B-P's Brother: Warington Baden-Powell


From Family Portrait, c. 1900 From: H. W. Wilson, With the Flag to Pretoria, 1902		Royal Navy Reserve, c.1908 From the Lafayette Negative Collection Copyright, Victoria & Albert Museum
B-P's Brother Warington

Henry Warington Smyth Baden-Powell

Known as Warington within the family, he was B-P's oldest brother. Early in his career he qualified as a Master Mariner and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve. Interest in small boats (as described by B-P in his autobiography, Lessons from the Varsity of Life) led him to a fascination with canoes. In 1871, at the age of 24, he paddled and sailed a canoe on a cruise around the Baltic Sea that included stops in Germany, Denmark and Sweden as described in his book, Canoe Travelling, published in 1871.

The sea stood at the center of his life. After becoming a Barrister in 1876, he was admitted to the Admiralty Bar and became a member of several important organizations focused on the sea. He was admitted a Kings Counsel in 1872. Some details of his career are found in Robin Baden Clay's work on the Powell family history.

Henry Warington Smyth BADEN-POWELL
Born 3 Feb 1847.
Educated at St Paul's, 1857.
Qualified as Master Mariner.
Commissioned as Lieutenant, Royal Navy Reserve;
Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society (F.R.G.S.).
Barrister, Inner Temple, 1876.
Member of the Admiralty Bar.
Kings Counsel (K.C.), Admitted 26 April 1872.
Called Trinity Term 1876.
Member of the Shipwrights' Company.
Associate of the Institute of Naval Architects Council.
Member Yacht Racing Association.
Member Athenaeum Club.
Died 24 Apr 1921 at age 74.

Baden-Powell asked his brother Warington to head up the first specialized branch of the Boy Scouts. Warington Baden-Powell agreed, and Sea Scouting was officially organized in England in 1910. Warington then wrote the first official Sea Scout manual. It was called Sea Scouting and Seamanship for Boys. The manual sold well and Sea Scouting flourished. It was in that same year that Boy Scouts was organized in the United States.

		Warington Baden-Powell Canoe Travelling: Log of a Cruise on the Baltic London, 1871.
		"Milestones of Scouting" page on the Early history of Sea Scouting and the role of Warington Baden-Powell is, as usual, an excellent historical account.
		Warington Baden-Powell, K.C. Sea Scouting and Seamanship for Boys, the first Sea Scout Manual, 1910 Foreward by Robert Baden-Powell.
		History of the Sea Scouts from The Stockton Sea Scout Base in Stockton, California.
		Baden-Powell Family History. A series of links starting with the research of Robin Baden Clay, a grandson of Baden-Powell. These links are focused on the genealogy of the Powell family. The author is extremely grateful to Mr. Clay for sharing the results of his labors with the Scouting community. Links are provided to pages for three of B-P's brothers: Baden, Warington and Sir George Baden-Powell, to members of his extended family, and to the genealogy of the Smyth and Warington families.
		Baden-Powell Home Page

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