John Lamb - Letter from 1884

Recollections

Dave McKinlay

New Zealand

Thank you to Dave McKinlay, New Zealand, grandson of William Tyrell for allowing me to reproduce the letters below sent by Baden-Powell to William Towell.

William Tyrell was Leader of 1st Leith Scouts. Here is a photo of him (on the left) standing beside the troop's Assistant Leader. This photo was taken in 1915.

Please scroll down this page to see the two letters from Baden-Powell.

I don't know how many of these letters would have been sent and when. They were sent in the days before photocopying. The letters received by William Tyrell are both handwritten.

Peter Stubbs: July 7, 2012

Letter 1

from Baden Powel

Transcription

THE BOY SCOUTS ASSOCIATION

116 VICTORIA STREET

LONDON SW

Dear Sir,

I am glad to welcome you as a helper in this Brotherhood of the Scouts, and I very cordially wish you success - and happiness, in the work that you have taken up.

You will meet with hindrances and disappointments as you go along, but if you act up to our motto you will 'Be Prepared' for these, you will see them in their proper perspective, and thus, instead of being disheartened, you will attack them with a cheery determination to pull through. Tackle your job with a smile, as a sporting adventure, and you will win.

Our work would not have half the fascination that it has if it all went smoothly, nor would the ultimate satisfaction of winning be half as great. The knowledge that you have succeeded in directing a number of young souls into the right path, in spite of initial difficulties, will eventually be to you a big reward.

You will find in the Movement a spirit of Brotherhood, without regard to social standing, to which I hope you will respond. The personal touch is so helpful to all.

Commencing it between you and myself, as I wish to do with this letter, I shall try to maintain it month by month through the columns of the Headquarters Gazette: I only hope that you on your part may be inclined to respond by reading that medium month by month in return - for I believe that you will there find much that will be helpful to you and that will smooth away many of the obstacles which might arise to threaten your progress.

At any rate you would learn the reasons which have prompted many otherwise incomprehensible measures.

Remember, too, that your Commissioner represents me on the spot: he is a friend and advisor for you to turn to in any difficulty or doubt.

Bear in mind at all times that our whole aim is to put Character and Health into the boys - strength of mind and body: that in doing so we should make the steps of training attractive from the boys' point of view, and that we should teach them more by personal example than by precept how to subordinate their own individual likes in the greater aim of the whole - in a word - how to 'play the game' and to play in their place, not for their own glory but in order that their side may win.

God speed you in your work.

Yours very truly

Robert Baden-Powell

The Original Letter

Page 1

The Original Letter

Page 2

Acknowledgement: David McKinlay, New Zealand for providing copies of the two letters below AND Ronnie Tyrell, another grandson of William Tyrell, for providing the original manuscript letters from which David's copies were taken.. - July 5, 2012

Letter 2

from Baden Powel

Transcription

THE BOY SCOUTS ASSOCIATION

116 VICTORIA STREET

LONDON SW

Dear Scoutmaster

I am sending you a copy of the 'Scout' in the hope that you will bring it to the notice of your Troop.

It is not so much because I want this paper to pay its way - it does that already - as to get personally in touch with the boys myself, through my weekly notes on the first page.

In this way, I hope to impress the right ideas into them and to make the Scoutmaster's work the more easy

If you can help in this way, I shall be very greatful.

Yours truly

Robert Baden-Powell

The Original Letter

Two Letters