And in the beginning, was Birkenhead

Jul 17 2007 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

Birkenhead is indisputably the cradle of Scouting in the movement’s centenary year – but one claim is too hot to handle, reports Peter Elson

A CHANCE discovery in an old album of photographs was the Scouting equivalent of opening Tutankhamun’s tomb, claims a Wirral Scout leader.

In this photo album, long-forgotten in the Birkenhead and District Scouts HQ, is circumstantial evidence of a Scout camp taking place in March, 1907.

“We felt like Howard Carter when he looked into the tomb and saw ‘wondrous things’,” waxes Will Redfearn, who is curating Birkenhead Scouts’ centenary exhibition.

Fine as regards local interest, but rather more importantly, this embarrassingly contradicts the official basis of the Scout Association’s centenary this year in Britain.

This international milestone event takes its cue from the then Lt Gen Sir Robert Baden-Powell’s pioneering camp for boys at Brownsea Island, Poole, which was held in July-August, 1907.

Birkenhead Scout leaders are being quietly circumspect about the matter of this anomaly and not pressing their claim.

These pictures of a camp on Hilbre Island are clearly captioned in what certainly looks like an authentic period album covering the district’s Scouting history in chronological order.

Keen not to upset the big event, local Scout officials underline that they have no documentary evidence supporting these two photographs.

“It was obviously some sort of boys’ camp based around Baden-Powell’s principles, as outlined in his famous handbook, Scouting For Boys,” says Will, Birkenhead Scouts’ centenary co-ordinator.

“But we’re not able to say more than that, as we simply don’t know. You must remember that Baden-Powell, as the hero of the relief of Mafeking, already had legendary status.

“His ideas about developing the skills and talents of young people were becoming well-known and people were keen to put them into practice.

“So all we can assume is that this was some sort of precursor of the Scout movement, as it would not be in this album illustrating the history of Birkenhead Scouts otherwise.”

Birkenhead is already officially hailed as launching the world’s first two Scout troops on January 27, 1908, after Baden-Powell gave a lecture at the town’s YMCA (now the Primark store in Grange Road).

But there’s more. As if the Hilbre Island boys’ camp was not contentious enough, there’s the Scouts’ 1929 Coming of Age Jamboree, held in Arrowe Park.

This is believed to have attracted a staggering 50,000 Scouts and visitors from around the world.

In contrast, the Scout Association’s international Centenary Jamboree, in Essex, this summer is being billed as the biggest yet with some 50,000 likely to attend.

As a result, Birkenhead is diplomatically down-sizing its past estimates to a less competitive claim of an attendance figure of 40,000-plus individuals.

“The Birkenhead 1929 Jamboree was an astonishing logistical achievement and a landmark for confirming the movement’s importance,” says Paul Jones, Birkenhead District Scouts Assistant Commissioner and archivist.

The Jamboree was granted Royal status when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) attended at the invitation of Lord Baden-Powell and they took the salute for the grand closing parade.

At the event, grateful Scouts presented Baden-Powell with a Rolls-Royce and caravan as thanks to their founder. This was paid for by every Scout donating 1d to the fund. “Birkenhead was chosen for the 1929 Coming of Age Jamboree as a tribute to the fact that Baden-Powell said it started there,” says Will.

“This is where the first two Scout troops began and in just over 20 years it had become a worldwide movement, so the Mayor of Birkenhead offered Arrowe Park for the event.

“In true British tradition, the weather was an absolute wash-out, a mud-bath.

“On the grand march-past, you can see everyone is wearing Wellington boots.

“My father, Bob, was there as a Scout. He went to the shipyard where he was apprenticed and asked the foreman if he could make some duck-boards. They lasted two days before disappearing into the mud.

“My wife’s uncle, who is 92, took some West African Scouts home for tea with his mum, which must have been quite something at the time. In spite of the awful weather, it was hailed as a great success, and so our efforts on Wirral set the tone for future events up until the present day.

“The name Arrowe Park inspired Baden-Powell to get the idea of the Golden Arrow as the symbol of peace for the Scouting movement.”

This original Golden Arrow occupies pride of place among other atmospheric memorabilia of Birkenhead’s 1929 Jamboree.

A magnificent framed colour poster advertises the Jamboree and branded merchandise including ashtrays – even though Baden-Powell was a confirmed non-smoker.

The Jamboree even published a newspaper called the Daily Arrow and the collection is being expanded by Paul Jones, at the Scout HQ in Balls Road, Oxton.

The Scout movement has been taken to heart by many countries overseas and this slightly rankles with British Scout leaders. “Scouting is typical of so many great British inventions, ranging from cricket to the hovercraft,” says Will.

“It doesn’t get the official support in its home country in the way it does abroad. In Thailand it gets military help and is part of the school curriculum.

“The US and Canada Scouting is taken very seriously and if you achieve Eagle Scout status in the US you command awesome respect.”