Ernest Thompson Seton

Ernest Thompson Seton (born Ernest Evan Thompson; August 14, 1860 – October 23, 1946) was a Canadian and American author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians in 1902 (renamed Woodcraft League of America), and one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 1910.

Seton also influenced Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement. His writings were published in the United Kingdom, Canada, the US, and the USSR; his notable books related to Scouting include The Birch Bark Roll and the Boy Scout Handbook. He incorporated what he believed to be American Indian elements into the traditions of the BSA.

Early life

Seton was born in South Shields, County Durham, England to Scottish parents. His family emigrated to British North America in 1866. After settling in Lindsay, Canada West Seton spent most (after 1870) of his childhood in Toronto, and the family is known to have lived at 6 Aberdeen Avenue in Cabbagetown. As a youth, he retreated to the woods of the Don River to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father. He attended the Ontario College of Art in 1879, studying with John Colin Forbes, then won a scholarship in art to the Royal Academy in London, England in 1880. He went out into the field, sometimes accompanied by William "Willie" Brodie Jr., the son of the naturalist Dr. William Brodie. The death of Willie in a canoeing accident was a blow to Seton. In the 1890s, he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris In 1893–4, he was elected an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.