Scouts from all over the world have travelled to Brownsea Island for a sunrise ceremony at the birthplace of scouting. We followed them as they set up camp and explored the island. In August 1907, he gathered about 20 boys and took them to Brownsea Island in a sheltered bay off England's southern coast. They set up a makeshift camp that would be their home for the next 12 days. The boys had a great time! They divided into patrols and played games, went on hikes, and learned stalking and pioneering.
MILESTONES to Scouting was originally chosen as the title for this series of articles to demonstrate that there was no single event that can claim to be the starting point for Scouting. It must be remembered that the Brownsea participants were not Scouts in the true sense of the word - they had not taken the Law and the Promise.Some did go on to become Scouts, but others did not join when eventually the opportunity was presented, preferring to remain in the Boys' Brigade or their School's Cadet Corps. All of the original participants that left any sort of written record seem to agree that what happened on Brownsea was very special and stayed with them throughout out their lives.
Baden-Powell was 50 years old in 1907. He had achieved world-wide fame as 'The Hero of Mafeking'. He had toured Britain extensively and spoken to a wide range of audiences about his ideas of using Army Scout training to motivate what he saw as disaffected youth. He had involved other youth organisations - notably the YMCA and the Boys' Brigade. He had a populist publisher waiting for the drafts of his latest book, which was a revision, designed especially to appeal to the young, of his army manual Aids to Scouting. He had the support of the great and the good throughout the land. What he did not have was practical experience in working with young people! True, his ideas had worked on Army Scouts. The Mafeking Cadets were, in the main, much younger and though inspirational were not trained by Baden-Powell. As far as boys of 'scout age' were concerned, B-P only had the word of others, young and old alike, that his ideas would work. Now he needed to find out for himself.
Brownsea attracts visitors from all over the world, as you can see from the donated badges and Visitors' Book in the Trading Post / Scout Visitor Centre run by the Brownsea Island Service Team. The photograph below is of Scouters from Japan who, with me, were a part of the Headquarters 'Heritage Tour' in September 2000. A week on Brownsea Island On the 1 August 1907 twenty boys were encamped on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour to participate in an experimental project. Baden-Powell wanted to see if his proposed activities would appeal to a broad range of young people and so he recruited ten boys from a range of public schools and ten members of local Boys.
Organisation
DURING a fishing holiday in May 1907 at Knocklofty in Ireland, B-P had met Mr and Mrs Charles van Raalte. They got on very well and invited B-P to visit them in their London home or at their castle on the 500-acre Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset.
As a boy, B-P had sailed in Poole Harbour with his brothers and made illegal landings on Brownsea Island's private beaches. It seemed to him to be the ideal place to conduct his experimental camp. On his return to London, B-P wrote asking for permission, and was sent back van Raalte's recently-published little booklet about Brownsea. Yes it had everything he needed, particularly isolation. He wrote,
'I was anxious to get away from outsiders, press reporters and other 'vermin', where I could try out the experiment without interruption.'
SOME press reporters must have become aware of the camp, because B-P replied to the Editor of The Daily Mirror from Brownsea on August 4th, 1907, on Brownsea Camp headed stationary (see later image). B-P insisted that the camp was a 'small experimental one' and in no way worth publicity at that stage. He skilfully manipulated the situation by promising full co-operation when 'the scheme' was in its complete form. I am sure that the Editor of The Daily Mirror understood by this that no such 'co-operation' would be forthcoming had he dared go against B-P's wishes and report on the Brownsea 'experiment'.
Baden-Powell invited some of his army chums to send their sons, but right from the start he was clear that Scouting was to be for all boys, not just a privileged minority. In Edwardian Britain this was a revolution in its own right. As far as education was concerned, youngsters from the different classes were well segregated. On Brownsea there were ten of 'town boys' and eleven were the children of his friends who were mainly at (fee-paying) public schools. To make this social mix a reality a 'sliding scale' of fees was charged, the 'town boys' paying three shillings and six pence (17½p) whilst the public schoolboys were charged £1 per boy. Baden-Powell intended that 'the troop' be 18 strong, but found that 21 boys wanted to attend, plus one he had not expected, his nephew Donald Baden-Powell - the nine-year-old son of his late brother George.
