Donald Ferlys Wilson Baden-Powell was born at Theberton Hall, Suffolk on 5 October 1897, son of Sir George Smyth Baden-Powell MP, and grandson of Rev. Baden Powell who had held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at Oxford. His uncle, Robert, Lord Baden-Powell, was the founder of the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell was educated at Eton, served in France in the First World War where he was seriously wounded, and entered Oriel College Oxford in 1919. From that time, the location and focus of his life hardly changed. Following a first degree in Natural Science (Geology) in 1922 and a B.Sc. in 1926, he devoted his life to Quaternary studies, working as an honorary research worker in the Department of Geology. Though he shared in lecturing and teaching duties, he held no official appointment in the University or the Department until 1958 when the post of Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology was created for him; his private means enabled him to concentrate on research and writing, and to undertake expeditions and travel. He was also in frequent demand as a leader of field expeditions, most especially in East Anglia where he had many links.
His enquiring mind led him to explore the wider ramifications of his subject, keeping meteorological records of local weather at his home, and practising prehistoric techniques of fire, weapon and tool making. Baden-Powell received the Foulerton Award of the Geologists' Association in 1956. He died, still working, in 1973.
From the guide to the Papers and correspondence of Donald Ferlys Wilson Baden-Powell, 1921-1973 and 2006., (Oxford University Museum of Natural History)
