British Boy Scouts and British Girl Scouts Association
Encyclopedia
The British Boy Scouts and British Girl Scouts Association (BBS & BGS Association; also known as National Peace Scouts, The Brotherhood of British Scouts) was an early Scouting organisation that split from the main Scouting organisation, the Boy Scouts Association, in 1909. It instigated the first international Scouting organization, the Order of World Scouts
.
Scout District
withdrew from Baden-Powell
's Boy Scouts Association and formed the British Boy Scouts (BBS), out of a concern that Baden-Powell's association was too bureaucratic and militaristic. 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 Scouts. The BBS was launched on Empire Day, 24 May 1909.
The BBS was given publicity by Cassell and Company publisher of CHUMS publication
, who had previously developed their own league of '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 patrols. Cassell merged their Patrols with the BBS and allowed them 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, Pearson, 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 CHUMS announced the launch of British Boy Scouts (BBS) and that it would be the official BBS journal in May 1909.
From the beginning in 1909, the BBS had a 10 part Law, whereas the Boy Scouts Association Law, only had nine clauses, the tenth being added in 1911 at the suggestion of the Reverend Dr A T Scholfield.
Sir Francis Vane
was the Boy Scouting Association
's (BSA) London Commissioner
. He believed that Scouting
should be non-military and through mediation
, reconciled the British Boy Scouts(BBS) with the B-P Association, by having BBS as an affiliated organisation. With Vane pushing for a more democratic BSA, his position was eliminated by Baden-Powell's BSA 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 BSA headquarters. On 3 December 1909, he 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.
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 this was formally launched as the Order of World Scouts
(OWS).
By mid-1911, the original organisers had resigned from the BBS, losing the organisation sponsorship from CHUMS. Vane put his wealth behind the organisation, providing 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 Scouting 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.
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.
instead renaming themselves Naval Cadets.
. Most lost most or all of their members during the First World War.
Order of World Scouts
The Order of World Scouts founded in 1911, was the first international Scouting organisation. It is headquartered in England, with the administration headquarters in Italy...
.
History
In 1909, BatterseaBattersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
Scout District
Scout District
A Scout District is an administrative division within some Scouting and Guiding organisations.Districts are responsible for providing programme and support for local Scout and Guide groups, although the precise relationship and structure of a District does vary from country to country.-The Scout...
withdrew from Baden-Powell
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
's Boy Scouts Association and formed the British Boy Scouts (BBS), out of a concern that Baden-Powell's association was too bureaucratic and militaristic. 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 Scouts. The BBS was launched on Empire Day, 24 May 1909.
The BBS was given publicity by Cassell and Company publisher of CHUMS publication
Chums (paper)
Chums was a boys' weekly newspaper started in 1892 that was the official paper of the British Boy Scouts and British Boys' Naval Brigade . The publisher also gathered the weekly paper into monthly and annual editions...
, who had previously developed their own league of '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 patrols. Cassell merged their Patrols with the BBS and allowed them 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
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
's Brownsea Island
Brownsea Island
Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust. Much of the island is open to the public and includes areas of woodland and heath with a wide variety of wildlife, together with cliff top views across Poole...
Scouting encampment
Brownsea Island Scout camp
The Brownsea Island Scout camp was a boys camping event on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, southern England, organised by Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell to test his ideas for the book Scouting for Boys. Boys from different social backgrounds participated from 1 August to 8 August 1907 in...
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, Pearson, 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 CHUMS announced the launch of British Boy Scouts (BBS) and that it would be the official BBS journal in May 1909.
From the beginning in 1909, the BBS had a 10 part Law, whereas the Boy Scouts Association Law, only had nine clauses, the tenth being added in 1911 at the suggestion of the Reverend Dr A T Scholfield.
Sir Francis Vane
Francis Vane
For the murder exposed by Major Sir Francis Fletcher Vane, see Francis Sheehy-SkeffingtonSir Francis Patrick Fletcher-Vane, 5th Baronet was an early aide of Lord Baden-Powell's and a Scout Commissioner of London before Baden-Powell ousted him from the Scout Association...
was the Boy Scouting Association
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
's (BSA) London Commissioner
Scout Commissioner
In the Scout Movement, a commissioner is the person whose role it is to oversee a Scout association's programs, usually within a particular geographic area. Normally, commissioners are volunteers. In some Scout associations, the term Executive Commissioner is used to refer to a paid staff...
. He believed that Scouting
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
should be non-military and through mediation
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
, reconciled the British Boy Scouts(BBS) with the B-P Association, by having BBS as an affiliated organisation. With Vane pushing for a more democratic BSA, his position was eliminated by Baden-Powell's BSA 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
National Service League
The National Service League was a British pressure group founded in February 1902 to alert the country to the inadequacy of the British Army to fight a major war and to propose the solution of national service....
, a pro-military group, were appointed to BSA headquarters. On 3 December 1909, he 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.
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 this was formally launched as the Order of World Scouts
Order of World Scouts
The Order of World Scouts founded in 1911, was the first international Scouting organisation. It is headquartered in England, with the administration headquarters in Italy...
(OWS).
By mid-1911, the original organisers had resigned from the BBS, losing the organisation sponsorship from CHUMS. Vane put his wealth behind the organisation, providing 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 Scouting Association
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
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.
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
St Stephen's House, Oxford
St Stephen’s House, Oxford , is an Anglican theological college and one of six religious Permanent Private Halls of the University of Oxford, England...
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.
British Girl Scouts
Girls Scouts were a part of the British Boy Scouts from the start. With a public outcry over girls in the Scouts, the British Boy Scouts launched the British Girl's Nursing Corps (BGNC) under a Scoutmistress reporting to the BBS executive and becoming a separate organisation with a journal ("The British Girl Nurse") in June 1910. Vane however had other ideas and allow girls to continue as Girl Scouts and brought whole Troops of girls with him from the Boy Scout Association. Many Girls Scouts did not wish to become Guides under the BSA scheme. Both the British Girls Scouts and the British Girl's Nursing Corps became members of the Order of World Scouts. The latter was disassociated from the British Boy Scouts and the British Girls Scouts remain as their counterpart.British Boy Scouts in Australia
Chums Scout Patrols started forming in 1908 in Australia due to the circulation there of the CHUMS publication for boys. Troops under the British Boy Scouts (BBS) program began operations in 1909. In 1910, CHUMS Scout Patrols merged with the BBS. Australia activities continued until the 1930s while members continued to exist in the organization. The Independent Australian Scouts, a new organization was found in 1986 and became affiliate and successor to British Boy Scouts in Australia. Several Scoutmasters joined the BBS from The Boy Scouts Association Queensland Branch with an attempt at reconciliation in 1911. A single Brisbane troop existed there after until 1921.British Boy Scouts in South Africa
E.P. Carter turned his Boys Guides' Brigade, founded in 1902 into the South African (SA) British Boy Scouts (BBS). The Boys Guide Brigade was found by Carter in 1902. With the turmoil after 1912, the SA BBS rebuffed Baden-Powell's effort to have them join The Boy Scout AssociationThe Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
instead renaming themselves Naval Cadets.
Elsewhere
The British Boy Scouts were also organized in Canada, New Zealand, India, Creillos, South America and Egypt. All of these were original members of the Order of World ScoutsOrder of World Scouts
The Order of World Scouts founded in 1911, was the first international Scouting organisation. It is headquartered in England, with the administration headquarters in Italy...
. Most lost most or all of their members during the First World War.