B-P could not of course run the entire venture by himself and so he invited his life-long friend, Major Kenneth 'The Boy' McLaren to accompany him on the venture. McLaren had served with B-P in India and in South Africa. He was wounded in the relieving of Mafeking and made a prisoner-of-war. B-P wrote to him every day and, knowing that the Boers would read his letters, B-P used them to give misleading information.
The 'town boys' were to come from Boys' Brigade Companies, seven from Bournemouth and three from Poole. B-P left much of the practical details to the local Boys' Brigade in the person of Captain Henry Robson of the Bournemouth Company and instructions were coming to him from B-P in London thick and fast. In a letter to Robson, dated June 19th, 1907, B-P asks him to supply six lads (this was later to alter) and, where he can, hire bell tents with flooring for sleeping and obtain a 'contractor for feeding and cooking'. There would need to be a flag pole and several other items that caused Robson to scratch his head; B-P wanted two rowing boats, a quantity of logs and some steel-tipped harpoons with an eye in the shaft so that they could be secured by rope. Harpoons were not common in Poole, and Robson had to have them speedily-made by a local blacksmith. In the same letter, B-P declared the purpose of the camp: 'I propose to teach them' [i.e Robson's Boys' Brigade boys] 'my new form of Scouting for Boys . . .' It seems likely that this might be the first use of the term 'Scouting for Boys'.
The photograph (taken after the Brownsea Island camp in 1909) shows two of the boys selected by Captain Robson - Sgt. Herbert 'Nippy' Watts (left) and Sgt. Herbert Collingbourne (right) of the 1st Bournemouth Boys' Brigade.
The venture needed food stores and catering facilities and in this B-P was lucky. Robson's friend, Captain G W Green of the Poole Boys' Brigade, was involved in the catering business.
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In 1927, Captain Robson re-visited the island with 500 Scouters on the occasion of the Bournemouth Scouting Conference. He told the delegates of the 'marooning' of the provisions for the camp and, except for 'the mercy of providence' how they very nearly found a watery grave on their way to the island the night before B-P arrived. Unfortunately, I have found no further details of these dramatic events.
After correspondence with B-P, the two BB Captains supplied the names of the ten Boys' Brigade 'town boys'. B-P had written to Captain Robson on July 19th, to say he could take eight in total. He was under the impression that some of these would be from the Church Lads' Brigade. Of his friends's children, two came from Eton, two from Harrow and and two Cheltenham, one from Elstree School Charterhouse, the two remaining boys as were at that point being tutored at home.
William Stephens, the C.O. of the Coastguard Station at Sandbanks, near Poole, was contacted and agreed to be on hand to give demonstrations to the boys in First Aid and Firefighting.
B-P wrote letters of invitation to all the parents, they were explicit and promised ' .. wholesome food, cooking and sanitation, etc. would be carefully looked into .. ' The boys should be practised in three knots - reef, sheet bend and clove hitch - before arrival and they must be able to swim.
The camp was planned for nine days starting on Monday, August 1st, 1907, but both Baden-Powell and McLaren were on Brownsea before that, preparing for the boys' arrival, contrary to what some sources say - but the evidence is incontrovertible.
The first letter sent out from the Brownsea Island camp by B-P is shown on the right (John Ineson Collection). The postmark is '27 JY' and the letter itself clearly records the date as July 26th, 1907. The writing paper was obviously supplied by the van Raaltes. B-P wrote:
'Now I am down here preparing my Boys Camp. It is the perfect place for it - a splendid island, well-wooded and wild, giving plenty of scope for Scouting. I think we shall have a very good time if the weather is only kind, which it doesn't promise to be at the moment.'
