Picture: First Wood Badge Course at Gilwell, 1919
The First Scoutmasters' Course at Gilwell Park, September, 1919
Baden-Powell is seated centre in the front row.
On the morning of September 8, 1919, a 61 year-old retired general of the British Army
stepped out into the centre of a clearing at Gilwell Park, in Epping Forest, outside
London, England. He raised to his lips the horn of a Greater Kudu, one of the largest of
African antelopes. He blew a long sharp blast. Nineteen men dressed in short pants and
knee socks, their shirt-sleeves rolled up, assembled by patrols for the first
Scoutmasters' training camp held at Gilwell. The camp was designed and guided by Sir
Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the World Scouting Movement.
When they had finished their training together, Baden-Powell gave each man a simple wooden
bead from a necklace he had found in a Zulu chieftain's deserted hut when on campaign in
South Africa in 1888. The Scoutmasters' training course was a great success and continued
to be held year-after-year. At the end of each course the wooden beads were used to
recognize the completion of training. When the original beads ran out, new ones were
whittled to maintain the tradition established by Baden-Powell. Because of these beads,
the course came to be known as the Wood Badge Course. It continues to this day around the
world as the advanced training course for leaders in Scouting.
