him, or whose manner in telling it does not suggest that the defender of Mafeking must have been one of the sunniest-natured boys that one could wish to meet.
But all this, of course, only deals with one side of “Bathing-Towel’s” school-days — the side which after all has more to do with the pleasant things of life than with the serious things. Now that everybody knows what manner of man he is who held Mafeking against the Boers through seven long months of privation, no one will be surprised to hear that “Bathing-Towel” was just as earnest in his work at school as he was joyous in his play. Dr. Haig-Brown says of him that he never showed want of respect for his masters or lack of consideration for his schoolfellows. He speaks with some stress of his liberality of feeling and of his natural gift as a leader. He worked hard and seriously, and though he was very reserved he was never shy, and approached his masters on any subject on which he desired advice and enlightenment with a total absence of timidity or embarrassment. Naturally, then, he was a great favourite in the school. He entered Charterhouse by a low form, for there had very wisely been no attempt to force his education, but so well did he work there that by 1875 — five years after his admission — he had reached the sixth form, and on the recommendation of Mr. Girdlestone, his house-master, was made a monitor. Dr. Haig-Brown says that he discharged the duties of this responsible position with judgment and fidelity, bringing his intelligence to bear on the interpretation of the school’s traditions, and being especially considerate and thoughtful in his attitude to the younger boys.
It is scarcely necessary to say that “Bathing-Towel’s” memory is much cherished by his old schoolfellows, nor that he himself keeps a very warm corner in his heart for the great foundation to which he now belongs in a stronger sense than ever. Whenever he is in England he quickly makes his way to Godalming, there to renew his youth, and it was to Dr. Haig-Brown, whom he visited at the Charterhouse just before sailing for South Africa, that he expressed the wish — very soon to be amply satisfied! — that the authorities would give him a warm corner. The Greyfriar, the illustrated school magazine which possesses a peculiar charm for all Carthusians, past and present, has at various times been enlivened by contributions from his pen and pencil, and on more than one occasion he has made another appearance on the stage where his boyish jokes used to find such favour. No wonder that Charterhouse cherishes his memory and is proud of his career. “Baden-Powell,” says Dr. Haig-Brown, “has already secured a distinguished place among Carthusian heroes. Probably, if his youth had been spent elsewhere, he would not have fallen short of the high distinction he has won; but those who love Charterhouse (and they are many) may be excused if they feel some pride in this association with a man who has devoted such varied and sterling qualities to the service of his country.”
III. LEARNING THE TRADE
IT SEEMS SOMEWHAT strange to learn that when Baden-Powell left school it was with no definite notion of entering the army. One would have thought, considering all his subsequent brilliant achievements, that his mind had been set on being a soldier from some very early age. This, however, was not the case. When he said good-bye to the Charterhouse he had no definite idea as to the character of his future career, beyond a strong impulse to engage in some pursuit which would show him the wild places of the world. There was some talk of his going into the Indian Civil Service, especially as he wanted to study life and nature in that country, but it was pointed out to him that military life in India would give him equal if not superior facilities to that of the civilian. His first intention, however, was to proceed to Oxford, and by the advice of his godfather, the late Professor Jowett, he was entered at Christ Church, where he meant to spend two years. Then came one of those curious events, which, looked at in the light of after happenings, seem to work as special interpositions of Providence. Hearing that an army examination was about to be held, Baden-Powell, apparently more out of whimsicality than anything else, decided to go in for it. The examination over, he set out for a yachting cruise in company with his brother, quite careless, so far as one may be permitted to judge, of the immediate results of this testing of his abilities. The immediate results were, to say the least of them, surprising and even startling. The examination took place in the summer of 1876; ere summer was over he received an official communication from the Duke of Cambridge, as Commander-in-Chief, informing him that out of 718 candidates he had passed fifth (ranking as second place for a cavalry regiment), and that in consequence of his success he had been gazetted to a second lieutenancy in the 13th Hussars, his commission being ante-dated by two years as a reward for the uniform good work shown in his papers. This was the beginning of Baden-Powell’s military career. Within a few days of his receipt of the official communication he was on his way to join his regiment, which at that time was stationed in India.
The 13th Hussars, thus suddenly reinforced by this bright and lively young prodigy, prides itself greatly on the fact that it figured in the great affair at Balaklava, when in company with the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, the 1st, 2nd and 6th Dragoons, the 4th, 8th and 11th Hussars, the 17th Lancers, and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, it assisted in performing certain deeds and affairs which have made military critics wonder ever since in more ways than one. It was then known as the 13th Light Dragoons. Like nearly every British regiment it possesses numerous nicknames. It is sometimes called “The Green Dragoons,” sometimes “The Ragged Brigade.” It has a third nickname in “The Evergreens,” a fourth in “The Geraniums,” a fifth in “Gardner’s Dragoons.” These five varying sobriquets are much more pleasant than a sixth— “The Great Runaway Prestonpans” — which seems to imply certain things that one would rather not think of. Its motto is “Vivet in Æternum”; its badge a V.R. in a Garter, crowned. When Baden-Powell joined it in India in 1876 it was in command of Sir Baker Russell, a fine soldier who had served through the terrible times of the Indian Mutiny and recently passed through the Ashanti War of 1873.