In a subsequent letter, to a Miss Lyttelton, again written from Brownsea, dated July 28th, B-P gives an interesting insight on one of his pet hobby-horses:
'But I quite agree with you one wants to teach these boys the quality of not 'grousing' - and I think that may come as a result of such training as that of 'Scouts' - for they are not born grousing: there is hope if one catches them young enough . . . The Loafers are the grousers.'
During the Siege of Mafeking, B-P had been disconcerted by 'grousers' and had publicly remonstrated with them, threatening financial consequences should they continue! The success of the 'anti-grousing' training at Brownsea can perhaps be best demonstrated by the comments of one of the BB lads, who wrote to him afterwards.
'The most important thing that a great many boys need to learn is to look at the bright side of things and to take everything by the smooth handle. I myself found that a great lesson . . .'
THE Projected Schedule for the Week, as quoted by Sir Percy Everett. Note that this must have been written in advance, as the actual camp lasted for 9 days - longer for the first arrivals.
In 1932, the new owner of the island, Mrs. Mary Bonham-Christie, allowed 500 Scouts to camp there to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Scouting, but shortly afterwards, she closed the island to the public and it became very overgrown. The Replica Camp will run parallel to the three other camps (28th July-3rd August). For many of the participants, the highlights of the camp were his campfire yarns of his African experiences, and the Zulu 'Eengonyama' chant - meaning 'he is a lion'. Flag break followed by Prayers. Tracking. Loyal to King and to Employers or Officers. The day began with cocoa, exercises, flag break and prayers, followed by the morning activity. Brownsea Island sits in the county of Dorset and the place is generally recognised as the birth-place of scouting. As a boy BP had sailed in Poole Harbour with his brothers and knew the Island, they had in fact made a landing on the beech it the more he became convinced the Brownsea Island would be the ideal location for the camp, isolated but not to far away from civilisation to get provisions to. The Brownsea Island Scout Camp was the world's first Scout camp, and is regarded as the formal birth of the worldwide Scout movement. St Marys Church (about 0.2 miles from the camp) is lined with scouting flags from across the world. The Patrol was the unit to work or play, and each patrol was camped in a separate spot, Each boy was given a brass fleur de lys badge which was fastened on to his coat; when he had passed a few tests ( knots, tracking, the Flag) he was given another brass badge to fasten below the first, a scroll with the words “Be Prepared” on it. What is seen as the first true Scout Camp was held at Humshaugh, Northumberland from 22 August to 4 September 1908, as this was held after the official start of the Scout Movement. The title of this page is miss-leading the camp BP organised from the 31st July to 9th August 1907 was actually an experimental summer camp to test his ideas in his book “Scouting for Boys” on Brownsea Island, a 500-acre, windswept tract in Poole Harbour off England’s southern coast.
– Campfire yarns. The Sunrise Camp (29th July - 1st August) will host over 300 Scouts from nearly every country in the world.
Marksmanship. The Patrol Leader carried a staff with a flag depicting the patrol animal. [2] During the siege, the Mafeking Cadets had impressed him with their resourcefulness and courage.
Stay Informed.
Baden-Powell had become a national hero as a result of his successful defence during the Siege of Mafeking of 1899–1900 during the Anglo-Boer War. The deer, after going a mile or two, would hide and endeavour to ambush his hunters, and so get them within range; each hunter struck with his tennis ball was counted gored to death; if, on the other hand, the deer was hit by three of their balls he was killed.”. It initially appeared as six installments in a boys' fortnightly magazine, beginning in January 1908, and later appeared in book form. Many of the concepts still used worldwide in the Scout programme were first used at the Brownsea Island camp. Following the successful camp, Baden-Powell went on an extensive speaking tour arranged by his publisher, Pearsons, to promote his forthcoming book, Scouting for Boys. Various reunions were held for the Brownsea boys including one to mark Scouting’s 21st birthday at the “Coming of Age” World Scout Jamboree held in Birkenhead in 1929. On his return to the UK, he was a army hero with many ideas. Robert Baden-Powell ran the camp from August 1 to August 8, 1907 on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour on the South coast of England. The patrol was the unit of work or play, and each patrol was camped in a separate spot. Since March 2006, packages have been available for Scouts to camp on the island, while Scout and Guide groups can also book day activities. © Copyright 2020 Dorset Scouts.
