List of the oldest Scout groups

Many Scout Groups claim the title of Oldest Scout Group in their respective countries.

Due to the rapid growth of Scouting, it took some time for central organisations to be established, and the earliest groups were only registered some time after their first meeting. Some groups first met under the banner of other organisations, including the Boys' Brigade, Church Lads' Brigade, YMCA, churches or schools, and only later registered with central scout organisations. Some maintained dual registrations. This makes it impossible to establish which groups started first. Today, national Scout associations often do not take a stance as to which was the first group in their country.

Eerste Nederlandsche Meisjes Gezellen Vereeniging (First Dutch Girls Companions Society), 1911, first Dutch Girl Guides

Birth of Scouting

There are records of Boy Scouts and Scouting groups from 1900. The Boys' Brigade began its Scouting scheme in 1906. Scouting is usually considered to have started on 1 August 1907 with a camp run by Robert Baden-Powell on Brownsea Island. Thereafter the publishers C. Arthur Pearson Limited and Baden-Powell began promoting Scouting in Britain, and Scouting for Boys was published, initially in six fortnightly installments from January 1908 and then in complete book form. The book was followed by The Scout magazine from April 1908. Boys began forming Scout patrols and flooding the C. Arthur Pearson Limited's Scout office and Baden-Powell with requests for assistance.

The Scouting movement developed rapidly from here, in Britain, the British Empire, among English speaking people and the rest of the world.

United Kingdom

The first Scout Patrols and Troops were formed in the United Kingdom in 1907. There are a number of claimants to be the first troop. As Scouting was a movement and not an organisation, there was initially no central organisation. The publishers, C. Arthur Pearson Limited sold registration cards to subscribers of its magazine. Numerous local or regional Boy Scouts Associations were formed and several national scouting organisations were formed in the United Kingdom including the Boys' Brigade Scouts, Chums Scout Patrols, YMCA Boy Scouts, British Boy Scouts, Church Scout Patrols, London Diocesan Boy Scout Corps, Boys' Life Brigade Scouts, National Peace Scouts, The Boy Scouts Association and Salvation Army Boy Scouts (re-organized in 1914 as the Life-Saving Scouts of the Salvation Army). The Boy Scouts Association was formed in 1910 and does not acknowledge any single troop as being the first. Unfortunately, The Boy Scouts Association issued backdated registrations. The Scout Association maintains a list of all the Scout Troops who claim to have started in 1908.[1]

The Scout Troops with the strongest claims are listed below:

The 1st Glasgow Scout Group in Scotland holds the earliest known registration certificate, dated 26 January 1908, issued by The Boy Scouts Association. The Group was formed from the Glasgow Battalion of the Army Cadet Corps; its Adjutant was Captain Robert E Young. In June 1907, they formed the 'Cadets' Winter Recreation Training Club'. The club was a success from the beginning, as 'Boss' Young related: "At first we met at my house, signalled up and down the stairs, tied knots around the banisters and always finished with a good tuck-in." 'Boss' Young met B-P during Autumn 1907 who suggested that the Club could experiment with the ideas contained in 'Scouting for Boys'. On 16 January 1908, the Club was formally disbanded and the First Glasgow Troop of Boy Scouts was registered with Scout HQ in London.[1][2]

The first Scout Troop to receive a visit from Baden-Powell was the Vaux's Own Scout Troop in Sunderland. This visit was made on 22 February 1908, so it is assumed by The Scout Association "that it had already been in existence for some days at any rate".[1] This was also the first Scout Troop listed in the Imperial records. The 1st Crystal Palace Patrol (now known as the 2nd Croydon, 1st Crystal Palace) is documented as being in existence on 28 February 1908. The group is still in existence.[3]

In 2007, 1st Henfield Scout Troop was named as the oldest surviving Scout Troop in the world for the centenary of Scouting. They were the hosts of the only place that the centenary flame stopped in England for the night before reaching its goal of Brownsea Island. However, it is not the oldest Scout Troop, as others were set up before Henfield. It is said that the boys that went to Brownsea Island on the first ever scout trip were from Henfield.[4]

The 1st Birkenhead (YMCA) has a claim to be the oldest Scout Troop as it was founded on 24 January 1908 when B P attended a meeting at the YMCA. Documents at the District Headquarters confirm this fact. Baden-Powell at the 1929 Coming of Age Jamboree in Birkenhead said "Here in Birkenhead that I first mooted the idea of Scouting".

The 1st Croydon Scout Group (Addiscombe) were founded in the latter months of 1907. The Group was officially registered by Imperial Scout Headquarters on 16 June 1908 and can claim to be one of the earliest Groups.

