British Boy Scouts: Difference between revisions

The BBS was able to ally with the Cassell and Company publisher of the CHUMS publication, who previously tried to develop their own league of 'CHUMS league of Scouts' with the [[CHUMS Scout Patrols]].  Cassell merged their Patrols with the BBS and allowed them to publish a weeky page June 1909 until mid-1911.<ref name="BBS" />. From the beginning in 1909, the BBS had a 10 part Law, whereas the Boy Scouts Association Law, only had nine clauses,<ref>Baden-Powell, Lieut. Gen Robert, Scouting for Boys by B-P, Horace Cox, London Part I 8th January 1908, pages 49-51</ref> the tenth being added in 1911 at the suggestion of the Reverend Dr A T Scholfield. <ref>Woodcraft and World Service, I O Evans, Noel Douglas London 1930, Page 43</ref>

Sir [[Francis Vane]] was the [[The Scout Association|Boy Scouting Association]]'s (BSA) [[Scout Commissioner|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 more democratic BSA, his position was eliminated by Baden-Powell's BSA headquarter staff.  In a protest meeting, the London area Scoutmaster voted overwealming in support of Sir Francis Vane, however Baden-Powell even though he promised, never reinstated him.  Members of the National Service League, a pro-military group, were appointed to BSA headquarters.  In December 3rd 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.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web | url=http://www.boy-scout.net/en/page8/page9/page9.html | title = The BBS Story | accessdate  = 2008-10-06 | date =2008-09-25 | format=html | date = 2002-06-18| format = html | work = boy-scout.net | publisher = The British Boy Scouts and British Girl Scouts Association | location = Dorset, England, UK }}</ref>

By the mid-1911, the original organisers had resigned from the BBS, losing the organisation sponsorship from CHUMS.<ref name="BBS" /> Vane put his wealth behind the organisation: providing a London headquarter and financed the organisation, even the manufacture of BBS uniforms.  This over burdened his finances to the point of having to declare 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.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web | url = http://www.histclo.com/youth/youth/org/sco/int/sco-intows.htm | title  =Boy Scout Movement: Internationalism--Order of World Scouts | accessdate  = 2008-10-08 | author= Christopher Wagner | date=2002-02-06 | format = html | work=Historic Boys' Uniform Web Site | publisher  = Christopher Wagner}}</ref><ref name="BBS" />  By the end of 1912 Captain Masterman, then Assistant Grand Scoutmaster - Britain, led Troops and Junior Troops in joining the [[The Scout Association|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.<ref name="AD">{{cite web | url=http://www.boy-scout.net/en/page8/page12/page12.html | title=The Constitution of the British Boy Scouts and British Girl Scouts Association Version 18/06/2002: APPENDIX D -- A History of the British Boy Scouts | accessdate  = 2008-10-08 | date =2001-03 | format = html | work = boy-scout.net | publisher  = The British Boy Scouts and British Girl Scouts Association | location = Dorset, England, UK | pages =24-27 }}</ref>  

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 "the British Boy Sentinels", a non-scounting 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 when 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 <ref name="AD" />. 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 join the Boys' Brigade or became BBS Troops. About 40 Troops exist in the 1930's 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.<ref name="AD" />

With World War II's call up of Scoutmaster and youth evacuations reduced the BBS to 8 Troops.  This slide continue into the 1950s with only 6 Troops existing;  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.<ref name="AD" />

The Oxford University Rover Crew led by Michael Foster joined the BBS in 1979. This resulted in additional BBS groups in the 1980's.  In 1983, The Reverend Michael Foster (who was now 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 join up with the British Boy Scouts: in 1985, 1st Waltham Forest, an Independent Scout Group, and in 1988 the [[Outlanders (Scouting)|Outlanders]] association.  Several Troops which left the [[Baden-Powell Scouts' Association]] joined up with the BBS in 1990s.<ref name="AD" />

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.<ref name="AD" />

Ted Scott, a friend of Pooley and long time BBS member, became the Grand Scoutmaster (January 1993) after the death of Charles Brown in November 1992 and served seven years become the first Grand Scout Emeritus while Dr Michael Foster replaced him. David Cooksley replaced Dr Michael Foster as the Chief Commissioner.<ref name="AD" />