The picket was scouted by Patrol Leaders of other patrols and myself, at some time before eleven p.m., after which the sentries were withdrawn and picket settled down for the night.” We found the best way of imparting theoretical instruction was to give it out in short installments with ample illustrative examples when sitting round the camp-fire or otherwise resting, and with demonstrations in the practice hour before breakfast. Replica will be a 'living Museum' and recreate the original 1907 experimental camp on Brownsea Island for visitors to the island. Buddens Scout Centre, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6477573.stm, http://www.britishbattles.com/great-boer-war/mafeking.htm, http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/brownsea.htm, 'National Trust - Brownsea Island - History', http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-brownseaisland/w-brownseaisland-history.htm, http://en.scoutwiki.org/index.php?title=Brownsea_Island_Scout_camp&oldid=38421, Scout and Guide campsites in the United Kingdom, Scouting and Guiding in the United Kingdom.
Start here. Sports comprising games or competitive practices in all subjects of the camp, 06:00. Each day had a different theme camping, observation, wood craft and so on. Reading their character and condition, thereby gaining sympathy, etc, Honour, code of the knights. Patrol Leaders received a special course of instruction in the field for them to impart subsequently to their Patrols, Camp resourcefulness. His choice of Brownsea Island was driven by his need to get away from reporters and his fortuitous meeting with Mr and Mrs Charles van Raalte whilst on holiday in May 1907.
Despite this the Brownsea Island Camp is seen by many as the first camp and the same week of the camp in 2007 was used to officially mark the centenary of Scouting. It is often used for services during large camps. Best sega master system emulator.
Scouting began to spread throughout Great Britain and Ireland, then through the countries of the British Empire, and soon to the rest of the world. To help with plans van Raalte enclosed a booklet about the island and its History which he had recently published and the more that BP discovered about the place, the more certain he became that this little piece of ground a mile and half long and about three quarters of a mile wide could not be bettered and it was agreed to hold the camp in August 1907. The Scout Association has a factsheet about Brownsea and there’s more info on wikipedia.
On his return to the UK, he […] Baden-Powell invited 20 boys to the camp, from different social backgrounds - a revolutionary idea in class-conscious Edwardian England. The participants left by ferry on the 9th day, August 9. Duties as citizens. The boys were arranged into four Patrols: Wolves, Ravens, Bulls and Curlews.[4]. On arrival at the spot, fires were lit and suppers cooked, after which sentries were posted and bivouac formed. Each boy had his greatcoat and blankets, cooking-pot and matches. To celebrate one hundred years of Scouting, there are four camps which are being organised by The Scout Association during July/August. Baden-Powell took what he had learnt from the camp and spent the next few months writing “Scouting for Boys” with the plan that it would provide a tailored training programme for use by other organisations. He had also published a number of popular books on military scouting, including Aids to Scouting (written in 1899) which became a bestseller and was used by teachers and youth organi…
All rights reserved. Noticing details of people. The Brownsea Island Scout and Guide Management Committee maintains the site,[7] and operates a small trading post on the site. It suited his needs perfectly as it was isolated from the mainland and hence the press, but only a short ferry trip from the town of Poole, making the logistics easier. Brownsea Island was chosen for the camp because it was off the beaten track and was difficult to get to and this was due to BP being a very public figure and if the Press had got to know his plans it would have been difficult to reporters on the scent of a good story away, so that the experimental camp could be given a fair trial out of the public gaze. (taken from 75 years of Scouting a Scouting Magazine supplement 1982, After settling into camp, formation of patrols and distribution of duties, orders etc each subject of the camp was explained with demonstrations. Scout camp on Brownsea Island in 1907 — skills like resourcefulness, leadership and teamwork — to promote recruiting and ensure the future of Scouting in this country.
