The early Boy Scout movement emerged hand in hand with patriotism in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. The Boy Scouts creator, Robert Baden-Powell, noted the general despair amongst soldiers during the Boer war in South Africa because of the significant number of casualties in the army. Upon his return to London, Baden-Powell was convinced that reforms in the education of youth were needed. He envisioned a stronger British empire, and one that could rely on physically and mentally strong men. He later wrote in his memoirs that:

“we had to remedy some of the shortcomings in [soldiers’] character and to fill in the omissions left in their education by developing in them the various attributes needed for making them reliable men. We had to inculcate a good many qualities not enunciated in text-books, such as individual pluck, intelligence, initiative, and spirit of adventure.”

By 1917, there were 194,331 Boy Scouts in Great Britain and this number increased to 443,455 over the next twenty years.

Physical strength became an early and important feature of the new Boy Scout association. The invasion scare of 1906 and the growing perceived military threat from Germany resulted in an evident shift from social issues to problems and concerns for Britain’s patriotism and citizenship. Physical fitness and good health became national goals. One guidebook maintained that “to the boy Scout the importance of physical training is very great, for besides being very necessary for his well being, it is also the foundation of the object of that grand Brotherhood to which he belongs."

A strong rhetoric of imperialism and British strength over other peoples‘ can be found in Boy Scout guides. In Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell proclaims that “power at sea has enable us of late years to put a stop to the awful slave trade which used to go on the coast of Africa; it has enabled us to discover new lands for our Empire, and to bring civilization to savages in farthest corners of the world.” History was also rewritten to strengthen this idea. While talking about the Crusades, Baden-Powell asserts that “scouts cannot do better than follow the example of your forefathers, the Knights, who made the tiny British nation into one of the best and greatest that the world has ever seen." Most historiography on the crusades argues the contrary: economic reasons (knights acquiring land and riches) amongst others fostered the crusades.

Scouting evolved into a youth movement that offered a romantic program of outdoor adventures and activities to remedy the division between classes and the often disrupted and poor lifestyles caused by industrialization and urbanization. Many British sociologists in the early twentieth century, such as Brian Wilson and William Morrison, saw the increase in violence at the time as the result of the erosion of traditional authority and community control and by the development of adverse living conditions. The Boy Scout Movement acted as a movement in which these divisions could be severed, much like the armed forces in WWI and WWII. Point 4 of the Scout Law states that “A Scout is a Friend to All, and A Brother to Every Other Scout, no Matter to what Social Class the Other Belongs”. By breaking down social barriers, Boy Scouts facilitated the growth of ideas of fairness and parity amongst the British youth. Early on, the movement also established any kind of spiritual commitment (Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, etc.) as one of the cornerstones of the movement. A sense of reinforced uniform White racial identity was therefore maintained - one that crossed class and religious lines.

When I researched this topic, I wasn't able to find numbers of Boy scouts who became soldiers - I don't know if any survey by the British Armed Forces was done on that subject. One can only assume that there is a strong correlation. In any event, the primary and secondary sources I looked at significantly convey the following: the early Boy Scout movement acted as a strong engine to reinforce the ideas of British strength, unity and patriotism.

Sources (Primary):

Adams, Morley. What a Scout Should Know (London: Henry Frowde, 1915)

Lord Baden-Powell of Gillwell. Lessons From the Varsity of Life (London: C. Arthur Pearson, 1933)

_____. Scouting for Boys (London: C. Arthur Pearson, 1937)

_____. The Wolf Cub’s Handbook. Eight Edition. (London: C. Arthur Pearson, 1931)

Sources (secondary):

Jacobson, Sven. British and American Scouting and Guiding Terminology (Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, 1985)

Jeal, Tim. Baden-Powell (London: Pimlico, 1991)

MacDonald, Robert H. Reproducing the Middle-class Boy: From Purity to Patriotism in the Boys’ Magazines, 1892-1914. Journal of Contemporary History. Volume 24, No. 3 (July 1989), pp. 519-539

Parsons, Timothy H. Race, Resistance, and the Boy Scout Movement in British Colonial America (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004)

Proctor, Tammy M.(Uni)Forming Youth: Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in Britain, 1908-1939. History Workshop Journal. No. 45 (Spring 1988), pp. 103-134

Pryke, Sam. The Popularity of Nationalism in the Early British Boy Scout Movement. Social History. Volume 23, No. 3 (October 1998), pp. 309-324

Reynolds, E. E. The Scout Movement (London: Oxford University Press, 1950)

Mary Aickin Rothschild. To Scout or to Guide? The Girl Scout-Boy Scout Controversy, 1912-1941. A Journal of Women Studies. Volume 6, No. 3 (Autumn 1981), pp. 115-121

Warren, Allen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the Scout Movement and Citizen Training in Britain, 1900-1920. The English Historical Review. Volume 101, No. 399 (April 1986), pp. 376-398

Wilkinson, Paul. English Youth Movements, 1908-1930. Journal of Contemporary History. Volume 4, No. 2 (April 1969), p.3-23

Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Ina. Building a British Superman: Physical Culture in Interwar Britain. Journal of Contemporary History. Volume 41, No. 4 (October 2006), pp. 595-610