Item #104610 Two autograph letters signed by Lord Baden-Powell while on a visit to Adelaide, South Australia. Both letters are on Government House, Adelaide letterhead, both are dated 23 June 1912, and both are written to a Boer War comrade-at-arms, 465 Company Sergeant-Major Walter Mansel Balfour-Ogilvy, 3rd Victorian Bushmen. One letter (one page, quarto) deals with Boy Scout matters; the other (two pages, small octavo) touches on their shared Boer War experiences. Boer War, Sir Robert BADEN-POWELL, Lord.
Two autograph letters signed by Lord Baden-Powell while on a visit to Adelaide, South Australia. Both letters are on Government House, Adelaide letterhead, both are dated 23 June 1912, and both are written to a Boer War comrade-at-arms, 465 Company Sergeant-Major Walter Mansel Balfour-Ogilvy, 3rd Victorian Bushmen. One letter (one page, quarto) deals with Boy Scout matters; the other (two pages, small octavo) touches on their shared Boer War experiences
Two autograph letters signed by Lord Baden-Powell while on a visit to Adelaide, South Australia. Both letters are on Government House, Adelaide letterhead, both are dated 23 June 1912, and both are written to a Boer War comrade-at-arms, 465 Company Sergeant-Major Walter Mansel Balfour-Ogilvy, 3rd Victorian Bushmen. One letter (one page, quarto) deals with Boy Scout matters; the other (two pages, small octavo) touches on their shared Boer War experiences

Two autograph letters signed by Lord Baden-Powell while on a visit to Adelaide, South Australia. Both letters are on Government House, Adelaide letterhead, both are dated 23 June 1912, and both are written to a Boer War comrade-at-arms, 465 Company Sergeant-Major Walter Mansel Balfour-Ogilvy, 3rd Victorian Bushmen. One letter (one page, quarto) deals with Boy Scout matters; the other (two pages, small octavo) touches on their shared Boer War experiences

'I am glad that you treasure the badge that you won so well, & heartily wish you long life to wear it. Your work in teaching the boys to take their turn in doing their duty as citizens of their country is a fitting round-off to your own rendering of it in South Africa - & I wish you every success. Yours sincerely, Robert Baden-Powell'. Irish-born Walter Balfour-Ogilvy (1875-1944) emigrated to Renmark in South Australia in 1891; he 'served with distinction in the Boer War, rising rapidly from trooper to regimental sergeant-major' (from his obituary, a copy of which is offered with this lot). He later joined Baden-Powell's South African Constabulary. The badge referred to in the letter is the Badge of Gallantry instituted by Baden-Powell, who 'claimed a special award was necessary because his men were not part of the army and so were often considered ineligible for ordinary military decorations' (Tim Jeal: 'Baden-Powell - Founder of the Boy Scouts'). Subsequently Balfour-Ogilvy was a member of the AN&MEF that seized control of German New Guinea in September 1914 in Australia's first action in the First World War, and from February 1915 until June 1917, he was District Officer and Officer Commanding Garrison at Madang.

Item #104610

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