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Paxtu: Kenyan home and museum of Lord Baden-Powell




Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857-1941) was a British army officer, and the founder of the worldwide scouts association and the girl guides.

As an army officer, from 1876-1910, he served in India and Africa. In 1907 he held a demonstration camp called the Brownsea Island Scout Camp, and his book Scouting for Boys was published in 1908. When he left the army in 1910 he established the Boys Scouts Association. His sister Agnes formed the Girl Guides in 1912, in the year he married Olave St Clair Soames.

Baden-Powell retired in 1938, moving to Kenya. He moved to the town of Nyeri at the base of Mt Kenya where he died in 1941. He is buried at the St Peters Cemetery in Nyeri. Olave moved back to England in 1942, where she died in 1977. Her ashes are interred beside her husband. The Kenyan Government declared Baden-Powell’s grave a national monument.
The Scouts Association still continues, with Bear Grylls as its Chief Scout.  The Girl Guides Association is also still in existence. Its president is Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward. The motto of both associations is ‘’be prepared.’’






















MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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  1. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2018 at 10:34 AM

    You have stated incorrectly that Valerie died. She is alive, but had to step down from the rule due to family illness. New chief guide now appointed, Jan 2018

    ReplyDelete
  2. Martina NicollsFebruary 4, 2018 at 12:13 AM

    My apologies. I have removed the statement. Thanks for passing on the information. Best, Martina

    ReplyDelete

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