Scout Group
It's impossible to say with certainty which was the first Scout Troop to be formed. Robert Baden-Powell had not initially planned to start a separate Scout Movement and it took a while for the infrastructure of the organisation to be formed, in the meantime Scouting was taking off all over the country. For the first 11 years of the Movement local associations were registered at HQ and troops (and from 1914 Cub Packs) were registered locally. It wasn’t until 1919 that troops and packs were registered at Headquarters. This means that evidence of early troops and packs can be difficult to find and verify.
Ex Africa
Returning in 1901 from the war in South Africa, he found that his book, ‘Aids to Scouting’, was being used by youth organisations all over England. The book had originally been written for soldiers. Urged on by Sir William Smith, Founder of the Boys’ Brigade, B.-P. decided to rewrite it with an intended readership of young boys. Before doing so, however, he wanted to try out some of his ideas and it was with this in mind that he brought together 20 boys at a camp on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, during the first week of August, 1907.
Having tried out his ideas, B.-P. set about writing his handbook. He had selected Pearson’s as the publisher having been impressed with the charity work Arthur Pearson was already involved in. Pearson’s saw the great potential in the Scouting scheme and prior to publication Baden-Powell travelled the country raising awareness and anticipation in advance of the launch. For this reason some Scout Patrols were started before the handbook was even published. The first issue of ‘Scouting for Boys’ went on sale in January 1908. It was published in fortnightly parts and at 4d a copy, its sales were terrific. Soon Scout Patrols, as suggested in ‘Scouting for Boys’, were emerging all over the country. On the 24 January 1908 B.P. publicly announced the launch of a specific Scouting Movement. This occurred during a publicity visit to the Birkenhead branch of the YMCA. In April of the same year, a special office had to be set up to deal with the large number of enquiries coming in concerning Scouting.
Mrs. Wade’s Book …
The following extracts from ‘Twenty-one Years of Scouting’ by Mrs E.K. Wade, for many years Secretary to the Chief Scout, records the first Troop that B-P visited and references to other early Troops:
“The question as to which was actually the first Troop of Scouts to be formed – excluding, of course, the Brownsea Island Troop – is one which has often been raised in the Movement. I should not like to say definitely that this honour belongs to any Troop, though many have claimed it. The first Troop, however, which the Chief Scout notes in his diary as having been inspected by himself was at Sunderland. On February 22, 1908, he notes in his diary: ‘Inspected Boy Scouts at Sunderland’. This Troop became known as ‘Vaux’s Own’, after its co-Founder. If this Troop was ready for inspection on February 22, one would infer that it had already been in existence for some days at any rate: and the present Scoutmaster of Vaux’s Own had kindly supplied the following notes based on his personal investigations
Another ‘first Troop’ to vie for the title was the 1st Glasgow which has in its possession a registration certificate dated January 26, 1908, and was founded by Mr Robert Young.
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