Boy Scouts, organization, originally for boys from 11 to 14 or 15 years of age, that aimed to develop in them good citizenship, chivalrous behaviour, and skill in various outdoor activities. The Boy Scout movement was founded in Great Britain in 1908 by a cavalry officer, Lieutenant General Robert S.S. (later Lord) Baden-Powell, who had written a book called Scouting for Boys (1908) but who was better known as the defender of the town of Mafeking in the South African (or Boer) War. Baden-Powell’s book described many games and contests that he had used to train cavalry troops in scouting, and it became popular reading among the boys of Great Britain. Prior to the book’s publication, Baden-Powell held an experimental camp on Brownsea Island off the coast of southern England in which he put into practice his ideas on the training of boys.