Scouting and Guiding Organisations
When you consider that Scouting and Guiding have been going on for over 100 years and that they are the largest youth organisations in the country, the records held by Bedfordshire Archives are surprisingly few. The Bedfordshire Scout Council made a very large deposit in 1981, which is still being added to (ref: X619), but there are no records from the cradle years of the movement in 1908-9. Bedfordshire Girl Guides deposited records in 1997 (ref: X698). The 1st Bedfordshire Girl Guides Company was formed by 1910 and the first five companies registered in 1915 but the whereabouts of these early records, if they survive, is unknown.
The Scouting records at X619 include minute books of the Executive, from 1920 and of various other sub-committees (Finance, Warrants, Events etc.) from 1927 to 1960s. Then there are records of specific sections, for example, Sea Scouts 1959-1965 (ref: X619/12-16), Rover Scouts 1920s-1962 (ref: X619/130) and Bedford Air Scouts in the 1940s (ref: X619/135) and also of the Local Association 1935-1965 (ref: X619/77/1-10). The records of certain units have been deposited – the Onesters of Bedford 1920s-1935 (ref: X619/40-41, 64), of the Rushmoor School Troop in Bedford 1949-1953 (ref: X619/76/1-2) of the 30th Beds (Dunstable) Troop 1929-1932 (ref: X619/88/1) and the 15th Beds (Bedford St Mary’s) Troop 1920s-1978 (ref: X619/136). Also included are records relating to particular Scouters, for example Miss M. Furlong, Hon. Commissioner for Cubs in the 1960s (ref: X619/71). There are also Scouting histories made by Robert Turner of Bedford, arranged in decades (ref: X619/89-92, 98-99, 139).
It was a feature of many Scouting activities that a record was kept in the form of a logbook and a number of these are also held in X619. As these can often contain contemporary postcards and sometimes small hand drawn maps of the area concerned, they can form a useful social history source. Especially interesting is the logbook of a Scottish Crew (the 14th Midlothian Bonnyrigg)) who camped at Old Warden in 1951 and who recorded that “The Ouse is a bonny river and compares very favourably with the North and South Esk” (ref: X619/142/12)
Scouting records held in other collections include the photograph albums of the Rev. Ernest Scott, of Luton, 1911-1937 (ref: X607/1-8). The volume held at X607/5 is of particular interest as it contains pictures of all the Rovers, Scouts and Cubs in the South Bedfordshire District in 1937. Mr Scott also wrote a brief history of Scouting in the southern part of the County and this has been reproduced in the X607 catalogue.
The archives service also holds the records of the 44th Bedfordshire (Hinwick) Troop, 1912-1964 including record books, logbooks and photographs albums etc. (ref: X464/29-68) and of the Bedfordshire (Holy Trinity), Bedford Troop, for the 1950s and 1960s (ref: P133/28/3). The B-P Guild of Old Scouts is also represented, mainly for the Luton District, 1948-1978 (ref: X620).
As mentioned previously, the Guide movement is much less well represented in the records held by Bedfordshire Archives. Some items in X698 date back to the formation of the Luton Division in 1916 but the majority of the collection dates from the 1950s to the 1990s. Various printed annual reports (and balance sheets) for the Bedfordshire Girl Guides, 1920-1948, are held (ref: X291/463/1-13) and later ones for the 1980s (ref: Z690). We have copies of the local Girl Guide Magazine (later called The Silver Penny) for 1946-1952 (ref: X291/465/1-15). Records of individual units include the logbooks of the 1st Bedford Division Rangers 1927-1948 (ref: Z160/650) and of the 1st Brickhill Brownie Pack 1968-1970 (ref: X698/1/2).
The minutes of Bedford District 4, from 1959-1992, have been deposited (ref: X698/1) and are added to each year. Then there are the Sandy District minutes 1976-1990 (ref: X773) and minutes of the Bedford Division from 1980 onwards (ref: X698/3). However, apart from these we only have occasional photographs and isolated references in other archives.
Detailed histories of Scouting and Guiding in Bedfordshire still remain to be written, although good outlines are given in the Bedfordshire Magazine by Robert Turner (Scouting, Vol.18, 1982, p.177) and Jean Wallis (Guiding, Vol. 20, 1985, p.45).
Scouting and Guiding records are generally a very underused source. Their value, though, is wider than that of just sectional interest. As records of organisations concerning children, they demonstrate social attitudes towards the young – and indeed reflect the change in these attitudes over the years. The records written by the young people themselves (the Scout logbooks are an obvious example) can help to show the educational standards of the time and the interests and expectations of those concerned. The Guiding records are of similar value to those researching women’s history.
Our searchroom card index used the subject: SOCIETIES: Baden Powell Organisations and that is also a subject term used on our online catalogue, however, individual records are also sometimes indexed under the less formal subdivisions of: Scouts, Guides, Brownies etc.