The light-heartedness which characterized Baden-Powell’s early days appears to have increased rather than deteriorated when he entered upon the serious business of life. There is a curious story told of one of his first doings on joining his regiment in India which serves to show what high spirits and whimsical notions were his in those days. Assembling all the European children he could find or hear of, he produced from his kit an ocarina — an instrument from which most people would surely despair of extracting much music! — and forming his youthful following into procession, marched at their head through the streets playing “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” One learns a good deal about Baden-Powell from that little incident, and it is not surprising that it should have done a good deal to make him popular with the folk amongst whom he had suddenly appeared. But his popularity with his brother officers seems to have been assured from the first. Just as he had been the life and soul of Charterhouse in all things appertaining to gaiety and amusements, so he speedily became a moving spirit in regimental jinks and jollities. It was not long ere his fellows discovered that they had got a veritable prodigy amongst them where theatrical matters were concerned, and that behind the new-comer’s somewhat reserved manner there lay such funds of light and original humour as are too seldom met with in this world. At this time, no doubt, Baden-Powell’s wonderful versatility was widening and deepening, and his extraordinary facility in doing anything that had to be done must have been nothing short of astonishing to those who witnessed it. Always ready and always willing to take anything in hand, it is little wonder that those who remember him in those early days in India speak of him with an affection which is not the less real because there is always a vein of merriment in it.
The Horse Guard.
But while Baden-Powell was continuing his old pranks and cultivating his old spirit of laughter, he lost no opportunity of learning his trade as a soldier. It is characteristic of the man that though until he entered the army he had cherished no very definite notion of a military career, he had no sooner taken the final step than he began to devote himself to his profession with all his might. He speedily became a perfect horseman, made himself fully acquainted with regimental duties and details, and began to read systematically. He took a first class and special certificate for topography in the Garrison Class Examination of 1878. Coming back to England soon afterwards for musketry instruction at Hythe, he soon took a first class extra certificate, and on his return to India was appointed Musketry Instructor at Quetta. His advancement in his profession, indeed, if not extraordinarily rapid, was sure and certain. It is not pertinent to the character of such a necessarily brief sketch of his life as this to lay too much stress on all that he did ere he came into special prominence some few years ago. But when one considers the brief facts of his military career one easily sees how thoroughly Baden-Powell — to use a well-understood phrase — learnt his trade. He served with his regiment (of which he was adjutant for many years) in India, Afghanistan, and South Africa; he was on the Staff as Assistant Military Secretary in South Africa in 1887-89; he was in the operations in Zululand in 1888, and was mentioned in despatches; he acted as Assistant Military Secretary at Malta from 1890 to 1893; he went on special service to Ashanti in 1895, and was Chief Staff Officer in the Matabele Campaign of 1896, and was promoted from his old regiment to the command of the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897. It required little knowledge of military life and matters to realize how thoroughly the future hero of Mafeking had made himself acquainted with the duties of the perfectly-equipped soldier during the twenty-one years dealt with in this brief outline of his doings. Such an outline is indeed less than brief, for it records scarcely anything but the main facts of his military advancement. When one comes to remember that in addition to all the active service here mentioned he contrived to find time to write books, some of them about Tactics, some about Sport, some describing his participation in or conduct of important military operations, one is amazed to find that a single brain can compass so many things. But the amazement deepens when it is remembered that in addition to all this Baden-Powell also found time to do many other things — to act, sing, paint, etch, make innumerable sketches, hunt, shoot, yacht, get up theatrical entertainments and stage-manage them, attend foreign military evolutions, and travel extensively. To an ordinary mortal the question must needs occur, — How does he manage to do it all? To that the only possible answer can be that Baden-Powell, in addition to possessing many qualities denied to other men, is blessed with yet another of which most men are not so keen to take advantage — that of always being occupied, and of being thoroughly absorbed in the thing that occupies him. He has never shown this quality more thoroughly, perhaps, than during those portions of his career when duty called him to play — or rather, work — the part of regimental officer. Most of us know how such a part may be played — how the officer in barracks may spend his time in doing a minimum of duty and a maximum of pleasure, how he may ignore the men under him, and generally behave as if the service were a bore and all its surroundings unpalatable. Some officers do order their lives after such a fashion; others again affect a languid indifference to things in general, which is scarcely less hurtful to the best interests of the service. Baden-Powell, as regimental officer, was neither bored nor indifferent. He was always doing something for his men, interesting himself in games and amusements, lecturing to them, acting, reciting, and making fun for them, and there was not a man in his troop who did not feel that he had a friend in his energetic captain. It is not difficult to realise what all this means. The man who can command the respect and affection of those serving under him to such an extent that they would go anywhere and do anything at his lightest word must needs possess a personal magnetism which proves him worthy of leading not merely a troop but an army.
IV. SCOUT AND SPORTSMAN
Following up the Spoor.
In his youthful days Baden-Powell was very fond of exploring such unknown regions as are accessible to a small boy, and it is related of him that nothing gave him so much pleasure as to find himself and his companions lost and his own ingenuity taxed to restore them to the paths of safety. When he arrived at years of discretion this passion for wandering did not desert him — on the contrary it increased within him, and finally culminated in a devotion to scouting, which has made his name famous all over the world. It is needless to say that in this matter, as in most other matters closely affecting him, Baden-Powell has largely depended upon himself for success and mastery. As he remarks in his “Aids to Scouting,” a little military handbook the proofs of which accompanied the last despatches got through the Boer lines at Mafeking, “Scouting is a thing that can be learnt, but cannot be taught. A man must pick up much of it for himself by his own effort.” How much of it Baden-Powell has not picked up for himself can only be guessed by a careful perusal of this little treatise, which is packed with the results of keen observation, and gives one perhaps a better notion of what its author really is as a born soldier and leader of soldiers than anything else of his. It was, no doubt, with sublime unconsciousness that he describes himself in describing the perfect scout, the man of pluck, self-reliance, and discretion, the man who can use his ears and eyes, his sense of smell and touch, who can keep himself hidden and track others, who can make his way across strange lands and take good care of himself and his horse, and who in everything he does is always dominated by the desire to secure valuable information. And it is with perhaps still more sublime unconsciousness that he insists that the first three necessary qualifications spring from — confidence in one’s own powers.