This is the essence of why we’re a movement and not simply an organization. Beardsall, Jonny (2007). Endurance. Some of the twenty boys who had attended the camp took up Scouting following the publication of “Scouting for Boys”.
![Old Time Scouting Games Played At Brownsea Island Old Time Scouting Games Played At Brownsea Island](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126429341/182447127.jpg)
Responsibility and competitive rivalry were thus at once established, and a good standard of development was ensured throughout the troop from day to day. Baden-Powell had become a national hero as a result of his successful defence during the Siege of Mafeking of 1899–1900 during the Anglo-Boer War. Of course he could come. Recruit new members and volunteers, take online bookings, donations and payments, and more. Colonial Geography. To test his ideas for 'Scouting for Boys', Baden-Powell conceived of an experimental camp, and organised a camp to take place on Brownsea Island during the summer of 1907. Each patrol Leader was given full responsibility for the behaviour of his Patrol at all times, in camp and in the field. Pre-booking is required for these camps. History and deeds that won the empire. In the years following the war, he began discussing the idea of a new youth organisation with a number of people, including William Alexander Smith, founder of the Boys' Brigade. Improvised apparatus. An announcement was made to this effect at a YMCA HQ in Birkenhead, the Boy Scouts were born, within two years there would be over 100,000 Scouts in the UK. From the 24th March 2007, Brownsea Island will be open for day visitors (The island is closed to the public on the 1st August). – Parade.
Brownsea Island Scout Camp
Finding way in strange country. A commemorative stone by sculptor Don Potter was unveiled in 1967. For patrol identification, the boys were given long, wool streamers in different colours to pin on their left shoulder – green for Bulls, blue for Wolves, yellow for Curlews, and red for Ravens. Despite this the Brownsea Island Camp is seen by many as the first camp and the same week of the camp in 2007 was used to officially mark the centenary of Scouting. Also on the campsite was an army cook tent and an open-sided marquee tent for shelter in a storm. [3] Ten came from the well-to-do public schools of Eton and Harrow, mostly sons of friends of Baden-Powell. Contact the ferry companies direct for bookings and information:-'Greenslade Pleasure Boats 01202 631828 www.greensladepleasureboats.co.uk 'Brownsea Island Ferries 01929 4672383 www.brownseaislandferries.com 'Please note that there are restrictions on … The exercises used morning and evening were simple ones rather on the lines of those given in Scouting for Boys. Join Scouting today in just a few clicks. Aged 6+? Seven came from the Bournemouth Boys' Brigade, and three from the Poole Boys' Brigade. They boarded his motor boat Hyacinth and set out on the two-mile crossing to the island. Charity and Thrift. Of the 19 boys who were still alive in 1914 five died during the War and a sixth died prematurely due to the effects of gas poisoning. The Scout campsite and parts of the island have been cleared, and Scouts have been able to camp there since 1964. Boat management, Noting and memorising details near and far. A letter to Charles van Raalte asking for permission to use the island produced an immediate response. The day ended with games, supper, campfire yarns and prayers. Baden-Powell's 9 year old nephew Donald Baden-Powell also attended. Brownsea Island covers 560 acres of woodland and open areas with two lakes. Our Navy and Army. BP.’s report on the camp: “The troop of boys was divided up into ‘Patrols’ of five, the senior boy in each being Patrol Leader. [6] Since then it has been maintained as a conservation area and is a popular site for visitors. Bathing included water games and the use of two boats.
In many ways, South Africa should hold that accolade as it was where Baden-Powell developed his ideas and vision. The island was reopened to the public in 1963 by Lady Baden-Powell when it came under the control of the National Trust.
Poole Harbour
On the 1st August 2007, Brownsea Island will become the focus of Scouts worldwide as the island hosts the World Sunrise Ceremony. Unselfishness. Deducing meaning from tracks and signs.
Brownsea Island Bsa Games
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