The story of scouting in London is inevitably intricately linked with the story of scouting itself. With the Imperial Headquarters of The Boy Scouts Association in the heart of London, London Scouts and Scouters played a prominent part in the important national and international scouting events and in the work of headquarters during the early years of the movement.

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In March 1909 Baden-Powell appointed Sir Francis Vane as the first Commissioner for London, but the role was short lived and before the end of the year a notice appeared in the Headquarters Gazette saying that the office of Commissioner for London was abolished for the time being.

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In November 1909, a meeting was called of London District Secretaries with B.-P.as chair. At this meeting it was agreed that London should be divided into nine ‘scout’ districts, subject to minor adjustments of boundaries which would be settled later.

 

Arising out of the formation of these local committees of Scout Masters was the appointment of someone to take charge of District Parades. These officers were sometimes known as 'Divisional Commanders'. They were elected by the Scout Masters in the district, but eventually they became known as 'District Commissioners' and were appointed by Headquarters.

 

The first two London District Commissioners were appointed in March 1910. They were Lt.-Col. H. de Meric for London North-West and the Rev. Grome-Merrilees for London East.

 

Headquarters evidently argued that the London Districts were important, for it was laid down in the policy, organisation and rules of the Boy Scouts Association that they were each to rank as a County Commissioner, but nevertheless B.-P. and the committee of the council of the Boy Scouts Association thought that leaders as a whole should have a Commissioner and a Scout Council. On the 20th October 1909 the Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Knill, convened a meeting at the Mansion House to form a central Association for London to promote scouting but nothing seemed to have come of this.

 

Early in 1910 two attempts were made to bring the representatives of the London Districts together for a meeting without success, but a third was convened. On the 21st April 1910 Colonel Ulick de Burgh, who at the time was Deputy Chief Commissioner, took the Chair. He announced, ‘that the Governing Council had decided that the various London Districts should administer their own affairs as far as was compatible with the freedom of the movement'. It was, however, thought that there should be a Council for London.

 

This Council was to be advisory, and the Lord Mayor of London had consented to be their first President. This meeting was recorded as the first meeting of the London Scout Council.

 

There were seventeen District Commissioners and Secretaries present. There was considerable support for the opinion that such a council was unnecessary. It was finally agreed, however, to hold meetings quarterly, but only if two or more District Secretaries required such a meeting to be called.

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Various other matters were discussed at this meeting, including the question of having a badge for all London Scouts to wear, but this was voted out.

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B.-P. appointed Sir Herbert Plunder (later Field-Marshal Viscount Plunder), his old comrade of the South African War, as the Commissioner for London. By the end of 1910 some 20,000 boys had been enrolled in the movement across the London area, and the numbers were growing rapidly.

 

The desire of Headquarters to see a central organisation in London seemed fated, for no further meeting of Commissioners or Secretaries appears to have been held since the meeting in 1910.

 

Sir Herbert Plunder resigned as Commissioner in 1912 and B.-P. appointed Major-General H. B Jeffreys in his place. Headquarters seconded A. G Barralet (who for a short time had been B.-P.'s Secretary), to General Jeffreys as his Secretary and allocated a room in their Boy Scouts Headquarters as the London Office.

 

On the 7th February 1912 General Jeffreys called the London Commissioners together. He explained to them that the progress made in London organisation was so slow that Headquarters felt that steps should be taken to strengthen it. The Commissioners expressed themselves as being quite satisfied with the position as it was. In April another meeting was held and there seemed to be some improvement in the atmosphere. It was decided to approach the London County Council to ask for the use of schools for scout meetings, and a suggestion was made that a simple document vesting troop property in trustees should be drawn-up. This led eventually to The Scout Association Trust corporation as it is known today.

 

By July 1912 the London Commissioner seriously endeavoured to get the District Commissioners to agree to some form of London organisation, and it was decided to proceed with this idea in the autumn. When the Commissioners met again in Octoberr, they did not seem to be able to get much further. It was not until February 1913 that the Commissioners finally agreed, in principle, to the formation of a London Scout Council, and then its powers were to be limited to the raising of money!

 

Even now General Jeffreys had not quite succeeded in his aim but at a meeting on 8th May 1913 a resolution was passed setting up the London Scout Council with Lord Rosebery invited to become President. In May 1913 the first meeting of the ‘formalised’ London Scout Council took place. At this meeting an Executive Committee was appointed to meet quarterly, but this committee does not appear to ever have met, but from this time on a Finance Committee made its appearance which met regularly, until in 1918 the Council decided that it should change its name to that of Executive Committee. This however did not find favour with Headquarters and so the name was again changed at the end of 1918 to that of General Purposes Committee.

 

It is difficult to understand why it took so long to establish a Scout Council in London, but the reason must be that a Scout Council in London, as Headquarters had laid it down that the London Districts ranked as Counties and the District Commissioners ranked as County Commissioners, they were loath to give up the powers and status they had.

 

Now that the London Scout Council was in being, Headquarters dropped the paragraphs in Policy, Organisation and Rules about the powers of the London Districts and Commissioners.

 

Barralet became the Secretary of the Council, and a small amount of the money placed at the disposal of the Commissioner for London for the salary of his Secretary was handed over to the Council to help with their expenses. The dual responsibility of the Secretary to the London Commissioner and the Council caused a number of difficulties, until the time came when the whole of the grant was made direct to the Council.

 

At last, after many discussions over the years, in October 1929, it was agreed to adopt a County of London badge to be worn by everyone in the area. A design including the Tower Bridge was turned down in favour of one incorporating the badge of the London County Council.