Agnes Baden-Powell established the Girl Guides in the United Kingdom, creating a movement that spread around the world. Yet she is overshadowed by her brother and sister-in-law, both in life and in history.
When she was pushed out of the UK-based organization, she found her purpose–and acclaim–in the international Girl Guide and Girl Scout movement.
Who is Agnes Baden-Powell?
Agnes Smythe Powell was born on December 16, 1858, in London. She was the ninth of fourteen children, and the only surviving daughter.
She was two years old when her father, the Reverend Baden Powell, died. Her grief-stricken mother soon announced that she was changing the family name in her husband’s honor. Thus, Agnes Powell became Agnes Baden-Powell.
In life and history, Agnes was overshadowed by her gallant older brother, Robert Baden-Powell, born in 1857. According to the familiar story, Robert created the Boy Scouts in 1909. When girls clamored to become scouts themselves, Robert instructed Agnes to create a similar, but more genteel version, the Girl Guides.
Her Involvement Made Guiding Appear Suitable and Proper
Public opposition to the idea of “Girl Scouts” always focused on the concern that such girls would be tomboys and not proper homemakers. Agnes had a full range of domestic skills to offer, but she was also an accomplished musician, proficient on violin, piano, and organ. She also had a curious streak and pursued a range of interests, including cycling, swimming, and steel engraving.
According to one acquaintance:
Anyone who had come into touch with her gentle influence, her interest in all womanly arts, and her love of birds, insects, and flowers, would scoff at the idea of her being the president of a sort of Amazon Cadet Corps.
https://peoplepill.com/people/agnes-baden-powell/
At the same time, Agnes was also fascinated by science, especially astronomy, meteorology, and aeronautics. She was a respected apiarist and kept flocks of birds, bees, and butterflies. In her spare time, she also managed to write the first Girl Guide Handbook, which Juliette Gordon Low later adapted for the Girl Scouts.
Pushed Aside by Her Sister-in-Law
Agnes proved an enthusiastic administrator, improvising with little staff or funding.
But when a rival for her brother’s attention appeared, the much-younger Olave St. Clair Soames, Agnes found herself soon exiled from the UK Girl Guides.
Olave joined the Girl Guides as a regular volunteer in 1916, but she was promoted to Chief Guide months later. Agnes was offered the new, honorary post of President as a consolation prize. But the very next year, Agnes was told that Princess Mary would now be president; she would move down to vice-president. She was not happy, but dutifully stepped aside.
Olave explained her reasoning in her memoirs:
[Agnes] was a very gifted woman and extremely clever but thoroughly Victorian in outlook. She organized a Committee from her elderly friends [Agnes was 57 in 1916] … these ladies did their best but they were not really in touch with the younger generation; their ideas were based on the old-fashioned women’s organizations.
Quoted in Proctor, Scouting for Girls, pp. 33-34
Agnes tried to remain involved in Guiding, but was regarded as a relic and nuisance at Guide Headquarters.
International Girl Guiding
She believed she still had much to give to Guiding and Scouting, even if she had to go abroad to do it.
Guiding, according to Agnes,
is one of the most valuable forces for the unification of alien peoples. Its work is carried on regardless of creed, race, or language, and thus should prove particularly useful in a country like Canada.
Hamilton Spectator (September 29, 1931)
By 1931, she had visited troops in South Africa, Germany, Malta, and Scandinavia, among others. Agnes spoke six languages, which obviously enriched these journeys.
On Tour in Canada and the United States
In September 1931, Agnes embarked on a two-month, 12,000-mile tour of Canada. While his sister crossed the ocean, Robert Baden-Powell sent letters to Canadian and US officials clarifying that his sister’s trip was unofficial.
Canada did not care. Reporters described her as “the world’s original Girl Guide,” Agnes inspected troops, met dignitaries, and presented awards.
At each stop, she recounted her brother’s work launching the Boy Scouts, and her role in single-handedly establishing the Girl Guides.
She never mentioned her sister-in-law.
Her trip was extraordinarily well-timed. She just happened to be inspecting troops in Niagara Falls, when the Girl Scout National Convention convened in nearby Buffalo, New York.
Agnes crossed the US border and was greeted by a rally of hundreds of cheering Girl Scouts. She met with First Lady Lou Henry Hoover (then honorary national president) and attended the convention as an honored guest.
Her attendance appears to be a last-minute decision, as she is not mentioned in Leader magazine’s convention coverage.
Agnes does have one international honor that Olave hasn’t received. Both she and her brother have custom Lego mini-figures!
Agnes continued to spread the word about Girl Guiding until her death in 1945. Although shunned by her sister-in-law and Girl Guiding in the United Kingdom, Agnes remained dedicated to the movement.
© 2026 Ann Robertson, writer, editor, Girl Scout historian, but NOT a Girl Scout employee.
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