April 12, 1913, was an outstanding date in Kingston's scouting history. For it was the day General Sir Robert Baden-Powell (popularly known as B-P) came to the Royal borough to visit a scout rally and exhibition at the County Skating Rink, in Penrhyn Road.

It was an event of major interest at the time, for scouting had begun only five years previously, and B-P was keen to see the work of troops who were already among the foremost in the land for energy and initiative.

But he wasn't only the Chief Scout. He was also a legend in his own lifetime as "the hero of Mafeking", and Kingston Council wanted to play its part in honouring him.

This it did by giving him a dinner (an unusually early one by his own request) at Nuthalls in Thames Street, then walking him to the town hall in Kingston Market Place to give him the Freedom of the Royal borough.

This, the highest honour in Kingston's gift, is rarely conferred, and B-P was only the fifth person to receive it.

He was met at Nuthalls with a guard of honour from the 1st Surrey Troop, under their scoutmaster A K Ingram, and at the town hall by 2nd Kingston Sea Scouts (later renamed Leander) under their scoutmaster Erik Robinson, and the Dittons Troop, under scoutmaster Rome Attwell.

Only then was B-P free to go to the rink, where a thousand lads waited for him in the biggest scout rally even seen in Kingston before or since. There were also 600 exhibits to inspect, each illustrating the work required to gain the various scouting proficiency badges, and music from the 1st Tolworth Scout Orchestra and the bands of the 1st Kingston Hill and 1st Malden troops.

The badge subjects in those early years included photography, carpentry, pathfinding, model aircraft making, cookery, electricals, engineering, marksmanship, ambulance, signalling, flags of the empire, compass, scout law, leather working, first aid, nature study and map making. At the exhibition, the greatest number of prizes, and the prize for the best exhibit, went to 1st Kingston.

Three years earlier, scouts had thrilled to the prospect of taking part in a massive review by King Edward VII at Windsor Castle in June, 1909.

The Kingston and District Committee, which at this time comprised 13 troops with 404 members, decided to prepare for the event with regular rehearsals in Richmond Park.

It says something for the enthusiasm of the boys and the dedication of their scoutmasters, that they were willing to forego their precious Sunday afternoon leisure for the purpose, and to work as never before on scoutcraft subjects. For when B-P had visited the King at Balmoral the previous year, His Majesty had suggested creating the rank of King's Scout for any scoutmaster or scout who qualified for any four of certain badges, of which pathfinder's must be one, viz: ambulance, pathfinder, marksman, signaller, bugler, cyclist and seaman.

These qualifications, the King thought, would be the most useful should the services of scouts ever be needed for the country, and he hoped as many scouts as possible would gain the award before the Royal review.

Three local scoutmasters and four scouts achieved the distinction of becoming among the first ever King's Scouts in 1910.

The scoutmasters were the Rev R W Bullock of 1st Tolworth, Walter White of 1st Kingston Hill, and the Rev H Snowdon of 1st Surbiton Park. The scouts were H Macey and R Stockton, both of 1st Kingston Hill, and S F Irwin and G Sergeant, both of 1st Kingston.

All looked forward to parading before the King, wearing the crown-embellished badges he had instituted, and on May 5, B-P was summoned to Buckingham Palace to draw up plans for the great review on June 18.

Details were finalised, and the King agreed to address the boys personally. Then calamity. The King died suddenly the following day, and the event scouts had prepared for so eagerly was cancelled.

However, their efforts were rewarded the following year when the new monarch, George V, hosted a review of 31,000 scouts in Windsor Great Park on July 4.

Kingston and District sent 300 scouts, who travelled to Windsor on two steam launches, the Duchess of Kent and the Countess, provided by Mould Bros, whose boat-building works were in the High Street premises now occupied by Pizza Express.

In the search for the origins of scouting in Kingston, some names stand out. One of them is S F Irwin, who was not only one of the world's first King's Scouts, but an impressive lad in every way.

He joined 1st Kingston in 1909 at the age of 13, and within a year was a patrol leader, and had gained 14 badges of efficiency as signaller, ambulance, cook, pathfinder, marksman, interpreter, pioneer, gardener, starman, stalker, electrician clerk, surveyor and photographer.

After a gruelling examination, he was among the few selected personally by B-P from hundreds of candidates to represent the Boy Scouts of Great Britain and Ireland on a six-week tour of Canada.

Alas, his name, along with that of 1st Kingston, seems to vanish after World War I. Does anyone know what happened to them both?

  • See next week's Surrey Comet when June Sampson will look at scouting during World War One and Hollye Blades will be dispelling some modern day myths about scouting.

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