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Updated 03/11/2015

 


The Boys' Brigade

The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an interdenominational Christian youth organization, conceived by Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values.  Smith was born in Pennyland House, Thurso, Scotland. He was the eldest son of Major David Smith and his wife Harriet.  As a boy, William Smith was educated at the Miller Instituition, known as the “Thurso Academy”.  Following his father's death, his family moved to Glasgow. In early January 1869, William Smith became a pupil in a private school, The Western Educational Institution, more widely known as “Burns’ and Sutherland’s School”. In this first and only term there, he took seven prizes. His time in the institution was short-lived as he ended his school days late in May, at the age of fourteen and a half.

In October 1869, a few days before he became fifteen, William Smith entered his uncle’s business. Alex. Fraser & Co. were wholesale dealers in “soft goods”, shawls being of 19, he was promoted to the rank Lance-Corporal. He also joined the Church of Scotland in that same year. 

Smith was commissioned into the Rifle Volunteers in 1877 and promoted to Lieutenant later the same year. He also became a Sunday School teacher. It was a combination of these two activities that led him to start the Boys' Brigade on 4 October 1883 at Free Church Mission Hall, North Woodside Road, Glasgow. In 1909 he was knighted by King Edward VII for his services to children. He also eventually reached the rank of Major in the Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers

He died on 14 May 1914 in London.  He was buried in Glasgow. There is a memorial stone in honor of him in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and in St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.

Following its inception in Glasgow in 1883, the BB quickly spread across the United Kingdom and became a worldwide organization by the early 1890s.  The stated object of the Boys' Brigade is "The advancement of Christ's kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-respect and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness." Except for the addition of the word "obedience" in 1893, the contents of the object have remained unchanged from the beginning.  However, some countries, particularly those which permit girls on their membership roll, have re-worded the object for gender neutrality. For example, in Malaysia, the word "manliness" has been changed to "character".

When designing the Brigade's motto and crest, William Smith referred directly to Hebrews 6:19 in the King James Version of the Bible, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast..." The crest was originally a plain anchor, bearing the BB motto with a capital 'B' on either side. Upon the merger between the Boys' Brigade and the Boys' Life Brigade in 1926, the red Greek cross was placed behind the anchor to form the current emblem.  The cross originally formed part of emblem of the Boys' Life Brigade.


In May 1903, Robert Baden-Powell (left) became vice-president; those of you with a Scouting background will recognize the name.  Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM GCMG GCVO KCB  (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder of the Scout Movement and first Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association.

After having been educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Sir Arthur Pearson, for youth readership. In 1907, he held the first Brownsea Island Scout camp with the Boys from Eton College, together with members of the Bournemouth & Poole Battalion of The Boys' Brigade. At the time, he did not originally intend that any individual organization would later arise from this aim in the form of the various Scouting movements of today.