Baden Henry Powell

Baden Henry Powell - always known as Henry - was born on 29 July 1850,^[1] the second child^[2] and the eldest son of the Rev. Prof Baden Powell by his second wife, Charlotte née Pope,^[3] who died on 14 October 1844. They had been married on 27 September 1837.^[4]

Powell was educated at St Paul's School, London to 1856.^[5] He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1860. He was appointed Conservator of Forests, for the Punjab, and later became the Chief Court Judge for Lahore.

Powell was artistic, like his half-brother Frank Baden-Powell and many others in the family. These are some of his works:-^[6]

• Beddington Park, Croydon Watercolour/paper, 6 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in
• Durlstone Bay, Swanage Watercolour/paper, 6 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in
• Speldhurst Church, Kent Watercolour/paper, 6 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in
• Sketch of soldiers in the trenches
• An Album of Views of India including Ceylon, the Himalayas, Agra, Benares, Barrackpore, Calcutta and Chandranagore and a number of views of the Middle East, variously inscribed and dated from 'Sep 1861 ' to 'Oct 26 1869'; the majority pencil and watercolour, 70 drawings, the majority laid down on the pages of the album 11 x 15¼in. (280 x 387 mm.); and smaller, the album 17 x 12½in. (432 x 318mm.) overall.^[7]

Powell was also an eminent writer upon Indian law and land tenure:^[8] and wrote at least six books:-^[9]

• Administration of land revenue & tenure in British India
• Hand-book of the economic products of the Punjab, with a combined index and glossary of technical vernacular words ... Prepared under the orders of government. 1868
• Punjab. Forest Department [from old catalog] District and canal arboriculture, 1876-7.
• Land-systems of British India; being a manual of the land-tenures and of the systems of land-revenue administration prevalent in the several provinces. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1892.
• Indian village community : examined with reference to the physical, ethnographic, and historical conditions of the provinces ... 1896
• Origin and growth of village communities in India. London, S. Sonnenschein; New York, Scribner, 1899.

He was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1883, and retired in 1889.

Powell died on 2 January 1901 at age 59;^[10] he did not marry, nor have issue. His remains lie in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford.^[11]

References