Beschreibung:

A group of three scrap albums compiled by Leila Evelyn Landon, relating to the events of the Second Boer War, with some references to her husband Major Kenneth McLaren's involvement in the War, and a revealing telegram from Baden-Powell, 1899-1901, largely comprising hundreds of cuttings from newspapers and magazines of the day, one cutting [Daily Mail, 17 April 1900] giving the first news of McLaren's capture, 'he was now lying dangerously wounded in a laager two miles from the town. Owing to this officer being a Freemason, and to his meeting brother masons among the Boers, he is receiving every attention, and their anxiety on his account is quite remarkable. They send daily bulletins, and the last accounts were favourable. Sarah Wilson'; plus occasional further pencil corrections and notes to cuttings; a few scattered related ink signatures of officers involved including R.S.S. Baden-Powell, H. Plumer, W.P. Symons, Fred. Hammersley, A. Wormald, D.E. Wood, E.D. Miller; a pencil sketch map of Camp Junction, Limpopo; two menu invitations to Private W.H.F. Landon (Leila's brother); plus various telegrams sent to Mrs McLaren, mostly by her husband, messages reading: 'Buller has relieved Ladysmith', 1 March 1900; 'Cronje has surrendered', 27 February 1900; handwritten copy of a telegram sent by Lord Roberts to Colonel Plumer after the Relief of Mafeking; 'Roberts has taken Pretoria after twelve hours fighting' (date stamp indistinct); 'Splendid victory by Hunter 500 Boers captured' (30 July 1900); plus an interesting telegram sent by Baden-Powell to McLaren, received by the Eastern Telegraph Company from Funchal via Eastern, 23 July 1901, to McLaren, S.A. Constabulary, Colonial Office, London, 'Could you put me up Friday night incognito Bloater'; plus a few items loosely inserted including a short autograph note initialled in Kenneth McLaren's hand, Shashi Patrol, December 1899, concerning reconnaissance, a total of approximately 110 stiff card leaves, some leaves detached, contemporary red half roan, worn, covers detached and backstrips deficient, folio Kenneth McLaren was a Major in the 13th Hussars Regiment of the British army. After his military service he assisted with the growth of the Scouting movement, founded by his friend Robert Baden-Powell. In 1898 McLaren married Leila Evelyn Landon, who died in 1904. During the Second Boer War in South Africa McLaren was gravely wounded at the siege of Mafeking in March 1900, falling prisoner to the Boers. McLaren first met Baden-Powell (also a 13th Hussars officer) in 1881. Although McLaren was 20 at the time, Baden-Powell nicknamed him 'The Boy', on account of his young appearance. In turn, McLaren's nickname for Baden-Powell was 'Bloater'. The two became good friends, their relationship being one of the most important friendships in Baden-Powell's life. McLaren was one of the staff at Baden-Powell's Brownsea Island Scout Camp in 1907 and Baden-Powell convinced McLaren to be his first manager at the C. Arthur Pearson Ltd office of The Scout magazine but McLaren resigned that position in March 1908. Relations between the two ceased upon McLaren's second marriage in 1910 to Ethyl Mary Wilson (his nurse). Baden-Powell considered Ethyl below McLaren's station and advised against the marriage. There has been much speculation about Baden-Powell's sexuality, much of this attention following in the decades since Tim Jeal's exhaustive biography Baden-Powell (Hutchinson, 1989), wherein he closely scrutinised the relationship between 'Bloater' and 'Boy'. Jeal stopped short of concluding that the relationship was in any sense sexual or romantic, but reveals a very close bond which, had it been made public, would have scandalised Edwardian social attitudes. Tim Jeal wrote that 'The available evidence points inexorably to the conclusion that Baden-Powell was a repressed homosexual'; but the telegram from Bloater to McLaren included in these albums hints that the relationship may have been more t