1st Church Kirk, Church near Accrington Lancashire. Formed 1907. Baden Powell formed a link with Accrington during his opening of the Ambulance Drill Hall in 1904.

The 1st New Cross (The Greys) Scout Group was formed 17 January 1908 but was not registered until May 2008.[5]

There is an entry in Baden-Powell's diary on 4 February 1908 which mentions a Scout Troop in Nottingham.

1st Alsager, Cheshire were formed before 24 February 1908.

A troop from Hampstead was involved in various events in the first half of 1908.

The 1st City Of Aberdeen Scouts existed in 1908. 1st Arbroath Scout Troop (2nd Angus) dates back to June 1908.[6]

The 1st Norwich "Capt. Bower's Own" Sea Scouts started in January 1908.[7] The group is one of few which has continuously run for 100 years and, remarkably, had just 4 Group Scout Leaders during that time. To celebrate their centenary year, the group published a book entitled, "It Can Be Done: The Hundred Year History of the 1st Norwich Sea Scout Group." drawing from their extensive archives.[8]

In Poole, Dorset, there are strong claims from 3 current Scout Groups, that all have separate newspaper articles back to 1908 listing Patrols or Troops practicing Scouting. 1st Parkstone has got a registration number back to February 1908 for a Scout Troop. Hamworthy are listed as having a Boat patrol at the Local Church in November 1908 and Broadstone having an Ambulance Scout at the Gathering on Brownsea Island in December 1908.

Wycliffe Scout Group (Gloucestershire) claims to be the oldest continuously active school-based Scout group in the world (active September 2013). It is listed in the Scout Association database with a registration date of 1 February 1909, although the Group celebrated their centenary in 2008, implying that there had been Scouting activity at the school before the Group was registered.

British Empire

1908

Australia

Scouting appears to have started as early as 1907 in Victoria in an informal way when a boy in Caulfield received from a friend, who had been a member of the experimental camp at Brownsea Island, some pamphlets which had been issued by Baden-Powell.[9] The first Scout Group in Australia may have been founded in Northcote in Melbourne in early 1908, but the Victoria Scout Heritage Centre states that "It is very difficult to name the first Troop to start in Victoria".[9][10] However, by the end of 1908, there were 11 Scout Troops in Victoria.[9]

In New South Wales, 1st Toongabbie Scout Group in the western suburbs of Sydney was founded in 1908 by a member of the Sydney University Scouts, Errol Galbraith Knox (later Brigadier Sir Errol Knox, MBE), and is still operating.[11] Other Sydney groups founded in 1908 and still operating include 1st Hurstville, 1st Petersham, 1st Mosman, 1st Leichhardt, 1st Parramatta, and 1st Paddington (now Paddington-Woolhara).

Canada

In the spring of 1908, Canada became the first overseas Dominion with a sanctioned Boy Scout program. The 1st Merrickville Scout Troop, founded in 1908, is the oldest Scout troop in North America. Reference "75 Years of Scouting in Canada". The 1st Port Morien Group claims to be the first Scout Group in North America.[12][13] The Nova Scotia Council of Scouts Canada recognized the centennial of the Port Morien Group by providing a crest to all Nova Scotian Scouts Canada members.

Gibraltar

The first recognized overseas unit in a country controlled by the United Kingdom was chartered in Gibraltar with the establishment of the 1st Gibraltar Scout Troop on 27 March 1908. The group is still active and has a membership of around 140. It is expect to open a new troop and pack this coming year. The group celebrated its 100th anniversary with a parade along Main Street and received the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar on 2 October 2008. To commemorate the conferment of the title Marquis of Milford Haven one hundred years ago, the present marquis visited the Group during the celebrations.[14]

Malta

The Malta Boy Scouts Association applied to become a member of the British Movement on 9 November 1908 and was officially recognised, as was the procedure then, exactly a year later.[15] The 1st Sliema Scout Group in Malta was founded in 1909.[16]

South Africa

The first Scout Group in South Africa was formed 3 March 1908 at Claremont Public School by George French. It is still running, as 1st Claremont Scout Group, as are several other groups founded in 1908.[17][18]

1909

India

The Scout Movement arrived in India in 1909. A troop was formed in Bangalore by a Captain Baker, a retired naval officer. The troop had boys from St. Joseph's, Baldwin's, St. Andrew's, and Bishop Cotton's. The troop was registered with Boy Scout Headquarters in London in November 1909 and, according to records, was the first Scout troop in Asia.

