The Two Lives of a Hero II: Charterhouse Boy

 

Today, I’m going to continue the series I introduced earlier, where I will be going through the biography: “Baden-Powell: The Two Lives of a Hero” by William Hillcourt. In this post, I will be giving a brief synopsis and commentary of the second Chapter: “Charterhouse Boy”. Last chapter, we left off with Baden-Powell leaving for the ‘Charterhouse School’ at 13 years old.

Synopsis 

The second chapter starts immediately with Baden-Powell entering the Charterhouse school. The Charterhouse school was a very old institution with a lot history and tradition behind it.

The Two Lives of a Hero 1: The Seventh Son

Yesterday, I introduced a new series where I will be going through the biography: “Baden-Powell: The Two Lives of a Hero” by William Hillcourt. In this post, I will be giving a brief synopsis and commentary of the first Chapter: “The Seventh Son”.

Synopsis

This first chapter covers the years 1857-1870, the first 13 years of Robert Baden-Powell’s (B-P) life. William Hillcourt opens this chapter with the focus on the newly widowed Henrietta Powell, B-P’s mother. B-P was three years old when his father died, leaving B-P’s mother a widow at thirty-five. 

The Two Lives of a Hero: Introduction

Today I’m going to start a new series here on “Scouting Rediscovered” that will run in parallel to the other series that I’m currently writing. Over a year ago, I borrowed a book from my local library called: Baden-Powell: The Two Lives of a Hero. This book is a biography of the founder of the Scouting movement: Sir Robert Baden-Powell. Although somewhat long, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and gaining insight into the life of this man who us Scouts owe so much to.

Another thing that intrigued me about the book was who it was written by. It was authored by a close friend of Baden-Powell’s, a man named William Hillcourt. William Hillcourt was a very influential Scout Leader in America during most of the last century. He authored several editions of the Scout Handbook and the Scoutmaster’s Handbook. He also ran a very popular column in Boy’s Life called “Hiking with Green Bar Bill.”

For this new series, I’m going to completely re-read this biography and post summaries and commentary for each chapter here on “Scouting Rediscovered”. Baden-Powell and his life is a piece of history that all Scouts should know very well. In addition, there is much we can learn about the life of a Scout from his history that we can also apply to our own lives.

I’m excited at this chance to thoroughly explore this great chapter of history with you. If you want to be sure not to miss any of this series or any of the other great series running here, just subscribe via email using the little box to the right. If you’ve got a little extra time, I encourage you to go buy the book for yourself or borrow it from the library and read along with me. If you do decide to do that, or have already read the book, I’d love to hear what you thought of it. Just leave a comment in the box below.

Scout on, my friends!