Dear,

This is what I read on the pages of the Scoutsmuseum of las Vegas. I'm happy the items are not lost, but I still am suprized there is no official scoutsmuseum in Britain to take heritage over this kind of items.

Maybe the society can bring a change....

Best regards,

Luc Rubben

Archivist Scoutsmuseum Leuven



"Denizulu Necklace Presentation - January 26, 2010
In 1900 during the Boer war, Chieftain Denizulu presented Baden Powell with a long necklace made of beads carved from the wood of a special tree found in South Africa. Later when BP was trying to think of a way to reward Scout Leaders he had trained, he thought of the necklace . He decided to give each one a "Wood Badge" composed of two beads of the necklace on a leather thong. When he realized there would not be enough beads, replicas were made (which have no holes through the length of the beads). B-P subsequently only took the smallest beads off to give one of them as the "4th bead" to some leaders. In 1923 he gave the Necklace and remaining beads to Belge Wilson who in 1920 had become the 1st Director of the International Division (a position today known as Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement). Wilson also served as Camp Chief of Gilwell Park from 1923-1943. In 1943 Wilson gave the Necklace to his friend John Huskins who was the Scoutmaster of the Troop at Charterhouse School where Baden-Powell was a student. Huskins later became Camp Chief at Gilwell from 1969-1975.

John was "keen that these historic beads should find a suitable permanent home." He consulted with two Scouters whose opinions he respected and both recommended that John give the Necklace and Beads to the Las Vegas International Scouting Museum instead of to any other Scouting Museum around the world. He contacted me in September, 2009 and offered to give us not only the Necklace, but two Mafeking medals, a commemorative plate and a "Wolf's Fang" that was used to recognize Wolf Cub Master training at Gilwell from 1923-1929. As you can guess, we enthusiastically accepted his offer.

He will be visiting Las Vegas January 21-28 and on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm he will give a power point presentation and answer your questions about Gilwell and the early days of Scouting in England. He will then formally donate the Necklace, Beads and other items to LVISM."