One of the earliest souvenirs connected with B-P, - a Christening gift from his Godmother, Lady Belcher. It is dated July 8th, 1857.
B-P. was born at 6 Stanhope Street, Paddington, on 22nd February, 1857. He was christened Robert Stephenson Smyth; his surname was Powell - the "Baden" was not adopted by the family until later.
His father was a clergyman and a professor at Oxford, well-known as a scientist, while his mother was the daughter of another scientist, Admiral William Smyth, a decendant of Captain John Smith, the Elizabethan adventurer who helped to found Virginia, USA.

Source "The Scout", Date unknown.

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