Sethna's 18th West Bombay Scout Group[19] was established in 1914, after Rustomji Edulji Sethna (1898–1954) came across Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys. Sethna was enamoured with the book, and formed India's first Scout group for native boys. (Prior to this, there were some Scout groups, but they were primarily for British expatriate youth.) The group today is India's oldest continually running Scout group. Since its first day on 14 August 1914, the troop remains continuously active.[20]

Isle of Man

The 1st Douglas Scout Group,[21] on the Isle of Man (a Crown Dependency of the UK and not technically part of the UK) was also founded in 1909.

Outside the British Empire

1908-1910

United States

There are numerous troops which claim to be first Boy Scout troop in the United States. There appears to be several Boy Scout troops that were operating prior to the establishment of the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1907, William Foster Milne, a stonecutter immigrated to Barre, Vermont from Aberdeen, Scotland, where he had been active in the early Scouting movement.[25] He is referred as the "First Scoutmaster in America" by Sir Francis Vane.[26] Sir Francis Vane was London Commissioner of Scouts in Baden Powell's organisation and also became President of the British Boy Scouts.[27] In 1909, "Billy" Milne learned of a small group of boys at the First Baptist Church in Barre, who were already members of the Boys Brigade, he offered them an alternative to their routine of marching and drills. By re-organizing into a new "Boy Scout Club" (Troop #1 in the United States) these scouts learned first aid, new outdoor skills and being helpful to others. "Billy" Milne went back to his native Scotland and brought back the books and materials he needed along with a British Charter. By 1910, Barre's Troop #1 joined the Boy Scouts of America.[28]
By March 1910, the Boy Scouts in Vermont had expanded to such a degree that the girls of nearby Thetford became interested. These girls along with William Chauncy Langdon, Dr. Luther Gulick and Charlotte Vedder Gulick formed the Camp Fire Girls which became the sister organization of the Boy Scouts of America on 17 March 1910. The Camp Fire Girls preceded the Girl Scouts of the USA by 2 years.[29] (The Boy Scouts of America has always regarded the Camp Fire Girls - not the Girl Scouts - as its sister organization. Up until the 1970s there were suggestions to merge the BSA and the CFG.)
The original group of boys that made up Troop #1 were Charles Booth, George Booth, Gerald Brock, Carl Burgess, Earl Burgess, Stanton Burgess, Raymond Cave, Clarence Geake, James Grearson, Walter Grearson, Douglas Inglis, Harry Kent, George Murray, Milton Rollins, Craig Rollins, Cecil Watt and Wallace Watt.[30] Dr. Wallace Watt moved to Clinton County Michigan to attend college and remained there as a scout leader for his entire life. He received the Silver Beaver Award in 1981 and in 1984 a 75 year Diamond Jubilee service pin from the Boy Scouts of America. Upon his death his widow donated his Barre, Vermont Troop 1 artifacts to the Paine-Gillam-Scott Museum[31] in St. Johns, Michigan.[32]
Governor Deane C. Davis was an early member of Barre, Vermont's Troop #1.[33]
Another claimant for first Boy Scout troop in America was organized in Pawhuska, Osage County, Oklahoma, in May 1909 by Reverend John F. Mitchell. Rev. Mitchell was a missionary priest from England sent to St. Thomas Episcopal Church by the Church of England. Rev. Mitchell, who had been associated in scout work with Lord Baden-Powell in England, organized the troop of Boy Scouts under English charter and equipped them with English uniforms, manuals, and badges.[35]

1909

Chile

Robert Baden-Powell visited Chile and gave a speech, that inspired the founding of the first Scout Group, Brigada Central. Some time later on 21 May 1909 the first Scout Camp was held.[42]

Norway

The first recognized troop in Norway is "1. Kristiania (NGSK)", established 15 November 1909. This was a troop in Oslo, connected to an athletic organisation. This troop became a part of "Norske Gutters Speiderkorps", which was established by a national sport organisation. But there were single Scouting patrols earlier than this in some Norwegian cities.[43]

China

In Shanghai, a Troop of "Boy Scouts" was formed, as a branch of the then existing (British) "Boys' Brigade" whose members were representative of the cosmopolitan but culturally Western population of the city. The 1st Dragon Troop, run on actual Baden-Powell lines, was also formed in early 1909, in Shanghai. These were mostly British boys. The first native Scout troop was organized by Reverend Yen Chia-lin in Wuchang on 25 February 1912 and the Scouting movement spread rapidly all over the country.[44]

1910

By 1910 Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy,[42] Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Suriname,[45] Sweden and the United States had Boy Scouts too.

Finland

Toimen Pojat (Unga Fribyggare in Swedish), a Scouting troop in Kauniainen, Finland was established in 1910. Toimen Pojat is the oldest continuously operating Scout troop in Finland. During the Russian ban on Scouting in the 1910s before the Finnish independence in (1917), the troop operated underground. Many traditions that distinguish the troop formed during that period.

