Kenneth McLaren
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2010) |
Kenneth McLaren (1860–1924) was a British Army major[1] in the 13th Hussars, where he served as adjutant of the regiment. He was also aide de camp to General Baker Russell.
McLaren served with Robert Baden-Powell in India and also Africa where he was gravely wounded at the siege of Mafeking in March of 1900, falling prisoner to the Boers.[2]
He was exceptionally young looking,[3] considered by BP to pass for a boy of fourteen when he first set eyes on him in 1880, when McLaren was nineteen. The two became fast friends, their relationship being one of the most important emotional attachments in the latter's life.[4]
McLaren was brought in to help with the growing Scout movement in 1907, serving on the staff at the Brownsea Island Scout camp.[4] Later, Baden-Powell invited him to be the Boy Scouts' first manager.[4] In the early power struggles of the period, Baden-Powell trusted in his friend to prevent others from leading the organization in a wrong direction. [5]
Baden-Powell nicknamed McLaren affectionately "The Boy," and remained close to him until (against Baden-Powell's advice) McLaren chose to remarry after divorcing his wife of thirty years, to a woman who in Baden-Powell's opinion was below his station.[4]
McLaren had schooled at Harrow and studied at Sandhurst before joining his regiment in 1880.
Notes
- ^ "Obituary Many of our older readers will have heard with deep regret of the death of Major Kenneth McLaren, late of the 13th Hussars. Cavalry journal, Volume 15 - Page 105
- ^ "Captain Kenneth MacLaren, 13th Hussars, who it will be remembered was for a time adjutant of the regiment, was in July 1899 acting as A.D.C. to General Sir Baker Russell. He was then ordered to South Africa, as Colonel R. S. S. Baden-Powell had applied for his services. Captain MacLaren had been seriously wounded outside Mafeking, March 31, 1900." CHAPTER XXXVI. South African War, 1899-1900. Part Two. To December 1900.Regimental History, C. R. B. Barrett, History of the XIII Hussars, 1911[1]
- ^ "Indeed, the most intense relationship of his life was with Kenneth McLaren, a young officer in the 13th Hussars whom he met in 1880 and whose good looks" The character factory: Baden-Powell and the origins of the Boy Scout movement - Page 48; Michael Rosenthal
- ^ a b c d Jeal, Tim (1989). Baden-Powell. London: Hutchinson. p. 74 - 83. ISBN 0-09-170670-X.
- ^ Jeal, p.388
  | This biographical article related to the British Army is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |