TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING 1 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING Downloaded from: “The Dump” at Scoutscan.com http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com Editor’s Note: The reader is reminded that these texts have been written a long time ago. Consequently, they may use some terms or express sentiments which were current at the time, regardless of what we may think of them at the beginning of the 21st century. For reasons of historical accuracy they have been preserved in their original form. If you find them offensive, we ask you to please delete this file from your system. This and other traditional Scouting texts may be downloaded from The Dump. 2 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING 3 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT FROM ITS INCEPTION BY E. K. WADE AUTHOR OF “THE PIPER OF PAX, THE LIFE STORY OF SIR ROBERT BADEN-POWELL” ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN PAGES OF PHOTOGRAPHS Originally Published London C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. Henrietta Street First Published 1929 Originally Printed in Great Britain at The Mayflower Press, Plymouth. William Brendon & Sons, Ltd. D TO THE CHIEF SCOUT AND IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS 4 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING SYNPOSIS OF CHAPTERS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE ORIGIN OF SCOUTING FOR BOYS 8 Birth of the idea — B.P.’s Scouting experiences at school — Scouting with his brothers — The Mafeking Boys — The South African Constabulary — Aids to Scouting published. II. THE SCHEME IS LAUNCHED (1906-1907) 13 The Chief decides to work for Youth — Why Scouting for Boys was written — Publication of pamphlets explaining the Boy Scout Scheme — Mr. Arthur Pearson comes in to help — The trial camp at Brownsea Island — How the Movement got its name. III. “SCOUTING FOR BOYS (1908-1909) 27 The publication of Scouting for Boys — The Promise and Law — The First Troop — Wimbledon Camp — Publication of The Scout — Humshaugh Camp — Early organisation — “The Mercury” Camp — The Crystal Palace Rally — Religious Policy and the start of Scouts’ Own — King Edward’s interest — The establishment of King’s Scouts. IV. 1910-1911 48 The first census — The inauguration of the Sea Scout branch at Buckler’s Hard — The bogey of Militarism — The issue of Regulations — Uniform — King George V becomes patron — An appeal for funds fathered by the Daily Telegraph — The visit to Canada — How Scouting was started in America — Windsor Rally. V. 1912-1913 65 The granting of the Royal Charter — The Scouts Farm School — The Chief sees Scouting Overseas — The Chief’s marriage — The Birmingham Rally — Birth of Peter, the Chief’s Son. VI. THE GREAT WAR (1914-1919) 75 The Wolf Cub Branch — The Old Scouts Branch — Training Courses for Scoutmasters — The Endowment Fund — The Manchester Conference — Good Turn to the Blind — The Horse Guards Parade Rally — Mobilisation of Scouts — War services — The Patrol System in evidence — Scout V.C.’s — Scouts Defence Corps — Publication of Wolf Cubs Handbook. VII. PEACE (1919-1922) 96 Conferences at Matlock and Dunblane — The inauguration of Rovers — Publication of Rovering to Success — The opening of Gillwell — Opening of Imperial Headquarters at Buckingham Palace Road — The Spread of the Movement in the world — The 1920 International Jamboree — The formation of the International Bureau — The Prince of Wales Appeal Fund — The Posse of Welcome to the Prince of Wales. VIII. THE GIRL GUIDES 115 The start of the Sister Movement — A Conference at Matlock in 1916 — Lady Baden- Powell elected Chief Guide — Foxlease — Co-operation with Boy Scouts approved. IX. BACK TO SCOUTING 120 Headquarters Gazette becomes The Scouter — The chalet at Kandersteg is acquired — The Imperial Jamboree at Wembley — The Rover Moot in London. 5 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Royal Scouts 3 Boy Orderlies at Mafeking 16 An “International Conference,” 1909 16 B-P. with some of the boys who attended the Trial Camp on Brownsea Island, 1907 25 The Camp on Brownsea Island, 1907 25 Three famous Scouts who met during the Canadian Tour of 1910 — Col. Cody, Scout 32 Chapman (Silver Wolf), and Chief Iron Tail The Chief Scout in the uniform he wore on Brownsea Island. He is seen judging a tug-of-war 32 contest The Chief with some of the Scouts at the Humshaugh Camp 40 Saluting the Flag at the Humshaugh Camp in 1908. The Flag is that which flew over 40 Mafeking. A Reproduction of the Chief Scout’s Poster Design used to advertise the Crystal Palace Rally 47 in 1909 A Group of Delegates at the Crystal Palace Conference in 1909. This was the first Conference 54 of Scout Workers. His Majesty the King arriving on the Rally Ground at Windsor on July 4th, 1911. On his left is 66 the Duke of Connaught A corner of the Birmingham Scoutcraft Exhibition in 1913 66 War Services of the Boy Scouts 73 Work of the Sea Scouts in the Great War 80 Four famous Scouts who fell in the Great War 87 The First Training Course at Gillwell 100 Gillwell Park. The Original Camp Fire Circle 100 “A League of Nations” at the 1920 International Jamboree 107 The Sunday Service, Olympia, 1920 107 The Chief Scout for Wales 113 Girl Scouts, 1909 117 Girl Guides, 1928 117 The Procession of Flags at the Imperial Jamboree, Wembley, 1924 121 The Prince of Wales at the Wembley Camp Fire, 1924 121 6 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING FOREWORD IN presenting the first official History of the Boy Scout Movement to those interested enough to trace its development from the “acorn” sown on Brownsea Island in 1907 to the “oak” which spreads its ever- growing branches throughout the world to-day, I have to thank a large number of people for their co- operation. I should like to thank, first, the Chief Scout and Imperial Headquarters, as well as the Chief Guide and Girl Guide Headquarters for their help and for placing at my disposal records without which the compilation of this book would have been impossible. To Mr. P. W. Everett, on of the original “Brownsea” campers and a Scout from that day to this, I am indebted for much valuable help. To Mr. F. Haydn Dimmock, the Editor of The Scout and a Boy Scout of very early days I also owe most grateful thanks for his active co-operation and help in putting the book together. I also owe a good deal to my husband, who was a Scoutmaster from 1908 and who, with the born collector’s eye to posterity, saved from the wastebasket many “first drafts,” rough sketches, posters, etc., which have been invaluable in completing the record. From the vast amount of material thus placed at my disposal by these and many others interested in the History, I have endeavoured to select for record incidents which had their definite bearing on the progress of the movement as a whole and which marked important steps in development. If some of the documents quoted at length make dull reading I can only say in explanation that they are included because without them the History would be incomplete; and this book purports to be history and not fiction. E. K. W. BENTLEY, HANTS. May 1929. 7 TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF SCOUTING CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF SCOUTING FOR BOYS Birth of the idea — B.P.’s Scouting experiences at school — Scouting with his brothers — The Mafeking Boys — The South African Constabulary — “Aids to Scouting” published. “Not in the thick of the fight Not in the press of the odds Do the heroes come to their height Or we know the demigods ● ● ● ● ● They are too near to be great But our children shall understand When and how our fate Was changed and by whose hand.” R. KIPLING. HISTORY cannot be written while it is being lived. It will require the cold, unprejudiced eye of the student of sociology of the next generation to see, and the hand unshaken by the thrill of contact to set down, a fair and impersonal account of the rise and growth of a Movement such as Scouting for Boys. Yet such far-off historians do not always have a good opportunity of presenting the case, through lack of documentary evidence; and this book is an attempt to set down the actual facts which led to the establishment and surrounded the building up of the Boy Scout training. Dean Russell, Professor of Columbia University, New York, has stated: “I declare the Boy Scout Movement to be the most significant educational contribution of our time . As a teacher I take my hat off to the genius of Sir Robert Baden-Powell, who in a bare decade has done more to vitalise the methods of character training than all the Schoolmen in this country have done since the pilgrims landed on the New England coast.” A question frequently asked, even by those who have served long in the Association is “When did the Boy Scout Movement actually start?” — and it is a question which I believe even Sir Robert Baden- Powell himself would find hard to answer. In the next chapter I give the dates of the first actual events and publications after the Boy Scout scheme had taken definite shape; but those of us who have studied the life of the Chief Scout realise that the idea was evolving and developing many years before it took concrete form. Perhaps the main distinction between a “Movement” — as the Boy Scouts — and an Organisation — as, say, the Elementary Schools — is that I the former case it is almost impossible to give any definite dates since it is the evolution of an idea rather than the organisation of a system.