British Boy Scouts and British Girl Scouts Association - History

History

Scout Pledge

On my honour I will Love God; Honour the Queen; Respect all. On my honour I will, without fear or reward, protect the weak, defend the helpless, and assist my neighbour. On my honour I will live by the Scout Law.

—The Constitution of the BBS & BGS Association

The British Boy Scouts originated as the Battersea Boy Scouts in 1908, an association of scout troops in South London. The Battersea Boy Scouts briefly registered as a Local Association with Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts Headquarters but soon withdrew, in March 1909, after protest meetings in south London over concerns that the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts organization was a front for commercial interests that were profiteering from the boy scouts and was bureaucratic and militaristic - "the B-P Boy Scouts, as at present administered is run on such lines, & is intimately connected with other schemes so foreign to the spirit of the movement". The Battersea Boy Scouts made it clear that they continued as "the Boy Scouts Movement in Battersea" but disassociated from the B-P Boy Scouts and flagged their intention to expand beyond Battersea - "Should our movement never spread beyond Battersea we shall not trouble ourselves". The Battersea Boy Scouts (BBS), enlarged by other south London scout troops and under an "altered constitution", was renamed as the British Boy Scouts (BBS). The British Boy Scouts was launched as a national organization on Empire Day, 24 May 1909. Initially, the BBS was led by Major W.G. Whitby as Chief Commissioner and as financier. Assisting were Colonel Frederick Charles Keyser, President BBS and H. Moore secretary of the Battersea Boy Scouts.

The BBS was given publicity by Cassell and Company publisher of CHUMS publication, who had previously developed their own 'CHUMS league of Scouts' with the CHUMS Scout Patrols. They were formed by the readers of the CHUMS boy's newspaper, in response to an invite from the Editor for boys to form their own boy scout patrols. Cassell merged their Scout Patrols with the BBS and allowed the BBS to publish a weeky page June 1909 until mid-1911.

CHUMS "On the Watch Tower" news column reported on 11 September 1907 that Robert Baden-Powell's Brownsea Island Scouting encampment was proposed and his recommendation that Boy Scout groups should be formed. Readers were interested in forming Scouting groups and the editorial staff initially supported this move, indicating that Baden-Powell would be consulted. The CHUMS Scouts would wear the 'Chums' League badge. The CHUMS newspaper was distributed throughout the British Empire and CHUMS Scout Patrols formed in both the UK and Australia 1908. Due to Baden-Powell's arrangement with his publisher, C. Arthur Pearson Limited, CHUMS was denied the rights to publish the Scout scheme in what was a rival paper. Later, CHUMS indicated that there would be a CHUMS Legion of Scouts formed from the CHUMS Scout Patrols to be announced later. Instead, in May 1909, CHUMS announced the launch of British Boy Scouts (BBS) as a national organization and that CHUMS would be the official BBS journal.

From the beginning, in 1909, the BBS had a 10 part Law, whereas the Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts had a Law with only nine clauses, the tenth being added in 1911 at the suggestion of the Reverend Dr A T Scholfield.

In July 1909, Sir Francis Vane was appointed as the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts' London Commissioner. Vane believed that Scouting should be non-military and, through mediation, reconciled the British Boy Scouts(BBS) with the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts organization, by having the BBS as an affiliated organisation. With Vane pushing for a more democratic organization, his position was eliminated by Baden-Powell's Headquarter staff. In a protest meeting, the London area Scoutmasters voted overwhelming in support of Sir Francis Vane. However Baden-Powell, even though he promised to do so, never reinstated Vane. Members of the National Service League, a pro-military group, were appointed to Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts Headquarters. On 3 December 1909, Vane accepted the presidency of the British Boy Scouts taking most London area Troops with him. The Quakers' Birmingham and Midland Troops also followed as Vane was a key influence in getting the Quakers to sponsor Scout Troops.

Scout Law

1. A Scout is honourable, truthful and reliable. 2. A Scout is loyal to the Queen, his/her Country, his/her Parents, his/her Officers and to comrades high and low.
3. A Scout is helpful to others, whatever it may cost him/her.
4. A Scout is a friend to all and a brother/sister to all Scouts.
5. A Scout is courteous to all.
6. A Scout is kind to animals.
7. A Scout is obedient and follows orders from his/her Parents and Officers promptly.
8. A Scout is cheerful and takes trouble with a trusting grace.
9. A Scout is self reliant and a good steward of his/her possessions.
10. A Scout is upright in his/her conduct.

—The Constitution of the BBS & BGS Association

With the spread of the alternative British Boy Scouts program throughout the world via the CHUMS publication and Vane's efforts, Vane informally aligned the various groups as the Legion of World Scouts, the first international organization. In 1911, Vane launched formally launched the Order of World Scouts (OWS).

