1St Abbots Langley Scout History
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The Birth of Scouting in Abbots Langley A history of the group and those boys who went to fight in the Great War Vol I - 1909-1918 1st Abbots Langley 3rd North Watford Scout Group Formerly the 44th S.W. Herts st 1 Abbots Langley Scout Group Pauline Styles and Rachel Drake September 2018 Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group 1 For the Centenary of First World War 2018 CONTENTS 1. Introduction 5 The Scouts Beginning of the Day – Poem by H R Overy (1909) 7 2. Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell 9 3. The Start of the Boy Scout Movement 11 4. The Birth of Scouting in Abbots Langley 12 The Owl Patrol 13 Scout Awards 16 The First Boy Scouts in Watford 19 Weslyan Church (photograph) 21 5. Abbots Langley Life at the Turn of the Century 23 Stores and Buildings of Note in Abbots Langley Village 25 Other Notable Parts of the Area 27 Abbots Road (photograph) 29 William Cave, The Fishmongers (photograph) 31 Fishmongers Suicide 33 Breakespeare, Adrian, Langley Roads, Marlin Square (photographs) 35 The Flowers Garage, Marlin Square (photograph) 37 School Football Team, 1910 (photograph) 39 Joseph Timberlake’s Wedding (photograph) 41 The Glenister Family (photograph) 43 Glenisters The Green Grocer (photograph) 45 The Limes (photograph) 47 6. Residences of 1st Abbots Langley Scout Members from the 1911 Census 49 7. A Testament to Scouting 51 Abbots Langley Scout Group Roll of Honour – World War 1 1914-1918 53 8. The Territorial Force in Hertfordshire 55 9. Regiments Joined the first Scouts of Abbots Langley 59 2 Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group For the Centenary of First World War 2018 Detailed Information on Members of the 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group 65 Arthur Ernest Aldridge 67 Herbert Joseph Aldridge 69 Frank George Allaway/Alloway 70 Richard Charles Atkins 71 Henry Edward Austin 72 James George Matthew Barnes 73 Charles Julien Batten 74 Ernest James Bennett 75 Frederick Arthur Bennett (Leader 76 Charles Huntingford Bonaker (Leader) 77 Clifford Harold Bourne 79 Arthur Briers 80 Leonard Raynor Busby 81 Fred Carter 82 Herbert Bushby Cave - KIA France, 13 November 1916 83 Arthur William Chalk 85 Frank Charles Coleman 87 Richard Douglas Coombes 89 Arthur Albert Diaper 91 Thomas Dickinson – KIA Ypres, 29 April 1918 93 Arthur Downer 95 Clement Edward Glenister 97 Harry Charles Flowers 99 Edwin Edward Hart 100 Percy George Hedges 101 Bertrand Ernest Hill 103 Harry Clifford Hook Died Ypres, 1 March 1918 of wounds received 105 Hugh Kenyon Molesworth Kindersley 107 Lionel Nassau (Beau) Kindersley KIA France, 25 November 1917 109 Percy Frederick George Mitchell 113 Leonard Wilfred Munt 115 Harold Robert Overy 117 Wilfred Arthur Overy 119 Lewis Stanley Quarman 121 Charles Thomas Ridgeway 122 Percy Charles Robins 123 Frederick Herbert Scott 124 Thomas Alfred Shepherd 125 Ralph John Hibbert Welland 127 Charles Whittaker (Leader) 131 Bramwell Henry Withers (Leader) 133 Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group 3 For the Centenary of First World War 2018 1. Introduction Early on in 2018 Roger Yapp approached the Abbots Langley Scout Group to see if we would like to take part in the Back to the Front www.backtothefront.org community-based Project to research, record and remember the men and women from Abbots Langley, Hunton Bridge, Langleybury and Leavesden who served during the Great War (1914-18). Over one thousand men from the four Hertfordshire villages served, some never to return, all with a story to tell and some as yet not remembered on the village War Memorials. The Project aimed to uncover and record these stories and commemorate and remember these individuals a century on from the conflict. We are fortunate enough to have a copy of Harold Robert Overy’s note book, one of the first Abbots Langley Scouts, that he kept during 1909 to 1910 aged 14. The original book is kept by the County Archivist, Frank Brittain as it is very delicate, but Frank diligently photocopied all the pages, and a fat envelope arrived through my letter box one morning. So I was able to work through the copy and identify names to be able to piece together the boys in the troop at the time, and the humble beginnings of our Scout Group. Rachel worked on the war records and genealogy and together we spent many hours on the project recording information about village life, Scouting at the time, where the Scouts would have lived, and their regiments. We are proud to have uncovered information to enable the Scout Association to add names to their Role of Honour. On 28th May the Back to the Front project held a War Walk around Abbots Langley visiting the homes of men who went off the 1st World War, which were commemorated with Tommies displayed in their windows. At the Scout Headquarters afterwards Rachel and I put on a display of the information we can collated, and the rest of the team provided tea and cake. A second walk covering the other part of the village was held on 9th September, where we again exhibited our work and had more cake! Altogether we raised £328 and saw over 250 people. 