Baden-Powell returned to
England a national hero, after defending the town of Mafeking (Mafikeng as it is now
spelled) for seven months from the besieging Boer troops. When he
returned to England, he discovered that many boys and young men
were avidly reading his book Aids to Scouting. This book was
intended as a military training manual, teaching soldiers
techniques such as observation, tracking, initiative...
B-P. met with various influential people in youth movements
across the country, and was persuaded to write a version of Aids to
Scouting aimed at teenage boys, Scouting for Boys was published in 1908
(after a camp on Brownsea
Island, Poole Harbour, Dorset, where B-P. tried out his
ideas on four patrols of boys from London and Bournemouth).
Scouting for Boys was initially printed in six fortnightly parts,
and sold very quickly.
Baden-Powell had originally intended the scheme outlined in
Scouting for Boys to supplement the programmes of youth
organisations that were in existence at the time, like the Boys
Brigade and the Boy's Clubs. But boys not in other youth movements
bought the book, and set themselves up as Patrols of Scouts, and quickly found
themselves leaders to train them. It was soon realised that some
form of organisation was required to support these Scouts.
Scouting for Boys is now in fourth place in the all time best
sellers list, behind the Bible, the Koran and Mao-Tse-Tung's Little
Red Book
As early as 1908 Scouting was starting in many of the British
outposts of the Empire. After a trip to South America, Scouting
started in Chile, and it was already crossing the channel into
Europe. The big step across the Atlantic, and into the United
States came more by chance. In 1909, an American business man,
William Boyce, was lost in the fog of London, when a small boy
approached him, and offered to take him to his hotel. Once there,
the boy refused any offer of money for the service, saying that it
was his good turn as a Boy
Scout. Boyce was intrigued by this and tracked down B-P. before he
left London to discover more of this. When he got back to the
U.S.A. he went about setting up the Boy Scouts of America. By 1918,
its numbers had risen to 300,000, and had reached the million mark
before the end of the twenties.
B-P. spent much of the rest of his life on World-tours,
initially organising Scouting throughout the world, and later
attending the World Jamborees, which have become an integral part
of international Scouting. The first of these was in 1920 in
London, at Olympia, it was
more an exhibition of Scouting, held inside. The second Jamboree,
four years later, in Copenhagen, set the model for the modern
Jamboree, a major
international camp for Scouts from all over the World.
Originally B-P. had envisaged Scouting as a movement for boys
between the ages of 11 and 18. As early as 1909 Scoutmasters were
facing the problem of younger brothers wanting to join in the
fun. Some just turned a
blind eye to the age of some of the boys, others formed Patrols and
Troops of Junior or Cadet
Scouts. The problem wasn't just confined to younger brothers, but
also to sisters as well. In 1909 at the Crystal Palace Rally, B-P.
came across a Patrol, who claimed to be Girl Scouts.
Initially B-P. was all in favour of allowing girls to become
Scouts (in separate troops), but had to change his mind due to the
pressures of Edwardian society. It was not considered right that
young ladies should be out-and-about, camping, hiking, etc., (remember this
was about the same time as the Suffragette movement). He addressed
this problem by setting up the sister movement the Girl Guides in
1910, with (initially) the help of his sister, Agnes, and then with the help of his
wife, Olave.
To address the problem of what to do with the younger brothers,
Scouting first turned a blind eye to the unofficial Troops that
were forming. In 1914, though, B-P. outlined a scheme in The
Headquarters Gazette for the training of these Junior Scouts, but
it was not what he really had in mind. He replaced this two years
later with a new Scheme, under the title Wolf Cubs based around the Jungle Books
of his close friend Rudyard Kipling, with the Cubs having their own
distinct uniform, badges,
motto, sign, salute,
etc.
Wolf Cubs dealt with those too young to be Scouts, what was to
be done with those too old to be Scouts, in 1917, just before the
end of The Great War, B-P. set up a scheme for Senior Scouts, which
changed its name to Rover
Scouts the next year, for anyone over the age of 18, with
Outdoor Adventure and Service as the mainstays of its
programme.
In 1964, the Boy Scout Association commissioned a working party
to look into how Scouting in the United Kingdom should progress.
The General Report of 1966 made radical reforms to the Boy Scout
Association which were carried out in 1967.
Firstly the Association's name changed, dropping the
Boy to become the Scout
Association. The Cub section dropped the Wolf to become Cub Scouts;
the Scout section also dropped the Boy, and the upper age limit was
altered to 16; Senior Scouts and Rover Scouts were disbanded, to be
replaced by Venture Scouts for the 16 to 20 year olds.
Secondly the Scout and Scouter Uniforms were changed, out went
the lemon squeezer hats and the shorts, and in came green berets,
mushroom trousers, and green shirts for the Scouts, and fawn shirts
for the Venture Scouts and Leaders.
Finally the training scheme's changed, gone were the first and
second stars, in came the Arrows; out went first class and second
class, in came the Scout Standard, Advanced Scout Standard and
Chief Scout Award; the Queen Scout Award was retained, but no
longer was it a Scout section badge, but belonged in the Venture
Unit, and no longer was it a case of earning proficiency badges,
but included long term service, commitment, and a 50+ mile
expedition over four days.
In the early 1980's Scout Groups were allowed to take in boys in
the 6-8 age range to Beavers although at this point the Beavers
were not part of the Scout Association, only their Leaders were
allowed in. This changed on April 1st, 1986 when all Beavers became
Beaver Scouts overnight. Initially the section had just one badge
to earn after the Beaver had been enrolled, but in 1995 a new
programme introduced two
new badges, imaginatively known as the First Beaver Scout Badge and
the Second Beaver Scout Badge, allowing with the Beaver Scout
Challenge Badge for the older Beavers.
Two controversial changes were also made. The first in the late
80's saw the Uniform review, which saw the sad death knells for the
Cub cap and Scout beret, which although they have been gone for
over five years still seem to crop up as symbols for the movement.
The second (very controversial) saw Groups given the option of
whether to allow girls in Scouting in all sections.
There are 155 countries with internationally recognised National
Scout Organisations. There are more than 28 million Scouts, youth and adults, boys
and girls in 216 countries and territories.
History taken from the Scout Association website.