Philippines

Elwood Stanley Brown, Physical Education Director of the Manila YMCA, founded basketball, volleyball,[46] and Boy Scouting in the Philippine Islands (then a territory of the USA) in 1910. Hence the first Boy Scout unit in the Philippines was the YMCA troop organised by Brown.

In the official Handbook for Boys of the Boy Scouts of America, First Edition, August 1911 (still in print today![47]), page 354 (page 222 of PDF copy[48]), in a letter from BSA Honorary Vice President Theodore Roosevelt (former US President) to BSA Executive Secretary (later[49] Chief Scout Executive) James E. West, dated 20 July 1911, Roosevelt mentions a letter from a Scoutmaster in the Philippines narrating the noble work of "boy scouts of the Philippines" in rendering assistance during a big fire that hit Manila and in serving at the ten-day Manila Carnival. This is the earliest available documented mention of the phrase "boy scouts of the Philippines" in print.[50] The Manila Scoutmaster's and Roosevelt's letters prove beyond doubt that there were Boy Scouts in the Philippines as early as 1910 - the same year that YMCA International Secretary for Boys' Work Edgar M. Robinson started actively organizing the Boy Scouts of America in the US mainland. Portions of Roosevelt's quote of the Manila Scoutmaster's letter were also printed (before and after the Handbook for Boys edition) in New Castle News (26 May 1911), The Corsicana Daily Sun (31 May 1911), The Washington Post (8 August 1911), The Youngstown Daily Vindicator (23 August 1911), and The Miami Metropolis (20 September 1911). According to The Miami Metropolis article "Boy Scouts Work with the Firemen Just Like Heroes" on page 3, it was "Elwood E. Brown, organizer in the Philippines" who had written to Roosevelt.[51][52]

During his world tour in 1912, Lord Baden-Powell sent back articles for publication in The Scout. In issue no. 224, 27 July 1912, in the article "In the Cannibal Islands," he made a brief narration about Philippine history and culture and his trip to Manila, illustrated with his own drawings. He mentioned "Boy Scouts of the Philippines" and that he was met by a "Guard of Honour." He also quoted from Roosevelt's letter about the Manila fire and the Manila Carnival in which Scouts rendered valuable service. In the article, Baden-Powell urged readers "to get into correspondence with your brother Scouts in Manila… The Chief Scoutmaster is Mr. Elwood Brown, Y.M.C.A., Manila."[53]

1911

Japan

The first Boy Scout troop in Japan was organized in Yokohama in 1911 by Clarence Griffin. The boys of the troop were mostly British students of St. Joseph College, a boys' school in the Bluff area of Yokohama, and Clarence Griffin organized the troop under English charter. Clarence Griffin is recognized by the Scout Association of Japan as Japan's first Scoutmaster and is honoured with an inscription as such at his final resting place in the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery. In 1918 Marianist Bro. Joseph Janning, a missionary teacher of St. Joseph College, assumed the position of Scoutmaster at the school and opened the Troop to boys of all nationalities. The Group subsequently became the first directly registered group of the newly formed Boy Scouts International Bureau, receiving a Charter signed by B-P formally allowing the group to accept "scouts of mixed nationalities". The group was registered by the World Scout Bureau as "Troop 1, International Boy Scouts" and has remained continuously active in Yokohama since its formation.[54]

1913

Greece

In Greece, Mark Mindler established in 1913 the third Sea Scout troop of Athens (3η Ομάς Αθηνών Ναυτοπροσκόπων) as the first scouting group of the country. (The first and second Scouting groups were to be established later for training Scout officers.) The group operates to this day.[55]

