Oldest Scout Groups

Many Scout Groups claim the title of Oldest Scout Group in their respective countries.

Due to the rapid growth of Scouting, it took some time for central organisations to be established, and the earliest groups were only registered some time after their first meeting. Some groups first met under the banner of other organisations, including the Boys' Brigade, Church Lads' Brigade, YMCA, churches or schools, and only later registered with central Scout organisations. Some maintained dual registrations. This makes it impossible to establish which groups started first. Today, national Scout associations often do not take a stance as to which was the first group in their country.

There are records of Boy Scouts and Scouting groups from 1900. The Boys' Brigade began its Scouting scheme in 1906. Scouting is usually considered to have started on 1 August 1907 with a camp run by Robert Baden-Powell on Brownsea Island. Thereafter the publishers C. Arthur Pearson Limited and Baden-Powell began promoting Scouting in Britain, and Scouting for Boys was published, initially in six fortnightly installments from January 1908 and then in complete book form. The book was followed by The Scout magazine from April 1908. Boys began forming Scout patrols and flooding the C. Arthur Pearson Limited's Scout office and Baden-Powell with requests for assistance.

The Scouting movement developed rapidly from here, in Britain, the British Empire, among English speaking people and the rest of the world.

The first Scout Patrols and Troops were formed in the United Kingdom in 1907. There are a number of claimants to be the first troop. As Scouting was a movement and not an organisation, there was initially no central organisation. The publishers, C. Arthur Pearson Limited sold registration cards to subscribers of its magazine. Numerous local or regional Boy Scouts Associations were formed and several national Scouting organisations were formed in the United Kingdom including the Boys' Brigade Scouts, Chums Scout Patrols, YMCA Boy Scouts, British Boy Scouts, Church Scout Patrols, London Diocesan Boy Scout Corps, Boys' Life Brigade Scouts, National Peace Scouts, The Boy Scouts Association and Salvation Army Boy Scouts (re-organized in 1914 as the Life-Saving Scouts of the Salvation Army). The Boy Scouts Association was formed in 1910 and does not acknowledge any single troop as being the first. Unfortunately, The Boy Scouts Association issued backdated registrations. The Scout Association maintains a list of all the Scout Troops who claim to have started in 1908.

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