4 Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group For the Centenary of First World War 2018 It was lovely to discover that a local resident and her daughter who attended the walk were amazed to find out a lot about four of their family, one of whom was one of our Scouts. She took some photographs of the exhibition and discovered another lady doing the same and when they got talking they found that they were relatives of the same boy/man! So, in order to reach a few more people who might not know of their relatives’ participation in the auguration of the Scout movement in Hertfordshire, and the Great War, I have collated all of our project work to be read at leisure and also appears on our website www.abbotslangleyscouts.org. Pauline Styles and Rachel Drake Our thanks go to Roger Yapp for his enthusiasm and background information. We are indebted to Harold Overy for his diligent recording, and all the Abbots Langley Scouts who fought so that we could all have a better life. Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group 5 For the Centenary of First World War 2018 The Scouts Beginning of the Day Now don’t think it’s surprising, To see the Scouts arising, At half past five they’re all alive, And getting breakfast ready. They gather wood as all scouts’ should, And then they light the fire, Then pots got out by every Scout, Without a look of tire. Before the meal they all feel, That they would like a tub, So with a run they all but one, Go and have their dip and rub. Then back they come with a rum tum tum, All eager for their ‘grub’, After breakfast, billies away, And every one clears for the day. H Overy 1909 6 Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group For the Centenary of First World War 2018 Produced by 1st Abbots Langley Scout Group 7 For the Centenary of First World War 2018 2. ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH BADEN-POWELL Born 22nd February 1857, Paddington - 8 January 1841 Nyeri, Kenya Called Stephe (pronounced "Stevie") by his family, Baden- Powell’s Godfather was the railway and civil engineer, Robert Stephenson. He was the son of The Revd Baden Powell, Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University and Church of England priest and his third wife, Henrietta Grace Smyth, who was the eldest daughter of Admiral William Henry Smyth, and from who BP got his third name.1 When he was only 3 his father died, and his mother brought up 14 children with virtually no income. Being number twelve, Robert soon found out how to survive. At 13 he went to Charterhouse School. He did not do well but the Head, Dr Haig-Brown saw some promise and his remarks spurred B-P to do better. Outside the school there was a copse where Robert used his imagination to be a backwoodsman, trapper and scout. He used to creep about looking for “spoor” and signs. He learnt to observe rabbits, squirrels, rats and birds at close quarters by keeping still and avoiding the quarry catching his scent. Setting his own snares he also taught himself to gut, skin, clean and cook the animal over a non-smoky fire that masters could not see. If he heard them coming he would climb a tree as he found they did not often look up. During holidays he hiked and camped, learning more about observation and noting the small detail of animal habits, making him a comrade rather than an interloper in the family of Nature. His older brothers introduced him to sailing and they went out at every opportunity. With no money, they devised and made the things they could not afford by building their own boat, fishing tackle, traps, nets, cooking and camping equipment. At age 19 B-P passed the Army exam. Out of 700 candidates he achieved second place for the Cavalry and was appointed a sub Lieutenant Thirteenth Hussars. His early army career took him to India, Africa and Afghanistan. He learnt to shoot, hunt and kill big game, track and spy and became an acknowledged expert in all these fields. He wrote many books based on his experiences as a soldier and military campaigns. It is clear when reading these in detail that as a schoolboy and soldier he missed death by inches on several occasions and it was only luck and his life skills that saved him.2 In 1900 Robert Baden-Powell participated in the Second Boer War in Africa on the border with Transvaal at Mafeking.