He is most recognized as the first major benefactor of Scouting by donating Gilwell Park in 1919.
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William Frederick de Bois Maclaren (17 November 1856, Glasgow – 3 June 1921) was publisher, businessman and Scout Commissioner for Rosneath, Dunbartonshire, Scotland.
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William Frederick de Bois Maclaren was born on 17 November 1856, in Blythswood, Glasgow in Scotland, as the son of Walter Gray McLaren (Master Printer, sometimes misspelt as painter) and Caroline Amelia De Bois, from France.
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Maclaren wrote several other books including Climbs and Changes, Chuckles from a Cheery Corner, and Word Pictures of War (a book of poetry based on experiences of the First World War, published by Methuen, London, in 1917).
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On the recommendation of P.B. Nevill, acting on behalf of Baden-Powell, Maclaren purchased the 53 acre Gilwell Hall estate near Epping Forest near the town of Chingford for GBP 7,000, and presented it as Gilwell Park to the Scout Association in July 1919.
William Shakespeare | William Laud | William Blake | William | William III of England | William Morris | William McKinley | William Howard Taft | William Ewart Gladstone | William the Conqueror | William S. Burroughs | William Shatner | William Faulkner | William Randolph Hearst | William Wordsworth | William Tecumseh Sherman | William Hogarth | Prince William, Duke of Cambridge | William Penn | William Jennings Bryan | William Gibson | W. E. B. Du Bois | William Wilberforce | William James | William Makepeace Thackeray | Fort William | William Hanna | William Hague | William III | William Hurt |
The axe-in-log is the emblem of Gilwell Park where the first Wood Badge course was held and the Maclaren tartan honors William de Bois Maclaren, who donated the funding to purchase Gilwell Park in 1919.