By mid-1911, the original organisers had resigned from the BBS, losing the organisation sponsorship from CHUMS. Vane had put his wealth behind the organisation, provided a London headquarters and financed the organisation, including the manufacture of BBS uniforms. This overburdened his finances to the point of him declaring bankruptcy. Thus the British Boy Scouts and the Order of World Scouts lost their headquarters, source of equipment and uniforms and their leader, Sir Francis Vane. By the end of 1912 Captain Masterman, then Assistant Grand Scoutmaster - Britain, led Troops and Junior Troops in joining The Boy Scouts Association while in 1913 some troops were led by Mr. Barrow Cadbury to join the Boys' Life Brigade (BLB), becoming the BLB Scouts. This left about 100 Troops under the new Grand Scoutmaster, Albert Jones Knighton. Vane kept in contact, and in 1915, home from leave from his duties for the Army in Ireland, inspected a Troop under London Commissioner, Mr Percy Herbert Pooley. Under Knighton and Pooley, the BBS & BGS became a definite Christian association.

Junior Scout Law

1. A Junior Scout respects his/her Parents and his/her Officers;
2. A Junior Scout respects himself/herself.

—The Constitution of the BBS & BGS Association

The UK Parliament had a bill in 1921 before it to restrict use of "Boy Scout" and Scout uniform and Badges to the Boy Scouts Association but the measure failed. In 1926, a broader bill to protect all Chartered Associations was passed but with a clause by Herbert Dunnico, a Labour MP and a BBS Scoutmaster, that exempted any 'bona fide national organisation' from the act, such as the British Boy Scouts. Knighton had resigned without waiting for the outcome of the legislation and formed "the British Boy Sentinels", a non-scouting organization. Pooley took over as Chief Commissioner with Rt Hon. Lord Alington as Grand Scoutmaster. Some Boy Scouts Association Troops from Shoreditch, East Ham and Lewisham allied with the BBS until 1932 forming 'The Independent Scout Alliance'. Some BLB Companies affiliated with the BBS as the 'Young Life Pioneers' when in 1926 the Life Brigade merged with the Boys' Brigade. Sir Francis in vain tried to reconcile the BBS with the BSA after returning from Italy in 1927. This initiative failed due to a lack of a positive response from the B-P HQ. They required the BBS to disband, and Troops and individuals apply in the normal way - without any reassurance as to the acceptance of units.

The Young Life Pioneers by 1930's either joined the Boys' Brigade or became BBS Troops. About 40 Troops existed in the 1930s mostly sponsored by Free Churches. With reduced membership and lacking a Parliamentarian supporter, the Boy Scout Association used the "The Chartered Associations (Protection of Names and Uniforms) Act" to stop the BBS from using the term "Boy Scouts" which prompted a change in name to "The Brotherhood of British Scouts" to avoid any further legal action. In response some Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire Troops under the Assistant Chief Commissioner W. Hanley broke off from the main group using "British Boy Scouts" for about a year, only to return.

The World War II's call up of Scoutmasters and youth evacuations reduced the BBS to 8 Troops. This decrease continued into the 1950s when only 6 Troops existed; 1st Lewisham (St Stephen's) Loampit Hill (under Charles A Brown, Assistant Chief Commissioner), 1st Wimbledon (Samuel Manning, Grand Scoutmaster) 1st Cirencester (Pooley, Chief Commissioner), 1st Stroud (Pooley, Chief Commissioner), 1st Beckingham, and 1st Huddersfield. By 1971, Brown was Chief Commissioner and led the lone BBS Troop.

The St Stephens House Rover Crew in Oxford, led by Michael Foster, joined the BBS in 1979. This resulted in additional BBS groups in the 1980s. In 1983, the Reverend Michael Foster (who by that time was a Parish Priest in the Church of England, Vicar of Holy Trinity Clifton, Nottingham) was appointed Chief Commissioner by Charles Brown, who then became the Grand Scoutmaster. Other groups joined up with the British Boy Scouts: in 1985, 1st Waltham Forest, an Independent Scout Group, and in 1988 the Outlanders association. Several Troops which left the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association joined up with the BBS in 1990s.

The re-expansion of the Order of World Scouts began in the early 1980s with membership in the USA State of Hawaii, and then in 1990s with appointments of a BBS Commissioner for Australia in 1991 and a Chief Commissioner of BBS & BGS in Canada in 1999.

In January 1993, Ted Scott, a friend of Pooley and long time BBS member, became the Grand Scoutmaster following the death of Charles Brown in November 1992 and served seven years becoming the first Grand Scout Emeritus when Dr Michael Foster replaced him, Ted died after being ill on 3 March 2009, after serving 83 years in the BBS. David Cooksley replaced Dr Michael Foster as the Chief Commissioner.

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