Mafeking Cadets

During the Siege of Mafeking (1899–1900), boys in the town formed the Mafeking Cadet Corps, made famous by Baden-Powell in the opening chapter of Scouting for Boys. However, the cadets were not themselves Scouts.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The First Troops" (PDF). The Scout Association. August 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
  2. ↑ The First Glasgow Scout Group, Registration Certificate
  3. ↑ http://croydonscouting.org.uk/?option=com_content&view=article&id=62:2nd-croydon-1st-crystal-palace-scout-group&catid=45:find-group&Itemid=64 2nd Croyden (1st Crystal Palace) Scout Group
  4. ↑ http://www.1sthenfieldscoutgroup.co.uk/history.html History of Scouting in Henfield
  5. ↑ 1st New Cross (The Greys) Scout Group
  6. ↑ Arbroath Herald
  7. ↑ 1st Norwich Sea Scouts
  8. ↑ It Can Be Done: The Hundred Year History of the 1st Norwich Sea Scout Group.
  9. 1 2 3 Victoria Scout Heritage Centre - How Scouting began
  10. ↑ Those Boy Scouts: A Story of Scouting in Victoria, Victorian Scout Archives, 1987
  11. ↑ Sargent, Doris (1964). The Toongabbie Story. Sydney: Toongabbie Public School.
  12. ↑ 1st Scout Group in North America
  13. ↑ 1st Scout Group in North America
  14. ↑ http://www.gibraltarscouts.gi/history.html
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ 1st Sliema Scout Group
  17. ↑ 1st Claremont Scout Troop
  18. ↑ "South Africa's First Scoutmaster" (PDF). Cape Western Scouter. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  19. ↑ Sethnas 18th West Bombay Scout Group
  20. ↑ "The Group". Sethna's 18th West Bombay Scouts. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  21. ↑ 1st Douglas Scout Group
  22. ↑ "First Boy Scout Troop Historical Marker". Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  23. ↑ Troop Bala One History
  24. ↑ name="http://www.aldrich.lib.vt.us/Guide.htm#P16" See Cameron papers, and 1907 Barre City Directory at Aldrich Library
  25. ↑ http://www.timesargus.com/article/20091026/NEWS01/910260350/0/MEDIACENTER
  26. ↑ http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2010/resolutn/HCR244.pdf
  27. ↑ Order of World Scouts
  28. ↑ http://FirstBoyScout.com
  29. ↑ http://alicemariebeard.com/campfire/history.htm
  30. ↑ http://framemaster.tripod.com/members.htm
  31. ↑ http://miserybay.usanethosting.com/wordpress/2009/10/now-12/
  32. ↑ http://www.ci.saint-johns.mi.us/community%20info/2009museum%20opening.pdf
  33. ↑ Deane C. Davis
  34. ↑ http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SC011.html
  35. ↑ http://newsok.com/pawhuska-museum-evokes-boy-scouts-state-origins/article/3419655
  36. ↑ Gilbert, Kevin. "This Day in 1910 in The Record: Aug. 10, 1910". troyrecord.com. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  37. ↑ http://www.troop5denver.org/history.html
  38. ↑ this information was obtained from the Troop 1 BSA Ridgefield Park, NJ 75th Anniversary booklet from 6 May 1984.
  39. ↑ http://troopone.org/Info/About%20Troop%20One.html
  40. ↑ http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/97/HR/PDF/09700HR0879lv.pdf
  41. ↑ http://www.parkridgeumc.org/about/
  42. 1 2 "Short history about Chilean Scouting". SCOUT+CHILE <http://scoutchile.blogspot.com>. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  43. ↑ http://leksikon.speidermuseet.no/wiki/Tidlige_speidergutter
  44. ↑ "SCOUTING IN CHINA-SCOUTS OF CHINA". N2ZGU. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  45. ↑ Dagblad Suriname Boy Scouts 84 jaar
  46. ↑ The History of Volleyball in the Philippines The Volleyball Story London Olympic Media Guide Volleyball Early Development Volleyball: Striking the interest of Filipinos since 1910 The Volleyball Story Vball Trivia History of Volleyball Memorandum to Colonel Bruce Palmer Giving the Game Away
  47. ↑ reprints include those of Applewood Books (1997, ISBN 9781557094414), Dover (1969, 2005, ISBN 0486439917, ISBN 9780486439914), Skyhorse (ISBN 978-1-61608-198-0) and the Boy Scouts of America
  48. ↑ Handbook for Boys
  49. ↑ November 1911
  50. ↑ The organization named Boy Scouts of the Philippines was inaugurated much later, on 1 January 1938.
  51. ↑ Unfortunately, the Miami News / Miami Metropolis archival site, formerly here, was removed or closed in 2015. Hence citation of this article can no longer be accessed online.
  52. ↑ Roosevelt's letter has been reproduced in Scouting historian David Scott's book about Roosevelt, We Are Americans, We Are Scouts, 2008, but with Elwood Brown's letter about the Philippine events (rendered irrelevant by Philippine independence in 1946) excised.
  53. ↑ The article was reprinted in Chapter 6 of Baden-Powell's compilation Boy Scouts Beyond the Seas: "My World Tour", 1913, but with BP's date-dependent reference to Brown excised. Boy Scouts Beyond the Seas
  54. ↑ http://www.troop1.net/history/history.html
  55. ↑ http://www.3oan.gr Book on the 25th Anniversary of 3rd Sea Scout Troop of Athens, 1913-1938

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